Chapter 20

"It could just be an empty threat," Ryker offered.

Everyone except April was gathered in Luke and Paisley's living room to discuss the email that she'd gotten. Luke was pacing near the window as they tossed out ideas about what his father's next plan could be.

Luke needed to focus, but his mind kept replaying Paisley's whispered words in the dark last night. She hadn't mentioned what she'd said so either she didn't remember or was expecting him not to have heard her. Either way, he hadn't brought it up, knowing this meeting was coming.

"I don't think it's an empty threat." Cade, who'd been quiet up until now, finally spoke. "But I think we are looking at it the wrong way. It has to be something that wouldn't link back to him, and he'd need someone else to do it."

"He's right," Luke added. "We need to think outside the box." He turned to Matt. "Who has he been talking to?"

"No one new. That doesn't mean he isn't passing on messages somehow." Matt tapped on his laptop.

"Do you have anything that's suspicious in your history?" Cade asked Paisley.

"Cade," Luke warned.

"I'm not asking to be judgmental. We already like you." He softened his tone at Paisley. "I need to process what he might do. I know you were a foster kid, but is there anything you were accused of, ever, that might come back up now?"

Paisley worried her lip again as she thought, and everyone waited for an answer. "Nothing that I can think of. My closest sister was—is an addict, but that's all I've got. Even then, I didn't do drugs or get accused of it and it's easy enough to prove that."

Cade gave her a sharp nod. "If you think of anything, let us know, no matter how small."

"I will." She nodded at him.

"In the meantime, we know that he's going to go after Ashley for whatever backward reason and we have her watched," Cade said.

Ryker snorted. "Mostly."

Luke tried not to feel guilty that he wasn't there with her. She wouldn't want him to be, but if something happened, he'd never forgive himself.

"That's both great and terrifying at the same time." Lauren laughed.

"Do you need to put someone else on her instead?" Cade asked Ryker.

He shook his head. "No. I added a second man to give us full coverage on her at all times, but she gave him the slip too. At this point, I should be paying her for the training she's giving the team. I'll swap them out in a week or so with a few more guys just to give everyone some rest."

Ashley was the first job for Ryker's new security team and she was challenging them at every turn. She was an adult in grad school and acting like she had the sense of a 16-year-old.

"I'll talk to her again," Luke told him.

"I can as well if you think that would help. I know we only met once really and I didn't know we were related, but happy to throw my hand in where I can." Cade stood next to Luke now, both men with a hand on the backs of their necks as they thought it over.

Luke realized the mirrored pose and dropped his quickly.

Catherine rolled her eyes. "I think I'd have better luck than either of you. Has she set a date to come out here?"

"Not yet."

"Then let me give her a call and see what I can do first. Besides, I would genuinely like to meet her."

"Okay," Luke said and shared the contact with her.

With that settled, they went back to thinking of ways his father could mess with Paisley.

"I've got something," Matt shouted, interrupting everyone. "It looks like his lawyer, who should be disbarred by the way, contacted Paisley's sister. I'm digging further but I think it's a safe bet that he's going to use her against Paisley somehow."

"If I were him, I'd have her call me, tug on my heartstrings for a place to stay to get clean, and then have her do something that could either be blamed on me or on my poor choices for having an addict around." Paisley's leg bounced nervously as she spoke.

"Matt, can you get contact information on her?" Luke asked, already forming a plan.

"Easier said than done. She's staying at the homeless shelter on the edge of the city. It was sheer luck that I caught him talking to her on a camera outside of it. If he had gone in, I wouldn't have seen it," Matt explained.

"Did she look like she agreed to anything?" Paisley asked.

"Can't tell. She looked nervous but I didn't see them make an agreement, I don't think."

"Let's go pay her a visit," Luke told her. "We can offer her state-of-the-art facilities to get clean if that's what she wants, and if not when we can at least get her away from you and Garrett until she makes that decision."

"Okay," Paisley quickly agreed.

"I don't think that direct is the best way to go," Cade interrupted. "I'm sorry, but we don't know if she's agreed to help him, and if you are spotted down there, there's bound to be questions about what is going on and that could impact Garrett."

"How? It's not a secret that she's my sister and that she used to stay with me. Offering to get her clean isn't a problem and I can pass a drug test." Cade started to interrupt her, and she hurriedly continued, "I don't think she would react well to another man in a suit offering her things that are too good to be true."

The room seemed to marinate over that thought before Ryker spoke.

"She's right. I'd be suspicious as hell that people I don't know keep showing up and offering me things."

"I see your point, but I think we should at least go as a group. Or more than just you two," Cade pushed.

"I agree with that. I don't think going alone makes sense with Father out to get all of us. It would be great if we had someone that wasn't one of us there," Cade said as he took over pacing where Luke had stopped.

"What about Mr. Smith?" Paisley asked.

"How does she know him?" Cade asked Luke.

"We met him at dinner last night." Luke took a second to think about it and had to admit it was a good idea. "It could work. He has more pull than our father and I doubt that anyone would argue with him."

Paisley flashed him a grin before turning back to Cade. Luke was beginning to get annoyed that Cade's word was all that seemed to matter here. This was his house and his choice in the end. It wasn't lost on him that this was the big-brother relationship he'd always wanted but at the wrong time.

"I don't love it and I still think it should be more than just you two, but if he agrees, I don't see an alternative." Cade stopped and looked directly at Luke. "It's your family so it's ultimately up to you, but you're my family and that makes you all mine now. If Mr. Smith agrees, then I will go with you."

"Me too." Ryker stood. "I have more experience with people like her. No offense," he added for Paisley. "I'll be better able to tell how sincere she actually is about everything."

They all agreed, and Luke stepped into his office to call Mr. Smith. He had no idea if the man would say yes, but he knew his hatred for his father was real and that would hopefully be enough to get him to help.

"Mr. Smith," Luke said as he answered.

"Luke, it's good to hear from you, but I assume this isn't a social call?" Mr. Smith answered.

"Sadly, it's not. I wish it were," Luke admitted.

"How can I help?" the other man asked.

Luke gave him the rundown of what they knew and what they wanted to do. Mr. Smith listened patiently and didn't interrupt him.

"Well, that's some story," he said, and Luke felt the knot in his stomach clench. He was going to turn them down or, worse, didn't believe him. "I would be happy to help. Let me see if I can think of any other ways. Is he still using the same lawyer?"

"Thank you, sir. And yes, he is." Relief rushed through him as he collapsed into his desk chair.

"It would be a shame if he couldn't practice anymore," he mused.

"We don't have anything legal or concrete to put against him." He wished they did. If the lawyer was his father's lackey like it seemed, it would certainly go a long way to getting things to stop.

"Don't you worry about that. Call me back and let me know when you plan to meet her sister. If she's willing to go to rehab, I'll be her sponsor."

"Mr. Smith, you don't have to do that, but thank you so much."

"I wish I could do more."

"Thank you again, sir."

Luke ended the call and took a relieved breath before composing himself and joining everyone else again.

"He's in. He offered to be her sponsor, too, if she agrees to rehab," Luke informed them. "He has also decided to see what he can do to get Father's lawyer in trouble and not be able to practice anymore."

"I always knew he hated Father, but that's more than I expected," Cade said.

"It was for me too. He said to call him when we know when we want to go up there."

"Let's make a plan then." That came from Jake who hadn't said much. "I know he's your father, but I'm so ready for this to be over finally."

They all agreed with that sentiment.