Golden Lies (41 page)

For the first time, Wallace looked confused. "Yes, well, I had both originally."

"But not the box?" David asked, rejoining the conversation. "Are you sure the box I saw didn't go with the dragons? If you had both dragons, where was the box?"

"That box wasn't part of the set."

"Open the safe," David said. "I want to see the dragon again."

"No."

"Dad almost died because of that dragon," Paige interjected. "Don't you think he has a right to see the matching one?"

There was a strange glitter in Wallace's eyes as he looked at David. "I'm sorry you were hurt. That shouldn't have happened."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't have anything to do with it." David's eyes narrowed, the expression on his face changing several times. "Did you have something to do with the robbery?" he asked in shock.

"I'm eighty-two years old. You think I go around knocking people off in alleys?"

"Maybe not just anyone," David said slowly, his mouth set in a grim line. "But I'm not just anyone, am I?"

Paige had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Dad, you can't believe—"

"Can't I?" David interrupted, his gaze still fixed on his father.

The two men exchanged a long look that Paige couldn't begin to decipher.

"Your grandfather certainly could have hired someone to do whatever he needed to have done," Riley said to Paige.

"No!" Paige turned on him in fury. "Don't accuse my grandfather of hurting his own son. Are you crazy? He wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't he?" Riley looked her straight in the eye. "Look at the facts, Paige."

"There aren't any facts, just speculation. We need to calm down, talk this through."

"Playing the peacemaker again, princess?"

"Someone has to."

"You just want to give your grandfather and your father time to cover up. A Hathaway to the bitter end."

She was stung by the cold fury in his voice and felt her own temper rise. "Maybe you should go."

"So you can hide the dragon?"

"I'm not hiding anything. But you're not helping."

"She's right. Get out," Wallace said shortly. "Or I'll have you thrown out."

"And who's going to do that?" Riley challenged. "Are you going to call the police, Wally? Because I think I'd like them to come. I'd like you to tell them why you have a dragon in your safe that looks exactly like the one that was stolen from me."

"We know there are two," Paige said desperately. "They're identical. This could be the other one."

"Take off the rose-colored glasses, Paige. This isn't the other one. This is the same one."

"Please, just go." She had to think. She needed time to sort things out, to make sense of it all.

He looked as if she'd just stabbed him in the heart. "You really are choosing them, aren't you?" he asked.

"It's not a choice. It's too much too fast. I can't keep up with it all."

"Sure you can; you just don't want to. But this isn't over. I'll find out the truth, and when I do, someone will pay."

"That someone will be your grandfather," Wallace said.

"We'll see about that." Riley strode from the room without another glance in Paige's direction. His exit was punctuated by the slamming of the front door.

For a moment there was only silence in the room. Paige was afraid to look at her father or her grandfather, afraid of what she would see in their eyes. She had a terrible feeling that Riley might just be right about everything.

"I want to see the dragon again," David said. "Open the safe, Father."

"It's late. I'm going to bed."

She looked up as David moved in front of Wallace, blocking his way. There they stood face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder, father and son. Paige had always believed her grandfather was the stronger of the two, but right now her father was holding his own.

"The dragon in the safe is the same dragon I held in my hands," David said slowly. "Mr. McAllister was right. That's what you don't want me to see, isn't it? You didn't have two dragons. You had none. Until you stole the one from me in the alley."

"No," Paige breathed, but neither one of them was paying any attention to her.

"Did you mean to kill me, too?" David asked in a voice that sounded almost dispassionate. "Was that part of the plan?"

Wallace didn't say anything for a moment, then said, "I didn't want you to get hurt. They were supposed to take the dragon and bring it back to me. No one was supposed to get hurt."

Paige sank down on a nearby chair as her legs gave out from under her. Her grandfather had had his own son robbed? And she'd just stood up for her family? Taken their side over Riley's? She'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.

"Why didn't you tell me you wanted the dragon?" David asked. "Why steal it?"

"I didn't want to pay for it. It was mine. Ned stole it from me. I wanted it back. It was simpler just to take it"

"Simpler?" Paige echoed in disbelief, drawing their attention back to her. "Dad was almost killed. You call that simple?"

Wallace's face tightened at her criticism. "I told you that was an accident."

"And you expect him to forgive you for it? I don't understand you at all."

"You don't have to understand. I was settling an old debt. And your father will be fine." He paused. "No one will ever know. It's done now. Tomorrow this dragon, too, will disappear."

"It's not done," Paige countered. "Riley won't let it go. He's probably on his way to tell the police right now. He'll get a search warrant. They'll come to get the dragon."

"It won't be here, and surely you don't think Mr. McAllister is any match for a Hathaway?" Wallace's cool, ruthless smile made Paige shiver. "The police chief is a friend of ours. He will not be obtaining any search warrants. Your Mr. McAllister will run into one brick wall after another until he gives up."

"He doesn't give up easily."

"He'll have no other choice, not if he wants to run his business in this city."

"You're really flexing your muscles, aren't you?"

"I'm showing you what it means to be a Hathaway. Maybe it's time you decided whether or not you're up to the challenge."

And with that Wallace left the room, leaving chaos and confusion in his wake.

David sat down on the couch, resting his head in his hands, looking exhausted, overwhelmed, and defeated. "He always wins, Paige. He always wins."

She went to him, kneeling down in front of him, putting her hands on his knees, forcing her father to look at her. "Not this time," she said. "We can't let him win this time. This isn't about honor. It's about cheating. That's not what Hathaways are about."

"Isn't it? I cheated on your mother."

"That's not the same thing."

"Your mother cuts corners at the store every chance she gets."

"That's just good business sense."

"And your grandfather—well, where do you think he got the dragon in the first place, Paige? You're the only one who still has some goodness left. You should get out of this family while you have the chance."

"I don't think I can." Paige sat down on the couch next to him, her mind reeling with information. They'd never spoken this frankly in their lives. It was difficult to take it all in.

"I've made so many mistakes," David said.

Which reminded her ... "You have. You should have told me about Jasmine and Alyssa, especially Alyssa. She's my sister. I should have known about her," Paige said. "Why didn't you support her? See her, even if it was only in secret?"

"Her mother wanted it that way. And your mother would have wanted it that way, too. I'm a very weak man, Paige. I couldn't stand up to either one of them. The last thing I ever wanted was for you to know the truth about me. But now you do. And I'm sorry."

A part of her wanted to put her arms around him and give him a hug, tell him that it didn't matter, that he would always be her father. But that was the old Paige. Sometime in the past week—or maybe in the past few minutes—she'd grown up. "I don't think sorry is enough. Maybe for me, but not for Alyssa. You owe her, Dad. You owe her support, love, and acceptance. She's your daughter. She deserves that as much as I do or Elizabeth did."

"I was missing Elizabeth," he said quietly. "That's how it started. Jasmine was there. She was kind. She listened. It's not an excuse, just a reason. We met at a party. She was a waitress working for the caterer. She was beautiful then, warm, kind. She reminded me that there was still some life in me. But I destroyed her life just as she gave me mine back."

"Did you know that Jasmine's father, Lee Chen, was the man who rescued Grandfather during the war?"

"What?" David looked surprised. "How can that be?"

"The three of them knew each other, Ned Delaney, Lee Chen, and Grandfather. I think they found at least one of the dragons and maybe even the box in China and brought them back here to San Francisco. After that, I'm not sure what happened. But it's strange that you and Jasmine should end up together. And that she should dream of dragons. It all seems so unexplainable."

"The mysteries of the universe. Perhaps I've spent too much time in the Far East, but I believe that there are patterns and connections everywhere. Destiny plays a bigger role than we imagine. Maybe those dragons want to come back together. That's why they're pulling all of us toward each other."

It was an eerie, mystical explanation for what was happening, but there seemed to be some truth in it. The dragons were bringing them together, this third generation. Maybe they were the ones who were meant to put the pieces of the set back together, too. "Do you still think Grandfather has the box?"

"Yes," David said without hesitation. "I'm sure of it."

"Then that leaves one dragon missing. If Ned had a dragon and Grandfather had the box, then it stands to reason that Lee Chen had the other dragon. I think it's time you and Jasmine had a talk. And Alyssa, too," she added. "We'll need everyone to get to the bottom of this."

* * *

Riley didn't sleep all night, considering the options available to him. After leaving the Hathaway house, he'd gone to the police station but hadn't gotten beyond leaving messages for the officers investigating the robbery. He'd gone home, tried to sleep, but gave up as the sun rose.

Getting out of bed, he went on a grueling bike ride around the city, watching San Francisco come to life. It was the day before the Chinese New Year he realized as he passed by traffic control officers putting up signs and roadblocks for the parade that would begin at five o'clock in the afternoon. Tonight all of Chinatown would celebrate the dawning of a new year.

He wished he could feel a sense of hope and wonder, that he could look forward to a new year filled with good fortune, but he couldn't feel any of those things. He'd left them behind in the Hathaway mansion. He still couldn't believe Paige had stood up for her grandfather. The old bastard was a liar. That was obvious to anyone. But no, not Paige. She still couldn't see past her last name. Well, why should he have expected it to be any different? He knew who she was. He'd known all along. He'd just forgotten for a while.

Lost in her arms, in her kiss, in her body, he'd forgotten pretty much everything. Even now his body was hardening at the thought of her, which was damn uncomfortable considering he was riding a mountain bike. But the pain in his body was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. He'd let her in. And she'd hurt him. When was he ever going to learn to stop believing in fairy tales and happily ever afters? They didn't happen to guys like him. They never had, and they never would.

He pedaled harder, keeping his head down, his heart racing, his mind occupied so he wouldn't have to think. Somehow he ended up at his grandmother's house. He got off the bike and walked up to the front door. It was almost eight now, and he suspected his grandmother was already up and making coffee for whichever one of the three musketeers had spent the night on her couch. He could probably call them off now. He suspected Wallace Hathaway had been behind the burglary. He'd probably been looking for the other dragon, the one still missing.

Bud opened the door for him. "Riley. Saw you coming. Anything wrong?"

"No," he lied. "How's my grandmother?"

"I'm fine, honey," Nan said as she came down the hall from the kitchen. "And while I've enjoyed having the company of Bud, Charlie, and Gilbert, I think their wives would be happy if you ended this assignment."

"I was just thinking the same thing. You can go on home, Bud. Thanks for your work."

"Are you sure it's safe now? I don't want to leave Nan in any danger."

"I think she'll be all right, and I'll keep an eye on her."

"I'll be fine," Nan said with a firm tone.

Bud grabbed his jacket and headed out the door without any more encouragement. Riley followed his grandmother into the kitchen. "Is that bacon I smell?"

"Yes, it is. Take a seat. Do you want eggs, too?"

Riley sat down at the kitchen table as his grandmother put a plate of bacon in front of him. "This is plenty."