chapter27

Orin, as the senior Delaney, was sitting in on the meeting with Drew. Colin and his father

sat on an old, plaid sofa in Orin's upstairs study, and Drew sat in a threadbare wing chair

across the coffee table from them. The room was done in dark paneling, with shag

carpeting on the floor that had been there since it had been fashionable back in the '70s.

One side of the room was lined in bookcases filled with a variety of volumes, including

veterinary reference books, old almanacs, and the crime paperbacks Orin favored.

"I thought Julia was going to be here," Colin commented. Drew had told him earlier

that he wanted his sister to join them, and now, Colin asked after her as though he were

merely inquiring about a simple change of plans. He hoped it didn't show how

disappointed he was not to see her here.

"She had other things to do." Drew glared at Colin as he said it, and Colin wondered

whether there was some sort of hidden message he was supposed to divine from the

man's tone.

"Well, that's fine." It wasn't—not as far as Colin was concerned—but he thought it

best not to say that.

Colin had a file folder on the table in front of him.

"I guess we should get started, then," he began. He turned the file folder around and

pushed it across the table toward Drew. "This folder contains a list of the assets Redmond

bequeathed to you in his will. I'm prepared to go over each item, line by line. You should

understand that coming up with exact dollar amounts of the value of each asset is

problematic, given the fluctuating stock and real estate markets."

He sounded like a lawyer, and that was by design. The man had made it clear that he

didn't like Colin; it was best to keep this professional.

Drew looked at the folder on the table but didn't pick it up. He looked at Colin, then

Orin. "Is this the part where you ask me to take a DNA test?"

Orin rubbed his chin, looking uncomfortable. "Well, we weren't planning on it.

Redmond named you as his son; I guess that's good enough for me."

"Legally, it doesn't matter if you're his biological son," Colin said. "He listed you as

his beneficiary by name, with no mention of it being contingent on a DNA test." He

spread his hands. "Even if you took a test and it turned out that you and Redmond aren't

related, you'd still be his heir."

Drew shifted in his seat. "Still … I think I'd kind of like to know for sure."

Colin nodded. "I can arrange that if it's what you want. I have to tell you, though—

if it turned out you weren't his son, certain members of the family … Well. I can't

guarantee …"

"You're saying Liam might challenge the will."

"Yes. That's what I'm saying."

"Well, wouldn't you? I sure as shit would," Drew said. It was the first thing he'd

ever said to indicate he might have some common ground with Liam. "Let's do it

anyway," he said. "The test. I want to know."

"I'll set it up," Colin said.

Colin figured Ryan had probably told Drew the family's background during the time

they'd spent together earlier in the day. If he hadn't, Drew had undoubtedly Googled the

Delaneys and read it for himself. Still, it seemed important to go through it. If the man

was going to own a hefty chunk of the Delaney fortune, he ought to know where it came

from in the first place.

He told Drew about how Kenneth Delaney, an ancestor from seven generations ago,

had immigrated from Ireland and received a huge parcel of acreage as part of a Mexican

land grant in 1846. Colin's grandfather, a man with a keen sense of business, had sold off

a lot of the land and had put the profits into commercial properties all up and down the

state, as well as the family's ranch in Montana. The result was a portfolio that regularly

landed the Delaneys on various lists of California's most wealthy families.

"Most of Redmond's wealth was in the form of shares in the family's corporation,"

Colin continued. He explained that Redmond and Orin, who had been their parents' only

heirs, had each held fifty percent of the corporation, until Orin had given ten percent

shares to each of his children, keeping ten percent for himself.

"That meant that Redmond, who retained fifty percent, had by far the largest voting

share," Colin went on. "According to Clayton Drummond, the lawyer who prepared the

will, Redmond thought it wouldn't be fair to all of us if you got a larger voting share than

any of the Delaneys. He thought it would cause a certain amount of discord." And that

was understating it significantly. "So, he split his shares equally among his niece and

nephews, and you."

"There's four of you and one of me," Drew said.

"Which means we each inherit a ten percent voting share," Colin went on.

"With what the boys and Breanna already have, that means they'll each have twenty

percent of the corporation, and you'll have ten," Orin said. He shrugged apologetically.

"Puts you on equal footing with me, I guess."

"Voting shares," Drew said, looking stunned. "But I don't know anything about …

about what you all do."

"I can help you with that," Colin said. "I can teach you what you need to know, if

you're willing to learn."

Drew nodded mutely.

"Now, that brings us to Redmond's personal assets, everything that was not a part of

the corporation. Real estate, stock portfolio, cash accounts." Colin leaned forward with

his elbows on his knees, his hands laced together loosely. He focused on Drew. "It's all

itemized here." He pushed the folder a little closer to Drew. "You get everything."

If Orin was feeling emotional about what was happening, the only sign was in the

way he cleared his throat rubbed his chin with his thick, callused fingers. Drew's

emotions were a little more evident; his hand shook as he reached out to pick up the

folder.

As Drew opened the folder and looked wordlessly at the contents, Colin went on,

"It'll take some time for Redmond's assets to be transferred over to you. It has to go

through probate, and that can take as long as a year."

"A year," Drew repeated, his eyes still on the paper in front of him.

"But the shares in the corporation pay dividends quarterly, and that'll transfer to you

immediately. The next disbursement is next month."

"Next month." Drew seemed to be repeating whatever Colin had to say. Colin

figured that was because the man's brain had shut down, unable to absorb the enormity of

what was happening to him. Drew began to say something else, and it came out as a

breathy squeak. He tried again. "I … uh … I have a lot of debt …"

Colin knew what he was asking. "I don't know yet exactly how much that check will

be, but it's going to be roughly in line with last quarter, and I can tell you what a ten

percent share came to then." He told Drew the number.

The man's face seemed to pale, and he was starting to sweat.

Orin, who'd been mostly quiet all this time, spoke up. "Son, there are things we'll

need to talk about. Money like this—it makes you a target for all kinds of people. The

cockroaches are gonna come out of the woodwork, all right. If you're not prepared …"

He left the thought of the cockroaches—and what they might do to Drew once they got

hold of him—hanging there.

"I can help you with that, too," Colin said. "But right now, I figure you need some

time to absorb everything."

Drew looked like he was going to faint or throw up. Colin thought it would have

been good if Julia had come to the meeting; Drew really did need some support, and he

seemed to see most of the Delaneys as the enemy. Colin hoped that would change, but for

now, it was just how things were.

Drew's hands were still shaking as he leafed through the papers in the folder.

"Maybe I'd better call Julia," Colin said. "You look like you could stand to see a

friendly face."

"She … uh …" Drew cleared his throat and looked up at Colin, seeming to notice

him there for the first time since the figure had been named. "I'm not sure if she's still

here."

Colin assumed he meant that Julia had gone into town, or maybe for a sightseeing

excursion up to Hearst Castle.

"When do you expect her back?"

"I … We had a fight." He looked at Colin, and his expression hardened. Colin could

guess what the fight was about. "I told her to go home, and … I think she went."

Colin gaped at him. "She left?"

When he didn't get any answer from Drew, he got up, left the room, and pulled his

cell phone out of his pocket. In the relative privacy of the upstairs hallway, he dialed her

number. The call went straight to voice mail. Then he called Ryan and Gen's place. No

one was home; it was midafternoon, and both Ryan and Gen would still be working.

He muttered a string of expletives and headed out of the house, taking the stairs two

at a time. He hurried out to his car and drove to Ryan and Gen's place. The rental car

Drew and Julia had been sharing weren't parked in front of the main house, and Colin

hoped like hell he'd see it at Ryan's place.

It wasn't there.

Ryan and Gen weren't in the habit of locking up their house during the day, so Colin

went right in the front door, as all of the Delaneys often did. "Ryan? Gen?" he called

from the entryway, but he got no answer. "Julia, are you here?" He didn't expect a

response to that one, but he'd hoped he might get one anyway.

"Shit," he muttered. "Shit, shit, shit."

Again taking the stairs two at a time, he went to the guest room where Julia had been

staying. He found the closet and dresser empty and the bed neatly made, with a note

propped up against the pillow. He snatched up the note and quickly read it.

Dear Gen and Ryan,

Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality. I'm sorry I couldn't thank you in

person, but I was called away to deal with an urgent matter at home. Please tell Colin I

said goodbye.

—Julia

That was it? That was all he got? Tell Colin I said goodbye? When she'd dumped

him, he'd thought he would have a chance to change her mind. He'd thought he would at

least be able to try. Now, this. She hadn't even bothered to tell him she was leaving.

Everything in him told him to do something. By the time she got to the airport in San

Jose, it would be early evening. She might not be able to get a flight out tonight. She'd

probably be in San Jose overnight—he could drive up there and try to catch her before

she left. He could buy a ticket so that he could get through security and stake out the gate.

The options running through his head for what he could do narrowed as he started to

apply logic. What if she'd decided to fly out of a different airport? What if she'd decided

to drive? He could get all the way up to San Jose and never find her.

And what if he did find her? She'd made it clear she didn't want to continue seeing

him. Would he track her down in some grand romantic gesture only to have her cut him

off at the knees again?

Drew said they'd had a fight. Colin had no doubt the fight was about him and his

involvement with Julia. Did Colin even have a right to try to change her mind about

being with him? She'd told him about the tense and dysfunctional state her family was in,

and how much that hurt her. Did he have a right to pursue her, knowing it would throw

her family into even greater disarray?

He crumpled up the note and threw it onto the bed.

Fuck.

He wasn't in love with Julia, he told himself. He couldn't be. They hadn't known

each other long enough for love. But whatever he felt for her—whatever this was—it hurt

like a bitch. It hurt like there was a goddamned truck parked on his chest.

He stood there in the guest room a while longer, staring at the wall, trying to process.

Then he walked downstairs and out of the house, and went to tell his mother there'd

be one less guest for dinner.