Somewhere Along the Way (13 page)

Cassie paced the modest hotel room she’d rented. Her luggage was still packed and by the closet. She didn’t allow herself to think beyond the steps of her plan.

Get to New York.

Contact Luke.

Deal with whatever she discovered.

She took out her phone and read over the messages he’d sent that she hadn’t yet responded to. Four in all. None of them impatient with her. The first apologized for pressuring her. The second said he wished he didn’t have to go. The third said he’d be back soon. The fourth said he missed her.

Cassie closed her eyes and clutched the phone to her chest. Luke was a good man. A patient and kind man. When she searched her heart for any real doubt about his integrity, she found none. Although she’d followed Tilly’s advice and arrived in New York unannounced, Cassie regretted that decision. Luke didn’t deserve to be surprised like that. He had never given her a single reason to believe he would lie to her. She should have called him, told him his absence was unbearable, and offered to come to him.

Should have. Could have. But I didn’t. I’m here now.

She sat on the corner of her bed and dialed Luke’s number. When he didn’t answer, she left what she considered the world’s most awkward request for him to call her when he got her message.

Restless, Cassie began to pace her room again. One hour stretched into two. Unable to take it anymore, Cassie left her room and went down to the lobby of the hotel. She sat in the lounge, sipped on water with lemon, snacked on a pretzel and cheese appetizer plate, and tried to distract herself by reading a novel on her phone. She was, however, too distracted to enjoy the story. Each time someone walked into the lounge, Cassie looked up as if it might be Luke—which didn’t make sense since she hadn’t told him she was there—then, disappointed again and again, she returned to reading even though she couldn’t remember the plot of the story.

Still, it was better than sitting alone in her hotel room.

Maybe.

The lounge was mostly empty, outside of a man and woman who were seated at separate tables and were both actively working on their laptops.

A clean-cut man in a business suit, handsome by most standards, walked in and approached Cassie’s table. “May I join you?”

Cassie shook her head.

He didn’t walk away. “Are you in town for business?” He leaned closer as he asked the question, and Cassie could smell alcohol on his breath.

She looked away, hoping the physical dismissal was enough. It often was.

This particular man, however, was persistent. He put his hand on Cassie’s forearm. Whether it was to get her attention or to slow her if she decided to bolt, Cassie’s response was the same. She stood, bringing herself to her full height, and looked him directly in the eye. “If you don’t get your fucking hand off me, I will send you to the floor with whatever means I have to. Ever been stabbed with a dull knife? You’re about to find out how it feels.”

The man raised both hands in the air and his face twisted with disgust as if he’d accidentally bumped into a mentally unstable person. “Hey, take it easy. You were sitting by yourself in a bar. Women do that when they’re looking to meet someone.”

Cassie glared at him and didn’t back down. “I would try to explain to you how obnoxious that sounds, but I doubt it would be worth my effort.”

As he looked around the room and realized the two other people in the lounge had stopped working and were watching him, the man’s face reddened. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, then walked out of the lounge.

Cassie retook her seat and lifted her glass of water to her lips with a shaky hand. She didn’t like when that side of her reared its head. She wanted to be calmer, softer.
Day one in New York and I’ve already threatened to stab someone. Does someone like me really belong with someone like Luke? You can take the girl out of Detroit . . .

The sound of clapping surprised Cassie so much she almost dropped her glass. The woman a couple tables over was cheering for her. She stood, tucked her laptop beneath her arm, and walked over to Cassie’s table. Her light brown hair was cut in a shoulder-length bob. She was beautifully groomed from head to toe and exactly the kind of person Cassie would have thought her outburst would offend. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Shocked, Cassie merely shook her head.

The woman settled into a seat across from Cassie and held out her hand in greeting. “My name is Jacinda Pickett.”

Cassie shook her hand. “Cassandra Daiver. My friends call me Cassie.”

The woman smiled. “Wow, that was amazing. I come to the city several times a year for my job, but I prefer the suburbs. My husband says he worries about me, because I’m not tough enough. I don’t know what I would have done if that guy had grabbed my arm.”

Cassie swirled the lemon around in her glass with a straw and said dryly, “You probably wouldn’t have threatened to stab him.” The pale blue eyes across from her held no judgment, but Cassie judged herself.

Jacinda shrugged. “No, but I’m going to remember that line. It was really effective.”

Cassie looked down before meeting the woman’s eyes again. “Thank you.”

Jacinda studied Cassie for a long moment. “Do you want to be alone? I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“No,” Cassie said quickly. Jacinda was the perfect distraction. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

“Are you on vacation or here for work?”

She was usually extremely protective of her privacy, but she doubted she’d ever see Jacinda again and talking about why she was there eased her growing inner panic. “I’m surprising my boyfriend with a visit. Well, I don’t know if he’s actually my boyfriend. We were together while he was on vacation. He came back to New York for family business, and I missed him . . . so here I am.”

“Seriously?” Jacinda asked, then whistled. “I officially now have a girl crush on you. You have guts.”

Cassie looked down humbly. “Not usually. But this guy is worth it.”

“That is so romantic,” Jacinda said with a deep sigh.

Encouraged by her comment, Cassie shared more. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone. He’s sweet but also sexy and strong. He listens to me, but he also knows what he wants. Perfect. I’m the one with the issues. We didn’t part on the best of terms, and I regret that.”

Jacinda looked toward the lounge entrance. “It’ll work out. Imagine if he charged in here and carried you out.”

Cassie held up her phone and pressed her lips together. “Not likely since he doesn’t know I’m here. And right now he’s not answering my call.”

“Oh,” the woman said sadly.

The lone man in the lounge closed his laptop. “What did you fight about?” Cassie and Jacinda turned to look at the man in surprise. He was an older gentleman with a friendly, relaxed expression. “My wife will want to know when I tell her this story tonight.”

The whole conversation felt unreal. Cassie said, “He said he needed to come back to New York because of something going on with his family. I offered to go with him. When he didn’t want that, I thought he was feeding me a line.”

“And was he?” Jacinda asked.

“I don’t know,” Cassie answered slowly and chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t believe he would lie to me.”

The older gentleman asked, “So, you’re here to find out if it’s the truth.”

“Yes.”

“Who is this guy?” Jacinda asked. “Not that I would know him, but what’s his name?”

Cassie hesitated then asked herself what the chances were that either of them would recognize his name. “Luke Andrade.”

“Did you say Andrade?” Jacinda asked in surprise.

“Yes. You know him?”

Suddenly sympathetic, Jacinda said, “Everyone in New York knows the Andrades. His family is worth billions. Oh, honey.”

“Billions?” Cassie asked, her voice rising as her nervousness did.

Jacinda shook her head and continued to look sadly at Cassie. “He and his brothers are New York’s most eligible bachelors. Although I hear some of them are engaged now. I don’t think he is, though.”

Cassie’s stomach did a painful summersault. “I hope not,” Cassie said. A comforting thought occurred to her. “He may not even be one of those Andrades.”

Jacinda opened her laptop and typed in something quickly. She turned her computer around for Cassie to see. It was a picture of Luke with his brothers at a restaurant. “Is this your guy?”

Cassie’s mouth went nervously dry. “Yes.”

“Then he’s the one I was referring to.”

Cassie stared at the photo of Luke with his brothers. Billions? A man with that much money wasn’t moving to Defiance, Ohio. Thinking of Luke as a successful surgeon with rich friends was bad enough. If he really was insanely wealthy, Cassie didn’t believe for a moment she was the type of woman he’d want to settle down with.

Which is why he’d agreed to a short vacation fling.

Of course, he’d dressed it up with talk of having feelings for me and wanting it not to end, but men tend to do that rather than be honest. I knew that going into this.

“It was nice to meet you, but I have to go.” Cassie stood, put down cash for her food, and gathered her things.

The lone man reopened his laptop and grimaced. “Do you have a way home if things don’t work out?”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, but . . .” Jacinda started to say by way of apology, but kept the rest to herself.

Cassie nodded once curtly, then walked away from both of them without looking back. She wished she’d stayed in her hotel room.

***

Luke dragged himself into his apartment well past midnight. He was physically and emotionally drained. Even if his mother regained consciousness, he knew he and his brothers would never be the same.

When Gio had suggested broadening the range of the tests they had ordered for their mother, Luke had been certain it was a waste of time. He couldn’t wrap his mind around anything so heinous happening to his own family.

He was forced to reassess his stance, however, after covertly taking a sample of his mother’s blood into the lab himself and testing it. He’d expected to find nothing.

What he’d found had shaken him to the core.

Ricin. By the presenting symptoms, his mother had ingested it in small doses over a period of months. Slowly. Subtly. Low blood pressure. Seizures. Dehydration. Imminent liver and kidney failure. It all made sense when the cause was discovered. Luke had immediately begun treatments to flush her system of toxins and hydrate her. He poured over medical journals about how to treat victims of ricin poisoning. There was no antidote, but if Patrice didn’t suffer a systemic shutdown of organs, she had a chance of survival.

Who would poison his mother? Her doctor had to have been involved. There was no other reason for him to exaggerate her illness at first, then cover it up at the end and escape. No reason besides wanting his crime to be discovered too late.

As soon as his mother was stable, Luke had called Gio with his findings and suspicions.

“Did you tell anyone this?” Gio had demanded.

“Of course not, but we need to take this to the police.”

“No. We need to handle this ourselves. I’ve falsified enough documents that we could lose everything, and I could go to jail if an investigation dug deep enough into Cogent.”

“I could lose my medical license and end up in the cell next to you if someone discovers I didn’t report a poisoning, but that’s not the only reason I’m against doing it your way. It doesn’t feel right.”

“When it comes to protecting the family, I don’t care how it feels.”

“Are we protecting the family or ourselves?”

“There is no difference for me. I would do all of this for any one of you. There was no loyalty in the generation before us. No love. No sacrifice. And where did it bring us? We decide the future of our family, and I’ll be damned if we’re all going to pay for something that woman did.”

“I’ll do it, but I don’t like it.”

“You can’t tell anyone, Luke, or everything we’re about to do will only make the situation worse. No one. If you’re right about the doctor, he won’t get away with it.”

“Gio, people might find out what happened. I’m not the only one working with Mother.”

“No one will find out because you are a respected surgeon showing interest in his mother’s health. No one would have a reason to question you. They’ll believe what you say.”

Resentment filled Luke. He didn’t want any part of this. “I’ve never been a good liar.”

“Well, this is where you become one. Because the alternative is ugly. What would the press do with this knowledge? Never mind the police. Can you imagine what this would do to our family? If we’re really as important to you as you say we are, this is where you prove it. Don’t tell Max or Nick. The less they know, the better it will be for them if this goes badly. It won’t though, Luke. We won’t let it. You and I are going to fix this.”

Coldness spread through Luke. “What are you going to do, Gio?”

“Don’t worry about me, worry about Mother. Do you think she’ll pull through this?”