interested in hearing about the daughter you stole from me.”
Anger burned in Matthew. He slid his hand inside his Armani jacket and produced a document. “Are you forgetting this?”
Ray’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”
“You signed away your rights to her. Remember? The adoption is legal. No court in the country would revoke that. It’s all a matter of public record. I have nothing to hide.”
Matthew watched the drug dealer carefully. There was no emotion in his eyes other than greed and perhaps a trace of anger to see the truth in black and white.
He shrugged. “I was forced into signing.”
“We both know that’s a lie.”
“A lie? I’m truly hurt. And here I’ve been dreaming of the day I get out of prison so I can be a real daddy to my little daughter. Think of all the things I could teach her.”
Matthew clenched his fists to keep from dragging the clown out of his car and pummeling him to within an inch of his life. But he knew that would do no one any good. Least of all Jamie, his eight-year-old daughter. “But that’s what this little envelope is all about, isn’t it? Your promise to go away and pretend you’ve never heard of my sister, let alone fathered her child.”
“And I thought it was just about a friend helping a friend.”
“Sure you did.”
“Well, if you’re not going to play nice, give me my money and I’ll leave you alone.”
“That’s what I intend to ensure before I hand over a dime.” Matthew narrowed his gaze and stared until Ray squirmed under the intensity. “Do not go near my sister. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, yeah. I got all I needed out of that one, anyway. Give me the cash and let me go.”
Matthew handed over the package.
With his filthy, grease-embedded hands, Ray deliberately opened the envelope and riffled through the cash. Pretending to count. Slow, sly, like the coyote he was. A predator. The dregs of society. Not worth the dirt under Casey’s dainty feet.
Dear, God. Why couldn’t I have protected her from having a relationship with a man like this?
Ray finished counting and looked up. “Just one more time to double-check.” And he started the process again.
Matthew balled his fists. In two seconds he was going to…
Dan Ackerman, Matthew’s semi-retired attorney, shifted forward from the back seat. He slapped down hard on the leather headrest above Ray’s head. The seat shook.
Ray jumped, his Adam’s apple moving up and down in his throat, his eyes shifting in an obvious attempt to suppress a rush of fear.
Grim satisfaction flowed through Matthew.
Dan fixed Ray with a glare that allowed for no more stalling. “You know it’s all there. Get out of here and stay out of Matthew’s sight, if you know what’s good for you.”
Obviously trying to maintain his dignity, Ray slid the money envelope into his dirty army jacket and made smug eye contact with Matthew. “Thanks for the new start. I’ll be seeing you.”
Matthew sprang with the agility of a mountain lion. He grabbed Ray by the scruff of his neck and slammed him against the window.
“If you come near my sister again, I’ll make you wish you’d never heard the name Strong. Do you understand me?”
He felt Dan’s hands on his shoulders. “Matt, don’t give him any ammunition.”
Slowly, Matthew allowed reason to return. The blind rage lifted and he unclenched his fists, releasing handfuls of wrinkled jacket.
“Unlock the safety so he can get out,” Dan said.
Matthew flipped the switch. The coyote slunk against the door, then got brave as the handle gave way beneath his hand.
“Give my girl a hug for me.” He smirked. “Tell her Daddy loves her.”
Fury exploded in Matthew and he went for Ray again, but the coward anticipated the move and jumped out just before Matthew could grab hold. He fled into the woods without looking back.
Dan grabbed Matthew before he could go after the man who had ruined his sister’s life nine years earlier. She had finally come to her senses that night, just before Ray nearly beat her to death. That was also the same night the police had picked him up on probation violation and new drug charges. But the arrest was made too late to save Casey. The thought of this man back in their lives filled Matthew with rage.
“I’ll kill him!” The image of his battered twenty-year-old sister haunted him. Her bouts with sickness. The revelation that she was carrying her abuser’s child and the knowledge that she wouldn’t, couldn’t, have an abortion.
Casey had delivered the baby, but remained a shell of the girl she’d once been. The last beating had damaged her brain and left her with severely diminished mental capacity, unable to raise a child. Despite the efforts of all the doctors who did their best to fix her, she would never be the same.
Jamie, named after Matthew’s father, was born healthy and wonderful. Matthew had raised her as his own daughter. Now this monster was back, threatening to take his so-called story to the press. Threatening to accuse the Strong family of using their substantial influence to gain his arrest in order to get rid of him—get him out of Casey’s life. Of course, he’d be willing to stay quiet for the right price.
Matthew waited while Dan left the back seat and moved to the front. He was fairly confident Ray would not speak a word about the Strong family. He only hoped he had bluffed the man enough to stay away. But he couldn’t be certain. And that uncertainty was the prompt for his next course of action.
Matthew’s jaw ached from his clenched teeth.
With a glance at his gold watch, Matthew tried to stop his heart from racing. He’d taken care of one problem for today. Now it was time to move on to the next item on his agenda: end his career. He’d been groomed for public office since the day he was born. Thirty-seven years in the making. Destroyed in five minutes.
“What time is the press conference?” He kept his tone even, though it took a conscious effort to keep a quiver from his voice. He would give a brief statement and take no questions. The subject of his withdrawal wasn’t up for discussion. After this first and only payoff, he would take away Ray’s only ammunition against the Strong family: Jamie.
“Matt, you sure you want to do this?”
Matthew nodded. He felt raw. Spent. Ready to get it over with. “There’s no choice. If I’m not in the public eye, Ray will have no ammunition against me. No one’s going to care enough about my private life to try to hurt my sister or my daughter. It has to be this way.”
Chapter One
Raven Mahoney’s jaw dropped as the sickening thud of truth slammed her with the force of a major-league line drive to the gut. While she’d been playing the dutiful maid of honor and helping with wedding preliminaries for her sister, Denni, she’d just missed out on reporting the press conference of the year. As far as Raven was concerned, that smacked of injustice.
From the TV screen in Denni’s living room, cameras flashed at dizzying intervals. Raven could almost feel the claustrophobia she experienced every time she stood among the crowd of reporters, fighting for the chance to ask a question.
And she almost always got her chance to ask the tough ones, but not so tough the speaker wouldn’t respond. She knew her success was a nice combination of her looks (especially if the speaker was a guy) and her instincts about how to ask the right questions so they sounded less intimidating. At thirty-five, she’d gained a lot of savvy in her field and she was ready to move one more step up the ladder of success.
Only,