“She said no.”
“She said no and I told her I was going to you. That’s when she showed me a video of the two of us together and threatened to take it to my wife. I was out then, but I kept tabs on things, waiting to see if you needed me. And that brings me to where this is headed. I knew when you sued her for the property and I wanted you to win. I would have offered to fund your legal fees, but you hated me and wouldn’t even speak to me, and if your mother found out, I was at risk with my wife.”
“Why would my father want me to inherit the winery if it put me in danger?”
“This was ten years ago, Faith. I buried the mercury. The CIA buried the mercury. And you were not going to sell, which means no one who wants the mercury could get it.”
“I still don’t see where this is going. What is the emergency? Are those men back? Did my mother contact them?”
“If those men are back on the radar, they’re working smarter this time.”
My heart starts to race. “What do you know? Just tell me.”
“I followed the legal case between you and your mother. I know who your attorney was and I know who her attorney was.”
“And?”
He sets a folder in front of me. “Look inside.”
I flip it open and I’m staring at a birth certificate for a Nick Marks. Mother: Melanie Marks. Father: Nathan Marks. The attorney who represented my mother. My heart is now skipping beats. I flip the document to find a court document changing the name of Nick Marks to Nick Rogers.
I swallow and I almost choke. I can’t catch my breath. I can’t breathe. “I need to go,” I say, but he catches my arm.
“Easy, honey. Let me help you.”
“No. No. I—”
“Listen to me,” he says firmly. “If he’s involved with the mercury hunters, this is bad news. We need to come up with a plan together.”
“I need to go,” I say, pulling away from him. “I’ll call you. I just…not now.” I all but run for the door, and barely remember the moment I get in the car. Nick’s car. Oh God. My entire life is wrapped around a man conning me. So many things don’t add up, but the bottom line is that Nick is Nathan Mark’s son. He never told me that. I start the engine and I don’t even know where I’m headed. I end up parked in the parking lot of the high rise that is supposed to be our new home.
I sit there thirty seconds, or maybe thirty minutes. I have no concept of time. My phone rings and I reach for it, my hand shaking as I find Nick calling. I answer it.
“Hey sweetheart,” he says.
His voice, rich and masculine and beautiful and deceitful tears holes in my heart. “I know,” I say.
“What?”
“Nick Marks. I know who you are.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Nick
Nick Marks.
That name is a blade in my heart. The connection to my father that brought me to Faith. It’s also the connection I’ve always known could rip her out of my reach. “Faith, sweetheart—”
“Don’t speak,” she orders, her voice breathless. “It won’t help you. And it just hurts me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
“And yet you did.”
“Where are you? I’ll come to you and explain.”
“You made me trust again and now you made sure that I will never trust anyone again.”
Rita and North walk into my office. “Get the fuck out,” I snap.
Rita’s eyes go wide and North is already tucking tail and running. Rita backs out and shuts the door. “Where are you?”
“Was it the mercury? Were you after a big payoff? Of course you were. Money loves money.”
“What mercury? Faith, talk to me.”
“So you can lie again. And again. And again.”
“We have to talk. Where are you?”
“I don’t want to see you, Nick. Not now or ever.”
“I love you, Faith. I love you so much it hurts.”
“Liar,” she says, her voice quaking.
“Faith—”
“Don’t find me. Don’t call me. And let me be clear. If you show up at my work, at the winery, at my home, I will call the police. Don’t test me. You think you’re a badass, but liars aren’t badasses. They’re just bad people. I left your BMW in the parking lot of your new apartment.”
She ends the call. I try to call her back and it goes directly to voice mail. “Fuck.” I call again. And again. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I face the window and press my hand on the glass, my head tilted downwards. “Fuck. I cannot lose her.”
I straighten and dial Beck. “Mercury. This is about mercury. I don’t know how or any details except that. Connect the fucking dots. I need answers. And hack the autopsy report. I need that now, too.”
“Faith knows.”
“Yes, she fucking knows.”
“Then Bill is behind this. He showed up near her office and I couldn’t get through to you to tell you.”
“So he told her who I am and that there is mercury on the property.”
“He made her believe you want the property for the mercury.”
“Obviously. He turned his intentions into mine and my damn lie allowed it to happen. Where is she now?”
“She went to Sara and Chris Merit’s apartment.”
“Of course. The one place I can’t get to her at and she knows it.” I scrub my jaw. “At least she’s safe. Get me answers. I can’t go to her and make my case without answers.”
“I hack that report daily. It hasn’t been input yet.”
“You have mercury now. Connect the dots.”
“If he believed that connected the dots, he wouldn’t have given it to her.”
“Connect the fucking dots.” I hang up and dial Abel.
“Hey hoe, what the fuck is up?”
“I don’t care whose house you have to go to, or what you have to do, but you get me those autopsy reports.”
“She knows.”
“Yes. She knows. Get me the reports.” I hang up.
My phone rings and it’s Chris Merit. “What the hell did you do, man?”
“It’s not what it seems and I’m not going to explain that to you. All I will say is that I love her. I love her the way you love Sara. I ordered her a ring. I bought an apartment to customize a studio for her.”
“Well, I’m not an advice kind of guy, and she’s not saying anything other than you betrayed her in an unforgivable way.”
“I didn’t cheat. I knew who she was before I met her and didn’t tell her. At the time I didn’t plan on fucking her, let alone falling in love with her. And that’s all I’m saying.”
“Fair enough. What’s your move?”
“What I want to do is pick her up, tie her to my bed, and make her stay until she listens.”
“You do that and you had better have a way to justify lying to her because this cuts deep. She’s not good, Nick. You hurt her. You hurt her bad.”
“I know. And that guts me.”
“Get your ducks in a row and give her some time to process.”
“Right. Time. A barbaric form of torture.”
We end the call and I say “fuck you” to time and waiting. I text Faith: Your uncle set me up. It’s not what it seems. I love you. I want to marry you, Faith. Please talk to me.
I get an error message. She’s blocked me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Faith