The face of the old Jack—the Jack he’d known—stared at him from the screen.
Holy shit.
He skimmed the rest of the file.
He was survived by his wife. Huh. Ash couldn’t imagine anyone marrying the old Jack.
Why hadn’t the widow taken over the bar?
Curious, he flipped to the next page. It was filled with legalese that told him that the widow had inherited the bar. How had his Jack taken over?
He turned to the last page in the file.
“What the fuck?”
He blinked and read the brief profile of the widow again. Then stared at the attached picture.
Her name was Taryn. It suited her.
She was the old Jack’s widow. She had inherited the bar.
Taryn was the new Jack.
HisJack.
The old Jack had been a bastard, willing to do anything for a price. Ash wanted to puke when he thought about her—Taryn—married to the man. He’d seen the shadows in her eyes. What had she endured?
It took a few moments for the shock to wear off.
He returned to the beginning of the file, paying closer attention this time.
It was hard. Imagining her with the old Jack turned his stomach. He wanted to hit something.
She was a beautiful, vibrant woman. One who’d offered comfort when he’d shared the worst moment of his life. What had drawn her to the old man? Power?
It didn’t seem possible. He’d met power-hungry people before. Despite the Jack’s reputation, he didn’t get that sense from her.
Okay, Ash, keep it together. What does the file tell you?
The old Jack had died nearly five years ago.
He had a wife.
That was it.
Ash jumped back to the search page and called up the public records again.
His fingers flew over the keyboard, inputting every combination of the names from the death report. No results.
There was no marriage record. No will either.
“So how did you inherit the bar?”
Chapter14
Tucked into a corner booth,Taryn nursed another cup of coffee. She’d lost count of how many she’d had since she woke up. Enough that Dani had noticed and every other time Taryn asked for a cup of coffee, her friend brought Taryn a glass of water. Annoying, but she knew it was done out of love.
After kicking Ash out last night, Taryn had thrown herself into making the rounds in the bar. See and be seen.
