Page 35 of The Unknown Colton
“Well…” He smirked again. “I could use some money. I’ve been sleeping in my truck because I can’t afford a place around here.”
“You were the one who broke into my cabin,” she said. “And stole that food.”
He snorted. “I shouldn’t have tobreakinto anything. You should be begging me to stay with you. I’m the only real family you have left, little girl.”
She gasped with shock, even though she had always suspected that her biological mother wasn’t alive. Surely she would have sought Lakin out sooner if she had been.
She leaned closer to him and lowered her voice even though no one else was around to overhear them. “The Coltons are my real family,” she said. They had been there for her after her biological family abandoned her.
But what if her mother hadn’t abandoned her?
“Well, if you don’t want me bothering yourreal familyfor money, you better help me out.” Whitlaw held his tobacco-stained hand across her desk, palm up.
Her face flushed with embarrassment and anger. Embarrassment that Troy was right and that she could potentially be related to this mercenary man. And anger that he was threatening the Coltons, the people who’d loved and raised her like their own.
“You don’t want to help out your own father?” Whitlaw asked.
She nearly shuddered at the thought of this man being related to her. But she didn’t want him bothering her mom and dad, so she opened the bottom drawer of the big desk and reached inside her purse for her wallet. She didn’t carry much cash, so she only had a couple of twenties to hand over to him.
He stared down at the two bills lying in his palm as if waiting for her to produce more. “That’s all you got?”
“Yes, it is,” she said.
“This isn’t nearly enough.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For a room. Hell, even for much of a meal,” he said. “And I’m really hungry right now.”
“It’s all I have,” she said. And unfortunately, until her business loan was approved, she didn’t have much money in the bank, either.
He snorted again. “Like you keep telling me, you’re a Colton now, little girl. I don’t believe you can’t get your hands on more than this.” He wadded up the bills in his fist.
She found herself instinctively stepping back from the desk. Maybe he wouldn’t have hit her, but she had the uneasy feeling again that he knew more about the Coltons than maybe even some of the Shelby townspeople knew. Like he knew how much money they’d had before Will and Ryan had moved here and started their adventure business. Like he knew about the real estate business in California…
But how? Who the hell was he really?
Before she could ask, the office’s front door opened. Whoever had taken the fishing tour, Spence or Parker, had probably returned, maybe with some clients.
But she couldn’t see around Whitlaw. He leaned closer and whispered, “You better get more because I’ll be back for it.” Then he turned and walked away from her, right past Troy and Spence who’d just stepped inside the office.
Lakin held her breath until the door closed behind him, then released it in a ragged sigh of relief that he was gone.
For now.
She believed him, though. He would be back because he definitely wanted more than forty dollars from her. But she wasn’t sure that money was really all he wanted.
* * *
Troy glanced at the door as it closed behind the older man, then he turned back toward Lakin. She looked as shaken as she’d been the day she came home from Roasters after meeting a man claiming he was her father.
“Is that him?” Troy asked, his heart thumping with anger that the man had upset her again.
“Who?” Spence asked curiously. “Who was that? A client?”
Lakin shook her head. “Nobody. That was nobody.” She stared hard at Troy as if silently willing him to shut up. Then she turned toward her cousin. “Spence, I left some messages on your desk.”
Spence glanced between her and Troy. “Trying to get rid of me? Okay.” He headed toward his office, leaving them alone.
