One More Day (32 page)

“I understand that part, Jackson.” She shook her head slowly. “You really don’t get it do you? I’m not mad that you have the information. I’m upset you didn’t tell me about it.”

Fury, white and hot, lanced through him. He crossed the room and got right in her face. The fact that she could be angry with him for breaking trust after what his brother had just told him was the epitome of hypocrisy.

“I can’t believe you’re lecturing me about honesty after what you did. How could you do it?” he stammered. “How could you steal from me?”

Ridley shoved him in the chest. He grunted and fell back a step. “I would never steal from you. Or anyone,” she fumed.

He yanked out his phone and pulled up his email. Elliott had told him he’d email over the bank information he’d found. When he found the email, he scrolled to the bottom and held it out to her. She took the phone and stared at it.
 

“But this is my bank account. This is not possible.” Ridley shook her head back and forth slowly. “I didn’t do this. It has to be the person who tried to kill me. I haven’t stolen anything.”

“What happened?” He smoothed her hair back from her face. “Did someone threaten you? If you needed money you
know
you could have just asked me.”
 

“I don’t understand any of this.” She grasped his arms. “Jackson, I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“We don’t have time to wait. Eli and Nick are on their way and knowing Nick, he’s out for blood. He knows I won’t press charges against you but that doesn’t mean he won’t go to the authorities with everything else he found.”

“You won’t press charges,” she whispered.

 
“No. I can’t see you hurt. Even after everything you’ve done. The lies. The theft. As angry as I am, I can’t see you in prison.”

“That’s because you know I wouldn’t do this,” she pleaded. She grasped his face. “Look at me, Jackson. You know I wouldn’t do this. You know
me
.”

“I don’t know anything,” he yelled. “Clearly, I don’t know
anything
because up until a few minutes ago I knew I was in love with you.”

Ridley stilled. “Don’t say that. Not now.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, his heart racing from his impromptu confession. “I definitely would have preferred to tell you that another way.”

“You don’t love me.” She held a hand over his mouth when he started to protest. “You just feel responsible for me. The truth is that you and I, we just got caught up in the magic. You were there for me during one of the most intense times in my life and I’ll never forget that. But it’s time for us to stop fooling ourselves.”

They both turned at the sound of an engine. He walked to the window and cursed. “They’re here. They must have called me while they were on the road.”

She was crying and the sight ripped at his heart. He looked down. It wouldn’t surprise him to see a gaping hole in his chest.
 

“What am I supposed to do?”

Jackson pulled out his wallet and peeled off a few bills. It was ridiculous, trying to give her money when she’d already taken so much from him. Fifty thousand to be exact. But he couldn’t just send her out there with nothing. He tried to hand it to her but she yanked her hand back.

“I don’t want your money!” Ridley spat.

“Just take it. You need to go. Hide out. Eli said the FBI has a whole case file on you. This is so much bigger than the money you took from me.”

“I’m going to prove I didn’t do this. And after I do, I never want to see you again.” She said it with such sad finality that it hurt to hear it.
 

As time stretched between them, a litany of things hung in the air unsaid. He wanted to rage at her, punish her, make her hurt the way he was hurting. He also wanted to tell her that he was worried about her. Worst of all, he wanted to tell her that he didn’t care about the money.
 

He wanted to beg her to stay.

Jackson shook his head. “You know what the most pathetic part is? I would have just given you the money if you’d asked. I loved you that much. I would have given you anything.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “You can’t give me the one thing I need right now. Your trust.”

She walked out and left him standing alone.

RIDLEY GLANCED BEHIND her as she crossed the yard to her sister’s house. She’d left through the back door and hadn’t bothered to rush. Anger made her bold. She almost wished Eli or Nick would try to stop her when she was in this mood.

After punching in the security code, she pushed open the door to her sister’s house for the second time that week. After her argument with Jackson, the quiet in the house was unnerving. The air in the kitchen smelled a little stale so she crossed to one of the windows and pried it open. The breeze was a little too warm to be refreshing but at least it would air things out a bit.

The back edge of the property was dotted with chrysanthemums and there was a pitiful clutch of tulips in a circular bed in the middle of the yard. She smiled to herself at the sight of the tulips. Raina knew they were one of her favorite flowers.
 

Planting flowers had always been one of the first things Ridley did when they moved to a new place. They’d usually been in small apartments or sharing space in someone else’s home but even the smallest place had room for a window box. Staying in Florida while she finished her master’s had been easier than she’d thought due to the beautiful weather and her part-time job at the local nursery.
 

Just one more thing in her life she’d been forced to leave behind.

I should just go back
, she thought, as she stood at the window.
I should leave now before I get in any deeper.

It hurt, being in love with someone who clearly didn’t trust her, much more than she could have ever guessed it would. You’d think after being lied to and stolen from by David, that this wouldn’t even register. But somehow it was worse with Jackson, more personal.
 

Because you thought he felt the same way you did, you idiot.
 

Raina’s house was done in a clean, modern country style, similar to what Ridley herself would have picked out. She settled at one of the oak chairs at the long farmer’s table in the kitchen and looked out the floor to ceiling windows into the backyard. It was already close to dusk and it was more than a little weird to think that people outside could look in and see her.
 

A prickle of awareness made the hair on her neck stand up. If she lived here full-time, she’d definitely get window treatments first thing. It would obscure some of the view but at least she could sit on the main level at night without feeling like she was in a fishbowl.

She needed to call Raina. Her sister was going to be pissed but she also had resources that could be extremely helpful. Whatever other “proof” Elliott had found was clearly damaging. Raina’s security team could probably get access to it.
 

You’ll also need a lawyer.
 

She shuddered. It was crazy that the thought of hiring a lawyer was the final straw that broke her. She swiped at her cheeks angrily. The past month had been overwhelming and instead of things being better they were worse than when she’d started. Crying hadn’t solved anything. Running hadn’t solved anything either.
 

“It’s time to stop running and start fighting.”

She thought of everything she’d experienced in the past week. Images of Mara holding up the sheer nightgowns at the mall merged with images of discussing business ideas with Katie and digging in the dirt with the kids. She’d finally found something worth fighting for. Friends. Community. Love.
 

And she wasn’t giving it up.
 

 
She had friends here now. Her sister was here. Those were good reasons to stay. But most importantly she liked it here. It would be difficult to be so close to Jackson. It would be difficult to be near him and not be with him. Not love him.

But staying in Virginia didn’t have to be about Jackson. The Alexanders had shown her the beauty of community and putting down roots. Not everyone at their family gatherings had been blood relatives but they were still a part of the clan. Maybe she couldn’t find the perfect family she’d always wanted.

But if she was strong enough, maybe she could create one.

*
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
*

“I WOULDN’T HAVE believed it if I hadn’t seen the evidence for myself. I still don’t want to believe it. But there it is.”

Jackson closed his eyes and tried to tune it all out. His brother was still talking but nothing else he was saying really mattered did it? Not when it all circled around to the same thing.
 

The woman he loved was a thief.

“I wish I didn’t have to be the one to show you this.” Elliott sat on the couch next to him. He didn’t say anything else.
 

They both looked up when Nick came in the room. Jackson tensed. Irrational as it was, he especially didn’t want to see Nick right now. He didn’t feel like hearing what an idiot he was for believing she’d loved him.
 

“I brought you some water.” Nick put the glass down on the coffee table and then sat down behind the piano. He played a string of broken notes.
 

Jackson took a big gulp of the drink, then coughed violently as it burned all the way down. “What the hell was that?”

“It’s water. Tonic water.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I might have added a bit of vodka,” Nick conceded. “I figured you could use it.”

Jackson took another sip. Then drained the entire glass. His brother could be an ass but he could also be useful at times. He definitely knew how to nurse him through heartache.
 

He’d done it before.

“We don’t really have to do this now.” Elliott picked up the folders he’d brought with him. They’d been sitting on the table mocking him ever since they’d gotten there.
 

In those folders was more evidence of what a fool he’d been. Pages and pages of transactions, Elliott had said. Evidence of all the scams Ridley had been a part of.

Just the thought made him sick.

“When would be a good time, big brother? When’s a good time to learn the woman you love was using you. I need another drink.”
 

He could already feel a warm buzz. His brother had added a little more than a pinch of vodka but he was okay with it. If he’d ever needed a little liquid amnesia, it was now.

Nick appeared with another glass and Jackson startled. “Shit, you move fast. Or I’m more drunk than I thought.”

“I already had it ready. I know the drill.”

Jackson took a deep swallow. “Yeah, you do. You helped me numb out after Crystal died. What is it about me that makes the women I love want to hurt me, Nick?”

“Is this really the best idea? Do you have to get him drunk?” Eli muttered.

“You have a better idea?” Nick took a deep swallow of his own drink.
 

“Jack, don’t do this to yourself.” Eli took the glass out of his hand and finished it for him.

“Crystal wanted to leave me. Did you know that? We fought that night.” Jackson fell back against the arm of the couch with a groan. “I told her to go. Pushed her out the door into the rain. I didn’t protect her.”

“Jackson. Her accident was not your fault. It was nobody’s fault.” Eli said. There was no mistaking the pity in his brother’s voice. It was there in both of their eyes. The condemnation.
 

“Just tell me, Eli. I need to know. Maybe it’ll make it hurt less.”

“All right. The FBI has pending case files for four other women that they suspect were helping David Finemore in a range of fraud schemes." He held up the papers in his hand. “These are just a few of the names I found. Our boy was busy. But I noticed something interesting about his credit history.”

“More interesting than wire fraud and just being an all-around douchebag?” Nick asked.
 

Jackson snorted.
 

“Yeah. According to David’s driver’s license, he’s twenty-nine. So he should have a good decade of credit history. But he doesn’t. There’s a period three years ago where he had no activity at all for about six months. I have a theory as to why.”

His cell phone rang and he pulled it out and looked at the screen. “Hold on. I have to take this.”

Jackson blinked several times. He was starting to feel numb and wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
 

“Really? No, no, that’s good. Send it over.” Elliott hung up.

“Who was that?” Nick asked.

Elliott ran a hand over his face. “I had one of my guys check even further back into David’s history. I had a hunch and it looks like I was right.”

“What did he find?” Jackson asked dispiritedly. It was taking everything within him to act as though he cared. Truthfully, he just wanted them to leave him alone in his misery.
 

It didn’t really matter to him how David had committed his crimes. Ridley had gotten hooked up with him and it had ruined her life. Now his life. But there was nothing he could do about it. He eyed the empty glass on the coffee table.
 

Eli pulled out his laptop and powered it up. A few clicks later, he sat back on the couch. “See for yourself. He just sent it to me.”

Nick got up and stood behind the couch. “Who is that on the left.”

“That’s the real David Finemore.” He turned the laptop around so Jackson could see. Two pictures were displayed. They both looked like driver’s license photos.