Leigh pointed at Nita and Fiona.
“Sisters are supposed to be close, someone you can share secrets with. Someone you can depend on. My sisters didn’t like me, and I knew it by the time I was ten. Why? Because I was smarter than all of you. Taller than both of you, and I didn’t cater to our father’s demands just to stay on his good side. I can see by the age and anger on your faces that you’re still mad, and I still know why. Because I escaped and you didn’t. And you need to know that I don’t think for a minute that either one of you is innocent. You’d just as soon hire a hit man as buy a new pair of shoes if the need arose.”
Fiona gasped, and Nita started crying.
“Yes, cry, sister, cry, just like I cried when I found my husband lying in a pool of blood with a bullet hole in his back and his killer’s name scratched in the dirt.”
Jack Wayne inhaled slowly, mesmerized in spite of himself by the majestic anger in this woman he barely knew. He saw the way her four sons stood beside her in such tight formation, ready at a second’s notice to back her and protect her. Then he thought of the childish behavior of Blake and Justin, fighting this evening like hateful children, and closed his eyes, for the first time wishing he’d retired to the south of France years ago instead of staying on as CEO.
Then Leigh looked at the youngest man at the table.
“I have been given to understand that you’re Blake’s son, Charles. I didn’t know you existed until Constable Riordan told me about you today. I didn’t know what I would think, seeing you for the first time, wondering if you were already too caught up in this family’s sins, or if you were still young enough to escape with your soul.”
She took a step closer to the table, and her sons moved with her.
She leaned forward, staring intently into Charles’s eyes, and then abruptly straightened.
“This one has secrets. Big secrets.”
Blake jerked, and when Charles flushed a dark, angry red, making him look guilty even though she hadn’t specified a thing, everyone saw it.
“Just one more thing, and then we’re gone. Your resort is never going to be built.”
Thirteen
Everyone reacted as if she’d thrown cold water in their faces.
“Not only have we kept you from getting the land you need, I will ruin you in this town. I’ll make it my mission to remind people a man was murdered for the land you stole from good people.”
The shock on their faces was obvious. They were clearly surprised she knew they’d initiated the foreclosures.
“The people of Eden don’t like any of you. Yes, they’re afraid of you, but they don’t like you. And now that one of you has committed murder, they see weakness where once they saw power. The end of your reign hasn’t happened yet, but it will. You are all finished here. You’ll never recoup that money. No one here will buy your land, and it won’t take long for word to spread that the land is cursed by the blood you shed to get it. So if you want to come off looking like you give a shit, then you will make it your business to turn in your killer or face the consequences. I can and I will take every one of you down, and you know it. I’m through here, and if you don’t do the right thing, you’re all through here, too.”
Time had not faded the hate Justin felt for her. He wanted her to shut up. He wanted her gone. He was so angry he was shaking. He saw his steak knife, still greasy from the fat he’d cut away from his meat, and slid his fingers over the handle.
He waited until she was turning away before he leaped from his chair and snatched the knife from the table.
Bowie saw the knife just as Justin drew back to throw it. He reacted without thinking and snatched a bread plate from the table and flung it across the table like a Frisbee, hitting Justin squarely on the bridge of his nose.
“Son of a bitch!” Justin yelled as he dropped the knife, and grabbed at his face as blood spurted. The knife hit the floor as the plate shattered at his feet.
Samuel went one way around the table and Aidan the other, and they took Justin down. Bowie was now standing in front of Leigh, and Michael had her in his arms.
Justin was cursing and kicking, trying to reach for the knife.
Samuel had had enough.
“Hold him, Aidan,” Samuel said. He grabbed the knife with one hand, then straightened and yanked Justin out of Aidan’s grasp with the other. “Settle down!” Samuel said, and shook Justin by the collar to get his attention.
Justin had blood in his eyes and murder on his mind, but he had already accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to happen today, so he quit fighting.
“Bowie! Catch!” Samuel said, and tossed the knife across the table to Bowie, hilt first.
Bowie caught it in midair as Aidan slammed Justin back into his chair.
Justin pointed across the table at Leigh, who had watched the takedown in total silence.