Page 112 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

Brant ran his hand down my back. “Relax, nothing happened. Yet. He just reminded Edward that he has as much to lose as anyone in this situation and that he needed to deal with his daughter.”

“What did he say?” I asked, barely above a whisper.

“He claims he had no idea about Jill but that he would handle her. Apparently, she’s gone rogue.”

“I think she thought herself very much in love with you.”

Brant sighed guiltily. “She did, even though she knew I wasn’t in love with her. Once upon a time, I did care for her. We were good friends for many years.”

“Was she always crazy?”

“Unless she’s an amazing actress, I would say no. I think her mother and father twisted her. Hell, I probably did too.”

I kissed the exposed part of his chest. “Brant, you were being manipulated too.”

He squeezed me tighter. “Yes, but I could have walked away earlier. Look how far I took it. I was going to let my brother raise my child as his own. What does that say about me?” Regret laced his words.

I thought for a moment about what to say, trying to keep my own hurt out of it. “I think it says you were afraid.”

“I was,” he admitted quietly. “When I confessed to my father what I had done and I saw the blood drain from his face, I knew he was in deeper than I’d ever imagined. I’d never seen him panic like that. He was throwing obscenities around and even broke a window from hurling a paperweight at it. Never once had he raised his voice at me until that night. He told me if we couldn’t fix it, all of our lives were ruined.”

“Is that true? Will the Copelands ruin your family?”

“I won’t let them.” He stated it as a fact, with not even an ounce of hesitation.

“But they could hurt you?”

“They’ll get in their punches, to be sure. But they have more to lose than we do, as long as we all stick together.” I could hear the plea for me to stay with him.

“Brant, I don’t want to seem selfish, but what about the restaurant?”

With his finger, he tipped my chin. “First of all, you are the least selfish person I know. Secondly, I don’t know what will happen; it will all depend on how the public views my father. Will they paint him as the victim or the villain?”

“How do you see him?”

“As both,” he choked out. “I hate it.”

I ran my hands up his chest and wound them around his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. It’s me asking you to risk everything to be with me.”

I kissed him and lingered a bit, thinking about what it meant to risk everything. As our lips pressed together, there was no denying the connection that existed between us. It was a connection that wasn’t meant to be severed. I’d known that from the first time we’d kissed. The thought came to me that to risk things, even my business, was one thing. To risk him . . . that was everything.

“Brant,” I whispered against his lips. “I lost you once. I won’t do it again.”

Chapter Thirty-One

I never thought I would find myself standing in the wings of the Holland Industries’ stage. It was the place where Brant had announced his candidacy and where he’d pulled the plug on his dreams. Men and women of great stature and fortune had taken this very stage. And now John Holland stood at the podium while his wife and children looked on. Sheridan stood stoically between Brant and Brock, gripping their hands like vises, while Dani and I clung to the arms of the men we loved as we watched an era ending. Not only that, but we all knew this meant the firestorm was coming. What we didn’t know was how much of our lives it would burn.

My attention went back and forth between Sheridan and Brant. I wanted to be like Sheridan—graceful under pressure. There she stood, dressed in black as if she were mourning, lending support to a man who had hurt her in ways I could only imagine. And even though she hadn’t decided whether to stay with John or not, she’d shown up for him today. I could see in her eyes that she was remembering the man who’d taught her to dance and driven miles and miles almost every weekend just to see her when they were courting. That man had been willing to own his mistakes. And I could tell that Sheridan had come here to support that man, not the man who had taken what he’d thought would be the easy road many years ago when Edward Copeland had laid a trap for him.

I peeked at John Holland in his designer charcoal suit. He was gripping the podium so tightly he might leave dents. I didn’t see the man who had betrayed his family, who’d lied, blackmailed, and bribed. All I saw was a man ready to clear his conscience at any cost. Even if it meant giving up his company and freedom. I believed that was why Sheridan and his sons, and even Dani, had come today. I had come because Brant said he needed me.

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