Chapter 25

Paisley sighed for the tenth time today as the men continued to talk circles around each other. No one seemed to have a good idea as to what to do next and they were concerned about the pressure that Mr. Hamilton had just put on them.

She, at least, learned what their other plan was and she agreed that it wasn't a good idea anymore. They were trying to take the completely legal route and get his father no contact with anyone. It was looking less and less like the legal option was going to work, but they still had lawyers working on it.

"I believe he has something else in the works," Luke said.

"No one is arguing that point. He wouldn't have just one option though. It wouldn't be like him. Honestly, if there's only one than I'd say he's running out of options." Cade stood and stretched his back. "The question is what his plan is."

"I don't get it. You're all successful. Why is he doing this? For a legacy? You have his name and are growing his business. Isn't that enough?" Paisley asked.

Cade stared her down but didn't seem to have an answer.

"It's because we didn't do it his way. That pisses him off more than anything else. It's defiant and not living up to his expectations. He needs it to happen the way he wants and to merge families because part of having a legacy is finding a way to grow." Catherine spoke with a flat tone, very unusual for her.

Paisley made a face, unable to stop it. "Sounds gross."

"Think of it more like an old romance novel where there are a ton of dukes and they all need to marry well. It's like that. Not many people still think this is important, but he does and now we are here," Catherine explained.

"What about Ashley?" Paisley asked.

Luke blanched and looked around. Clearly, no one had considered how she might fit into all of this tonight. It made sense to Paisley that Ashley was the next one because everyone else was solidified in their relationships and had already thwarted his plans for them.

"I'll call her," Luke said.

He did and placed it on speakerphone. They all inhaled a sharp breath when a man answered.

"Hello?"

"Who are you?" Luke demanded. "Why do you have my sister's phone?"

The man sighed. "Carter here. Is this Luke or Cade?"

"Carter, where is she?" Ryker shouted, causing both babies to startle, but they easily settled back down.

April sent Ryker a glare as she soothed her baby in her arms.

"She gave us both the slip this time. Left her phone here and we are looking for her, sir," Carter said.

"How the hell is a grad student with no security training able to get past you so damn much?" Ryker's volume was hushed but his anger was clear.

"Sir, I don't know. We are doing what we can, but we don't know how she got out this time."

"Probably because you are making her sound like a puppy that escaped the yard," Catherine commented.

Ryker glared at her this time. "Did you have Matt check?"

"I already sent him a message," Carter confirmed.

"After this, I think we need to get her back here for a little while at least so we can all be together in case he pulls something else," Luke said.

"I agree." Cade paced again. "If we get her here, we can all help keep her out of trouble. It will also be easier to track who might want to play along with Father by seeing who goes from one town to the other like her."

"I haven't noticed any threats so far. That has been our main focus and one of the reasons she's been able to get a head start. We run backgrounds on everyone around her and she hates it. So while getting the information, she dips." Carter tried to keep his tone matter-of-fact, but a bit of annoyance slipped out.

"It started out entertaining, but you need to tighten up and try harder with her. Hand over all the background checks to Matt and he can fill you in if there's anything important." Ryker was already typing on his phone before he'd finished talking.

"Yes, sir," Carter replied.

"Matt said she's at the gym. Do better," Ryker snapped and then ended the call. "Your sister is something else," he said.

Cade chuckled and gave Luke a pat on the back. "That makes sense."

Luke shrugged. "She was always like that. The number of times she snuck out when we were younger is proof that she was much better at this than we gave her credit for. Any idea how she got out of her apartment this time?"

"Matt's looking into it," Ryker grumbled without looking up from his phone.

"Okay. We need to get her to see sense. Any ideas?" Luke asked the room, but Paisley had a feeling it was directed at her and all the women sitting on the sofa.

"You need to be gentler," Catherine said. "Nothing bothers me more and makes me want to do the opposite of what I should than when a man thinks he knows best for no reason."

"So, what? Sit her down, again, and explain it to her? I don't think she's getting the gravity of things." Luke paced in the opposite direction of Cade.

Paisley wondered how no one had noticed that those two were related. They had the same mannerisms. Now that they knew they were, she felt like the group probably wondered how they didn't see it.

"How long do you think we should let him look for her before we call her again?" Cade asked.

"Matt's waiting for them to catch up to her and will let us know," Ryker said.

"Let me talk to her? I think maybe I can get her to at least come out and have the conversation in person," Catherine asked.

Luke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go for it. At this point, I'm not sure it'll make anything worse than it already is."

"Thanks for the confidence," Catherine said sarcastically.

"It's not you, it's definitely her," Luke promised.

"Spoken like a big brother," Catherine whispered just loud enough for the women to hear, who all giggled.

"Matt says there's a guy that she's been talking to. Said the guy seems interested but she doesn't really. He's persistent. We checked him before but I'm having Matt dig deeper to see if there's a connection that we're missing."

"Is he rich?" Cade asked. "That's enough of a connection. Or, more importantly, is his family rich?"

"He's not poor. Not sure how deep the money goes, though."

"I can explain to her what happened with me and maybe that will get through to her. We aren't really worried about Father in this situation, but the people he will send after her that won't give up." She shuddered and Ryker was there, pulling her to stand and wrapping his arms around her.

"It's worth a shot," Luke agreed.

Paisley thought it made more sense than anything else they'd talked about. A different approach was needed here.

"If she comes out, how will that stop anything, though?" Paisley asked.

"It won't," Cade admitted. "It will just show our united front to whoever is trying to interfere with her life. If we get Father cut off from communication, then it should be enough to interrupt the plans because he won't be able to follow through on whatever he promised."

"That will be hard to show, though, because if he's got someone else doing the dirty work, then it will still happen."

Evan and Kayla arrived and Cade let them in. They took a moment to get them caught up on everything before they went back to ideas. Mr. Smith called to let Luke know that Mary was checked into the facility and that his father's lawyer was reviewed and would be disbarred.

All in all, it was a productive evening, even if they had more questions than they did answers.

"Hello?" Luke answered his phone. "I actually wanted to have you talk to Catherine if you're willing. I have a lot of things to talk to you about, but I think she can handle the most important aspects and we can discuss the others when I see you."

She must have agreed because he handed the phone over and Catherine left the room to have the conversation. Paisley wished she could hear but understood the need for privacy with her story.

When her father had tried to force an acceptable marriage on Catherine, the guy had lost his mind when it didn't work out. He'd broken into the home that she and Luke now shared and had died by Ryker's hands.

She thought it would be weird living here all things considered but it wasn't. Since she didn't know the guy and wasn't friends with everyone when it happened, she was oddly removed from that situation.

Luke still had some guilt over it as he had helped that guy in the beginning. Catherine didn't hold it against him, but mentally it still ate it him sometimes.

It wasn't even fifteen minutes later when Catherine returned. "Carter is driving her here in the morning. Classes are over so she can stay for a bit of a visit."

Luke dropped on the sofa and put his arm around Paisley. "Thank God."