Forbidden Secrets Read online

  Maybe he shouldn’t have even asked her, but his mouth was in control before his brain could hold it back.

  “I’m sorry.”

  The switch was flipped.

  He watched it happen. Lennox put away the sadness and forced herself to smile.

  “Don’t be. Our pasts make our future. If I didn’t spend so much time alone, I might not do what I do now. Each painting matters. Each sale means a charity gets more money. I am making a difference and with my own money.”

  That staggered him.

  “Wait. You really don’t keep the money?”

  She shrugged. “I pay Milo for use of his studio, and I pay the shippers, but each show has a charity attached to it.”

  She grabbed a flyer off her table.

  Hart read it.

  She was telling the truth, but he wanted to see it for himself. It made his heart skip in his chest.

  Damn it!

  She was a really good person.

  “I paint to help people feel, experience, or love. I don’t do it for the money. I don’t need more damn money. In fact, I wish I had less. The more you have the more issues you have. Case in point would be that someone is trying to kill me.”

  He thought back to the conversation he’d heard while she was in her office. The weight on her shoulders had to be crushing. Suddenly, he wanted to alleviate some of it.

  Why?

  He had no damn clue.

  “You should sign your name here in the corner,” she offered, before he could say anything.

  “I can’t. It’s your painting.”

  She handed him a brush and waited.

  Instead of arguing, he did something he was compelled to do. He drew the outline of a white heart.

  “There you go. Now everyone will wonder who the mystery person is,” he offered.

  She smiled as she placed her initials in it. It was now both of theirs.

  He didn’t miss the significance of that one act. It made his heart race, and his palms get sweaty.

  “I want you to take this one home with you. I’ll have my shippers send it. Leave your address. It’s meant to be yours. I can tell.”

  He stared at her. “You’re giving me a painting? One you could sell and make money on?”

  She wiped her hands on a towel. “It’s your memory. I’m just giving you another one to add to it. When you see it, I hope you’ll think of me.”

  She stared for the door.

  “Lennox.”

  “I’m going swimming. It’s how I wash the paint off. If you’d like to join me, there are extra suits in the pool house.”

  He didn’t know what to say.

  He was still thinking about that damn heart with her initials in it. Nothing seemed more perfect. It rattled his cage to the point he was feeling out of control.

  “Lennox.”

  She cut him off again.

  “If you ever want Ivy to have art lessons, you can bring her here. I would be more than happy to let her run wild in my art studio. She can color the walls for me. They need a little color and life. This place is too cold and dead. Hey! Just like I’m going to be.”

  He didn’t know what to say.

  What could wash the chill from those words?

  “You’re not going to die. I promise.”

  She hoped he was right.

  “I don’t know anything about kids, Everhart, so don’t take this as me trying to tell you how to raise your daughter.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “She’s a sweet kid. Let her life be full of fun. It’s going to be reality and shittiness soon enough when she gets out there in the world.”

  He was speechless.

  First, she was letting him paint with her instead of working on her show, then she was giving him the art they’d made together.

  The mere idea that she’d teach his child how to do something so astounding stole his breath.

  He didn’t know what to say or feel.

  He was confused.

  By the woman, her art, and that stupid white heart.

  Chapter Ten

  Across Town

  When they got to Attorney Larissa Moore’s office, they had to wait. She was still out handling the errand that Lennox had sent her on, and should be back soon.

  It was clear that the woman was killing it in her business. The whole office was glossy, pricy, and screamed ‘high priced lawyer’.

  There was no doubt that Lennox paid a premium to have this woman in her pocket. The fact that Lennox’s art was all over the building said a lot about the relationship between them. The woman was either an avid collector or she and Lennox were friends.

  If that were the case, then Lennox had indeed lied.

  Tori didn’t know what to do about the woman. Was Hart’s lie detecting skills off because he was infatuated with the woman? Or was Tori simply being too hard on Lennox?

  “What are you thinking about?” Julian asked.

  “I’m thinking about the woman who hired us.”

  “You have issues with her, don’t you?” he asked.

  Tori glanced over at him. “I don’t know why I do. Maybe it’s because the ghost is trying to kill her, but I don’t know. I want to like her, but she’s…”

  “Too good to be true?” he added.

  Tori sighed. “Yes. She’s all sunshine and trust, and I don’t know how to deal with that. One minute I want to be her friend, and she feels genuine, but who has this much shitty luck? I’ll tell you who—people hiding shit.”

  Julian disagreed. “She reminds me of Christina. I think you’re so used to seeing the bad in people, that when you find a good one, you’re suspicious.”

  Tori stared at him. “Does she? Do I?”

  He patted her knee. “Yes on both counts. Lennox is dealing with a shit mess, but she’s trying not to fall apart. Christina worked for the FBI handling the most gruesome cases. Every time I saw her at the office, she’d be smiling and cheering everyone up. Some people deal with trauma and death differently. Lennox is one of those people. She’s naturally optimistic, and she’s trying to keep it together.”

  Tori listened.

  “That’s Christina’s coping mechanism. If she’s not positive, she’ll crash and burn. I think Lennox is the same way. Her family is dead, she’s scared out of her mind, and she’s trying to survive the hand life has dealt her.”

  Tori hated that she was stuck on this.

  “I think the issue is jealousy. There’s a connection between Hart and her, and you’re unhappy about it.”

  She stared at him. “What?”

  “The first day you met Everhart Rose, there was that chemistry there. I saw it, the team saw it, and he saw it. I’ve watched you sitting in his office talking about Elizabeth Blackhawk, your cases, and your past. You don’t do that with anyone, Victoria. Well, other than me.”

  She was horrified.

  “Julian…”

  He stopped her. “I’m not accusing you of anything, honey. So don’t freak out. In life, there are people we connect with more than others. Look at Justin and Lena. He busts her ass, but when they are being serious, they’re close. You and Hart have what I’d like to call a friendship.”

  She listened to him.

  “I think that idea of Lennox coming between you has you upset. You’re aloof and you keep to yourself—even with the people we work with, but not him. Who do you get lunch with every day?”

  “He’s new to the area.”

  Julian laughed. “Tori. Come on.”

  Tori didn’t know what to think.

  Was he right?

  “There’s nothing romantic there, Julian. I swear to God! I hope you don’t think…”

  “I’m aware or I would have killed him when he slept.”

  She snorted.

  “You like him, and he’s a good person. We all have those people we genuinely get attached to in life. Roman and I have that connection.”

  Tori knew he was right.

  “You’re wo
rried about him.”

  “Yes, I am because I know about his past.”

  Julian wasn’t surprised. Hart had just opened up to him too. He was coming out of his shell. While it should bother Julian that the man was confiding in his wife, he trusted Tori. She’d never hurt him. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to say the same thing, but now…

  His wife loved him.

  She was having his child.

  “Do you really dislike Lennox?” he asked.

  She thought about it. “No.”

  “Do you think they’d be good together?” Julian inquired, brushing a stray red hair from her cheek.

  Tori went with her gut. “Yes. He needs to believe there is someone out there who won’t hurt him or Ivy. I don’t ever want Ivy to cry.”

  Julian got it.

  Ivy’s mother had abandoned her too.

  Now it was even clearer to Julian. “I don’t think that you have to worry about that. For this one, I’m going to ask you to trust my gut. I can see the picture clearly. Lennox is a good person. I don’t get any weird vibe from her.”

  “What secrets did…?”

  He stopped her.

  “We all have them, Tori. Maybe you just want her to have some scary skeleton in her closet. Maybe it’s an Easton skeleton, and not a Lennox one. We aren’t responsible for our family’s actions. Look at Shelby. She’s raised hell, and no one ever thought it was you or Beau’s fault, right?”

  “Yes, you’re right.”

  “Give her a shot.”

  She heard what he was saying.

  “Thank you, Jules.”

  He kissed his wife. “It’s entirely my pleasure. Now, here comes the attorney. Do your thing. It makes me all hot and bothered when you play undercover cop.”

  She grinned. “Oh, I absolutely will—especially now that I know you like it.”

  He didn’t like it.

  Julian Littlemoon loved it.

  They were seated in her office as she strolled in sipping some coffee. The look on Larissa’s face said it all.

  She was cranky, and about to take it out on anyone she could—meaning them.

  “I don’t know what I can do to help you.”

  “We need to ask you a few questions about the family. Lennox hired us to find out what happened to her parents, grandmother, uncle, and brother.”

  She stared at them.

  “You realize I can’t just tell you what you want. They are my clients, and there is confidentiality there.”

  “Call Lennox. If you make me drag her here, out in the open where she could get hurt, then you really aren’t her friend.”

  “We aren’t friends. I work for her. She’s my client and nothing more.”

  “You like her art.”

  “It’s an investment.”

  Okay, then that meant Lennox hadn’t lied. That helped Tori get past it.

  “Why don’t you give her a call? I’m sure she’s going to tell you to give us full access.”

  Tori waited as she dialed. The woman spoke to Lennox and then finally hung up the phone.

  “Fine. What do you need to know?”

  “Who hired you?”

  “Howell Easton.”

  “Who is Evangeline?”

  The woman stared at her. Tori was having a damn hard time reading this woman. She was good at her job. In fact, she’d bet that this woman had worked as a trial attorney at one point in her life.

  She was good with keeping a blank face.

  “Before you lie, or try to tell me you haven’t a clue, please be aware that I was a Fed. We dealt with defense attorneys every damn day.”

  The woman’s reaction on her face registered it. That comment had been a direct hit.

  Tori had been right.

  “She was a woman Howell had a relationship with at one point. She’d gotten pregnant, he paid her off, and she took the money and ran.”

  Yeah, she didn’t run far.

  If she was haunting the house, there was a good reason. She’d been murdered there.

  “How long ago?”

  “Maybe thirty-five years ago. Estella Easton didn’t like her, so she told him to lose the whore. Keep in mind, this is all just things I was told. As to the validity, I can’t promise it’s all accurate.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Julian asked.

  “Estella told me. She informed me that if ‘the whore’ came back, she wasn’t getting any more money. One million was her limit. She’d approved the money for her son. The last attorney, God bless his departed soul, gathered it and Howell delivered it. That’s all I know.”

  Tori leaned back.

  It was a dead end.

  Everyone who’d been a part of that mess was dead and couldn’t verify jack shit.

  The original attorney.

  Howell Easton.

  Estella Easton.

  Even Evangeline.

  She was willing to bet that the man had been clever. He’d covered his trail and Evangeline never received that money. She’d likely been killed before then, and his tracks covered. There was something going on here, and she could smell the foulness of it all.

  “And she’s never been back?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know her last name?”

  She ignored the question and rerouted with a question of her own. “Do you really think that she’s trying to kill Lennox?” Larissa asked.

  “No,” Tori stated. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. Okay, it was a huge lie. The ghost had it in for Lennox, but this woman didn’t need to know that.

  “What was her last name?” Julian asked again, when Larissa showed no intention of answering.

  “I have no clue.”

  “You have a record of the money paid out, right?”

  “Again, it was ten years before I even began working for the Eastons. I don’t have many of the details. All I know is the prior attorney didn’t outlive the Eastons. He’d handled all of that, and he sucked at leaving records. I found a note in a file, and I asked Estella. She wasn’t happy I was bringing it up.”

  She might not be lying.

  Larissa Moore would have still been in college at the time or possibly a senior in high school.

  “Do you know of anyone else who might have it in for the Easton family?” Tori asked.

  “The only other person who might would be Orwell’s business partner. When the family began dying off, he came to me to see where his financial future stood. Sadly for him, Orwell had screwed him over. All of the assets had been put in the family name, and he really wasn’t listed as a partner on paper.”

  “Is that legal?” Julian asked.

  “He didn’t use any of his money to acquire the assets. Legal or not, he couldn’t prove he had partial ownership.”

  “Where is he?” Tori asked.

  “He’s still in town. In fact, he owns a building not far from here.”

  “What’s his name?” Tori asked.

  “Calvin Foster.”

  Tori sent a text message to her team back at the office. She needed everything they could get by morning. In fact, she needed everything they had on the case for tonight. They had to be ready to start digging into the Easton Family’s lives.

  “Thank you for your help,” Tori stated.

  She stood.

  “You’re welcome. I hope you find whoever is trying to hurt Lennox.”

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t want to have her die. Then you would earn the big bucks by being the executor of her estate.”

  Larissa laughed. “While that would be a nice piece of change, Mrs. Littlemoon, let me assure you that what I get from Lennox a year is a much better payout for me. The Lennox family paid for this office, and I have a second one opening up. Before you think of accusing me of this, think again. I need Lennox alive and as a client. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t let her boss me around. I don’t let anyone do that, Mrs. Littlemoon.”

  Tori got the hint.

  So, she mimicked the woman’s stan
ce. “Oh, I won’t boss you around.”

  “Really?” she said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, I’ll just kick your ass. There’s a huge difference. He’s the bossy one. I’m the bitch that hates people who use others. Let that be your warning.”

  With that, Tori walked out.

  Julian caught up to her.

  “Don’t say it. I know I lost my damn temper. I hate lawyers.”

  He started laughing. “Actually, I wasn’t going to say that, honey.”

  She glanced over. “Really?”

  “Yeah, that was so damn hot. You’re hitting all my turn-ons this week.”

  Tori snorted.

  “I’m glad I can entertain you, Julian.”

  She did.

  All the damn time.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Easton Estate

  Yeah, watching her swim was a really bad idea. He had no idea it was going to involve a pretty pink bikini and her lounging beside the pool.

  Apparently, Hart was destined to suffer all day long at the hands of his libido and Lennox’s body.

  He didn’t know why he was surprised at his reaction.

  Last night, he’d seen Lennox’s body, but somehow, this was a million times worse.

  A wet woman was a sexy woman.

  As she lay there on the lounge chair, he was grateful he was wearing sunglasses. If not, she’d be able to see him checking out her form.

  It was one of the reasons he declined a swim.

  Oh, he could use some ice cold water right about now, but he wasn’t quite sure that swim trunks and his raging erection would be a good idea.

  Lennox was making him insane.

  He wasn’t quite sure if she was doing it intentionally or if it was simply the fact that he was a man and she was beautiful. That very well could be the reason.

  It had been a long time since he’d had sex.

  Now he realized how much he’d missed it.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked out of the blue. Lennox could feel his eyes on her, and it was making it damn hard to relax.

  What she wanted to do was crawl into his lap and kiss him. Only, she was pretty sure it would freak him out. Everhart Rose was a tough nut to crack.