"Good." Shane turned for the door, then paused. "And Dad? If you come after April or her family again—if you so much as look at them wrong—I won't give you a warning next time. I'll just send the files."
He left without waiting for a response, walking back through the lobby with his head high. The sun hit his face as he stepped outside, and Shane took a deep breath of mountain air.
One obstacle down.
April's callcame an hour later, while Shane was back at Watchdog.
"Shane?" She sounded breathless. "Daniel Foti just contacted us about the loan."
Shane straightened in his chair. "Yeah?"
"He says there was some sort of bank error. He’s changing the terms. Lowering the interest rate. Taking off the prepayment penalty." April's voice cracked. "Which doesn’t even matter because once that all goes through the loan’s already paid off with the interest we overpaid on. Did you hear me?It’s paid off."
"That's good." Shane's chest felt tight. "That's really good, April."
"That thing you mentioned this morning that you had to take care of. Did you—" She stopped. "Shane, what did you do?"
"Just had a conversation with my father. Made some things clear."
"What kind of things?"
Shane thought about the files sitting on his laptop, the monitoring software Flint had installed, the trap they'd set that would spring the moment Daniel stepped out of line again, and probably before that.
"The kind that makes sure he never comes after you or your family again," Shane said. "The kind that means you're safe. That Sonny and Miriam and your sister are safe. That Kevin's safe."
April was quiet for a moment. Then, softly, "Thank you." She sniffled.
"I keep telling you, you don't have to thank me?—"
"Yes, Ido. Shane, you have no idea what this means. What you've done for us." Her voice was thick with emotion. "I love you. God, I love you so much."
Shane's throat went tight. "I love you too, Sweetness. Always have. Always will."
They talked for a few more minutes—April filling him in on her father's shock, on Miriam’s tears of relief, on the celebration they were planning at Riversong for all their friends and loyal customers. Shane listened, smiling, picturing April's face as she spoke.
When they finally hung up, Shane sat at his desk and opened his laptop. Flint's monitoring software was already running, tracking every transaction that went through Lyons Community Bank. Every loan modification. Every property deal. Every suspicious transfer.
Shane leaned back in his chair, satisfied but not finished. His father still needed to see justice—and he would. His father would mess up eventually—men like him always did. And when he slipped up, when he got greedy and vindictive again, or when the red flags rose as he changed the loans, the feds would catch him. Shane would be happy to send an "anonymous" tip. But first, let the old man sweat it and fix the things he broke.
April was safe. The Taylors were free. That was enough.
For now.
NINETEEN
April smootheddown the skirt of her sundress for the third time in as many minutes and told herself to stop fidgeting. It was just a third-grade moving-up ceremony. Not even a real graduation. Nothing to be nervous about.
Except Shane was meeting her here. And Leslie would be here. And those two facts together made her palms sweat.
"You look beautiful, Sweetness."
April turned to find Shane walking toward her across the elementary school parking lot, and her heart did that annoying flutter thing it had been doing for weeks now. He was in jeans and a dark blue button-down that made his eyes look deep and dark and mysterious, and he was looking at her like she was the only person in the world.
"You didn't have to come," she said, even though she was ridiculously happy he had. "I know this is kind of silly. They do one of these ceremonies every grade."
Shane stopped in front of her, close enough that she could smell his cologne and the delicious scent of his skin underneath. "Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world."
“Spoken like a man who’s never sat through one,” April joked, to cover her nervousness.
