Page 25 of Deny Me
“How the hell would you know that?”
He kept his face impassive. She really didn’t want to know how they’d uncovered that fact—and he wouldn’t say even if she did. His team didn’t always use the most…legal…means to expose the truth. They hadn’t discovered any major deposits in Keller’s accounts that weren’t directly tied to her salary, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t received any.
“Has she discussed with you what she’ll do now? Any financial discussions? Any hint that she’s not as worried about her current situation as, maybe, she should be?”
Sadness softened the lines of Charlotte’s face. “No. She’s understandably distressed, but Wes recommended a lawyer who was able to sever her husband’s access to their assets and is now working on the divorce. Susan earns a good salary—I made sure I got the best and pay them every penny they’re worth—but even so, I’ve assured her she will have whatever she needs. We won’t leave her hanging.”
Because Charlotte made everyone around her family, even when they weren’t. It was one of the things that had pulled him in from the beginning, having never had a warm family to rely on. “And there’s never been a time that you worried she wasn’t the right choice? Any hesitation? Anything at all, Charlotte,” he cautioned her.
“No.”
“What about Vicky Newcombe?”
The change in direction obviously threw Charlotte, but not for long. “What about her? Vicky has worked for us since the first year Creating Families opened. She was one of our first clients before agreeing to stay and help other mothers like her.”
“She also has a criminal background.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “In our business that’s not unusual. A lot of the mothers we work with come from hard lives and made hard decisions just to stay alive. We provide an opportunity out of that kind of life, not just for their children but for them.”
“As your office manager, Vicky has access to every adoption, every piece of paper related to clients on both sides of the process,” he pointed out.
“She’s my right hand, so yes. She coordinates every step, every appointment—she keeps CF running in an orderly fashion, freeing me up to focus elsewhere.”
“Any issues with finances, any hints of problems at home?”
“No! For God’s sake, King…” Visibly forcing herself back under control, Charlotte continued. “As far as I am aware, everything at home is stable. Vicky’s adoption was open, so she has occasional contact with the adoptive parents and her daughter. She married a couple of years ago, and just became pregnant with their first child together.”
“A growing family sometimes causes financial strain.”
“Her husband owns a movie production company here in Atlanta. They are not hurting for money.”
Damn. “Becky?”
The girl was already shaking her head. “I’m not close to Vicky. I’ve spoken to her on the phone or when I come into the office, but never anything personal.”
Which led him to the employee he’d hoped not to discuss. Turning back to Charlotte, he braced himself. “What about Wes?”
A sharp gasp from Kim filled the room, but King kept his gaze on Charlotte. The anger glaring back at him didn’t bode well.
Charlotte stood. “I’d like to speak to you in the hall, please.”
A glance at Charlotte’s mother told him Charlotte would speak more freely outside of her hearing, so he followed without complaint until they stood in the hallway, the door solidly shut behind them. Charlotte paced a few feet away, her balled-up fists convincing him to give her a bit of room. That didn’t mean he could stay silent.
“You know I have to ask, Char—”
She whirled to face him. “Don’t! Don’t even try that with me.”
“I’m not trying anything but to clear Wes as a suspect. He has access and you know it.”
“What I know is you waltzed back in here and decided your cousin had taken your place, and now you’re attacking him.”
Shock reverberated through his body.Taken your placerang in his ears, blocking out every other sound, every thought. “So youaredating him.”
The words dragged, the devastation in his chest echoing in every syllable. He shouldn’t be devastated. He shouldn’t care one way or the other whether they were together—what he and Charlotte had was over a long time ago. That’s what he’d told Wes, and what his head told him now.
Apparently some deeply hidden part of him hadn’t gotten the damn message.
Deep down where he didn’t have to acknowledge its existence, the certainty that Charlotte would always be his had remained alive. Maybe that was why he hadn’t kept track of her, because he couldn’t bear for the illusion to be shattered by seeing her date, marry, have children. If he didn’t look, she still belonged to him. Even when he’d told himself, told Wes he was fine with whatever the two of them did, that certainty hadn’t died.
