Darcy couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Faith wanted to marry him. He understood why she wanted to wait, but he didn’t mind. He’d ask as many times as she wanted him to. It made the terrifying day easier to handle. Now he needed to hold his daughter and never let her go, and everything would be right with the world.
After they dressed, they walked hand in hand to the lounge room where Matt and Lara played a noisy game of snap. Lara jumped up when she saw them and ran over to hug them both. Having her arms around him filled Darcy with so much love and relief.
Matt tidied the cards and climbed to his feet. “Now you’re both dry, do I get a hug too?”
Lara dragged him into their circle. “You came looking for me. Of course you can join in.”
“We all have a story to tell,” Darcy said. “Shall we join Dot and Nhiari in the kitchen?”
“Can I come too?” Lara asked, the hopeful expression tearing at his heart.
“Absolutely, pumpkin. It’s time you knew what’s going on.” She might worry, but better she be alert and perhaps less trusting as well.
“Good.”
They returned to the kitchen. Cheryl had stopped sobbing and now sat subdued next to Jay. Brandon and Amy had changed out of their wet gear and Lee hovered near the door as if uncertain whether he should stay or go. Darcy bet he had questions he wanted answered.
Amy poured the coffee, and Dot gave Lara a hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. The young girl sat at the table between Darcy and Faith and he kept his arm around her, to reassure himself she was really safe.
Dot flipped to a new page of her notebook and scanned the room. “Lee, I’ll come and get your statement afterwards.”
Lee hesitated and then nodded. “I’m glad Lara’s back safely.” He went out the kitchen door.
Probably for the best. They had thought Taylor was the only one at the Ridge working for Stonefish, but if Jay was, and Taylor hadn’t known about it, it meant others staying at the campgrounds could also be involved. God, he hated the idea, but they couldn’t afford to close the campgrounds.
Nhiari looked out the door and then nodded to Dot.
Before Dot said anything, Jay said, “I’m so sorry for hurting you, Lara.”
Lara leaned into Darcy. “Why did you do it then?”
“Because they threatened my son.”
“You’d better start at the beginning,” Dot said.
Jay scanned everyone at the table with his gaze settling on Amy. “I told you about our son, Nathan. He’s the only child we have left after our daughter died from a drug overdose.”
Amy flinched, but nodded.
“Nathan was devastated when his sister died, but was determined to make the most of his life, doing everything his sister hadn’t been able to do. He bought an expensive house, a fancy car, travelled on overseas holidays.” Jay sipped his coffee. “He had a good job working fly-in, fly-out, so we figured he used the money he earned.”
Darcy’s instincts went on alert and across from him Brandon shifted, leaning forward.
“About twelve months ago we got a call from him. He’d been made redundant and was beside himself rambling about debt and danger, and it took time to get the entire story from him. Turns out he’d borrowed money from a private lender and now they wanted it back with interest. He owed them almost a million dollars and the bank wouldn’t give him anything because he no longer had a job.”
“Who was the private lender?” Dot asked.
“They call themselves Stonefish Enterprises. They’re some kind of investment group.”
Darcy exchanged a glance with Brandon. “So why did they give your son funds?”
“One of them befriended Nathan, and Nathan told him about his sister and how he was living for her. The man said they liked to help the Aussie battler achieve their dreams, and they’d like to help him with his.” Jay shook his head. “I asked Nathan how he could be so stupid, but he said he’d known the guy for years and was a good friend.”
“Were Stonefish threatening Nathan?” Faith asked.
“Yeah. They roughed him up and told him he had thirty days to pay them back.”
Not much time.
