Slow Burn (A Madaris Family Novel) (25 page)

“Yes,” Clayton answered. “And they’ll watch Slade’s back. But just to be on the safe side, Jake contacted the sheriff. He promised to keep a low profile while we checked out everything,” Clayton said of the man who was a fishing friend of Jake’s and a huge fan of Diamond. “He also told Jake that he knows the police chief of Augusta, if he needs to intervene.”

“That’s good,” Dex said.

“He’s also having one of his men keep an eye on this place as well as the Madaris Building,” Clayton added. “It’s my guess that Bigelow is on his way back to Maine, fairly certain that warning stunt he pulled tonight will send Skye flying back to him in forty-eight hours.”

As they stepped off the elevator, Alex said, “I plan to have everything wrapped up before then, and Bigelow and whoever is involved will regret the day they started this.”

Slade crossed the room to sit beside Skye on the sofa. “You’ve gotten quiet on me,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand in his.

A sob welled up in Skye’s throat, but she forced it back down as she met Slade’s gaze. “I can just imagine what your family think of me, especially Justin. None of this would have happened had I not decided to get to know Vincent. I should have seen long ago that Wayne wasn’t wrapped too tight, and ended things between us. I should not have been so weak as to let my parents dictate how my future was going to be and with whom.”

Love, more than any man had a right to have for any one woman, flowed through Slade. He gently tightened his hold on her hand. “First of all, my family, specifically Justin, think the same thing that I do, that you are a beautiful and wonderful person. And don’t ever think any of our lives would have been better had you not shown up that day at Lorren Oaks. Surely not Vincent’s and definitely not mine. Vincent had a right to know about you, just like you had a right to know about him. I think your biological mother would have wanted that. And as for me, just think of how my life would be now without you in it.”

Leaning forward and holding her within the scope of his stare, he whispered huskily, “You are the best thing to ever happen to me. We’re in this together and pretty soon everything will be over. And if it’s your parents who are the ones pushing Bigelow to do what he’s doing, then we’ll deal with it. But no matter what, we won’t let them or anyone come between us. I love you and I will always love you.”

“Oh, Slade.”

A sigh shook her petite frame as his words rang in her head and settled deep in her heart. He gathered her into his arms, then shifted his body for the two of them to stretch out together on the sofa. Luckily it was large enough to accommodate the both of them.

He kissed her, his mouth hot, hungry, and urgent. He wanted to remove her fears and to let her know that everything would be all right. She could unleash passion so quickly within him, and as he began removing her clothes and then his own, he knew that what Clayton had said tonight was true. She was one classy lady, and if anyone married her, it would be him.

Wayne Bigelow checked his watch as he moved around the Atlanta airport to catch his connecting flight to Maine. He smiled, pretty sure that he and Skye understood each other.

He had a couple hours’ layover, so he found a good spot to make a call. The party picked up on the second ring. “What do you have to report?”

Wayne smiled, knowing the caller would be happy with his news. “Everything has been arranged. Skye is returning to Maine in two days.”

There was a pause. “And she agreed to do it?”

“Not willingly at first, but then I showed her I meant business. She knows what she stands to lose if she doesn’t cooperate.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Wayne chuckled, feeling pretty confident. “I’m right. You’ll see.”

Alex slipped out of bed beside his sleeping wife and went into a room in his home that he used whenever he preferred working away from the office. It contained some of the same equipment and was set up like a command center with so much state-of-the-art equipment.

He went to a special detailed telephone and punched in one number. It connected to a computer that sounded a lot like a fax machine kicking on. He then went to the keyboard on his computer and began typing several names. The machine blinked a few times before information started appearing on the screen. He pushed the printer button.

He turned and switched on the coffeepot he kept in the room as he sat down and watched the printer spit out pages and pages of information. He rubbed his hand down his face, thinking of the hot spot he’d given up beside his wife in bed and that it was destined to be a long night.

“Okay, what do you have?” Justin asked when everyone had
arrived at Alex’s office in the Madaris Building around ten the next morning. Alex had called everyone to say he’d found out some rather interesting information he wanted to share. However, he preferred that Skye not hear it now.

It had taken a lot for Slade to leave her alone at the condo to attend the meeting. It was only after another Madaris family friend by the name of Drake Warren had shown up and assured Slade that he would remain downstairs in the lobby as a watchdog until Slade returned did he relent.

Sir Drake, as he was known to everyone, was a former Marine and CIA agent. After one look at him no one in their right mind would want to tangle with him. But just to make sure, Marine colonel Ashton Sinclair, also another family friend, decided to keep Drake company.

Trevor, who was a former Marine himself and a close friend to Drake and Ashton, was the one to pick Slade up from the condo. No one wanted to risk his being alone in case Wayne decided to pull another warning stunt.

Clayton was glad his appointment that morning at the courthouse had gotten canceled. The last thing he wanted was to miss anything Alex had to say. All of them had known Alex long enough to know that he took his job as a private investigator seriously, and that when it came to handling a case, he was very thorough. He had contacts in high places and had a method of digging up information some people would rather keep hidden. No one questioned his sources. They didn’t have to. He always delivered.

“These are theories and not absolutes. I’m still obtaining information, but I found out a couple of things you all might find interesting.”

“Such as?” his brother, Trask, asked.

“After listening to what Skye said last night, there were two things that bothered me,” Alex said. “This whole issue of a trust fund and what’s driving Bigelow. I do have concrete proof that Wayne Bigelow is a compulsive gambler. In fact, he’s so buried in debt that it isn’t funny. He definitely sees Skye as a meal ticket, as well as seeing his own trust fund that he’ll be able to inherit as a blessing. However, he has to marry Skye to get it.”

“Who made that decision?” Justin asked. He knew in certain countries such a thing was the norm and that here in some parts of our own country arranged marriages were a growing trend instituted by family members or religious leaders. He and Lorren had been asked to join one sort of private organization that prided itself on making sure their offspring were surrounded by other children of the same social and economic class, which would make things easier years later when they got ready to choose their mates. Justin and Lorren had turned down membership after deciding to let their children be the ones to determine the people they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with.

“Bigelow’s grandfather. He died eight years ago,” Alex said.

“Why did he choose Skye?” Slade asked. “Was he close to the Barclays?”

“No,” Alex said. “And I have nothing to indicate the two families even knew each other. But there is a family name that kept popping up a lot during my investigation.”

Clayton lifted a brow. “And what name is that?”

“Baines.”

Trask also lifted a brow. “As in Congressman Baines and Senator Baines?”

“Yes. It appears that Bigelow’s grandfather and the congressman were good friends who became business partners around thirty years ago, before the congressman got into politics. For some reason, the two agreed on a marriage between Skye and Bigelow before the two of them were ten years old.”

Dex, who’d been pacing, finally stopped and asked, “Why would the congressman care enough about a kid who wasn’t related to him to do such a thing?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Alex said. “Someone didn’t want any of this information revealed and did a good job of covering it up by several means. It was one heck of a maze trying to trace back everything and fit together pieces of the puzzle, including who set up this very generous trust fund for Skye in the first place.”

“And who was this very bighearted individual?” Clayton asked.

Alex glanced at all five men before he finally said, “Congressman Baines and his deceased wife.”

He waited for the men to digest what he said before delivering the final piece. “Another thing I discovered. Although it was hard to do, because Maine has some tough privacy laws thanks to my database and numerous contacts I was able to.”

“What?” Trask asked.

“When Tom and Edith Barclay adopted Skye some twenty-six years ago, it was a very, very private adoption.”

“It couldn’t have been too private, since Skye managed to find out the identity of her biological mother,” Slade said.

“Well, someone made a mistake there,” Alex said. “A possible error on a nun’s part in recording the information when she shouldn’t have. But anyway, it seems Skye’s biological mother’s parents convinced her to give the child up for adoption since she was only sixteen. They sent her out of the country, away to London, to do it. Kathy Lester lived at the convent there for six months before she delivered. The only stipulation was that the baby was to be adopted by an American family.”

Trevor nodded. “And that was the Barclays?”

“Yes, but what Skye probably doesn’t know is that the very private adoption was arranged secretly, even without her biological mother’s or grandparents’ knowledge, by none other than Congressman Baines.”

Skye tried to keep busy while Slade was gone and had cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen twice. She wished there was some way she could go into work and stay busy, but Slade had said that was out of the question. They would take the day off and enjoy it. Of course that was before he had gotten called away.

The sound of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. She hoped it was Slade and not Wayne calling. Everyone had agreed that if Wayne called, she should continue to convince him she was going to do as he’d ordered and return to Maine, and that she was still packing to leave.

When she got to the phone she was surprised to see the caller was neither Slade nor Wayne but her father and he was calling from his office. She wasn’t sure she should answer it but decided to do so. She hadn’t spoken to either of her parents since leaving Maine; however, as she flipped up the phone she had to remember it had been their choice.

“Dad?”

“Skye? It’s good to hear your voice.”

She lifted a brow. “Is it, Dad? I called to talk to you and Mom several times over the past three weeks and both of you refused to talk to me.”

“Well, that was before you came to your senses. Wayne joined us for breakfast this morning and told us the good news.”

Skye’s father’s words pierced whatever hope she was holding that he’d called because he was concerned about her. Her heart felt crushed. The only reason he was calling was because he’d heard that his difficult daughter had decided to become manageable again.

“I guess I don’t have to tell you how happy your mother and I are that the wedding is back on. We think you’ve made the right decision.”

Conscious of the dull, painful ache in her heart, she asked, “But what if things don’t work out between me and Wayne? What if after marrying him I find he’s not acceptable to me as a husband?”

“He’s the right man for you, sweetheart. You’ll see. With all that money the two of you will be getting, you’ll be plenty happy.”

She frowned. Her father thought all it took for happiness was money.

“Your mom has been in contact with Marjorie Bigelow. The two of them are getting together for lunch.”

And plan my wedding the way they want it to go, not caring what I would want,
Skye thought. They’d never asked her for any suggestions of what she preferred in the way of colors, flowers, cake…nothing. They’d even gone so far as to tell her who would be her bridesmaids. Daughters of women who were within their inner circle, regardless of whether they were her actual friends or not.

“Well, I’d better let you go,” her father was saying. “When can we expect you?”

“Sometime tomorrow afternoon,” she said, making sure her arrival time was within the forty-eight hours.

“Wayne mentioned that he would be the one picking you up from the airport. He has your engagement ring and intends for you to start wearing it again.”

The thought of that actually made Skye feel sick.

“Good-bye, Skye.”

“Good-bye, Dad. Oh, and please tell Wayne he doesn’t need to pick me up from the airport tomorrow. I can take a cab.”

She hung up the phone the exact moment she heard a key in her door. She looked up as Slade walked in. Evidently he read the expression on her face and saw the phone she still held in her hand, and he asked in a concerned voice, “Who was that?”

She inhaled as she crossed the room to him. “My dad. He was just calling to let me know that Wayne had breakfast with him and Mom and they are happy the wedding is back on again.”

Slade took her into his arms. He knew that was the last thing she wanted of her parents. She had wanted them for once to be in her corner.

She pulled back out of his arms. “How did the meeting go? Did you find out anything?”

He knew he had to tell her what Alex had uncovered so far and, as a result, in what directions their thoughts were headed and what their plans were. Slade was a person who never liked putting puzzles together. But with this particular one, things seemed to be falling into place. The key had been the uncovering of vital information about his adoption. More than likely, the congressman figured he had pretty much covered his tracks. Thanks to Alex the man would soon find out just how wrong he was. Once again Slade’s great-grandmother’s famous saying “Anything you do in the dark will eventually come to the light” hailed true.

He looked down into Skye’s anxious face. In a way she was a lot stronger than she had been when he’d first met her. She had made decisions that had gone against what her parents wanted for her, and she was still doing that. Deciding not only to find Vincent but also to establish a relationship with him had been her first defiant act in declaring her independence. But he doubted even doing that had prepared her for all the problems confronting her now.

As well as the truths she still had to face.

However, he, as well as every other member of the Madaris family—along with family friends—would be there with her. She wouldn’t have to face any of it alone. And in the end, he intended to make her his in the most legal way possible. He planned to ask her to be his wife. But for now, he had to tell her what she needed to know.

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand. “Let’s go sit on the sofa.”

She nodded as he led her to the sofa and sat down beside her. Before he told her anything, he needed to ask her something to help start her thinking. “I want to ask about your relationship with the Baineses.”

He saw confusion light her gaze. “The Baineses? The congressman and the senator?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve told you that I consider the congressman a longtime family friend, so over the years I sort of considered him my godfather, although there was never an official christening or anything like that. Come to think of it, I always thought of Mrs. Baines the same way—as a godmother.”

Slade lifted a brow. “You knew her?”

Skye smiled. “Yes. I think she died when I was twelve, but before then I remember a lot about her. I especially remember how good she smelled and how nice she dressed. And I remember how kind she was to me. She spent a lot of time with me when I was small.”

“Was she a friend of your mother’s?”

Skye shook her head. “No,” she said bluntly, as if she could never imagine such a thing. “Dad was their private accountant and for some reason he did all his business with them on the weekends, at either his office or their home. He would always take me with him and the Baineses would be there. While Dad worked on the books, the Baineses entertained me.”

“And why do you think they spent so much time with you?”

She shrugged. She’d never thought of a reason before. “Mainly because they were nice people. And I also felt they were lonely people. I knew they had an older son who was always busy, so I figured they were lonely. I remember asking Dad why the Baineses liked to play with me and I think that’s what he said. They were lonely people. And even after Mrs. Baines got sick and died, Mr. Baines continued to come those weekends. Then I remember him getting elected as a congressman and not being around much anymore. But those times with the Baineses were special times with me because they did something my own parents basically never did.”

“And what was that?”

“They spent time with me. And it was time that wasn’t all serious and full of censure. It was doing fun stuff, like coloring in a huge coloring book, watching cartoons, and just talking.”

A part of Slade was glad the Baineses had given her that. “Now what about their son, the senator?”

Skye waved a dismissive hand. “Pleeze. The senator never gave me the time of day. Like I said, he was busy most of the time, so I rarely saw him. In fact, the first time we actually met was at my college graduation. He was there with his dad and he gave me the impression he was somewhere he didn’t want to be. And afterward, if our paths would cross he would give me a curt nod and nothing else.” Skye shook her head. “He’s one standoffish man.”

With a lot to hide,
Slade inwardly thought.

“Slade? Why are you asking me about the Baineses?” she asked, tucking a twisted curl behind her ear.

He took her hand in his. “In the midst of Alex’s investigation he discovered a number of things regarding the Baineses. First, were you aware that it was the Baineses who set up that trust fund for you? The one you’re to receive when you turn thirty.”

Skye’s eyes widened in surprise. “No, I didn’t know that. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m positive. And you probably didn’t know that it was Congressman Baines who arranged the private adoption between your biological mother and the Barclays twenty-six years ago, although we can find no record that your mother was aware of the Baineses’ involvement. She was never to know who adopted you.”