Summer Lovin (23 page)

“It's been too long and I needed sustenance.”

She laughed. “That's a unique excuse.”

Despite it all, he grinned. “I didn't know I needed one.”

“Well, I can't have you thinking I'm yours for the taking, now can I?” She patted his cheek and strode past him up the stairs.

He appreciated her sass and the way she didn't treat him with kid gloves or pity. Another reason this woman was a keeper, whether she knew it or not.

 

B
ALDWIN'S DEPARTMENT STORE
was located in downtown Boston. With traffic and construction hampering them, the trip took over an hour. A silent hour that left Ryan alone with his thoughts and Zoe with hers.

Faith's words had been a bombshell, Zoe knew, one big enough that Ryan wanted her by his side when he confronted his uncle, a man he'd always trusted and loved like the kind of parent he should have had.
The kind of parent he'd deserved,
she thought.

Finding out his idol and mentor had feet of clay had obviously hurt him badly. Zoe saw the pain in his eyes, the disappointment in his expression. She'd even felt the desperation in his kiss. She couldn't deny him what he needed and she would be there to see him through this difficult time.
Then
she would put her plan in motion and begin the painful process of separation—Zoe and her family from Sam—and Zoe from Ryan.

She let Ryan walk ahead of her and, acting on a hunch, placed a quick call to Quinn. He'd been looking into the Baldwin family during the years right before and after Faith had run away and she wanted to know what he'd found out. Sure enough, the guy in custody in Boston who'd been following Sam was connected to the mob. The son of a man who'd been involved in the hijacking of the Baldwin's trucks years before. Zoe was certain Uncle Russ had hired the man to stalk Sam. Anger, fury and pain for Ryan all surged through her.

Uncle Russ had a lot of explaining to do and Zoe knew it would take all of her restraint to allow Ryan to deal with his uncle without her going after him on her own.

They entered Baldwin's from an underground parking structure and took the elevator to the main floor. Since they hadn't yet taken Sam on her promised shopping trip, this was Zoe's first excursion into one of their stores and she was impressed with the upscale establishment.

They made their way to a bank of private elevators that led to the office level, and once there, Ryan asked to see his uncle. He was granted immediate access and Zoe followed him down a long hall to a corner office. He knocked once and walked inside.

Since Russ's secretary had called ahead, the other man was standing when they entered. “Well this is a nice surprise.” His gaze shifted from his nephew to Zoe. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Zoe merely waited.

Ryan shut the door behind him. “It's time we talk.”

She heard the strain in his voice and her heart went out to him, but all she could do was stand there and listen.

“I always have time for you, but we talk all the time. Why the visit to my office?” Russ glanced from the closed door to his nephew's severe expression and grew suddenly wary, shuffling papers on the desk for no apparent reason.

When Ryan didn't answer right away, Uncle Russ gestured to the chairs circling his desk. “Shall we sit?”

“I'd rather stand.” Ryan rolled his shoulders and Zoe could only imagine the tension sitting upon them. “You know, when Zoe told me she thought you had an unusual interest in the keys around Sam's neck, I told her she was crazy.”

Maybe it was Zoe's imagination, but she thought the older man lost some of his ruddy complexion, paling at Ryan's words as he eyed Zoe with barely concealed anger before shifting his gaze back to his nephew.

“Even when I agreed to look into the keys, I was humoring her. I figured best-case scenario, Sam finds out a little more about her mother, and worst case, I waste an afternoon. Not once did I believe you'd been involved in Faith's disappearance. Not you, the man who'd undertaken his own investigation to find her.” His voice rose with all the hurt, anger and betrayal he must be feeling.

Zoe sensed the power behind Ryan's words. Her stomach jumped with equal doses of anticipation about what his uncle would admit to, and empathy for Ryan's obvious pain.

“And what exactly did you find?” Russ asked, suddenly more relaxed.

Zoe felt certain the man figured Ryan's fishing expedition had been as fruitless as his own. Ryan's initial indignation no longer threatened the older man, but he would soon find out he was deluded, she thought.

“The first thing I discovered was that Zoe's hunch about you was correct. You'd visited the bus station a few hours before we did. So I wondered, what in the world could you be looking for?”

“Ryan, surely you know I've always had your best interests at heart.”

“I thought so. Up until our search led us to the contents of Faith's locker.”

“That's impossible!” His uncle propelled himself forward, righteous certainty in his voice. “They told me there was nothing to be found.”

“Unless you know the right questions to ask,” Zoe said, unable to contain her pride in Ryan.

“It doesn't matter how we found Faith's things,” Ryan said, stepping between them. “What matters is that she left behind a note documenting everything that led up to her running away.”

Uncle Russ walked to his side of the desk and lowered himself into his large, leather chair. “You can't possibly believe the ravings of a seventeen-year-old drug addict.” That he was no longer eye to eye with Ryan, but gripping the armrests hard, gave away the measure of his fear.

“You wouldn't look so worried right now unless you knew for sure Faith's words were more than ravings.”

“That's nonsense,” his uncle said in return.

A muscle ticked in Ryan's jaw. “Still in denial?”

Tension radiated between the men and she sensed Ryan's disappointment in the uncle he'd idolized throughout his life. Even cornered, he wasn't man enough to own up to his actions.

She had to clench her fists in order to prevent herself from calming Ryan down. He needed to do this and she needed to let him.

“So tell me just what it is you think you know,” Russ said dismissively, speaking to Ryan as if he was nothing more important than an annoying little boy.

A pathetic old man's last bid to dominate the nephew he claimed to love, Zoe thought. But she knew Russ's attempt to cause Ryan to back down was doomed to failure.

“What do I know?” Ryan mimicked, then stormed across the room and braced both arms on the desk. In mood and in action, he took charge. “Dad already mentioned the mob-related truck hijackings that took place during the years Faith was most troubled. Thanks to her letters, I know
you
were involved with organized crime. That you gave them Baldwin's trucking schedules.” His voice was filled with disdain. “And I know that select vehicles with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of electronics were hijacked.”

“Coincidence.”

“Bullshit,” Ryan countered. “Because I also know you'd increased the insurance appraisal and made yourself a hefty sum of money without revealing
that
to my father. And I'm certain the mob sold the goods they stole and made a bundle. It was the perfect scam until Faith found out and confronted you, so you needed to get her out of the way.”

“It sounds like a work of fiction.” But Russ's eyes darted from side to side, his panic obvious.

And Zoe clung to every word. Though she'd thought Russ had an unusual interest in the keys, in her wildest dreams, she'd never imagined Russ was involved in something like this.

“By the way, I also know that it wasn't Faith's choice to run away. You gave her money and told her to take a hike because everyone at home would be better off with her gone and nobody would miss her once she disappeared.”

Zoe winced as Ryan revealed the most painful betrayal of all.

Ryan's throat hurt from hurling the truth at his uncle without letting his anger overwhelm him completely. His heart ached with the knowledge that the one man he'd trusted had let him down in this way. The only thing keeping him together right now was Zoe, who stepped up and silently clasped her hand inside his.

“You must be taking Faith's words out of context,” Russ said, his voice shaking, his fear real.

But not as real as his sister's must have been, Ryan thought. “How could you?” he asked barely concealing his disdain.

Russ's eyes suddenly blazed with emotion. “How could I? I'll tell you how. I was Faith's only ally in that house, just like I've been yours. I was the one who comforted her when her parents yelled and passed judgment. I bailed her out of trouble more times than your family knows about. Especially that last time.”

Ryan's legs shook and he lowered himself into the nearest chair. Zoe remained behind him, her hand on his shoulder and he appreciated her steady support. “What are you talking about?” Because for all his sister had revealed in her letter, he'd sensed there was much she hadn't said.

And unfortunately, Uncle Russ was the only one who could fill in the blanks. It was up to Ryan to decide whether or not to believe him.

His uncle rose and paced the small area behind his desk. Sun shone in from the plate-glass window behind him, but Ryan felt as if the sky were full of black clouds.

“Your sister had been doing drugs for years,” Uncle Russ began. “I didn't know where she got them and I didn't ask. I tried to get her into treatment and I paid for shrinks your parents didn't know about, but the bottom line was, Faith was messed up and she still had to go home to that dysfunctional house every night. Therapy wasn't working. So when she came to me that last time, I had no choice.”

“But to throw her out?” Ryan asked, unable to contain his sarcasm.

Zoe's hand squeezed his shoulder tighter.

“To bail her out and send her away.” Russ shook his head, the bachelor looking older than his years for the first time in Ryan's memory.

But Ryan wasn't ready to believe that easily. He swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

“Your sister ran out of money to support her habit. Your parents weren't giving her cash and I sure wasn't helping her kill herself. We all thought she'd give in and let herself be helped. But she began to borrow money from a
friend
at school. The
friend
turned out to be connected and when Faith couldn't pay him back, he threatened her. And she came to me.”

Ryan rubbed his hand over his burning eyes. He refused to be conned, but so far the story made sense. “Go on.”

“I met with this
friend
who brought his boss. They were only too willing to let me take on her debt. In fact they'd had it planned all along, using your sister's addiction to further their bottom line. Threatening Faith was never about the couple of hundred dollars she owed. They wanted a cut of Baldwin's profits. And they wouldn't leave her be until they got it.”

His voice cracked and his eyes glazed over as he remembered. “They promised the truck hijacking would be a one-time thing. If I turned over the trucking schedule, they'd pick the shipment. They'd let me know with plenty of time to up the insurance so I could make some money off it too.” He looked down, shame briefly clouding his expression. “But that was peanuts in comparison to their take when they sold the goods on the street.”

Ryan's head began to pound, but he forced himself to focus on what was most important. “Why did you pay Faith to leave?”

Uncle Russ slammed his hand on the desk, making Ryan flinch.

“You're a smart man, Ryan. Use your brain. Faith had a drug habit. She wasn't getting better. Hell, she just didn't care. Living at home, she was destined to repeat the cycle and I was afraid Baldwin's would be in bed with the mob forever, to use a cliché. But I hoped that if she got away from the situation that caused her to turn to drugs in the first place, maybe she'd get better.”

“That's the most naive thing I've ever heard,” Ryan muttered.

“And stupid. But this was seventeen years ago. What did I know about addiction? As the only person who was thinking clearly about the business and the family, I had to consider the possibility that Faith was on such a destructive path, eventually she'd cause someone in the family to get hurt. We were already involved with the mob. What was next?” He glanced at Ryan, his eyes imploring. “You have to believe me. At the time I thought I had no choice.”

Considering what a shock all this was, and knowing his uncle had made a profit off the scheme, at the moment Ryan wasn't sure what to believe. “Yet you lied and told us all that Faith stole money from you to run away.”

“That wasn't far from the truth. She stole the key to my briefcase along with false insurance papers documenting a shipment worth more than the actual goods.”