Love After All (17 page)

This wasn't for amateurs. Real lives were at stake. Her brother's freedom and hers were at stake. Then the answer became clear as she could hear her father's words reverberate in her mind: family is forever. The decision made, the game was on, and as her father's daughter she would play right up there with the big boys.

She turned around, seeing Jackson and Lincoln now involved in a heated discussion. She didn't know Jackson's involvement or even if he was involved. He might or might not be. All she knew was that she needed to watch her back until she could get in touch with Jefferson. And if Jackson was part of it, he was on his own, but if he wasn't she needed to protect him, too.

The battle between the two men continued as she watched the testosterone-generated posturing. It could all be an act, she warned her heart as Jackson's fury openly raged. “You lie, and if you weren't an old man, I'd…” Jackson warned fiercely as apparently his mother was his soft spot and Lincoln had hit it hard.

“O
n the contrary, it's the truth,” Lincoln assured him calmly. “The woman you held on a pedestal conned with the best. She worked with Robert Taylor's crew. Thirty-two years ago, after they pulled one last job, she walked away with a great deal of money, money that helped Daley Communications fend off a corporate takeover, I believe. She turned her life around and no one faulted her for that. But the money didn't belong to her.”

Jackson was speechless. What Lincoln said basically confirmed what the copied documents in the envelope stated. Inside was a copy of his mother's mug shot and her prison rap sheet listing a number of minor offenses. There was also a certified document showing that his mother bought her way into the Daley family with scammed money, with the complete knowledge of his father.

“So where do you fit in all this?” Samantha asked as to Lincoln's motives.

“I want to see a wrong corrected,” he said.

“I'll bet,” she said facetiously.

“As the story goes, Robert Taylor took the fall for Mr. Daley's mother. She profited and walked away scot free with the cash, leaving you and your mother with nothing while she lived in the lap of luxury.”

Samantha turned to Jackson. The burning glint in her eyes revealed her pain. The hurt she felt boiled inside. Growing up was hard. With her father in jail, her mother working menial jobs to support them and Jefferson on the streets, she'd barely survived. Now to find out that someone had stolen from them hit her like a dagger straight to the heart.

“So why is Jackson here? Talk to his mother,” she said to Lincoln, holding in the pain of the moment.

“My mother died six months ago.”

Samantha looked at Jackson tensely then turned to Lincoln. “Okay, if what you say is true then it's personal. Jackson's family owes my family. What do you get out of all this, a finder's fee?” she asked.

“Nothing substantial, I assure you, except the pleasure of seeing justice served,” Lincoln told her. “But I'm afraid there is a slight complication.”

“What complication?” Jackson asked.

“The person in possession of the information is an old friend of yours, Ms. Taylor,” Lincoln said.

“Who?” she asked.

“Eric Hamilton.”

She went still. “Eric's here?”

Lincoln nodded.

“Who's Eric Hamilton?” Jackson asked.

“Mr. Hamilton is a small-time con man with visions of grandeur, far exceeding his ability, I'm afraid. I suspect that he involved himself with you, Ms. Taylor, in hopes of ultimately connecting with your brother. If I'm not mistaken, he actually used Ms. Taylor's brother's name, which pointed the police in your direction.”

“He wanted me to make contact with my father. Dad is…” She paused. “Was the only one who knew how to contact Jefferson,” she said, having already realized the same thing months ago.

“That's exactly correct, Ms. Taylor,” Lincoln said, obviously impressed that she already knew that. “And since Eric didn't know that your father had died, he hoped you knew how to contact Jefferson.”

“Where is Eric now?” she asked.

“Eric was commissioned to con Marcus Daley.”

Jackson looked up, hearing his father's name mentioned. “Whatever it is, I'll warn them off,” Jackson said.

“I'm afraid it's not that simple. The documents I forwarded to you are only copies. Mr. Hamilton has the original documents, or rather, his commissioned partner has.”

“Who's his partner?” Jackson asked.

“If they succeed,” Lincoln said, “and it appears they will, his partner will position himself to take control of Daley Communications.”

“What?” Jackson said, astonished. He knew that his father was working a deal with George Cooperman, but he had no idea exactly what it entailed and how potentially damaging it was.

“Ah, now you see the connection. Mr. Hamilton's partner is George Cooperman,” Lincoln said.

Both Samantha and Jackson stood silent, dumbfounded by realizations that had just changed their worlds.

“So make no mistake, it's not always about the money,” Lincoln said. “You're here because you're desperate, both of you, and I'm your only option. You want the documents to save your company, and you want to help your brother and to get your life back. I can't give these things to you, but I can show you how to get them.”

“You want us to steal them, don't you?” Jackson said.

“I will not be blackmailed into committing a crime for you or anyone else,” Samantha said adamantly.

“This isn't blackmail,” Lincoln affirmed. “You want something and I want something. It's a simple transaction.”

“It's still blackmail,” she repeated.

“I beg to differ,” Lincoln said more adamantly.

“Semantics,” she responded. “Call it whatever you want, it's still the same thing.”

“Look, the two of you can go at this for the next ten years, but it all boils down to the same thing in the end,” Jackson said. He turned to Samantha. Her eyes, still angry, bored into his. “We don't have a choice, we have to do this.”

“You have to do this, not me. I'll take my chances alone,” she said.

“Alone, Ms. Taylor,” Lincoln said. “I believe you've been alone for the past four months. How far did it get you? You had no idea where Eric was until I told you. Make no mistake, there isn't anyone to help you. Your father's dead and your brother can't even help himself. I'm your only option,” Lincoln repeated then turned to Jackson.

“And, Mr. Daley, warning your father will only alienate him further. He'd never believe you, considering your past relationship. He'll simply see it as another ploy by you to gain control of the business. Eric is using him. He'll take the business without your father even knowing it, and everything your grandfather and mother worked for will be gone.”

“Don't bring my mother into this.”

“Mr. Daley, no matter how much you try to deny it, she was a con woman. Yes, she changed and sometimes people do. But the fact remains, she had a past. Mr. Hamilton is a threat to both of you. He will succeed if you don't work together to stop him.”

Jackson turned around and walked away, considering.

Samantha took a step to follow but stopped, thinking better of the idea. He needed time to process all this. It was a shock to learn that his mother had been a con woman who'd stolen her crew's money and that his father was being conned into relinquishing the family business and there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

“How exactly do you know all this?” Samantha asked.

“I work for George Cooperman,” Lincoln said.

“And you're going to betray him, just like that?”

“As I said earlier, justice must be served.”

“Whose justice?” Jackson asked, turning around.

“Since you want justice and you work for him, you can get this information yourself, you don't need us,” Samantha added.

“On the contrary, you, Ms. Taylor, know how to break into a computer system, and your business contacts, Mr. Daley, can get you far closer than I can.”

“And you want nothing in return?” Jackson asked.

“The satisfaction of helping you both, of course.”

“Of course,” Jackson said, not believing him.

“Like hell, nobody does anything for nothing,” Samantha said pointedly.

“Very good, Ms. Taylor. Apparently your father taught you very well. I do want something, but that will come in the end. After you've gotten what you came for.” Lincoln stood and picked up his hat and coat from the bed. He draped the coat over his arm, walked to the door, then turned back to them. “I suggest you examine what I left you in the envelope. It might be of some assistance.” Both Samantha and Jackson looked at the envelope on the table, then back to Lincoln as he opened the door and walked out.

“I don't believe him,” Jackson said.

“Neither do I, but that doesn't matter now, does it?”

“Samantha, what he said about my mother taking money from your family…”

“That was a lifetime ago, ancient history. You're not responsible for the sins of your mother any more than I'm responsible for the sins of my father.”

“So, it's true about your father, Robert Taylor?”

“Yes,” she said. “It's true.” She saw his reaction, the same reaction she always got as soon as someone found out that her father was a professional con man. Scorn, contempt, pity, they were all there. “My father was a con man and I spent most of my childhood running. I was—” She stopped suddenly.

Jackson saw the pain in her eyes. He knew that there was something more but she wouldn't say. It was none of his business, but earlier that evening, intentional or not, they had made a connection and this situation now cemented it.

“Tell me everything you know about Eric Hamilton,” Jackson said after a few minutes of silence. She didn't respond. “Samantha,” he called out.

She jolted from her thoughts, turning to him as if she'd forgotten that he was still even in the room.

“Tell me about Eric,” he repeated.

“There's nothing to tell.”

“Obviously there is!” he said more forcefully. “Look, you know more about this than I do. Tell me what you know.”

“You need to talk to your father.” She slowly walked over to the suitcase still sitting by the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I didn't sign up for this—for you.”

“You can't run,” Jackson said forcefully.

“Watch me.” She grabbed her bag and reached for the doorknob.

“Wait,” he called out. “Hold on.” She opened the door. “Samantha, listen, you just said that you've run all your life. Isn't it time to stop?” She paused, hearing him move closer behind her. “I don't know what happened in your family with your father and I don't know what's going on between you and this Eric person, but I do know that the woman I was with at the inn had stopped running. She was in control of her life.”

He gently took the suitcase from her. “All of this, this con stuff, everything is new to me. I don't know what my mother was into. My father must have known. They never talked to me about any of this. You have some insight. I don't know how much to believe, but you at least know something of your family's past. Help me. Talk to me.”

“You don't understand. I've long ago given up on my father. And I don't talk about my family.”

“And your brother, have you given up on him, too?”

Samantha went still.

“If I'm not mistaken, Eric is after him, too, isn't he?”

“I need to get out of here!” she said, opening the door.

“And go where?”

“I don't know, somewhere, anywhere away from here. I need to get away from all this.” She took a step out the door.

“Wait, hear me out. Stop running, Samantha, help me, help yourself. Lincoln was right about one thing, we need each other.”

Samantha went still. She knew he was right. She had grown up running. It was natural. And the one time when she'd stopped and lived a normal life Eric took that away from her. Now he was after her brother to take it away from him and she wasn't going to let him, not again.

Jackson came up and stood by her side in the doorway.

“Okay,” she said softly. “But there are too many things going on. We need to figure this out, but not here.”

Jackson, still holding the door open, took her suitcase. “I agree, let's go.”

“Where?” she asked.

“Does it matter as long as it's away from here?”

“Wait,” she said as she walked back into the room. She picked up the envelope from the glass table and put it into her purse. She nodded to him, and he nodded back. He led the way down the deserted hotel hall and she followed, wondering just how far she could go with him and whether going all the way would completely devastate her in the end.