What had changed?
She didn't want to disrupt their unexpected reunion, didn't want to risk him shutting down as he usually did when shementioned anything remotely emotional, but if they had any chance, he needed to start opening up to her.
"Careful. Admitting you missed me is tantamount to revealing emotion, something you tend not to do."
He stiffened, shadows instantly darkening his eyes. At least he didn't scamper for a sudden bathroom visit or snack.
"You're saying I have difficulty expressing emotions?"
She raised an eyebrow and his mouth kicked into a smile.
"Okay, okay, maybe I do, but there's a damn good reason for it."
Daring to hope he'd confide in her, she sat up and clutched the sheet to her chest. "Tell me."
After a long, drawn-out moment, he shimmied up the pillows, still within touching distance, his wary gaze not leaving hers.
"I had a great childhood. Loved my folks. Idolised them. Had a ball with the constant parties and going out and staying up later than other kids. We lived the high life, together."
A deep groove slashed his brows as she braced for the tough stuff.
"Until I graduated uni and heard the rumours. Working in the corporate world, there were mutterings about Dad, why he made millions on deals that sent other people broke. And why a cultivated high society woman like Jackie Blaise would be with a guy ofdubiousbackground.Slummingit, apparently, considering Denver's dad was a small time petty drug pusher who ended up dead for his double dealings."
She didn't want to stem the flow, didn't want to intrude, but felt compelled to say something to fill the growing silence.
"That's harsh about your grandfather.”
He shrugged. "Never knew him. Which made accepting Dad's betrayal much harder to accept."
“So he definitely used your mother to cultivate rich friends to scam?"
Jax winced. "I still don't know if he genuinely loved Mum, or saw her as a meal ticket. She adored him, he used her, and fleeced most of her friends for millions."
"How did she cope?"
Sadness pinched his mouth. "She joined him."
Ruby didn't want to push, didn't want to probe too deep for fear of opening old wounds, but she'd never felt closer to Jax than she did at that moment.
This was true intimacy, the sharing of confidences, of secret fears.
She didn't want him to stop.
"What do you mean?"
"A lot of rumours circulated when Dad went to prison. Rumours of an accomplice."
Pain, raw and undiluted, flashed across his face and she reached out to momentarily cup his cheek before letting her hand fall. "There was an extensive investigation but the police never found proof Mum was implicated, so she got off."
He shook his head, disgust curling his upper lip. "The fact she ran and didn't look back not long afterwards pretty much proves she must've been involved. Makes me sick."
His hands clenched into fists, bunching the sheets. "Their friends trusted them and they embezzled every last cent."
She traced his knuckles, smoothing each one until first one hand, then the other, unfurled. “They must’ve shattered your trust too."
He glanced away and her heart bled at his bleakness. "Dad ruined everything. For months after his incarceration I couldn't work in this city, not with Maroney as a surname. And while people didn't blatantly blame Mum, I reckon they suspected."
"So you left."
