Page 89 of Getting Lucky

“I don’tneedthe money.”

“I’m not a fool, Prescott. I know your business is in trouble. Again.”

“Did your crystals and your tarot cards tell you that?”

“No,” she said, “but a private investigator did.” She took a breath. “You’re up to your old tricks again, Prescott. Even down to using a young woman to help you commit fraud.”

Jack’s head was spinning, and every word Dottie said had it spinning faster. Dottie had hired a private investigator? Prescott was committing fraud?

Was Lee part of it too?

“You’re bluffing,” Prescott said, his tone equally icy, but Jack was sure he heard a tremor in his voice.

“Am I? I have photos.” She paused. “Do these help prove my point?”

Maisie removed her hand from Jack’s and leaned closer to the wall of greenery, peeking through an opening. She turned to Jack and mouthed,She really has photos.

Against his better judgment, Jack peered through a crack in the foliage and saw Prescott pick up several 8x10 photos from the table. He released a growl and ripped them in two, tossing them back down. “This only proves I’m sleeping with her. It doesn’t prove anything else.”

“Oh, Prescott,” Dottie said, sounding close to tears. “Don’t you see how far you’ve fallen if you think breaking your son’s heart is a lighter offense than cheating people out of money?”

“According to the law it is.”

Prescott was sleeping with Victoria?

Maisie’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered and made a retching face. Jack couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t officially been introduced to the woman yet, but he knew enough about her to think Prescott deserved her more than Lee did. And that was saying something.

“You never learn,” Dottie said, her sternness returning. “I let this go because I’d hoped your father’s death would teach you the importance of family. Of love. But one of those photos you destroyed was from just last week. You’ve learnednothing, and it seems you’re dead set on crushing the one child who has worshiped you since he could walk.”

“What do you want?” Prescott asked. “Money?” He reached into his suit coat pocket and withdrew a checkbook. “I’m prepared to write you a check right now.”

Dottie released a bitter laugh. “There you go again, thinking money can buy happiness. I don’t want a penny of yours, even if I thought the check would actually clear. The only thing I want is for you to do the right thing. Give Lee his freedom.”

“What the hell doesthatmean?”

“It means exactly what you think it does,” she said softly.

They stared at each other for several long seconds. Then he scooted his chair back, loudly scraping the floor. “We’re done here.”

“You and I are done when you make this right,” she said, staring up at him as he stood. “I’ll give you until the new year to come clean to your children, and if you don’t, I’ll take what I know to the proper authorities.”

He glared at her with so much hate, it was a wonder she didn’t turn into a puddle of goo. But Dottie was made of sterner stuff than that. Instead of shooting daggers of hate, her eyes were full of pity. “For once in your life, do the right thing, Prescott. Don’t bring Lee down with you.”

Jack’s heart beat faster again. Lee was in trouble, and against his better judgment, he wanted to help him.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Do you think she has three wedding dresses because she’s sleeping with three men? One for Lee, one for Prescott, and one for the third guy? Because there would be a strange kind of internal logic to that.”

Jack just made ahmsound deep in his throat.

“At least he was going to break up with her anyway.” She’d explained what Georgie had told her at the Biltmore, although she’d held back from sharing the rest of what they’d discussed. If Dottie hadn’t called from the restaurant when she did, Maisie would have told him about River earlier. But now…well, he had enough baggage of his own to deal with at the moment. No need to throw more on the pile, especially since it was a nonissue.

“That’s not the part that will upset him most,” Jack said quietly.

No. A father’s betrayal was much worse than that of a horrible girlfriend you’d already been looking for an excuse to break up with.

Dottie had called them over to the table after Prescott stormed out. From the look on her face, serene and kind of tickled to see them, it wouldn’t have surprised Maisie if she’d asked whether they would like to see the dessert menu. Instead, she got up to hug them both, then told Jack in an undertone, “I want you to know that your grandfather very much wanted to know you. Your mother refused his many attempts to get in touch with you. I suspect she thought it would hurt her chances of a…congenial relationship with your father.” It was clear she meantgetting money, but Maisie was glad she hadn’t outright said it. Jack had been through enough. After listening to Dottie and Prescott’s conversation, he had the look of someone who’d walked away from a car accident in a reflective blanket. “But she told him you wanted nothing to do with him, and I’ll admit he’d given up by the time you were an adult. He wasn’t proud of that at the end.”

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