IZZY TOOK A STEP BACK, so she was in daylight. It seemed safer. “Dad.”
Jed Titan stood up from the bench by the door. “How are you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Still blind?”
She shook her head. “I suppose the real miracle of this is you asked how I was first. No. I haven’t had the surgery.”
“What are you waiting for?” he demanded. “You’re no good to me as you are. You’re nothing but a liability. At least if you could see, you’d be worth something.”
“I’m sorry to hear my stock is down,” she said, determined not to let him upset her. She would see the ridiculousness of the situation, nothing more. She wouldn’t think about how he hadn’t bothered to visit her in the hospital. That she was nothing to him but a possible means to an end. She wasn’t anyone he cared about. Certainly not a daughter he had ever loved.
“Are you getting the surgery or not?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “If you don’t, you’re an idiot. At least if you can see, you can marry well. You weren’t ever going to inherit the family business, but you could have done something.”
The words weren’t a surprise, but they still hurt. Her mother hadn’t left her anything, either. Apparently she was quite the disappointing child.
“You’re only interested in what I can do for you,” she said.
“What you could have done for me. You’re stubborn and difficult and now you’re blind. What a waste. That’s all you are. A waste.”
“Then you shouldn’t be standing here, talking to me,” she told him. “Get out, Jed. I don’t have time for this.”
“Right. Too busy learning Braille. All three of my daughters are a disaster. Don’t bother moving back to Glory’s Gate. You’re not welcome there.”
Glory’s Gate had been the Titan family home for generations. Izzy had grown up there with her sisters. She hadn’t been back since Skye had moved out after Jed had threatened to have her declared an unfit mother and lock her away. Izzy had no plans to go back now.
But knowing it was no longer her choice bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Rather than listen to any more of Jed’s vicious words, she retreated into the barn, thinking that for the first time since she’d arrived at Nick’s ranch, the shadowy space felt like a sanctuary.
Jed didn’t follow her. She hoped he left, but refused to find out. Instead she led Jackson out of his stall and quickly saddled him. Then she walked him outside, swung onto his back and let him pick his way.
She didn’t know where they were going and she didn’t care. As long as it was away from here. Away from her father and Nick and the jackass who’d attacked her the previous night. Men were becoming a serious problem in her life.
Jackson rode toward the sun. He started to run. She could feel the heat on her face and the rush of the wind. Riding felt good. She wouldn’t think about anything or worry. She just hung on for the ride.
When he finally slowed, she brushed her face with her hand and refused to admit the moisture there came from tears. She didn’t cry. She was stronger than that. Stronger than anyone knew.
But not strong enough to risk the surgery.
The truth hung on her shoulders, heavy, like a thick, damp cape. She wanted to be different, wanted to face the darkness bravely, but she couldn’t.
She turned Jackson back the way they’d come. “Time to go home, boy,” she told him.
A few minutes later, she heard the sound of hoof beats racing toward her. She reined in Jackson and waited until the rider approached.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Nick demanded. “You took off without telling anyone where you were going.”
“I didn’t know where I was going,” she snapped, too exhausted by one emotional upheaval after another to deal with Nick and his tantrums. “I can’t see, remember? I just went for a ride and now I’m coming back. What’s your problem?”
“What’s yours? You just admitted you can’t see, but you took off on a ride by yourself?”
Oh. Good point. “I was upset,” she admitted. “I needed to get away and think.”
“Can’t you go sulk in your room like everyone else?”
“I’m not sulking. There are things in my life I have to deal with.”
“You could have been thrown. It might have taken days to find you. Resources would have been wasted because you needed to think.”
She ignored him and urged Jackson forward. “Because that’s all that matters,” she muttered. “Resources. How you’d be put out. Tell you what. Next time I go riding, don’t bother coming to look for me. I wouldn’t want you wasting your time.”
“I’m not going to leave you out here to die.”
“Why not? I’m not good for anything. I’m useless. Taking up space, right?”
Jackson came to a sudden halt. Izzy wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling that Nick had grabbed his bridle.
“What happened?”
His tone was soft, curious. The anger was gone.
“Nothing. Let me go.”
Jackson began to move again. Nick moved next to her.
“What happened?” he asked again.
“My father came to see me.”
“And?”
She sighed. “What do you know about Jed Titan?”
“He’s a successful businessman with a reputation for being ruthless.”
“That’s a good start. He’s determined, egotistical and only interested in how the world serves him. And that’s on a good day.”
“So he didn’t stop by to see how you’re doing?”
“No. He came by to see if I was still blind. Because if I am, I’m no good to him. I can’t even marry well. Not that he was going to leave me any of his considerable fortune.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I never wanted the money. None of us did. We wanted a father. Pretty dumb, huh?”
Nick didn’t say anything. Izzy drew in a breath.
“You’ve met my sisters. Lexi is the oldest. She’s a brilliant businesswoman. After college, she went to work for Jed, where she was pretty successful. But she quickly realized she would never have her own identity at his company, so she left and started her own day spa. Skye went to finishing school, if you can believe it. When she came home, she married the man Jed picked for her, had a perfect daughter, then used her inheritance to start a foundation that feeds hungry children.”
“Good for her.”
“Yeah. Good for her. I, on the other hand, barely graduated from high school. I’ve held a series of jobs that require minimal skill. The only thing they had in common was that they were dangerous. I knew I wasn’t the son my father wanted. Maybe going fast or higher is my way of getting his attention. Not that it ever worked. I guess I hoped I would be enough for him.”
But she wasn’t. She never had been. Lexi and Skye weren’t enough either, but somehow knowing that didn’t help.
“I was nine when my mother died. Prudence Lightly.”
“The actress?”
“That’s her. She left everything to Skye. I wasn’t mentioned in her will. And I’ll never know if she did that on purpose or if she just never got around to making the change. It’s not like I was six months old and she was busy, right? I mean eight-plus years is a long time.”
“Izzy, there could be a lot of reasons she didn’t change the will.”
“List five that don’t include me not registering on her radar.”
“Is that what you think?”
She stared at the blurry horizon. “What would you think?”
“I don’t remember my mother. She dumped me in foster care when I was four.”
She turned to him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I got over it.”
Had he? Did any child get over being rejected?
“What happened?” she asked.
“I grew up. I got lucky. I was in my first home nearly five years, so I had some stability. Joan, my foster mother, realized I was pretty smart and encouraged me in school. I skipped a couple of grades. Then she got sick and I was moved somewhere else.”
Losing his family all over again, she thought sadly. It put her pain in perspective.
“After that I moved around a lot,” Nick said. “It’s never easy being the smartest kid in the class. I buried myself in books, graduated at fifteen and got a full ride to Texas A &M.”
“At fifteen?”
“I was nearly sixteen by then.”
“Still.”
“It was better than foster care. I became an emancipated minor, so I was out of the system.”
Easy words, she thought. But a much harder life. Was his past the reason he kept everyone else at a distance? Was it the reason no one got close enough to touch any part of him? Or was she just looking for a way to mitigate the fact that he didn’t want to sleep with her?
“What happened after college?” she asked.
“I went to work for an oil exploration company a friend of mine owned.”
“So you raped and pillaged our natural environment?” she asked, teasing.
“I did my best not to. I had some ideas about drilling that were different. We tried them out.”
He paused for a long time. There was something about his voice, she thought, not sure what it was. Staring at his face didn’t help, either. She couldn’t really see any details.
“How did you get from oil exploration to here?”
“By car, mostly.”
“Very funny. You know what I mean.”
“I had some second thoughts about my career choice.”
She remembered Aaron telling her that Nick had a mysterious past. “Someone told me you traveled the world or something.”
“For a while.”
“What were you looking for?”
“Peace.”
“Did you find it?”
“No.”
“Before the explosion I would have told you I’d found what I was looking for,” she said.
“You would have been lying.”
“What? That’s not true.”
“You chase the thrill for a reason. What are you hiding from?”
“Nothing I’m going to discuss with you. Besides, I’m not hiding.”
“Look at what you do with your life. Your extreme sports. What you do for a living.”
“I was a welder. That’s not dangerous.”
“An underwater welder.”
“Okay, sure, but it’s not all that different. And it’s not like I drowned. The explosion wasn’t my fault. I’ll admit it’s not a completely normal job, but it’s not totally crazy, either. As to the explosion…” She hesitated, not sure what to say. “I think it was deliberate.”
“What are you talking about? Someone trying to get the oil company?”
“Not exactly.” She drew in a breath. “It seems that Jed had an affair before he married Lexi’s mom. He had a child-a boy-with the woman. While he set her up with a lot of money, he wouldn’t marry her. It’s an old story. Flash forward thirty-plus years, the boy in question grows up and he’s pissed. Something happened to his mother. She had an accident or got sick. We don’t know, but she’s no longer completely normal. She’s sweet and lovely, but different. My sisters and I wonder if Jed’s responsible for that. We’re not sure. So maybe it’s that, maybe he was just born mad, but our half brother, Garth Duncan, is doing his best to ruin the entire family.”
Nick didn’t say anything. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
She frowned. “Is this boring?”
“No. Sorry. I was listening. What do you mean he’s trying to ruin the family?”
“You name it, he’s done it. He tried to take Lexi’s business, legally, but it was pretty ruthless. We think he’s responsible for doping Jed’s race horses, for sending a false tip to the district attorney that Skye’s foundation was a front for money laundering. He also planted a software program into the books at Skye’s foundation making it look like executives were paid bonuses and that Skye was taking money. It’s nasty stuff. Skye doesn’t even take a salary. So money that could have gone to feeding hungry kids had to go to legal counsel. He’s planted illegal arms in some of Jed’s international shipments, so now Jed’s being investigated for treason, and we’re guessing he’s behind the rumors of mad cow on the Titan ranches. I have to say, Garth isn’t my favorite person.”
“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?”
Garth turned and the overhead light cast shadows on his face. His eyes were unreadable, his mouth a thin line.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, sounding unconcerned.
“You went after all of them. Lexi and her spa. Skye and her foundation. Now Izzy.”
“I never touched Izzy. She doesn’t have a business I can fuck with. Which is kind of a shame, I admit.”
“You blew up the oil rig. You could have killed her and everyone else there.”
Garth walked out of the kitchen. Nick followed him into the large living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows. Garth crossed to a cabinet on the wall and pulled out a bottle of scotch. He poured a generous serving into two glasses and picked up one.
“I didn’t have anything to do with the explosion on the rig,” he told Nick, then took a sip. “I’m interested in taking down the Titans-all of them. But not by putting anyone’s life at risk. Yes, I did my best to trip up Lexi and I might have set the D.A. and the press on Skye and her foundation. I took advantage where I could. I’ve used people-exploiting their weaknesses. Especially Jed’s. But blowing up an oil rig? Not my style.”
“Why should I believe you?” Nick demanded, still furious.
“To me the more interesting question is why should you care, but we won’t go there. You should believe me because you know me. You’ve always known me. Come on, Nick. We’re family. I didn’t blow up the oil rig. I had nothing to do with it. But, according to my sources, it was deliberate, which means someone else is involved. Maybe to set me up. Either way, I’m going to find out who’s responsible.”
Nick didn’t know what to think. He’d never been in a position not to believe his friend before.
“What’s your end game?” he asked at last. “How much destruction will make you happy?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Another lie, Nick thought grimly. Because Garth always had a plan. So was his friend using him? Or had Nick simply been caught in the cross fire?
“You lied to me,” Nick said.
“I didn’t tell you everything. There’s a difference.”
Semantics. Misrepresentation. Lies. They were the same. “You used me.”
“I asked you to look after Izzy. Aren’t you helping her? Isn’t she getting better?”
“Yes, but that’s not why you asked me to do it.”
“Does it matter why, if she gets better in the end?”
The expected answer was yes. Did the road matter if Izzy got where she needed to go? If she had the surgery and got on with her life, wasn’t that enough?
He didn’t want this to be Garth. He didn’t want to have to doubt his friend. He didn’t want to have the questions. But they had been planted and taken root. Now he didn’t know how to make them go away.
“It’s been a lot of years,” Garth said, holding out the second glass of scotch. “We’ve been through more than most. I trust you with my life and I’d like to think you’d say the same about me. Don’t let this come between us.”
Nick ignored the glass. “I’m not the one who made the decision to put our friendship on the line.”
Garth returned the glass to the cabinet. His expression was still unreadable, but tension crackled in the air.
“You’re either with me or against me,” Garth told him.
Nick smiled. “What a cliché.” His smile faded. “Don’t make me choose. You may not like the outcome.”
“You’d pick a woman you barely know over me? Over all we’ve been through? Have you forgotten I’m the one who helped you survive college? I’m the one who taught you how to get the girl?”
It was true, Nick thought, sad that he and Garth had to have this conversation at all. His friend had saved him countless times. Nick had been a geeky, innocent kid. He’d been picked on unmercifully until Garth had stepped in to protect him. Nick might have all the smarts, but Garth knew about getting along in the world.
Later Nick had tried to repay him by figuring out how to exploit one of the largest untapped oil reserves in South America. An expedition that had nearly killed them both. To this day, the majority of Nick’s wealth was tied up in Garth’s collection of companies.
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Nick told him. “This isn’t about choosing you over her. It’s about what you’re doing and what that says about you as a person. When did you change?”
Garth’s lip curled. “Maybe it was when I rotted in a South American prison, getting tortured day after day.”
Nick knew he deserved that. “Blame me if you need to. Just know that I’m not someone you want as an enemy.”
“You don’t scare me,” Garth told him.
Nick walked toward the front door, before pausing. “Then I guess you don’t know me any better than I know you.”
THE RANCH WAS QUIET after the corporate types left. Izzy was still busy, working in the stable, but she hadn’t realized how isolated she’d become until everyone was gone. She didn’t go anywhere, talk to anyone other than Nick, Aaron, Norma or Rita. Occasionally her sisters called, but they were busy and didn’t have time to chat very long.
Maybe she should speak to Nick about going somewhere. The problem was she didn’t have a destination.
She couldn’t drive, there wasn’t bus service, even if she could figure out how to use it. The ranch was isolated-she didn’t even know the neighbors, so a drop-in visit wasn’t going to happen. What on earth was she going to do with the rest of her life?
Unable to answer the question, she went into the house after dinner and made her way upstairs to Aaron’s room. He was busy getting ready for his date with Steve, but she wanted to talk to someone and for the past couple of days Nick had kept to himself. Every time she was around him, she had the feeling she’d done something wrong. But she couldn’t figure out what.
Sighing heavily, she walked down the hallway and knocked on Aaron’s door.
“It’s me,” she called.
“Come in. I’m nearly ready. You can tell me how fabulous I look.”
Izzy laughed as she pushed open the door. “Hardly. I can’t see anything. You know that.” She stepped into the room. “But I am confident you are beyond fabulous.”
“But you don’t know for sure, do you?” Aaron snapped. “We both know it’s time for you to get the surgery so you can get on with your life. Have a little courage, Izzy. It’s so exhausting having to deal with your world of self-pity.”