Their Virgin Hostage (Masters of Ménage #5)(37)

Her father, Becks, and Greg were sitting in a swanky restaurant, looking like they were having a grand old time. There was a date and time stamp on the photograph.

"Kinley, this was taken four days ago. The night before you told me that your father had an oncology appointment at noon the next day. You confessed how worried you were that he wouldn't let you go with him."

"He said he didn't want this to be a repeat of Mom's illness. He said he couldn't stand the thought of putting me through it again." Had it all been a lie? "I begged him to let me go, but he convinced me to just write the check. Greg promised to help pay for Dad's treatments after we were married. It's why I agreed to bump the wedding up. Originally, I wanted to get married in the fall."

But that hadn't suited Greg's or Becks's plans. Kinley had been stubborn about it because she'd always dreamed of a fall wedding in New York. She had also wanted more time to get to know Greg … and to see if she could pull them out of their financial problems without being forced to marry.

And then her father had gotten sick. Supposedly. Now she didn't know what to think.

Kinley tried to channel her anger toward Law, Dominic, and Riley for spying on her family and trying to crush her illusions. But she couldn't quite get there. All the evidence pointed to her family and fiancé betraying her. Dominic, Law, and Riley were simply revealing it. 

"Poor little rich girl," Dominic drawled.

That voice grated on her nerves. She grasped at whatever straws she could find. "How do I know you're not fabricating evidence?"

"Why would we do that?" Riley asked. "Think for two seconds. Give me one good reason we would."

"Because you want revenge on Greg."

"What kind of revenge would making evidence up give us, Kinley?" Dominic grilled her.

"You could release the pictures and cause a scandal. That would be a big story for a long time. He wants to make contacts with society people, businessmen who were close to my mother and grandparents. I have those contacts. If those people think of him as a cheating, swindling scumbag, or I publically malign Greg, they will have nothing to do with him. He won't make the connections he wants to."

"This is about far more than scandal, Kinley. I firmly believe he's using your charity as a front for some illegal venture. You should want to know if that's true yourself."

Her gaze strayed back to the pictures of her sister and her fiancé. Kinley's whole world was crashing around her. Everything she'd thought she believed about her family and her future was now being called into question. She whimpered.

Kinley wanted to hate Dominic, but didn't have the energy. Every bit of her strength right now went into keeping her chest from imploding and not crying in front of him and the other two.

"No one tells you the truth, do they?" Law said without any trace of the lover who had held her so tenderly just hours ago and given her a kiss she would dream of for the rest of her life.

He certainly hadn't been honest with her. Greg hadn't either. That rat bastard had told her that he thought she was lovely, that he couldn't wait for their honeymoon. The whole time he'd been sleeping with her sister. Even her own father had been lying to her. As much as she'd tried to bend for the people in her life, to please them … it had been one giant waste. Apparently they saw her as a target to con.

All of her insecurities welled, a giant wave threatening to crash over her. Her father had always preferred Becks. Apparently, Greg did, too. Now that she really thought about it, all of the women he'd dated before had been slender and model-like. Had Greg been dreading the moment he had to touch her fat body? Had he put it off all this time until it was absolutely, positively necessary? But why marry her at all if he didn't want her?

Ten million dollars. And Becks must have known about the scheme. It seemed far too coincidental that she'd taken out a three-million-dollar policy on her husband at roughly the same time. Which meant Becks and Greg were probably in this scheme together.

Her sister wouldn't really let someone kill her … would she? She couldn't possibly be that cold. The way money wasn't mysteriously disappearing from her charity? The way Becks hadn't been sleeping with Greg? Oh dear god. Was it possible Dominic, Law, and Riley were right about everything?

"You need to start using your head, Kinley. Read over the accounting reports. Something is wrong at Hope House. Greg, Becks, and your dad have kept you too busy with the wedding for you to notice. Well, guess what, honey? We've made sure you have all the time in the world to figure it out now. So look at the fucking reports and tell me your fiancé is clean. Because either he's dirty or you are. One way or another, whoever's guilty is going to jail." Dominic stormed out of the room.