Page 130 of The Reluctant Hero

“That is my spot.”

“Good,” I snap back and wiggle my butt. “Yousuffer for once.”

Her shoulders stiffen as her lips flatten.

“Elizabeth Sutton.”

My brows furrow at the name. Like all the rest of them, it means nothing to me.

She glares at me while I ponder. “My daughter, you idiot!”

“Well, I hope she’s nicer than you!” I snap back without thinking.

“Mr. Blake swindled her out of her house and left her penniless. She had nothing! And you think that isn’t suffering enough? Watching her go through depression. The divorce because her husband couldn’t understand how she could beso foolish. She lost her children in the custody battle. Is that enough now?”

“What?” I ask weakly. “What the hell.”

I didn’t pay much attention to how Loser got the properties. I knew it seemed shady, but notthatshady. What did he do?

“Yeah. What. The. Hell,” she grits back. “We tried to get her home back. We did everything we could think of. And somehow, everything got brushed aside by the court system. All of it. Even some of the others. The rest gave up pretty quickly.Ididn’t.”

“Ok,” I lean forward to level with her. “I found some of the names in some paperwork at Matthias. He’s looking into all of it.”

Her sneer of disgust halts the rest of my words. “Another one. Just like Blake. You really are stupid.”

“He’sinvestigating,” I insist. “He isn’t like Loser.”

Her disbelief is palpable.

“I’m serious! I started highlighting the names and Loser’s name on all the purchases. It got Matthias’ attention. I’ve been working on it for the last two weeks. All the judges involved. Lawyers. Everything. I had no idea what was going on until I saw those files.”

“It’s too late now. He’s demolished all the houses. For nothing! He claims he was building a golf course, and there’s nothing to see. Six years and nothing but dirt and broken dreams.”

My heart squeezes in pain for her. I don’t like this woman at all, but that doesn’t mean I want to sit here and watch her defeated slump.

“Is she okay?” I ask warily. I doubt she’ll believe my concern, but that's too bad.

“She left town and got an apartment. She had to start over.”

“Jesus,” I wipe a hand over my face. My eyes catch on the envelope, bringing me right back around. “Where did you get those?”

“A PI,” she spits back weakly. All the fight has drained out of her. “Not that the pictures helped me.”

“A private investigator turned into a porn photographer?” I give her a flat look.

“Hefoundthem, idiot,” she rallies.

“Where?” I ask, aghast at the knowledge these have probably made a circuit I don’t know about.

“I didn’t ask. It’s disgusting.”

“No kidding,” I agree and try to shake off the images plaguing me.

“The shoe box of pictures was the last thing he gave me.” Her tone turns soft with regret. “He disappeared after that.”

“Disappeared? Like he quit or what?” I choke out. The feeling of doom pulses in my chest.

She gives me a flat look. “What do you think?”

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