Page 129 of Heartbeat

“What? You mean her truth? She hasn’t known who the hell she was for the past twenty-seven years of her life. We’re both celebrating each other’s existence right now, and honestly, she’s angry, maybe even more than I am, at what happened because she’s the one who was thrown away. She’s the one who grew up with nobody to love her. Write the truth, Danvers. That’s all I ask.”

“Consider it done. Do you want to vet it before I send it in?”

“No. If you screw me over, I’ll just make you sorry you were ever born, okay?”

Danvers laughed. “And that is exactly why I love you, man. You’re the real deal. Are you here in Miami?”

“Not yet, but I will be by tomorrow.”

“Then watch for the headline. I might even win a Pulitzer for this!”

Wolf hung up, satisfied with their joint decision, then called down to room service and ordered breakfast.

Chapter 21

The story broke the morning after Wolf’s arrival back in Miami.

His phone started ringing by midmorning. He transferred all the calls to his personal assistant’s office, with instructions to Mark to tell callers he had no further comments at this time.

The AP picked it up, and by evening the story was nationwide, with every news anchor trying to put a new spin on the same information they all had and then digging through the dirt to add his wife’s bloody death in prison to the gore.

He guessed shit hit the fan in the New Orleans world as well, but he didn’t care. More pressure on them to nail the Bullocks before they started flashing money and pulling strings.

He sent Amalie a link to the story in theMiami Herald, with a suggestion to not to respond to calls and, if journalists ran her down, to refuse to give them a story.

“Once the shock wears off of all this, we’ll be old news in no time,” Wolf said, and then he sent Sean a message.

Watch her six, son. The reporters won’t hurt her, but they can be absolute assholes without trying.

Sean sent a three-word reply.

Already on it.

And he was. Every family member in Jubilee had been warned about reporters asking questions, and the police force had been forewarned about the possibility of paparazzi.

But that didn’t faze them. It was business as usual in Jubilee. They’d dealt with the media before because of the entertainment world of the music venues. The minute one of the entertainers started having personal problems that hit the news, the press came looking for photos and scoops on what was going on—like being caught cheating or in the middle of a messy divorce—so the long-lost daughter of a billionaire who was now living in their midst sort of fell into the same category.

Sean had assured her that if some random reporter got in her way, he’d make them sorry. Her thoughts flashed to the bubble-gum fight of their youth and she laughed, but Sean didn’t. After that, she wasn’t so sure he hadn’t meant it. So she accepted that if the cops didn’t run the nosy media out of town, the Popes might take them up the mountain to see the sights.

Either way, their fate was out of her hands.

In the end, Amalie took it all in stride, just as she hadevery other bump in her road, believing eventually it would work itself out. Problems always did.

The bigger excitement in her world was the remodeling going on up at Shirley’s house. They were turning two of the now-empty bedrooms in the house into a master suite and en suite for her and Sean, and as soon as it was finished, they were setting a wedding date.

All she knew was that it was Shirley’s idea, and she was having the time of her life. Sean was working through hammering and sawing and his mother’s sudden appearances in his office, coming in with color swatches and paint chips. It was quite the noisy event up on their quiet mountain.

While down in the valley, Jubilee Elementary was getting ready to reopen. Teachers were preparing themselves for problems, but with the hope that all of the renovations and new desks and new playground equipment would be enough to help them get past it.

And even more helpful, thanks to a huge donation from PCG Inc., a brand-new privacy fence to go with the new playground equipment had gone up behind the school, hiding all of the burned-out area of the crash site. It was the best they could do with a bad situation.

Their first day of school would be the Monday after Easter.

But Sean wasn’t just looking out for Amalie. He’d been keeping his brother’s secret, and tomorrow was the big surprise.

B.J. was coming home, and as soon as Shirley left for town, he raced into B.J.’s old room to put clean sheets on the bed, then dusted and swept it.

Due to Sean’s suggestion, the carpenters weren’t due back for five days. Shirley thought it was because of the holiday weekend, when in truth it was the actual length of time B.J. was getting to stay.

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