Lucas had vowed to work to seek justice for those who couldn’t obtain it themselves.
Most recently, Sterling’s crooked investments had bankers scrambling to secure their reputations and businesses. So many small businesses were affected, like Paisley’s wedding shop.
But now he’d been arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud and Lucas hoped like hell the man never saw the light of day again...though something more damning would have to be found for Sterling to be put away for the amount of time he deserved.
Lucas never liked Sterling, never even wanted to mention the man’s name, and now Paisley was asking him to research the guy? Was there a ring of truth to this cryptic letter?
As much as Paisley had hurt him, Lucas still couldn’t imagine a monster like Sterling having a child like Paisley. The last thing he wanted to do was get wrapped up in either of their lives...and if those two lives were entangled? Damn it. He turned cases down on the daily simply because he didn’t want them for one reason or another. He could quit working now and never have to worry about making a living again. Money had never been the issue and that wasn’t the reason he hesitated now.
Something pulled at him. No, not something. Paisley. Even after all these years, she had some damn hold over his conscience. He knew she worked hard for her business and she struggled now, both emotionally and financially.
Plus, he knew that emptiness at the loss of a parent. How could he just ignore her when she needed someone and clearly, he was it?
But he wasn’t a fool, and he was going into this with more experience than he’d done before and his generosity would most certainly come at a price.
“Listen,” she started before he could get to his offer. “I know I hurt you years ago—”
“You left a damn note.” A note he’d held on to for too long until he’d finally tossed it into his fireplace and watched it burn while he’d downed copious amounts of his favorite bourbon. “After all we’d shared, I deserved better. Or maybe the serious relationship was only one-sided.”
“You know that’s not the case,” she defended with a layer of hurt in her tone. “I had to let you go, Lucas. Your father...”
Intrigued, and maybe a little pissed at the fact she was even here, Lucas crossed his arms over his chest. “My father, what?”
Paisley licked her lips and tucked her hair behind her ears. A slight nervous habit she’d clearly never outgrown. An instant later, she squared her shoulders and tipped her chin.
“Your father told me I was holding you back,” she stated. “You were all set to head off to Harvard with a full scholarship and, well, he was right. I would’ve held you back. You would have put all your goals on hold to stay with me.”
Gritting his teeth, Lucas thought back to the night he’d found her letter on the seat of his truck. Upon reading it the first time he’d thought it was a joke, but then he’d read it a second and third time, knowing full well his Paisley had gotten scared and hadn’t trusted what they had...she hadn’t trusted him.
Ultimately, that had been what hurt the most. She hadn’t had enough faith in him and the fact he would’ve conquered anything to be with her. Forever.
But he hadn’t known the bit about his father until just now. That was a new pain. The betrayal from his own father who witnessed how distraught Lucas had been and kept urging him to move on with his life and put adolescent relationships in the past.
Pushing aside the raw memories, Lucas dropped his arms and shrugged. “That’s a nice story. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. Doesn’t matter at this point.”
Paisley opened her mouth as pain flashed in her hazel eyes. Then she merely nodded as if she couldn’t even come up with a plausible defense, which just proved his point that she didn’t have one. Seeing her again did bring back a rush of memories, but even more maddening was the fact that her standing before him had his body stirring.
Damn it. He could block out the hurt, he could even block out how foolish he’d been to think they were a forever thing, but he couldn’t block out the way she’d felt lying against him or how her warm breath washed over his torso as she eased down his body.