he died. That and the family’s single photo album were all the Lansing girls had left of their dad.
Hailey’s gaze darted Rachel’s way as she paused just inside the room. Rachel’s stomach gave a sickening wrench at the misery her sister couldn’t hide. Only one person in the world produced the particular combination of alarm and disgust pinching Hailey’s lips together.
Rachel turned her attention from her sister’s stricken gaze to the tall man who dominated her couch. He’d grown fleshy in the four years since she’d last seen him, his boyish good looks warped by overindulgence and the belief that the world owed him something. He still dressed like the son of a wealthy and powerful business owner. Charcoal slacks, a white polo, blue sweater draped over his shoulders. He looked harmless until you got close enough to see the malicious glee in his eye.
“What are you doing here?”
He smiled without warmth. “Is that any way to greet the man you swore to honor and cherish until death you do part?” His gaze slid over her without appreciation. He ran an index finger across his left eyebrow. “You look good enough to eat.”
Devour, more like. And not in a pleasant way. Brody Winslow enjoyed sucking people in with his smooth talk and clever charades, and using them up. Once upon a time, that had been her. She’d been taken in by the expensive car he drove and big house he lived in. Not until it was too late did she realize that some of the best liars came from money.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to collect the money you owe me.”
“You’ve been paid what I owe you this year. Nothing’s due for another nine months.”
“See, that’s where we’ve got a little bit of a problem. I need the fifty grand now.”
“Fifty …” She crossed her arms over her chest so he wouldn’t notice the way her hands shook. “I can’t pay you the full amount now.”
He looked around her house. “Seems like you’re doing pretty well.”
“I bought the house through a special program that allowed me to put zero money down. I’ve barely got five percent equity and no bank is going to give me a second mortgage for that. You’re just going to have to wait. I’ll get the next installment to you in nine months.”
“That’s not working for me.” He pushed himself off the couch and headed toward her.
She flinched as he brushed past her on his way to the window that overlooked her driveway.
“Nice car. It’s got to be worth something.”
“It’s leased.”
He shot her a look over his shoulder. “What about that business of yours?”
She bit her tongue rather than fire off a sharp retort. Making him mad wasn’t going to get him out of her house or her life. The man was a bully, plain and simple. And he’d figured out where she lived and what she was doing for a living.
“The business is barely breaking even.” A deliberate lie, but it wasn’t as if her simple lifestyle betrayed the nest egg she’d been building. For so much of her adult life, she’d been on the edge of financial disaster. Having a bank balance of several thousand dollars gave her peace, and she’d fight hard not to give that up.
“I get it. Times are tough for you. But I need that money. You’re going to have to figure out how to get it for me or times are going to get even tougher for you and your pretty baby sister.” He patted her cheek and she flinched a second time. “You hear what I’m saying?”
“I hear.”
“And?”
“I’ll get you what I can.” As difficult as it would be to give up her financial cushion and postpone moving Lansing Employment Agency into a bigger, fancier office, she’d make the sacrifice if it meant keeping Brody out of her and Hailey’s life. “Now, get out.”
Brody laughed and headed for the front door.
Rachel followed him across the room and slid the deadbolt home before his tasseled loafers reached her front walk. She didn’t realize how loud her heart thundered in her ears until Hailey spoke. She had trouble hearing her sister’s apology.
“He must have followed me home from work,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We weren’t going to hide from him forever.”
“We’ve managed for four years.”
“Only because he never came looking.” Rachel sat down on the recliner’s arm and hugged her sister. Hailey was shaking. Her confident, bright sister had been alone with Brody and afraid. “Why did you open the door to him?”
“He followed me into the house when I came home from work. I didn’t realize he was there until he shoved me inside.”
Rachel rested her cheek on her sister’s head. “I’m sorry I didn’t get home sooner.”
Hailey shrugged her off. “Why do you owe him fifty thousand dollars?”
“I borrowed some money to start up the employment agency.” It was a lie, but Rachel didn’t want her sister to worry. The burden was hers and hers alone.
“Why would you do that?” Hailey demanded. “You know how he is.”
Rachel shrugged. “No bank is going to lend a high school graduate with big ideas and a sketchy business plan the sort of money I needed. Besides, he owed me something for the five years I put up with him.” She tried to reassure her sister with a smile, but Hailey had regained her spunk now that Brody was gone.
“Those years were worth a lot more than fifty thousand.” Hailey levered herself out of the chair and whirled to confront Rachel. Her brows launched themselves at each other. “What are we going to do? How are we going to come up with the fifty grand?” Hailey’s pitch rose as her anxiety escalated.
Rachel stood and took her sister’s cold hands to rub warmth back into them. “There is no we, Hales. It was my decision to borrow the money and it’s my debt to repay.”
“But—”
“No.” Rachel gave her head an emphatic shake and stood. She could out-stubborn her sister any day. “You are not going to worry about this.”
“You never let me worry about anything,” Hailey complained. “Not how we were going to get by after Aunt Jesse took off, not paying for college, not anything.”
“I’m your big sister. It’s my job to take care of you.”
“I’m twenty-six years old,” Hailey asserted, her tone aggrieved. “I don’t need you to take care of me anymore. Why won’t you let me help?”
“You already helped. You graduated from college with straight As and got a fabulous job at one of Houston’s top CPA firms. You pay for half the groceries, do almost all the cooking and even your own laundry.” Rachel grinned to hide the way her mind was already furiously working on a solution
