Page 54 of Crossroads of Love

“I should get going before I’m late,” I say quickly as I lean in and kiss her on the cheek.

I hadn’t planned on doing that, but it just shows how easy things are between us. The gesture has set my entire body on fire, though, so it’s excruciating to walk away from her right now.

The drive to Mike’s office is quick. One of those moments when I pull into the parking lot and wonder how I got there.

I can’t get Lena out of my head.

Mike stands in his waiting room talking to his secretary when I arrive.

“Hey, Gav, how are things with Lena?” he asks as we walk into his office, and he shuts his door.

“She doesn’t like the idea of me handling everything.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about the paperwork,” he teases.

I shoot him a funny look. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, then.”

“Aaron was my best friend, but I knew you and Lena had something special. I always thought that’s why you stayed away.”

Smart man.

I hesitate a little too long, shocked by his words. If Mike saw that, did Aaron know it, too?

Change the subject quickly. I’ve known Mike forever, but he doesn’t need to be in my business right now.

I don’t need all of Hicks Creek to know about whatever this is between Lena and me. It’s too new to withstand the pressures of small-town gossip.

“I found some stuff in the paperwork that doesn’t make sense. I didn’t…I haven’t brought it to Lena’s attention, but combined with what I found at Dad’s house…”

“What did you find?”

His eyes dart away as he shuffles unnecessary paperwork.

What does he know?

“She named Dad POA over everything, so he had emails and letters stating the benefits would be released. Not long after, there was more paperwork stating that there was a hold on everything because someone had come forward as Aaron’s beneficiary, and more research was needed on the matter. Dad paid the benefits to Lena out of his own bank account. She hasn’t received anything. He was paying all of her bills out of his bank account, too. Not only that, I have receipts showing that he was paying off very large debts for Aaron before he died.”

“Lena willingly gave Henry POA because she learned that Aaron told her he paid off the house and didn’t. He’d purchased two other homes that she knew nothing about in the past five years.”

“With what money?”

“As far as Henry and I found, he had a lot of loans and credit cards.”

“It looks like he has another family.”

Mike’s eyes go down to the ground quickly as he lets out a long sigh. “He did.”

Rage fills me, and I grab the back of the chair, needing something physical to calm me.

“You knew and didn’t tell Lena?” I ask angrily.

He throws his hands up in surrender. “I had no clue when Lena asked me to handle everything, okay? I didn’t know until the life insurance stuff started coming through. I had no clue. I would not keep that lie for him. Shit, I was his best friend and had no clue.”

I pull back and watch him carefully. Do I believe him? I don’t know whether to trust him or not.

“What did you find out?”

“A woman in Highland believes she was engaged to him. They had a child together. Two days before he died, he removedLena and Jayla from his death benefits and replaced them with this woman.”

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