“Why blackmail?Why not ask for the money he owed us?You could’ve sued for child support.”
She was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence.“He had that fancy lawyer.Threatened to take you away from me if I ever set foot on his ranch or tried to nail him for child support.”
That sounded about right.Beaumont Sturgess, by all accounts, had been an asshole.
“We didn’t have much.”She flashed eyes at him.“As you well know, we were light on cash.”That was an understatement.“After he threatened me, I didn’t push the issue.Then, I saw his face onTexas Monthlymagazine.It was like my nose was being rubbed in his success while we’d struggled all those years to make ends meet.”She shot him another look.“You know what my financial situation looks like.”Her face puckered.“I deserve money, Beau.That man shouldn’t have gotten away with how he did us.”
“What does this have to do with my father?”Ivy asked, cutting another last-minute turn while keeping her eyes glued to the stretch of road in front of her.
“When we were dating, Jack got himself into a little trouble at the track,” Emma said.“And that’s when I started thinking about what I had on Beaumont.He and Talon McGregor fix races to inflate stud fees for Beaumont.They did it for years, and I had the proof.”She made a show of exhaling.Being dramatic had been one of her favorite manipulation tactics.It didn’t work on him as a grown man, even though he still loved his mother.
“Talon McGregor is big-time rich,” Beau said.
Emma pursed her lips.“He also has a bad betting habit that gets him into trouble.”
“And you decided it would be a good idea to blackmail a man like that?”Beau couldn’t hide the disgust in his voice.
“I’m not proud of it,” Emma said as Jack rattled off directions to the nearest substation.
Going to the law meant his mother would have to deal with the consequences of her actions.Maybe it was time she faced the music and put this whole ordeal behind her.
“Shit,” Ivy said moments before an SUV with blacked-out windows came roaring up from behind.
It slammed into the back bumper.
Shit.
“I really wishI’d let you drive, Beau.”Ivy panicked.She swerved and nicked a parked car.As much as she wanted to stop and drop off her insurance information, she had to run.“Call 911, Dad.”
“Get the law involved, and your dad and I will both go to jail,” Emma said.
“I should do it anyway, Emma,” her father said.“We deserve whatever is coming to us.”He started tapping on the screen.
“No, Dad.Don’t do it.I can’t lose you again.”She hadn’t meant to say those words out loud.They silenced everyone in the truck.
Her father froze.“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”
“Where have you been?”Beau asked his mother.
“We took them on a wild goose chase for the evidence to buy some time to escape,” Emma explained.“But it all blew up when they figured me out.So, I told them about the campsite and said the evidence is buried there.”
“What evidence?”Ivy asked.
“A thumb drive containing digital evidence of money laundering, stolen identities, the whole nine yards,” she explained.“When Jack and I got a chance to escape, we took it.I’d already sent you the text to meet us there because we were going to need your help.Then, I lost my phone.”
“Excuse me, did you just say that you sent your son to a dangerous situation on purpose?”Ivy asked, not bothering to hide her shock and disgust.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly like that—”
“Then, how was it, Mother?”Beau cut in.
Ivy hadn’t been sure how he would take her comment, but he seemed to appreciate the support.
“I was just…well, I needed you, and I figured you’d come prepared…and I—”
“Do you even know how many times you said the word ‘I’ in that sentence, Mother?”
“Well, I’ve done my best raising you all alone,” she defended.
