“Enough of what? You know what’s true as well as I do. The least you can do is tell me the truth about you and my father. I deserve that much.”
He sighed. “I can see why Ryan loves you. That fiery spirit. I couldn’t resist it when I was younger either. It got me into a lot of trouble. A fiery woman was always my downfall.”
Wendy. He was talking about Wendy. Maybe Daphne as well. I didn’t know anything about her except that she’d been mentally unstable.
“I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Good. We’ll need to go out on the deck. I can’t leave Juliet alone. She’s very fragile right now. Because of what my father and you have put her through.”
“I’ll sit with Juliet,” Marabel said. “Why don’t the two of you go into your study, Mr. Steel?”
“She needs me, Marabel.”
“She’ll be fine with me, Miss Ruby. Look at her. She’s in love with those pups.”
“Marabel will look after her. She’s good with children. She’s done this before.”
I widened my eyes. Before? Did they rescue others and bring them here? Or was he talking about the boys the “lady” had mentioned?
“Follow me,” he said.
I felt no fear of Brad Steel, though maybe I should have. Just because he resembled the man I loved and his wonderful brothers didn’t mean he had the same ethics. I followed him into the corridor that housed the room Juliet and I were staying in. His office was on the other side of the hallway. Probably exactly the same room where Talon had his office at home.
He took a seat behind a large oak desk and nodded toward a few leather chairs on the other side of the desk.
I sat and looked down. I was wearing silk pajamas. I’d forgotten. Brad hadn’t seemed surprised. Did they provide pajamas for a lot of women? I was about to find out.
He stared at me for a moment. “You don’t look much like Theo. Just the hair color.”
“Your sons and daughter all look exactly like you.”
“They do. I must have dominant genes.”
“Except Ryan has his mother’s nose.” I wasn’t sure why I said that.
“He does.” Brad sighed. “So you want to know about your father and me.”
“Yes. The truth, please.”
“What makes you think you don’t already know the truth?”
“Were you there? Are you the one who drugged me with chloroform the night I was taken from my apartment?”
“Yes. And I’m sorry for my part in it, but I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Not always. Not when the choice is to do something you find distasteful or see everything you hold dear destroyed.”
“You’re Brad Steel. Owner of Steel Acres. Billionaire. How exactly does anyone hold any power over you?”
“Your father has a little. But there’s someone else who has a lot. I won’t discuss that. I will discuss your father.”
“All right. I’m listening.”
“We were friends once. We’re not anymore.”
“Then why did you go with him and drug me? Bring me here?”
“I had my reasons, and we’ll get to that.”
“Fine.”
“Four of us—your father, Tom Simpson, Larry Wade, and myself—formed a club in high school.” He sighed, threading his fingers through his thick salt-and-pepper hair. “God, how I’ve come to regret those innocent first days.”
He pushed his chair back. “Tom and Larry were the actual future lawyers. Your father and I had no interest in the law. I knew I’d be running the ranch, and your father was bound and determined to become rich. He got Tom and Larry into that mindset, so we decided to start a business.”
I knew where this was going. Wendy had told Ryan and me how it had started small. Just a reselling of products in demand at inflated prices. Innocent enough. Until they got into drugs…and people.
“I had money, so I offered to back the business for a quarter of the partnership. I’d be a silent partner. It started out innocently enough, and the four of us made some cash.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Then we had two people approach us, asking to join the club. First was Rodney Cates. He’d been trying to date your aunt, your father’s sister. He thought making friends with her brother would help his case. Turned out he had a mind for numbers.”
“Numbers? He’s a linguistics professor.”
“I didn’t say he was interested in numbers. But he was good at them. So we put him to work on the financials. Let him in for five percent.”
“Okay.”
“Things were going along pretty smoothly, until we had another person approach us for membership.”
I sighed. “Wendy.”
“Yes. Wendy Madigan. A junior varsity cheerleader. All-American girl. Sweet like the girl next door. Or so she seemed.”
“She’s crazy.”
“She is. She’s also got an IQ that’s nearly off the charts, though we didn’t know either of those things at the time.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“From whom?”
“My father. And Larry, before he died.”
“Don’t expect me to tear up on Larry Wade’s behalf.”
“Why would I expect that? I know what he and my father did to Talon. You don’t owe any of them any sympathy. Frankly, I can’t understand why you have anything to do with my father at all.”
“We have a common enemy. A lethal enemy. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don’t have a choice. Larry and Tom are gone, and your uncle has enough to deal with, losing his daughter and his wife, for all intents and purposes. Your father and I are the only ones who can try to right all the wrongs now.”
“My father’s interested in righting wrongs? I witnessed him murder my boss less than a week ago, Mr. Steel. I don’t think he’s interested in righting any wrongs.”
“He wasn’t. Not until you got involved.”
“Why would that matter? Maybe my father has neglected to tell you, but he tried to rape me when I was fifteen. I got away.”
“No, he didn’t tell me. But it doesn’t surprise me in the least.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t. How could you let all of this happen? To your own son, for God’s sake.” I gripped the arms of the chair, my knuckles white.
“That is for Talon to know first, and I didn’t let anything happen.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Just tell me about my father, then.”
“He was greedy. He and the others didn’t come from money like I did. When the money started coming in, they were astounded. They wanted more.”
“I know all this. From Wendy.”
“Wendy isn’t the most reliable source of information,” he said.
“Probably not, but what she told Ryan about your business makes perfect sense.”
“Wendy tells the truth when she thinks it will benefit her. Unfortunately, this last bout she had with the truth broke a promise to me. I don’t intend to let that lie.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ryan
Raj covered his ears. “Damn it, mon! We’ve got to leave them.”
I turned on him. “We are not leaving them.” If we did, I didn’t know what would happen to Talon…except that it wouldn’t be good.
Talon held the boy to his chest. “Shh. You see? I took off the mask. I’m just a normal person, like you. Only the men who wear masks hurt you.”
The boy still sobbed.
“You two,” Talon said. “Take off your masks. Show him he doesn’t need to be scared.”
“Mon…”
“Do it!” I commanded Raj. “Just fucking do it!”
Raj sighed and pulled off his mask as I did the same.
“See?” Talon said. “We’re not going to hurt you. I promise. As long as you’re with us, you’re safe.”
The larger of the two boys still cowered in the corner.
“Ryan, get that one.”
I walked forward, and the little boy cringed. My heart nearly broke in two. How could anyone hurt a child? “Please,” I said. “It’s okay. We’re friends. I promise.”
He choked back a sob but didn’t recoil when I reached for him. I pulled him into my arms.