Page 87 of Fierce Love
“I love you so much it’s ridiculous.”
I squeeze her tight and savor the feel of her pressed against me. Those words are so rare that every time she lets them out, they settle over me like the warmest, softest blanket. Maximum comfort, even if what happens after Posey’s wedding is still very much up in the air.
“Back to work?” I murmur.
“Thirty more seconds of this,” she says, holding me close, “before I’m ready to go back to that.”
A few hours later, I’ve cleared out the top two drawers of the cabinet, but when I tried to move the cabinet toward the door, something heavy was still in the bottom, somehow. No documents predate Hollyn leaving at the end of high school, so I’m pretty sure she must have added this organizational system after Hollyn left.
I tip the cabinet from side to side. There has to be a way to get into the bottom section, but I don’t see how.
I go through the empty top drawer and second drawer again. Feeling around the edges, I snag on something. Over the edge, I see a mound of tape, and I gently pry it off with my nails. A key pings on the metal of the middle drawer, and a sense of foreboding settles in my stomach.
The only reason I can think of that Aunt Verna would need a locked compartment would be for secrets she was either keepingforMickie orfromHollyn. I’m tempted to call Hollyn, get her to sit with me while I figure this out.
I glance toward the hallway that leads to the two bedrooms. Hollyn has been back and forth a few times while she sorts clothes to donate, knickknacks to keep, random photo books, or piles of stray photos. Last time she was out here, she said she’d stumbled on some letters her aunt had been writing to a man in England when she was younger.
Biting my lip, I take the key, and I examine the filing cabinet, looking for a place to slot it in. Maybe it’s not even for this filing cabinet?
When I slide the cabinet forward, I see the lock at the bottom. Tiny. Easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there. I drag the cabinet out more, and I slot the key into the space.
The connection is stiff, as though it hasn’t been used in a long time, and with a strong flick of my wrist, it clicks open.
The bottom of the cabinet springs open, and I’m momentarily dumbfounded by what’s there—cash. So many large bills, disorganized and scattered, as though someone threw them in. When I push them back, there are manilla folders, several of them, but I feel that same hesitation.
Ishouldcall Hollyn.
But if it turns out that Aunt Verna wasn’t as squeaky clean as Hollyn always thought, it’ll ruin the memories Hollyn has of her aunt, destroy the image she grew up with.
Aunt Verna wasn’t perfect—far from it—but she was the only family member Hollyn ever had in her corner in any way. I can organize the money, shred anything incriminating, and Hollyn would never need to know.
The stiffness of the drawer makes me wonder, though.
Whatever is in here has to be old enough to cause a bit of friction.
I tug out the first manilla envelope and slide out the contents.
Legal papers. I scan the typed documents and discover that they aren’t linked to Mickie, like I expect, but to Aunt Verna.
When I check the date, my chest feels like it’s about to cave in.
Holy shit.
Instead of reading any more, I reach into the drawer and pull out the other manilla folder. One after another, I slide papers out—legal documents, court cases, contracts—a picture starting to form.
A sharp queasiness is sloshing around in my gut, urging me to read more, making me wish I could read less.
“Hols,” I call, the raspiness in my voice unmasking the torrent of feelings spiraling inside me. “Hols!”
“Is something wrong?” Hollyn’s in the entrance to the hall, a frown marring her gorgeous face.
“I don’t understand what all this is,” I say.
But I do. It’s betrayal of the highest degree.
She crosses the room, and when she sees the documents—contracts, NDAs, court documents—in my hands, all the color drains from her face. Her hand lands on the arm of the chair I’m in.
“Oh my god,” she says. “Where did those come from?” Her knees seem to give out, and she starts to collapse.
