Around this time last year both families had spent a week at the cabin, just before Finn and Violet moved to Asheville to stay close to Gram, who’d insisted on retiring there. “What kind of old lady retires in the mountains, where it gets cold and snowy?” Caitlin had complained to Violet. She’d been devastated that her friends were leaving, though of course she understood that they had to go—aside from Bear, Gram was the only family Violet and Finn had between the two of them. “The awesomely stubborn kind,” Violet had responded fondly. The whole week at the cabin, Caitlin felt like she was grasping at something that was in danger of slipping away, even as the three boys donned their little life vests and fished off the dock with their dads, even as she and Violet motored the pontoon out to the middle of the lake to sunbathe and read, even as they sprawled out with beers on the deck chairs under the stars after the kids were in bed. To her, the cabin would always be a sacred place. Not some kind of twisted hideaway.
“And if I say no, you’re just going to wait until George gets home, tell him what you think you know that you think I wouldn’t want him to know, then wait for the police to show up—which they will, because George will call them immediately and put a stop to all this nonsense? You’re going to take me down with you, just because?”
“I’m not going to take you down with me.” For a second, his voice was almost reassuring. “Because you’re going to give me the keys to the cabin. You’re going to refresh my memory on the directions so I don’t get mixed up on the back roads. And you’re going to give me the code to disable the alarm on the security system.” His eyes bored into hers. “I’ll do whatever it takes, Cait. If you think you’ve seen me desperate before, that was nothing. This is really it.”
“Finn,” Caitlin said as gently as she could, “you love Violet. Violet loves you. And not just in an ordinary way. There was a time not that long ago when if I had to listen to one more person gush about how you two were so destined for each other, I would have puked.” He didn’t crack a smile. “What’s this all about?”
Finn looked away, and Caitlin settled herself onto a stool at the island, hoping he might sit down next to her, talk this through rationally. “This is me, Finn. You can talk to me. I know marriages aren’t always what they seem—but Violet is completely blindsided. What on earth happened? Even without the kidnapping charge—kidnapping!—I can’t believe you’d have walked out on her at all. You two were meant to be.”
He leveled his gaze at her. “Were we?” He sounded exhausted. Weary. The kind of weary that builds over time. Caitlin studied his face.
“Does it matter? You might think you’ve fallen out of love with her, or whatever, but she doesn’t deserve this. And neither does Bear. He needs his mother. We’re going to pick up the phone and call her. It’s that easy.” She held out her cell toward him. “Are you going to do it, or am I?”
Anger sparked in his eyes, and she knew she’d taken the wrong tack. “Stop talking to me like you’re a goddamn hostage negotiator,” he snapped. “I’m not a crazy person. And stop calling me a kidnapper.” He looked genuinely hurt, even shocked, and she wondered if he was only now processing the gravity of what he’d done. Surely not? “It’s just me and my own kid we’re talking about here. My own kid.”
“Also Violet’s kid.” Caitlin couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m calling your bluff,” she said, swiping her finger to unlock her cell screen.
“You still think George is gearing up for that Senate run?” Finn’s voice was eerily calm. “His old man always did have big plans for him. He wraps up that big Hong Kong deal at the end of the year, and then what?”
Caitlin’s thumb hovered over the Call button.
“It would be a shame if he ended up bowing out because something embarrassing came out—personally speaking. I bet that would go over real well with the in-laws. The fact that his wife ruined their lifelong dream for him.”
“I don’t care what his family thinks.”
It was such a blatant lie that Finn didn’t even grant it a response. He simply continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “And he’s already invested so much in the twins’ future. He can’t have you slink off with them. I don’t think the custody battle would be much of a battle, do you? With his family’s resources?”
It was a low blow, aimed strategically at the center of Caitlin’s insecurity, and they both knew it. “George loves me,” she said. “If you insist on telling him, we’ll get through it. He’ll forgive me.” If only her voice weren’t betraying her by trembling so.
Finn strolled to the back door and looked through the glass into the garden. “You know those questionnaires where they ask you to describe someone or something in a single word? I always hated those, because who can be summed up in one lousy word?”
He turned back toward Caitlin. “George can, that’s who. And that word is pride. Heaven help the person who wounds it.”
She glared at him. “You make him sound infallible. It’s not like he’s his father.”
“Funny you mention his father. He’s kind of big on calling in favors, isn’t he?”
Blood rushed furiously to her cheeks. “You would know.”
“I wouldn’t use the word know. I might have an inkling.” He looked down at the floor. “But I remember you telling me once that the incident I think you’re referring to was ‘small potatoes’ to him. Which leaves me wondering what the big potatoes were. I’m guessing he wouldn’t want anyone looking into that. Especially if he has his son in mind to take his former seat.”
Her breath was caught in her throat, but she forced herself to speak. “That would be pretty low of you, Finn. A real nice way to return the favor.”
He shrugged. “The thing is, Cait, I didn’t ask you to bail me out then. I probably would have been better off if you hadn’t! But I’m asking you now.”
Caitlin squinted at her friend. “Is this conversation happening? Are you completely not the guy I knew anymore, or have you just been watching too many action movies? I mean seriously, Finn. Blackmail? You? Me? Come on.”
He shrugged. She’d thought she’d seen Finn at his worst, but she’d never known him to be so cold. Suddenly it didn’t seem so unimaginable that he’d taken Bear. And if he’d done that, what else might he do? “After everything I’ve done for you…” She was shaking, unable to form a coherent thought. “After everything George has done for you…”
“That’s an excellent impression of what he’s going to say. To you.”
He was standing very close to her now. “Mark my words, if you don’t help me, I will tell George the thing we both know you would strongly prefer that George not know. I’ll rekindle media interest in his father’s esteemed political career. And I’ll block his golden boy’s chance of ever having one.” Her tears burned, and at the sight of them his expression softened. “Please don’t make me,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I don’t have another choice.”
Caitlin’s reeling mind grasped for something to hold on to. She had to pull herself together. For the twins. For Violet. For Bear. “Fine. You want another choice? Money will give you plenty. How much do you need? I can get you cash. I can find a way to do it so that George won’t notice.” She hated the sound of the desperation she was unable to keep from her voice. “You name your price, and you do what you want with it, but you leave Bear here.”