“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lily said, blowing on her coffee.
“What doesn’t? That she’s a fucking bitch or that she quit?” Rider asked grimly.
“Both. Not a month ago, she was giving me heck because she thought I took her brother’s job. Now, suddenly she’s calling one of her bosses’ wives bad names in front of a large group who will spread it all over town so she wouldn’t be able to deny it. It’s almost like she wanted to get fired,” Lily answered, blowing on her coffee again.#p#分页标题#e#
She reached up, giving her husband a quick kiss on the lips. “Later.” She grinned, walking away, not paying attention to the stunned looks on the men’s faces as she left.
* * *
Shade was standing next to Razer in his office when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Lucky was calling.
“Yeah?”
“Thought I’d let you know that your new wife found a lock box in the basement this morning. Want to take a wild guess what was inside?”
“Lily’s adoption papers?”
“Yes.”
“Fake?”
“Yes. I’ll take them by Knox’s office when I go to lunch.”
“Thanks. Want to hear something interesting?” Shade asked before Lucky could hang up.
“Hit me.”
“Georgia quit this morning. Beat me to firing her ass. Thing is, Lily came up with this idea. She seemed like she wanted to be fired, so we checked it out. Seems the bitch had a chunk of money put in her checking account the day after Halloween.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand. Not only that, another deposit of thirty was put in first thing this morning. This is the first day the banks have been open since Christmas. Someone paid her not only to start the fire, but to start an argument at the church,” Shade concluded.
“Why start an argument at the church?”
“I think to try to rattle Lily into running out of the church. A month ago … Hell, two weeks ago, it would have worked. Whoever wants her dead is getting desperate to try to get to her. We don’t leave her alone, so someone was trying to make their own opportunity.”
“I’ll call Knox to come here and pick these papers up. I’m not going to leave the church from now on when Lily’s here.” Lucky’s voice was grim over the phone line.
“I’ll call you if I find anything else out. Once Knox has the proof from the bank, he’s going to arrest Georgia. I took him her coffee cup, so if the DNA matches the evidence found from the fire, we have her ass, and we may be able to find out what the fuck is going on,” Shade’s anger carried through the phone line.
“All right, I’ll talk to you later, Shade.”
“Later, Dean.”
* * *
“Why the truck?” Lily asked, climbing inside Rider’s truck. Usually, Shade rode his motorcycle to pick her up.
Shade stared back at her from behind his sunglasses. “I wanted to talk to you on the way home,” he said, making no effort to put the truck in gear.
“Is something wrong?” Lily questioned, frowning.
“Knox arrested Georgia this afternoon.”
“Why? What did she do?” Lily’s breath caught in surprise.
“She’s the one who set the basement on fire.”
“What? Why would she do something like that?” Lily asked, shocked.
“Someone paid her fifty thousand dollars. The same person who probably tried to run you down on the street and attempted to break into your house,” Shade explained.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Knox is questioning her now. He’s going to be at the club tonight, so we can find out more then.”
She sat quietly, staring out the window as he drove them home.
“You better tell Knox to keep an eye on her. When she was younger, she tried to kill herself twice. This is going to humiliate her, Shade,” Lily warned.
As soon as he parked the truck, Shade made the call to Knox. Then they went to their house to get changed before going over to eat dinner at the clubhouse. This was their first party since they had gotten married, and she had made an effort to dress up for him.#p#分页标题#e#
She had worn a skirt which he was surprised she owned. Almost all her dresses and skirts came down to her calves. This one came barely a half an inch above her knees.
Shade grinned. He was willing to bet she considered it risqué. He liked it, though, because it hugged her perfect ass.
The soft pink sweater she wore with it showed the top globes of her breasts when it slid off her shoulder. Shade wanted to tug it down all the way yet decided to save that deed for later.