Protector (28 page)

Chuck noted the defiance mingled with vulnerability in Jolynn’s stance and remembered her confrontation with her father in the hospital. He wouldn’t leave her to face rejection alone. He could see this through for her.

A selfish part of him hoped Taylor would turn her away, and Jolynn would come back to him. Safe, away from this place and this man forever.

He jogged around the car and stopped her before she could climb the steps. Tipping her chin with a knuckle, he kept his voice low. “Do you remember what I said to you by the shore that first night?”

She smiled faintly. “You’ll need to be a bit more specific.”

Chuck caressed his thumb along her chin. “Anyone who doesn’t want you is a fool.”

Her knuckles grazed his hair softly as she sealed her mouth to his for not nearly long enough and turned to her father.

Watching her leave him, he felt a twist in his gut that made the day his mother left seem like a mere case of indigestion. Chuck studied Josiah Taylor, a man who’d made a fortune saying to hell with the rules. Josiah adjusted his cane and extended a hand to his daughter. Jolynn climbed the marble stairs and stepped into her father’s embrace as if she’d done it a thousand times. The old man folded his arm around her shoulders.

“Daddy.” Jolynn’s muffled voice drifted on the muggy summer breeze.

“Welcome home, Punkin’.”

The front door swung open, and Lucy eased forward a step, eyes red-rimmed. Chuck gritted his teeth, having no sympathy for her. The woman had put Jolynn in danger owing to her abysmal choice in lovers.

Lucy inched closer to Jolynn. “Jo?”

Jolynn spun to face her, holding still for a moment before folding Lucy in a hug.

Taylor held the door wide. “Punkin’, why don’t you and Lucy go on inside? Hebert’s around here somewhere. He’s been worried about you.”

And she left, just that fast, and without a backward glance, she went inside with her cousin. The front door eased closed behind the two women.

“Tomas,” Josiah’s voice boomed through the air, “or whatever your name is.”

Chuck stood tall, staring the man down without a wince. “Tanaka. My name is Captain Charles Tanaka of the United States Air Force.”

Josiah leaned heavily on his cane. “I wish you’d kept her with you.”

Taylor’s words damn near kicked the ground out from under him. “What did you say?”

“
You heard me, boy.”

Chuck’s ears roared with anger. All the built-up frustration since Jolynn had told him she wanted to go back to her father boiled up inside him. “You son of a bitch. Don’t you think you’ve hurt her enough? What was the big welcome-home-baby hug all about if you didn’t want her?”

Taylor leaned on his cane, studying Chuck through calculating narrowed lids. “She’s not safe here. She’s never been safe. I protected Jolynn the best I could by getting her away from my world, and you stupid fool, you brought her back.”

The roaring in Chuck’s ears eased as the words seeped in deep enough to trigger his reason. Something was going on here, something they’d all missed or overlooked.

Taylor gestured toward the house with his cane. “But what’s done is done. Let’s make the best of it. Come on inside, boy. I have a little something to give you.”

Jolynn had expected it to hurt. She wasn’t prepared for this. She’d always thought ramblings of broken hearts and wounded souls were mere melodrama. Now, she changed her mind. She didn’t want to be honorable and keep him safe.

She wanted Chuck.

The ache was too deep for tears. Hitching her purse onto her shoulder, she followed Lucy up all forty-two steps to the second floor. Each time her foot hit a marble stair, the echo bounced around the palatial entryway like a racquetball whacked by Goliath. And of course, there was the requisite freaking huge statue in the middle of the landing. Clearing the last step, she approached her childhood room with dread.

As a kid visiting Italy, she’d always felt overwhelmed by the spacious suite, like being smothered by a feather pillow too large for her head. Her father had hired an interior
decorator to create a showplace little girl’s room in cotton candy pink. Jolynn hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings, so she’d never told him she’d wanted a Disney princess bedspread from Sears. Then over the years… nothing changed.

It seemed so insignificant now. Especially in light of the pain and betrayal her cousin was going through. Better to help Lucy through her loss than think about her own. One saving grace— if she could call it that— of losing Chuck was that it sure put her father’s lack of love into perspective. She’d spent five minutes in this house and she’d known she would trade all future Christmases with the de Milo statues for a year with the man she loved.

Lucy pressed two wadded tissues to the corners of her eyes as she sank into the ruffled seat in front of the dressing table. “I can’t believe you’re even willing to talk to me after what Adolpho did.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re as much his victim as I am. I’m just sorry you got hurt.” Setting her purse on the raspberry carpet, she curled up in the window seat and hugged a frilly throw pillow. “Lord have mercy, our judgment in men could use some help.”

“At least yours wasn’t arrested.” Lucy blinked fast, with none of her usual confidence or exuberance. “You always could one-up me, Jo.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“How could you have not known? I’ve been like a poor relation for as long as I can remember,” she said bitterly. “Your dad only paid for my school because of you. He gave me a job. You have an inheritance.”

“Which I won’t touch.” Shocked by her cousin’s feelings, she tried to reconcile Lucy’s image of their childhood with her own very different impression.

“
You have the choice.”

“I never knew you felt this way.”

“Well, I did.” She scraped back her strawberry blond hair, staring in the gilded mirror. “I still do sometimes, like now.”

“I’m sorry.” She wanted to reach out, but worried that might make things worse.

Her cousin turned to her, green eyes red and swollen. “What do we do now?”

For years she had turned to Lucy. Now Lucy looked to her. When had she become the stronger friend, the one to offer comfort? Since knowing Chuck. Being with him, seeing herself through his eyes and his unflinching worldview gave her a newfound confidence that went far deeper than the old bravado she’d used like a sorry shield against the world.

She slid from the window seat and hugged her cousin without reservation. “We do what any self-respecting woman does when she’s having man troubles. We’ll eat our body weight in chocolate.”

Lucy’s giggle mingled with a snort, and Jolynn joined right in. Yeah, the laughs bordered on hysteria, but it felt good to let off some steam.

Jolynn gasped through the watery laughter. “I’ll be back in a minute with something good and two forks.”

Easing back down the curving staircase, she gripped the handrail. Her gaze swept down into the cavernous entryway. The little cottage she’d shared with Chuck could fit inside with a simple plunk. She would do almost anything to spend forever in that small house with him.

Anything except endanger his life.

What would he think when he found the thumb drive she’d left in his car? She trusted he would make sure the information
landed in the right hands. If she turned a blind eye to her father’s illegal dealings, then she was just as guilty.

Chuck’s offer to sweep her away from all of this had sounded so beautiful she’d feared she might cave and accept. But she’d learned more than a little about honor from Chuck. So she’d left him standing by the Fiat instead of climbing into the front seat and suggesting they just take to the road. Together. And forget the rest of the world.

An impossible dream.

Jolynn paused in front of her father’s study. His hug had felt so familiar, even after all the years apart. Now that Chuck was gone, she needed to confront the old man. She loved her father, but she wouldn’t condone his actions if he had any part in Grassi’s dealings.

No matter what Lucy’s fiancé had confessed to, Jolynn found it tough to believe her father could be innocent in all this.

Outside the study door, she heard Chuck’s voice, and her fingers clenched around the brass lion’s head knob. Was he still here?

Not giving herself time to think about how hard it would be to walk away from him a second time, she swung the door wide just as her father passed a large envelope to Chuck.

*  *  *

Chuck stared at the envelope in Taylor’s outstretched hand, an envelope full of evidence nailing Simon Taylor’s killers. God, it had shocked him when the old crook had actually offered to help him close the case. Yet his mind pounded in protest.

Taylor’s arm didn’t waver in spite of his obviously failing
health. He stood behind his mahogany desk shiny with panels and scrolled carvings as over the top as the rest of this place. Rows of books with uncreased spines lined the wall behind him.

Would pursuing the information in that envelope help Jolynn? Or would it put her at risk, stirring up enemies? For one very dark instant, he felt himself slip inside Josiah Taylor’s skin. Chuck didn’t like the ease with which it fit.

He would do
anything
to keep her alive.

Taylor rattled the envelope, his other hand resting on a gold gilded globe. “Take it, Tanaka. This information cost me a bundle eighteen years ago. It’s finally time to use it. Even I know this is the only way now.”

“Chuck?”

Jolynn’s voice thudded into Chuck’s gut more firmly than a fist, sucker punching him at his lowest moment. Turning, Chuck found her framed in the double doorway.

“Daddy, what’s going on?” She stepped deeper inside, no makeup, still wearing the jeans and tourist T-shirt he’d bought for her. Her long hair tumbled down her back, and to him she’d never looked more beautiful.

“Nothing much.” Taylor stared at Chuck as if daring him to contradict. “I’m just helping your pal out a bit with his investigation.”

Chuck pivoted back to Taylor. What was the old mobster’s game? Could he even be trusted?

Of course not.

Jolynn moved between them. “Would you two stop this stare-down game? I’m a big girl now, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Taylor dropped the envelope, the papers smacking the mahogany desk mere inches from his reach.

“Punkin’,
he and I both want the same thing. To keep you safe. Why shouldn’t this young man and I work together?”

“To keep me safe?” Her laugh was anything but humorous. “Then you should have chosen a different line of work, old man.”

Chuck studied Taylor warily. Would he push Jolynn away again under the guise of protecting her? Jolynn deserved better. She needed her father to quit dragging her through life backward by her hair if she ever wanted to move forward. Why couldn’t Taylor see that his form of protection was hurting her?

Selfish logic told him that if Taylor rejected Jolynn, Chuck could have her. Thoughts of grabbing happiness with her and honor be damned tempted him. He almost caved. Almost. If she found her peace right now, then maybe she would walk out the door with him today.

“Tell her,” Chuck demanded, already knowing what the old bastard would say, sensing what the envelope held and what it meant. “Tell her what happened to her uncle, to your brother. It’s time.”

Jolynn paled as she glanced between the two men, her brow furrowing. “Chuck? Daddy?”

Chuck gritted his teeth. “Tell her about why you sent her away and I’ll take your damned envelope.”

The color leeched from Taylor’s face until Chuck feared he’d pushed the ailing man into another heart attack.

“All right, boy.” Taylor straightened, inhaled a shuddering breath, and turned to his daughter. “Simon died because I wanted out of the ‘organization.’ I wanted to run a legit operation, and I refused to look the other way for those who didn’t. They killed my brother to shut me up. If I didn’t cooperate, they would have come for you next. For eighteen years, I’ve
kept my mouth shut.” His gaze flickered to the pack of papers, then back to Jolynn. “I sent you away to keep you safe.”

Jolynn stood frozen as the statues on her father’s front lawn. Not a smile in sight. Could she find any kind of peace in this new revelation? Someone ought to gain something from this miserable day.

Taylor turned to Chuck and nudged the envelope forward. “They took more than my brother. They robbed me of my daughter. Make them pay.”

Jolynn stared at the envelope as if it were a snake, then turned accusing eyes on her father. “Daddy, are you crazy?”

Taylor frowned. “Jolynn Marie.”

She didn’t even flinch. “Daddy, you made your choices, choices not to go to the police sooner, not to tell me the truth once I was old enough to understand. I love you. And I forgive you.”

She glanced at Chuck, and he thought about how unresolved garbage could rot a person’s insides.

“But if you’re playing some game here and Chuck gets hurt….” Her face paled under her freckles. “What good will it do Uncle Simon if Chuck dies? Huh? Did you ever think of that?”