Ty glanced heavenward. “I wish we’d looked ahead and seen this one coming.”
Hunter rolled his eyes. “This from the man who insisted we never speak of the night again?”
“Shut up,” Ty muttered, hating when his own words came back to haunt him.
But his friend had a point. Like a fool, Ty had thought if he never spoke about Lilly again, he’d be able to get her out of his system. Believed he’d be able to forget her.
Cross my heart. Her softly spoken words returned to him now. The last time he’d seen her, she’d promised she’d never forget him. As hard as he tried, he hadn’t been able to block her out of his memory, either. No matter how painful he found it to think of what might have been, he’d thought of Lilly often. He still did.
From the minute he’d watched her plop his baseball cap on her head and walk off, Ty had wanted nothing more than to go with her. For days he’d struggled with the idea of taking off after her. But he’d stayed home because his mother needed him. Ty knew Flo couldn’t handle her son running off so soon after Lilly had disappeared and she deserved better than two heartbreaks so close together. Three if he counted Hunter being taken away from them as well.
But Ty had missed Lilly every damn day since.
Years later, he’d given in to temptation. Ty had made some cop contacts in New York and with their help, he’d done some surface digging for Lacey Kinkaid, the name they’d chosen. From there, it had been surprisingly simple to discover that she was alive and well.
Ty hadn’t taken it any further. He hadn’t contacted her. She’d obviously moved forward with her life and he couldn’t see disturbing those ghosts. Ty himself had insisted on a clean break. And though he’d made that initial choice, she’d followed his instructions. She hadn’t contacted him, not after she’d turned twenty-one and had nothing to fear from her uncle. And not years later when she was an independent woman capable of making her own decisions.
On the nights when he second-guessed his decision, he told himself that his feelings for her had been nothing more than infatuation or puppy love, as the parents of the runaway teens that he tracked now often labeled their children’s hormonal emotions. He’d done some pretty fine convincing, too. She couldn’t be as pretty as he remembered. Her skin couldn’t be as soft. Her scent wouldn’t still wind its way into his heart. All those things must have been an illusion built on the things Lilly represented. The wealthy heiress whose guardian had turned her out of her home, denied her her fortune, and left her fragile and in need of someone strong to take care of her.
Ty had willingly stepped in and filled the role, but deep down, he knew that Lilly was tougher than he gave her credit for and didn’t need him as much as he’d wanted to be needed. She’d run away to the city and thrived there, proving she wasn’t the fragile princess he’d put up on a pedestal. And thank God she wasn’t, or else she wouldn’t have survived, while he’d been living pretty well off of money his mother never should have taken.
“I knew this wasn’t going to be easy on any of us,” Hunter said. “But you’re looking green. Are you okay?”
Ty cleared his throat. “I’m fine. How’d you find out about Dumont ?” Ty asked.
“Indirectly through Molly Gifford.”
“The chick you knew in law school?”
Hunter nodded. “I ran into her at the courthouse today.”
“Has she agreed to date you yet?” Ty laughed, certain his friend had at least given it another try.
“No, but I’m making progress. Unfortunately the timing of her turnaround sucks. Her mother’s going to marry Dumont , which leaves her as my only link to info rmation on the man.” He shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable in the role he’d have to take on.
“No shit? Molly’s mother is going to marry the bastard?”
Hunter’s reply was to finish his drink in one gulp.
“Then you are going to have to turn up the charm.”
“And she’s going to see right through me,” Hunter said and winked. But despite his cocky grin, he was obviously not pleased at the connection.
Ty poured his friend another shot. “But you’ll do it to help Lilly?”
Hunter inclined his head. “Do I have a choice? We’re tied together, the three of us. I helped her then and I’ll help her now.”
Because he cared about Lilly, too. In all the years of their friendship, they’d never spoken about Hunter’s unrequited feelings or the competition between the men that never had time to develop.
Another reason Lilly’s return would be uncomfortable for all involved.
“So we’re in agreement?” Ty asked. “ Dumont has no right to the money.” Ty bent his head from side to side, trying to work the stiff muscles in his neck but the tension remained. His life was about to change drastically.
“We’re in agreement. But you were right. We should have thought about the future,” Hunter said. “About her trust fund and what would happen years down the road. But we didn’t. And now Lilly is going to have to deal with that part of her life.”
Affecting all their lives in the process, Ty thought.
“Lilly needs to be told.” Hunter spoke with quiet certainty.
“Lacey. She’s Lacey now,” Ty said, already forcing himself to begin the mental shift necessary to meet with the woman Lilly had become.
“Lacey needs to be told that Dumont plans to have her declared legally dead and live large on her parents’ money.”
Ty’s head began to pound. Hunter’s words reminded Ty that his mother had done exactly that.
Hunter eyed Ty warily. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Ty shrugged. “Maybe not but it’s true. We thought Lacey was just another foster kid, but she wasn’t. My mother took money from Dumont to take Lilly in. Unofficially, off the books, off the record. He paid her to take his niece until he felt she’d learned her lesson and would come home easier to control.”
“Your mother didn’t know Dumont ’s reasons at the time. She thought she was helping out a man who didn’t know how to handle his out-of-control niece and she was getting money to give you a better life in the process. He offered her an opportunity and she took it.”
Ty nodded. He still dealt with what his mother had done. Still lived with a measure of guilt over the lifestyle they’d had, using money that had rightfully belonged to Lilly.