Marie Ferrarella - The Parks Empire - Secrets, Lies and Loves - Romancing the Enemy

He wasn’t going to let her brush the weekend aside that easily. “No, it was the one thing that was right. Everything else may be wrong, but that wasn’t.”

“If only life were that simple.”

“Yeah. If only,” he agreed, forcing himself to ignore the forlorn sadness in her eyes. He shrugged. “Maybe it can be, once we resolve the past and its problems.”

“If we can,” she said.

The three simple words expressed all the doubts she didn’t voice. He wanted to argue with her, but what was the point? She was right.

The ring of the doorbell stopped the conversation. Sara rushed from the room to answer it. Cade heard more than one male voice. Her brother and his friends had arrived.

He moved so that he could see down the hallway. Sara turned from hugging her brother and hugged the other two. He felt a strong stab of jealousy at her ease with the Banning brothers and reprimanded himself for it.

Perhaps in another life in another time, he and Sara would have met and loved in the natural order of things, but not in this lifetime. Too much stood between them.

The gods must be laughing.

“Cade,” Sara said, leading the way to the den, “you’ve met Tyler and Nick. This is Mark Banning. You said you’d spoken to him earlier. Have you two met?”

“Only by phone,” Cade said, stepping forward to shake hands with each of the men. The older Banning had a pretty serious scar under his right eye. Cade wondered if that was why he’d left police work and opened his own agency.

“Please make yourselves comfortable,” Sara invited. “Tyler, there’s an assortment of drinks on the island. Do you mind playing host?”

“Not at all, sis.” The brother followed her to the island and called out choices to the men, then prepared wine, beer, iced tea or coffee, as they preferred.

Watching brother and sister work together, Cade was reminded of his idealistic version of marriage before his eye-opening experience with wedded bliss and the reality he’d discovered after the ceremony.

His wife had expected maids and caterers to do all the work. She’d been furious that he’d expected them to live on what he made. A law student’s earnings, then a newly fledged attorney’s salary didn’t match her aspirations at all. Neither did his idea of living in an apartment while they saved to buy their own place.

Interestingly, she and his dad had gotten along quite well. She’d wanted to live in the ornate mansion in Pacific Heights. Cade had refused.

Being around Sara brought back old dreams of having a warm, loving family. At four, that’s what he’d thought his own family had been. It was only after his mother was gone that he’d realized it had been Anna who’d made the children feel loved and wanted, not his father.

Glancing at the four pairs of eyes on him, he realized Sara and the men expected him to start this meeting, or whatever one called it.

“I suppose we should begin with what we know,” he said. “Sara and Tyler are trying to solve a twenty-five-year-old mystery regarding their father’s death.” He paused as Sara and Tyler glanced at each other. Neither spoke, so he continued, “Since the event, whether an accident or something more sinister took place on my father’s boat, that quest involves my family. I, too, want to know the truth about the drowning.”

“Why?” Tyler challenged.

Cade met the brother’s hard gaze, then glanced at Sara. “Because it hangs over our heads like a cloud that never goes away. I think the questions from the past must be cleared up so we can all go forward with our lives.”

Tyler looked skeptical. “Even if we prove your father was the perp?”

Cade nodded. He’d read the newspaper reports and had reconciled himself to the worst possible scenario. “I assume you have some kind of evidence, or else you wouldn’t have uprooted and moved here.”

“We’re working on it,” Tyler affirmed.

“With the help of your friends.” Cade gestured to the Banning brothers.

“Maybe,” Tyler said.

“I can help.”

The brother looked skeptical. “How?”

“I probably know more about my father’s business than anyone else.”

“You know about Parks Fine Jewelry. Your father has another attorney for his personal business.”

Cade returned Tyler’s challenging stare. “As he should, since I am an heir to his fortune.”

“His ill-gotten fortune,” Sara said, anger darting through her expressive eyes.

“So that’s what it comes down to,” Cade murmured. “Money, always money.”

“That’s usually the problem,” Mark Banning agreed. “But in this case, a man lost his life. We want to understand how and why.”

“So do I,” Cade said coolly. “It looks as if we’re all on the same wavelength here.”

“Yeah? We don’t intend to deal you in just yet,” Tyler told him.

Cade wasn’t surprised at the younger man’s suspicions. His being involved was rather like inviting the fox to guard the chicken house. “It would speed things along if I knew what we were looking for.”

“When we find some solid evidence, we’ll let you know,” Tyler said.

“In the arrest warrant, I presume?” Cade hadn’t really expected the group to confide all to him, but he had hoped for some cooperation. “My father has gotten wind of questions being asked about him and his business. He knows you two are in town.” Cade gave Sara and Tyler a pointed glance. “I think he’s prepared for trouble.”

His eyes were drawn to Sara, sitting so silent and looking so remote. Whatever happened, there wasn’t a future for them. So what else was new?

Sara listened to the men’s conversation and observed the interactions between them. Her brother wasn’t about to confide in Cade. Tyler stopped just short of being openly hostile about the other man’s motives.

Nick and Mark Banning were noncommittal. Mark shared the information he’d found on the case. It was gleaned from the same newspaper reports that she’d read in the library and contained nothing new. The detective didn’t mention the missing uncle to Cade, she noted.

At ten o’clock, Cade left, going out the back door as usual.

Tyler studied her as he filled his plate with second helpings of everything. “Do you trust him?”

She thought it over before answering. “In the dealings I’ve had with him since moving here, and in watching him with Stacy, he seems to be honest and sincere.”

“But it’s his father we’re talking about putting behind bars,” Mark said, voicing everyone’s concern.

“I don’t think they’re close.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples, where a dull headache had formed. “I can’t say I was close to my father, either. He worked long hours, so we rarely saw him, other than brief periods on the weekend. But I loved him.”

She looked at Tyler. Her brother had never known a father’s love and never would. No matter what DNA tests showed, Walter Parks wouldn’t want his unknown sons.

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Tyler told her, correctly reading her thoughts. “With Walter Parks for a father, I haven’t missed anything. I don’t think Cade has, either.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I suspect Walter is only interested in his children as a means to his own ends. From what I’ve learned about the man, no one gets in his way, not even his own flesh and blood.”

“He must be a horrible person,” Sara murmured, thinking of Cade and his relationship to the elder Parks. “I want to see him locked up so he can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Well, until we find your uncle, we don’t have anything to go on,” Mark reminded them. “I’ve widened the search for him, but with all the separate towns, each with its own records, surrounding the San Francisco area, it’s going to take time to get through all the deeds and tax records.”