Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
He was ruthless in business, but he had morals Prentice had lacked. Morals I’d ignored for longer than I liked to think about. I wasn’t that man anymore, but Edgar didn’t know that. Not for sure. As he and Harvey walked into Griffen’s office, he gave me a cautious, borderline suspicious look, his gaze bouncing from Griffen and back to me. It didn’t hurt, but only because I wasn’t surprised. I wondered if he thought we were about to make an announcement about the future of the family business. That wasn’t going to happen. My place there was gone, and I wasn’t sure I wanted it back. I had a lot to figure out before I settled on what I was going to do with the rest of my life.
Though I had to admit, ever since Cole had put out his bounty and I’d been stuck at Heartstone, I’d missed Avery’s brewery. I liked working with my siblings and seeing Sawyers Bend Brewing flourish. I had the nagging feeling of missing out on Finn’s work getting the kitchen into shape. Out of nowhere, I realized I was hoping we’d have this assassin problem dealt with before Finn was ready to open. I didn’t want to miss out on more of my siblings’ lives than I already had.
“Well, what’s all this about?” Edgar narrowed his eyes on Hope. “I don’t see any champagne.”
“Why would we have champagne?” Hope asked.
“I thought you were going to announce you were expecting again,” he grumped.
Hope let out a laugh that was half amused and half terrified. “I can barely keep up with Stella!”
“Well, you’re not getting any younger—”
“Edgar, enough,” Griffen said with a shake of his head. Hope reached out to take his hand. “Everyone, sit down.” He pushed out his desk chair and took a seat himself, pulling Hope into his lap. “No baby announcements, Edgar. Sorry to disappoint,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.
Edgar’s attention switched to me. “You’re jumping back into the family business, then?”
I shook my head before he finished the question. “It’s not about that either. That’s Griffen’s problem now. He doesn’t need me getting in the way.” Griffen looked at me, surprise flashing across his face. “This is about our mother.”
“Sarah?” Harvey asked, his voice soft, eyes sad. “How could anything be about Sarah? She’s been gone for over thirty years.”
“Do either of you remember meeting or doing business with a man named Paul Williams before our mother left?” Griffen asked.
Edgar started to shake his head. He went still as Harvey’s gaze snapped to Paige’s face, his eyes focused intently as he studied her features.
“I knew you looked familiar,” Harvey said, an edge to his voice, “when you came in to interview with Hope. I just couldn’t place you. You have his eyes. You’re his daughter?”
Paige gave a short nod. “I am, but I never knew him,” she said.
“How did you meet Paul Williams?” I asked.
“He had business with Prentice,” Edgar said, looking between Harvey and Paige. “I guess I see the resemblance, in the eyes and the hair.” He nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t have spotted it unless you brought up Paul’s name.” He shook his head again and looked at Paige and me. “Prentice and I had gone in on some commercial real estate. A series of connected strip centers up in Johnson City. We owned two. Paul owned the one in between. We had plans to develop the whole strip, but we weren’t interested in bringing on a partner. Paul didn’t want to redevelop, but he was willing to sell. He and Prentice had a difference of opinion on what that sale should look like.”
“And you?” I asked. “Where did you stand?”
Edgar looked up at the ceiling as if lost in memory, then met my eyes. “I’d say I was in between. Paul had some restrictions on his current leases I wasn’t interested in honoring. But I felt he was more realistic on the price than Prentice. You know your father could be stubborn as hell. He had in mind the deal he wanted to make. He wasn’t willing to budge on the numbers. Neither was Williams.”
“How often did Paul Williams visit Heartstone?” I asked.
Edgar drew in a slow breath, putting the pieces together in his mind. “As I recall,” he said, “only a few times, and he never stayed in the house.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, he said, “Now that I think back, I don’t know where he stayed. He was from Ohio, but he had business investments nearby—real estate in Tennessee, South Carolina. He traveled a lot, I know that. But how are you his daughter,” he said to Paige, “if you’ve never met him?”
Paige sighed. “He was married to my mother, Harriet McKenna. She was pregnant with me when he told her he’d found someone else, and he left.”