She Can Hide (She Can #4)(90)

She sat down at the table and started grading papers. Three tests later, her eyes were crossing.

Zeus’s head shot up. He headed for the front of the house with a deep woof. Her doorbell bonged, and his barking turned serious.

Cautious, Abby went to the living room window. A dark sedan was parked at the curb. She leaned close to the glass to get a view of her front porch. Shock woke her more than the caffeine.

She opened the door. “Ryland. What are you doing here?”

He was the last person she expected to see. Marlene’s death had set off a media firestorm. Though the police hadn’t tied him to her murder, the press was happy to speculate on his guilt. Ryland had practically gone into seclusion.

A man, taller and somehow ominous, waited by the car.

“Abby. We need to talk.” His face had aged ten years since she’d seen him just a week ago. Lines of grief, exhaustion, and worry creased his eyes.

She stood aside and pulled Zeus back by the collar so her father could enter. The big dog was a convenient barrier. Zeus snorted, punctuating several seconds of awkward silence.

“Do you want some coffee?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Ryland gave the dog a worried glance but followed her back to the kitchen. Zeus stretched out on the floor, his attention never wavering from the stranger.

“Good watchdog?”

“Very,” Abby said.

Ryland nodded in approval and took a seat at the table. Abby poured coffee into a mug and handed it to him. She took the seat opposite him.

He set his cup down. “I’ll be brief. I certainly don’t want anyone to see me here and bring more unwanted attention to you, but there are some things you should know.”

Abby waited, her own coffee untouched. Her nervous system, primed from the violence of the past few weeks, dumped adrenaline into her bloodstream. Caffeine was no longer necessary.

Ryland struggled for words.

“Are you dying?”

“Yes.” His mouth tightened into a grim line.

“How long?”

“Maybe a year, if I’m lucky.” His gaze drifted to the window and back. He was lost, his confidence shattered. “I don’t know exactly what to say to you. I was stupid and arrogant. I did exactly as I pleased for many years with no thought to the consequences. I didn’t even know my own wife. She hated me. She hated you. And I was clueless.”

Ryland sipped his coffee.

“She said she was afraid I’d sue for part of your estate. You know I don’t want your money?”

“I know,” Ryland said. “Neither did your mother. She took some only because she had to leave her job because of you.”

Abby turned away.

“She didn’t regret it, but she wasn’t happy.”

“I know.” Abby didn’t have a single memory of her mother smiling.

“Her sadness made her drink.” Ryland frowned.

“Not all the time,” Abby said. “She did her best.”

“She did, but it wasn’t enough. And that’s my fault.” Ryland straightened his shoulders as if he’d come to a decision. “I told you I kept you secret to keep you safe and because I was doing the honorable thing for my wife and sons. I lied.”

“What?”

“I lied.” Ryland’s face drooped. “I couldn’t tell anyone about you because of who your mother really was.”

“I don’t understand.” Abby’s coffee sloshed in her stomach. Instinct told her he was going to upset her world. “Mom was a waitress.”

Ryland shook his head. “No. Your mother was a DEA agent. That’s how we met. She was investigating me.”

Abby gasped. Her mother had been a drug enforcement agent who slept with the drug dealer she was investigating.

“If anyone had found out about us…Let’s just say the fallout would have been bloody. You would have been at risk as well as my sons. Ultimately, that was why I decided to get out of those less legitimate business ventures. There was no way I wanted my sons involved in that industry.”

No mention of Abby being involved, but then he’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her all her life.

“I’ve cleaned up my businesses over the last three years. There isn’t anything illegal. My sons will be inheriting a one-hundred-percent legitimate company.”

“Funded with drug money,” Abby pointed out.

Ryland lifted an unconcerned shoulder. “The past is the past.”

“Until it catches up with you,” Abby said.

“Yes,” Ryland agreed. “When you were kidnapped, I should have intervened. Your mother told the police detective about me. She was concerned that Faulkner was working for one of my business rivals. The detective blackmailed me when he should have been saving you. Roy Abrams knew where you were the entire time. Faulkner had marked your location with the GPS on his cell phone. The detective told Faulkner to keep quiet about your location, and he’d talk to the judge about minimizing his sentence.” Coldness glittered in Ryland’s eyes. “I should have been your father. I should have taken care of you. Instead I paid him to keep it all quiet.”

Abby couldn’t agree more. “Why now? Why come to my rescue?”

“Because I couldn’t go to my grave while you had to wake up with the knowledge that the men who hurt you were still out there. I’ve been following you these last three years. You live half a life. I thought if everything connected to your kidnapping were wiped clean, then maybe you’d be free of the past. All I want is peace, for both of us.”