“That’s a long list.”
“He’s a pretty bad guy. There’s been more. He’s come after everyone in the family, except for my niece and she’s only eight. Hopefully he isn’t going to do anything bad to a little girl. Two months ago I would have been a lot more sure, but then there was the explosion on the rig. And here I thought I didn’t have anything to lose.”
Nick heard the words and didn’t want to believe them. Not Garth. Garth was his friend. He’d said he was playing a game, that he wasn’t out to get anyone but Jed. He was just using the sisters to get their father’s attention. But what Izzy described was completely different. A dangerous vendetta that might have killed her.
Nick had met the Titan sisters. Lexi was pregnant. What was Garth going to do to her? Skye had a daughter. Who else was at risk? He swore silently. Had Garth really been responsible for the explosion that had nearly blinded Izzy? That could have killed her and anyone else on the rig at the time.
He wanted to say no. He wanted to say “not his friend.” Garth had always been one of the good guys. Like family. But how could he be sure nothing had changed? He and Garth had faced death together, but years had passed since then. Years of Garth channeling his anger, apparently toward the annihilation of the Titan family—innocent bystanders be damned.
“We know he has a plan,” Izzy was saying. “But we don’t know what it is. It started earlier this year.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it was only a few months ago. This started in spring, it’s now late summer. By Christmas he could crush us all.”
“You don’t mean that,” he said sharply. “You’re not the type to be beaten.”
“I know. I’m being dramatic. We’ll be fine. It’s just we don’t have a good counterattack. Jed won’t talk to us about any of it. He’s doing his own thing. Sometimes it seems as if he’s almost proud of Garth. Like father, like son.” She sounded bitter. “So my sisters and I are on our own. Well, Cruz and Mitch help. Cruz is Lexi’s fiancé and Mitch is Skye’s.”
Jed wasn’t helping his daughters? Nick told himself not to be surprised. Based on the little he knew about Jed Titan, he only cared about himself. Everyone else simply got in the way.
“I never thought he’d come after me,” she said softly, looking sad. “When Lexi, Skye and I met to talk about Garth, I didn’t ever worry about myself. They thought I was safe, too. I guess we were mistaken.”
Anger burned inside him. Izzy had worked too hard to recover from what had happened to her to slide back now. He had to find out what was really going on. He had to know the truth.
But first he had to get Izzy back to the ranch.
He urged his horse to go faster. Jackson kept up easily and Izzy didn’t seem to notice the increased speed. As soon as he could see the barn, he turned to her.
“I have a meeting in town,” he said. “You going to be okay?”
“I’m more than capable. I have to get the horses ready for the guys who want to go riding, anyway.”
“Okay. See you later.”
He raced to the barn and handed his mount over to Rita, then got in his SUV and headed for Dallas. During the drive, he debated phoning Garth, then decided he didn’t want to talk to his friend. Not until he could see his face.
What was the truth? he wondered. Which Garth was the man in charge? The friend who had kept him alive during their captivity? The friend who never blamed him for what had happened? Or the ruthless stranger who might have caused Izzy’s death?
He drove faster than he should have and made it to Garth’s high-rise building in less than two hours. The doorman knew him and let him in.
“Evening, Nick,” he said with a smile as Nick crossed to the elevators that would take him to Garth’s penthouse condo.
“Evening, George. How’s it going?”
“Better now that football season is about to start. I think the Cowboys will go all the way this year.”
“I hope you’re right.”
The elevator arrived. “Have a good night,” he called before the doors closed.
The ride up seemed to take forever. Nick knew that George would have phoned ahead to let Garth know he had company so Nick wasn’t surprised when he saw the front door standing open. He stepped inside and pushed it shut behind him.
“I just got home,” Garth called from the kitchen. “I picked up takeout from the Chinese place. There’s plenty. Want some?”
Nick ignored the question and stalked into the kitchen. “You said it wasn’t about the sisters. You said you only wanted to get Jed Titan. You implied they wouldn’t be hurt and you lied. You lied to me, Garth. What the hell is going on?”