Delaney's Shadow (38 page)
Authors: Ingrid Weaver
Tags: #mobi, #Romantic Suspense, #Paranormal Romance, #Fiction, #Shadow, #epub
THE WAITRESS WAS CHEWING GUM. SHE SHIFTED IT TO ONE cheek as she put the glasses on the table. The name tag on her pink uniform said her name was Mary Lou. “Are you sure I can’t get you girls something else? We’ve got a sour cream apple pie that’s to die for.”
Elizabeth refused the offer without bothering to look at Delaney, then used her fingertips to slide her glass of club soda to one side. She couldn’t recall being in a place where straws came in paper wrappers and the only napkins provided were more paper and fastened around the cutlery with a strip of tape. Country music warbled from speakers on the walls, as if they were in Oklahoma instead of upstate New York. This would have been the kind of dining establishment Delaney would have frequented before she’d married Stanford.
It was as fitting a place for this meeting as any. Their conversation wouldn’t carry far over the atrocious music, and because it was midafternoon, the restaurant was almost empty. A group of teenage girls sat in a booth beside the front window. A few tables to their left, a young couple was valiantly feeding dishes of ice cream to a pair of squealing toddlers. Although Delaney had asked her companion to give them privacy, he had gone only as far as the next table. He sat slouched in his chair, his long legs stretched in front of him and his arms crossed over his chest. The relaxed pose didn’t fool Elizabeth. He was as alert as a hungry watchdog.
John Harrison had been a surprise. She wouldn’t have expected her Pollyanna stepmother to have gone for a man like that. His attire might be civilized, but his demeanor was far from it. Elizabeth was accustomed to dealing with powerful men. Her father had been one of them. The aura of power around John was different, though. Much of it was sexual, to be sure, yet there was an edginess about him, a current of danger that fascinated as well as repelled. Judging by the giggles and furtive stares being cast his way, the teenagers beside the window had noticed it as well.
Leave it to Delaney not to waste any time. So much for her supposed devotion to her late husband. She and John had made holding hands on a park bench look like foreplay. Elizabeth had been on her way from the airport through town to the Wainright House when she’d spotted her stepmother in the park. The couple had been so completely absorbed in each other, they’d had a circle of stillness around them that had caught her eye even from the street. At least ten feet of space separated Delaney from John now, yet the connection between them was almost palpable.
Why was it always so easy for Delaney? What was it about her that drew men in? She never had to work for it. She never had to prove herself. She was weak and useless, the antithesis of everything Elizabeth had been raised to value, yet she managed to come out on top.
It wasn’t fair.
“Why are you in Willowbank, Elizabeth? You realize there’s a restraining order against you, don’t you?”
“I’m fully aware of your latest salvo, Delaney. Your lawyer saw to it that I would be informed in the most public way possible to ensure maximum humiliation and damage to my reputation.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“Save the innocent act for someone who would buy it.”
“It’s no act. Tell me. What did Leo do?”
“Besides spreading rumors about my mental competency among not only my staff but my clients?”
“He questioned people about your slander against me. He didn’t spread rumors.”
Either she was lying, or she was totally oblivious of Throop’s actions. Neither possibility reflected well on her. “You can’t dispute the fact that he brought an armed police escort with him to interrupt a meeting with the Grayecorp board and inform me my movements have been restricted like a criminal’s. There was no cause to put on a show like that. As far as I’m concerned, that qualifies as harassment, yet you have the audacity to accuse me of the same.”
“Audacity? You sent me accident scene photographs of your own father.”
“I did nothing of the kind!”
John was on his feet the instant she raised her voice. He put his hand on the back of her chair. That was all. He didn’t say anything. His presence was message enough.
She strove to hang on to her temper. Getting into a shouting match was beneath her dignity. She had to control her emotions better than this. She smoothed a wrinkle from her sleeve, then clasped her hands on the table. “I did not send you any photographs,” she said. “It was obviously a clumsy attempt to incriminate me.”
“Did you try to run me down?”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“Then how did your car get damaged?”
“It was a parking lot mishap. Apart from the fact that I wouldn’t stoop to such thuggish tactics, it’s ridiculous for anyone to assume I would drive all the way to Willowbank. My time is far too valuable for that.”
“I want to believe you, Elizabeth, I really do. I hate to think you’re this troubled.”
“Unlike you, Delaney, I am fully capable of recognizing the truth. All I want is what’s rightfully mine.”
“No, that’s not all. You also want to hurt me.”
Elizabeth could feel the vibrations travel from her seat to her spine as John tightened his grasp on her chair. She twisted to look at him. “Your lurking is getting tiresome.”
He studied her, his gaze probing hers.
She curled her toes in her shoes in an effort to remain motionless. It was difficult to maintain eye contact, but she was loath to show weakness by being the first to break it. “If you believe glowering will intimidate me, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“Your father was a real son of a bitch,” he said. “Persecuting Delaney isn’t going to change that. Save your anger for him.”
The jab stunned her. It was astoundingly accurate and was the last thing she would have expected from a piece of eye candy. She swallowed her pride and glanced away before he could look any deeper. “For a total stranger, he presumes to know a great deal about me. What carnival did you find him in, Delaney?”
John slid into the chair beside Delaney. Though he didn’t touch her, she seemed to draw support from his presence. A look passed between them that shut Elizabeth out entirely. It was almost as intense as what she’d seen on the park bench.
She envied their obvious closeness, and she resented the fact that she envied it. He undoubtedly had an agenda, as all men did. He was likely after Delaney’s fortune the same way Alan hoped to further his career by inveigling his way into Elizabeth’s life.
The thought of Alan wrenched her back on track. She drummed her nails against the Formica table to recapture Delaney’s attention. “My father didn’t raise a fool. Although he taught me to use any means necessary to achieve my goal, he also taught me to keep my personal feelings out of business decisions. As much as I despise you, I would not stoop to causing you physical harm. It wouldn’t be remotely as satisfying as ruining you. If you persist in flinging groundless accusations against me, I won’t hesitate to sue
you
for slander.”
you
for slander.”
“It isn’t slander if it’s true.”
“Which is why you can’t win.”
“I’ve remembered more of what happened, Elizabeth,” she said. “I’ve realized how Stanford used my need to be loved to manipulate me. I also know that he manipulated you into helping him. That’s why you tricked me into meeting him that final night.”
“Your so-called amnesia is too convenient for anyone to believe. I don’t suppose you’ve also remembered my father was changing his will?” She paused. “No? What a surprise.”
“Your goal was to break up our marriage. That’s why you told me about his affair with Jenna. That’s why I believed you when you’d said you would help me leave him.”
“You have so little imagination. My goal wasn’t to break up your marriage. You were leverage, that’s all.”
“What do you mean by leverage?”
“I threatened to reveal my father’s adultery unless he agreed to a public reconciliation and amended his will. He was so confident of his hold over you that he called my bluff.
That’s
why I told you about Jenna.”
That’s
why I told you about Jenna.”
“My God,” she said slowly. “You tried to blackmail your own father.”
She picked up her glass, wiped the rim, and took a sip of the soda she didn’t really want, buying time to steady her nerves. “I didn’t merely try; I succeeded. Your ensuing temper tantrum provided the advantage I needed. We reopened our negotiations. I won. He agreed to all my demands. In return, I gave him the opportunity to recover one of his prized possessions.”
“You really are two of a kind.”
“It was just business. You’re the one who made it personal when you drove his car into that utility pole before he could meet with his lawyer.”
“How many times do I need to tell you that it was an accident? I didn’t—”
“You didn’t help him. You left him to burn in the wreckage while you saved yourself.
That
was no accident.”
That
was no accident.”
She regarded her hands. Her fingers trembled. “Why did you come here today, Elizabeth? What did you hope to gain?”
“I came to give you a warning.”
John stiffened.
She ignored him and kept her gaze on Delaney. “I brought my lawsuit because it was the only recourse left to me after you refused to abide by my father’s wishes. Until now, I’ve been willing to restrict our fight to the courts, but your attempt to take away Grayecorp has crossed the line.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. In spite of our differences, I’ve always valued your role in the company.”
Elizabeth knew that Delaney didn’t even understand her role in the company. She was a brainless trophy wife whose only accomplishment had been outliving her husband. “Don’t insult my intelligence. Your lawyer’s actions speak for themselves. It’s unwise to start a war with me, Delaney. Grayecorp is mine, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it.”
“If this is only about the money, I’ll gladly give you a share of Stanford’s estate.”
The glass slipped before Elizabeth could set it down. It banged on the table, sloshing club soda on the bundle of napkin-wrapped cutlery and sending a stream across the table toward her. She took a tissue from her purse to stem the flow before it could drip on her lap. “What game are you playing now?”
“No game. I never wanted Stanford’s wealth. I don’t want the house, either. What I do want is to stop this antagonism before it escalates out of control. Stanford shouldn’t have cut you out of his will in the first place. It was hurtful.”
It had been more than hurtful; it had been a public rejection of his only child. It had negated a lifetime of devotion and sacrifice and hope. He’d hit her where he’d known it would cause the most pain.
But the situation was already spiraling out of control. Even if she managed to hold on to her position at Grayecorp, she had Alan and his ambitions to contend with. She mashed her fingertips into the sodden tissue. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“It’s not sudden, Elizabeth. I used to hope we could be friends, but your need for revenge is turning you into someone I don’t recognize.”
That must be how she did it, Elizabeth thought. That was how Delaney managed to charm otherwise canny people. She zeroed in on their weaknesses almost as skillfully as Stanford used to. It was a form of emotional judo: analyzing an opponent’s center of balance, applying pressure to the precise spot that would tip it, and using their own momentum to defeat them.
Friendship. Love. The concepts belonged in children’s stories. The real world didn’t work that way, regardless of how fervently a person might wish it could.
She turned her mind back to business. The question remained: what did Delaney hope to gain with this offer? “You’re afraid of what will come out in court, aren’t you? That’s why you want to settle. You’ve known all along it was your fault that he died.”
“No, Elizabeth. I just want the nightmare to end.”
TWENTY-FIVE
IT BEGAN AS IT ALWAYS DID. DELANEY SAW THE ROAD through the tunnel of her headlights. It was slick and shiny and seemed to go on forever, but all too soon it narrowed. She was going too fast. The branches tore at her face and her clothes as she hurtled forward.
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