When Empires Fall (31 page)

“He should just kill himself and save us all the goddamn trouble,” she said heatedly, vengeance hot in her belly despite the tiniest trickle of regret she had for her words.

Grant said nothing for a moment, knowing she didn’t really mean what she had said. Though it bothered him to acknowledge that yes, their father ceasing to live would undoubtedly make all of their lives easier. It wasn’t as if he even acted like a father to them any longer; all he did was leech money from them and the company. But that was going to change from now on.

“Suicide runs in the family. Or maybe it doesn’t,” Grant murmured, feeling her tense against him.

“You don’t believe him, do you?” she asked quietly, tilting her head to look up at him. “We have never been able to trust a single word out of that man’s goddamn mouth and you know it.”

“I don’t know if I believe him or not,” Grant replied, meeting her eyes. “If he had come out and said this two weeks ago, I would have dismissed it. But now that the police are involved and the case has been reopened…I don’t know if it is simply coincidence or if he really does know the truth.”

Madison pushed away from him, stone cold fury in her eyes. “Don’t fall for his lies, Grant. This is our grandfather we’re talking about, the man who practically raised us, who chose us to carry on his legacy at this hotel. Will you really stand here and tell me you believe he is a murderer after everything he has done for us?”

Grant scowled, feeling restless and uncertain. “I don’t want to believe him.”

“Then don’t,” she insisted, shaking her head at him. “If you value everything that this family has stood for in the last hundred years then you will ignore our father’s foolish ramblings and put your faith in our grandfather. He needs you to stand with him right now and he deserves nothing less.”

She turned on her heel then and started to leave the office, frustrated and angry with him for being, in her mind, weak. She was supposed to be able to count on Grant to be strong and consistent, and the fact that he was wavering on this issue disturbed her greatly. Because if Grant was in doubt, that meant that the rest of the family most definitely would be in doubt, which spelled trouble for her grandfather and the secrets he had entrusted her with. It was up to her to see to it that this issue was snubbed out before it got any worse.

Before she reached the door she paused, her hand resting on the handle softly, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked over her shoulder at him, meeting his eyes in a cold, unfeeling stare.

“Wyatt’s in town, which could only mean that trouble is coming. I just thought you should know.”

With that, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Grant stared at the door, shock and understanding pulsing through him in quick, urgent waves. He thought briefly of the flowers she had hurled to the floor in the waiting area and realized that he should have seen this coming.

His sister was right. Wyatt Bailey didn’t just stroll into the city without having a reason to do so, and he was willing to bet it had something to do with his father, Win. And when something had to do with Win, it was always the worst kind of trouble.

L
ynette approached the front desk, twisting her purse strap in her hands. She smiled at Walter politely, curiously noting the surprise that passed over his face the instant he saw her.

“I’m here to meet Linc for lunch, is he around?” she asked, watching as Walter dropped the scissors he’d been holding and grinned foolishly at her.

“Yeah, sure. Um, let me go get him.” He started to bolt into the back office before he suddenly whipped around and pointed an index finger at her questioningly. “Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like Rachel McAdams?”

Lynette blinked, caught off guard by the question. “No.”

“If she had red hair, I swear she could be your twin.”

“That’s nice, I guess.” Lynette frowned, getting impatient with him. “Can you get Linc, please?”

“Oh, right. One sec.” Walter grinned again as he skipped off, disappearing this time into the office. Moments later a harried and stressed looking Linc appeared, his cell phone glued to his ear as his eyes swept over her. He mouthed a silent apology as he continued to speak into the phone, his words clipped and angry.

“Damnit, Logan, we went to school together. You’ve known me since the goddamn second grade. You seriously can’t persuade your boss to let this lie?”

Lynette watched Linc scowl and his hand clench tightly on the phone as he ran his other hand exasperatedly through his hair. “Fine. But don’t call me for box seats to the Knicks games anymore. You’re dead to me.”

With that, he hung up his cell phone and for a moment seriously looked as though he were going to hurl it to the floor just to watch it shatter into a million pieces. Instead he took a deep, soothing breath, slipped the phone into his pocket, and turned to face her.

“I’m sorry.” He tried to smile, but it was still sharp and bitter around the edges. “Things have been a little crazy lately.”

“I can imagine.” She walked over to meet him as he skirted the counter, holding out her arms to envelop him in a hug. He went straight to her, the pleasure of holding her again easing the worst of his anger.

“I missed you.” He sighed, pulling away so he could kiss her, not even waiting for her to respond. “Did you miss me?”

“More than I wanted to,” she joked, enjoying the feel of his lips on hers. “I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.”

He laughed then, resting his forehead against hers and shutting his eyes. “You have no idea, Lynette. No idea just how bad it’s been here.”

“Why don’t you tell me all about it over lunch?”

He kissed her again and pulled away, forcing a smile on his face. “I’m starving. I don’t think I’ve eaten since yesterday.”

“Linc, that’s awful,” she lamented, hooking her arm through his and leading the way towards the hotel’s sushi restaurant. “You need to take better care of yourself.”

“What I need is another vacation.” He shook his head as he held open the restaurant door for her. “And a shot of sake. Maybe two.”

They swept into the restaurant and took a seat at one of the high bar tables next to the sushi bar, and Lynette watched curiously as Linc waved and greeted the chefs in perfect Japanese. Amused by him, she settled into her chair and glanced at the menu.

“So what do you like?” Linc asked her, checking off items on his own menu list expertly. “Lemme guess, you like the safe stuff like California Rolls and salmon sushi.”

“Now what makes you think that, Linc?” she asked, smirking as she began to check off a few items. “You don’t wish to offend me, do you?”

“Not intentionally.” He grinned, reaching over to tilt her chin up so he could see her face. “So then are you a wild, culinary risk taker? Trying any and all varieties of exotic cuisine without hesitation?”

“No,” she replied, smiling prettily at him as her eyebrows raised. “I like to think of myself as somewhere in the comfortable middle. Not too safe, but not too risky either. Just…moderate. Oh, but I can’t have rice. So that unfortunately limits my selection regardless.”

“What’s so bad about rice?”

She laughed, amused by him. “I’m a dancer, Linc. I have to follow a very strict diet in order to maintain my figure.”

“So no starchy white rice?”

“No starchy white rice.”

“What about rice wine?”

She blinked, considering the notion for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t really drink that much, but I suppose a little bit wouldn’t hurt.”

“Great.” He gestured then to the waitress, handed her both of their menu lists, and ordered four shots of sake. When the waitress swept away, he promptly reached over to hold Lynette’s hand in his, releasing a heavy sigh as he did so. “I really did miss you.”

“I know.” She averted her eyes from his, unused to seeing so much honesty just in a person’s expression. It was a trait of his that had unnerved her from the start. “So tell me about what’s been happening…I heard about the tabloid.”

“Yeah, it’s a goddamn nightmare.” Linc ran his free hand through his hair irritably and scowled. “I found out about it while I was in New Orleans. I left my car down there and flew back as soon as I could, but there hasn’t been much I can do about it. My mom is with my dad. They’re flying in tonight.”

“Have you talked with him about it?” she asked, feeling sorry to see the worry and the frustration in his eyes.

He shook his head, his temper sparking. “I haven’t talked to my dad in over a year.”

“Oh…I see.”

“Yeah.” He sneered, sincerely not looking forward to the reunion. “He’s an asshole, plain and simple. I think he did this just to get attention and maybe some quick cash, but Grant thinks…well, Grant thinks he might be telling the truth.”

“What?” Lynette gaped, startled. “But it’s your
grandfather
.”

“I know; it’s crazy.” He took another deep breath and met her eyes, wondering if he should confide in her about the detective. As of yet, only those within his family knew about Don Hughes of the New York City Cold Case Division sniffing around the family asking questions. But he had trusted her with key information before and she had kept it to herself. “I really don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve kept our statement limited to ‘no comment’ until we can talk to dad and find out what the hell he was thinking. But until then it’s my job to fend off hungry reporters and columnists looking for a hot story. I was just talking to one of them on the phone when you got here. Old friend of mine, Logan Schultz. Bastard works for the goddamn New York Times and he won’t stick his neck out for me and tone down the story. Instead he’s going to run the full thing, front page, because he wants a promotion and he doesn’t care if it ruins my life.”

“Some friend,” she managed, squeezing his hand in hers. “It’ll blow over, Linc. These things always do. Something else scandalous will happen and then everyone will forget about this.”

He stared at her then, his expression hardening and doubt filling his eyes. “I don’t think we will get off that lucky this time, Lynette.”

“Why not?”

He stopped as the waitress dropped off their sake. After he thanked her he grabbed one and downed it gratefully, needing to quell the fury and suspicion exploding in his gut. Once the waitress was out of earshot, he set down the glass and leaned over the table towards Lynette, lowering his voice, his eyes intent on hers.

“A few weeks ago, a detective from the cold case division of the NYPD came to see us at the hotel. He claims he has evidence that my great-grandfather was murdered; a letter from some long dead mistress of his from the 50s that apparently knew that it wasn’t suicide. He made it sound as though the letter names my grandfather as the killer, but he wouldn’t say specifically. The detective was making the rounds meeting with my entire family when my dad talked to the press, but he never made it to Los Angeles. So it’s possible that my dad actually does know the truth and got anxious knowing the detective was coming for him so he blabbed to the press.”

“Good Lord.” Lynette covered her mouth with her free hand, her eyes widening.

“Or, it’s possible that he’s full of shit, and this is all just some crazy coincidence,” Linc added, scowling.

“Have you spoken with your grandfather? Gotten his side of the story?”

“My sister usually goes to see him, so I imagine she will once we figure out what’s going on with dad. She won’t want to upset our grandpa unnecessarily, so she’ll want to have all the facts before she goes.”

“You’re sure he hasn’t already seen this on TV?”

“He’s ninety years old; he could care less about TV,” Linc mused, attempting a small grin. “The old man reads the same ten books over and over again. That’s all he does.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, at least.” She let out a sigh and reached over to sip at one of the sake shots curiously. When she felt Linc’s hand stiffen in hers, she glanced up at him and noticed he was staring over her shoulder, cold, hard fury blazing in his eyes.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he grumbled, tensing visibly before her.

Startled, she turned around to see what he was staring at and spotted a tall, vixen looking woman sauntering over, long legs exposed beneath a trim black leather dress, ice-pick black stiletto heels gracing her feet and a fluffy gray chinchilla sweater wrapped casually over her shoulders. Her straight dark hair was cut razor sharp at her chin and her bright blue eyes were honed in on Linc with sultry intensity. Lynette watched as the woman’s lips curved into a dangerous feline smirk and her brow creased as she realized she had seen the woman before. But where?