Shana walked over and pulled her into a hug. “Men are such dicks. I don’t know why we put up with them.” She stepped back and smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. “Aside from the orgasms, I mean.”
Harper actually laughed. “There is that.” She thought of the nights she’d spent with Chase, and her laughter faded. “Maybe that’s how he fooled me. Sidetracked me with amazing sex.”
“Yeah, honey. Works every time.”
Harper went back to work and as the afternoon progressed, she felt better. Then she came home to her empty house, which had never seemed empty until Chase had been there, and depression pulled at her again.
Tossing her purse on the coffee table, she sank down on the sofa. How could she miss him so much when she hadn’t really known him?
She glanced at her watch, a preliminary production model of the watch Elemental Chic would be producing next year, affordable gold tone and stainless with colorful interchangeable leather bands.
It was 8:00 p.m. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse. It was still early enough to call her brother, and she really needed to talk to him. She hit his contact number and waited for him to pick up, then went for light and airy, figuring the call would turn grim soon enough.
“Hey, big brother. Got a minute for your little sis?”
“Sure. Glad you called. What’s going on in your neck of the world?”
She sidetracked the answer for later. “How’s Pia? Have you heard from her?”
“We...ah...just got off the phone. She says she isn’t ready to see me. She needs a little more time.”
Harper’s heart went out to him. “She’ll figure things out, Michael. Pia loves you. I really believe that.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. So how are you and Chase?”
Her throat constricted. There was so much to say, and nothing she really wanted to tell him. “We aren’t seeing each other anymore. It’s a long story. The thing is, Michael, there’s something I need to talk to you about, and I need you keep it just between the two of us.”
“You don’t even have to ask. What’s going on?”
“The DEA is investigating Dad. I assume they think he has some kind of involvement in the drug trade. Do you know anything about that?”
Silence fell.
“Michael?”
“You never suspected? You never guessed what was going on?”
“Oh, my God, it’s true?”
“Knox Winston’s been running all kinds of illegal activities for years. In the last four or five, he’s managed to switch a lot of his money into legitimate businesses. I assume that’s his goal—to legitimize his dealings completely, but I don’t really know. I’ve stayed away from his business—and him—for years.”
“You...you found out when you were in college?”
“I began to suspect in high school. I think Mom figured it out. She couldn’t handle it. Neither could I.”
“Oh, Michael.”
“You need to stay out of it, Harper. Dad has gone to great lengths to keep you from knowing. You need to stay away from the investigation.”
“The DEA put a bug in his study. I was planning to find a way to destroy it.”
“Listen to me, sis. If Dad’s gone legitimate, if he’s no longer smuggling drugs, he’ll be okay. If he’s involved, he deserves what he gets. I know the terrible damage drugs can do. I know the pain of addiction. You need to let the DEA do its job.”
Her eyes burned. This was their father they were talking about. “All these years... I never knew.”
“Maybe not. But you must have had your suspicions. Just like I did.”
It was true. She had seen things, overheard conversations she wasn’t supposed to hear. “You’re right. There were times I wondered what was going on. Some of the people who came to the house. Things I overheard. I guess I never really wanted to know the truth. It was easier to pretend.”
