“Where are the guys?” Dana asked.
“We sent them away,” Skye told her. “This is our problem and we have to figure out a solution together.”
“Then why did you call me?”
Lexi was next to Dana. She smiled and put her hand on Dana’s arm. “Because you’re practically a Titan. Like it or not, you’re stuck with us.”
“I can live with that.” Dana drew in a breath. “I’m sorry about all this. I never thought…”
“Us, either,” Izzy said.
“Are you okay?” Dana asked.
“No, but I will be. I wanted to be right about Garth, but not like this. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to learn Jed doesn’t care if I live or die, but I am.”
Skye put her arm around Izzy. “Don’t go there. It only makes it worse. You have us and Nick and we all love you. We’ll always be here for you.”
Izzy nodded, but didn’t look convinced.
“You went over the material?” Dana asked.
Lexi nodded. “Garth played us the recording of Jed offering him everything. So we’re totally convinced.”
Dana winced. It was probably better that they knew everything their father had done, but she hated having them hurt. She fought guilt, telling herself she didn’t have any part in this.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise,” Skye murmured, pulling Izzy close and stroking her hair. “We all knew what Jed was, but I don’t think any of us wanted to believe it. Now we have proof, which makes denial more difficult.”
“I could probably swing it, but I don’t want to,” Izzy said, blinking back tears. “We have to remember this. It changes everything.”
“She’s right,” Lexi told Dana. “Garth is determined to bring Jed down. It appears our father is a lost cause. We’ve been talking about it and our larger concern now is Garth.”
“We don’t want him to end up like Jed,” Skye said.
“How are you going to make sure that doesn’t happen?” Dana asked. Garth was a determined and powerful man. “You’re not going to get him to change his mind. He’s been focused on this for years.”
“It will take time,” Lexi said. “Part of our plan is that we’ll work
“Have you met Garth?” Dana asked. “He’s not likely to be swayed by hot chocolate and pictures of the family tree.”
“That’s where you come in,” Skye said. “We want you to keep working with him. Be our emissary, so to speak.”
Dana nodded because the alternative was to admit that Garth scared her. Not just with his ruthless ability to get everything he wanted, but because of how she reacted when she was around him. He made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. And she knew better than most the danger of letting a person have emotional power. Better to be alone and strong, than weak with someone else.
“You’re also going to help him get Jed,” Izzy said quietly.
Dana stared at the youngest Titan sister. Izzy’s normally bright eyes were dull and swollen. There were red blotches on her skin, probably from crying.
“Izzy, you’re upset,” she began.
Skye shook her head. “We’ve talked about it, Dana. Jed has gone too far.”
“He’s your father. You don’t want to do this. Once you start down this path, there’s no going back. Jed is already in trouble and facing charges. Do you really want to pile it on? Can you handle being the reason he goes to jail for the rest of his life?”
The sisters looked at each other, then at her.
“It isn’t us,” Lexi told her. “Jed did this himself. He claimed his destiny when he refused to help Kathy and Garth all those years ago. Maybe it wasn’t his responsibility, but the money would have meant nothing to him. When Garth first came after all of us, Jed could have told us what was going on. We could have worked together. Instead he lied about some things and misrepresented others. Then he arranged for the oil rig explosion. He could have killed his own daughter, not to mention everyone else on the rig. Jed deserves what he gets.”
The words all made sense, but Dana wasn’t willing to let it go. “He’s your father. I don’t want you to have regrets.”
“We want you to help Garth bring him down,” Izzy said quietly. “Legally. We won’t create the problem. Jed can do that all on his own. We want to find the paper trail legitimately and take it to the police.”
“Unless you don’t want to get involved,” Lexi added. “We’ll understand if you’re uncomfortable.”
Dana looked at all of them. “You’re my family. I love all of you. Of course I want to help.”
UNSURE OF THE NEXT step, Dana drove back to her condo to figure it out. Instead of tailing Garth and hoping to catch him doing something wrong, she was supposed to work with him now. Talk about changing the rules. She wondered how he would react to the news that the sisters now considered him one of the good guys.
She pulled into her covered parking space, then walked to her apartment. As she approached the door, she saw someone standing there. He moved into the light. It was Garth, and for reasons she couldn’t explain, she was almost not surprised.
“You spoke to them?” he asked.
“Yes. I was just there.”
“Are they all right?”
She unlocked the door and stepped inside. He followed her.
“Be careful,” she told him. “Someone could interpret that to mean you care what happens to them.”
“Maybe I do.”
He wore a suit-no surprise there. As they stood in her small living room, he shrugged out of the jacket and draped it over the club chair she’d bought on sale at a furniture liquidator with a storefront by the freeway. Her sofa had seen better days and the entire square footage of her apartment could probably fit into Garth’s penthouse bathroom.
The small space made her want to back away from him, but there was nowhere to go. Besides, she didn’t back away from a challenge. She faced it head-on.
She motioned to the sofa. After he’d taken a seat, she slid out of her leather coat, then hung it on a chair in the dinette. She took the club chair because she didn’t want to sit next to him. Caution, she reminded herself.
“You’re actually interested in the welfare of your sisters?” she asked. “The same women you have been going after for months? Color me surprised.”
His dark gaze settled on her face. “You don’t believe me?”
“I’m not sure. Why the change?”
He stood and crossed to the window that looked out on the courtyard. “I didn’t like what I saw earlier today. Them. When they found out about Jed it was like…” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t like it.”
It was like they were broken. At least that would be her interpretation of what had happened. She knew that Garth had a heart-she just wasn’t sure she believed it was so easily touched.
“What about Jed?” she asked.
He turned back to her. “He’s finished. I’ll make sure of that.”
“So you end up with three loving sisters and you still get to face your paternal demons. A win-win for you.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked toward her. “The situation is a little more complicated than that, but you have the basics right.”
She stood so she wasn’t looking up at him. “They want me to help you bring down Jed. It’s a two-pronged attack. Your financial assault, along with a campaign to make sure he goes to jail for all he’s done.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.”
Jed going to jail or them working together? She decided to assume he meant both.
“There have to be some ground rules,” she told him.
He smiled. “Of course. You like rules.”
Was it her, or had he just moved closer? She’d always really liked her apartment, but right now it seemed tiny. They needed more space, or at least she did.
She cleared her throat. “Nothing illegal. We’ll find what we find through legal channels. If we’re building a case
