“All these people bumbling around, someone was bound to get hurt.” Grandma Kate looked at Jenny. “I couldn’t see waiting for something to happen when we could drive the herd this way.” She looked at Angela. “I explained the general plan to Angela, and she agreed this would be a good place and time to bring everything to a close. The only concern she had, and rightly so, was that she would likely have a few genuine guests here. She wanted us to protect them. So we hired a few extra bodyguards and did just that.”
Several people present, the ones who Jenny hadn’t recognized but who had been “guests” that day, raised their hands and waved.
“We all agreed things had to end here and now,” Adam Kendall said. “And we had just enough time to do what needed doing. But none of us figured the man would burst in and grab Jenny the way he did.”
“We all thought he’d show up, get a table, and start asking his questions,” Kat said. “Since that investigator didn’t die from his injury, he was willing to testify against Vance. All we had to do was arrest him because the Austin PD had a warrant with his name on it.”
“You need to know, Jenny, I had a bead on Vance. I was moments from pulling the trigger when you did your Flo thing,” Kat said.
“And I was behind you and seconds from doing the same thing,” Adam said.
“Well, I imagine he’s definitely under arrest now,” Jenny said.
“The paramedics took him to the clinic with Matt along for the ride. He’s been charged with unlawful confinement and attempted murder, crimes he committed here.” Adam nodded. “The Austin police have been notified and will arrive shortly to pick him up to face the charges there. It’s safe to say Mr. Vance will be a guest of the state for years to come.”
“What was the purpose of bringing Brody Carp here?” Jeremy Bishop asked. “You said he was looking for Jenny?”
Connor grinned. “Vance had borrowed heavily from Carp. The money he got from his great-aunt was enough to repay that debt, but Vance thought to have the entire estate. He hired an investigator who then told Carp the man was looking for an heiress. We decided to bring him here, too, so he could see Vance fail and get arrested. Also, we wanted him to understand that no one here had ever heard of Marissa Jayne Featherstone.” Then he looked at Grandma Kate. “And to tell him that an entity he’d never heard of, a mysterious group called LTT LLC had enough power to manipulate even an estate lawyer and fake the existence of an heiress. And, of course, to give him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
“What sort of offer was that?” Marcus asked.
“One he readily accepted. Very shortly he will leave this great state of Texas, never to return.” Connor Talbot looked pleased with himself.
“Connor loved playing the bigger badder bad guy.” Admiration laced Mel’s tone. “He even scared me. It was awesome.”
Grandma Kate smiled. “Good job, gentlemen. Vance will be behind bars, unable to do a thing about his late great-aunt’s estate. And Brody Carp now believes that the entire episode was a game to draw Vance out, and since he’ll soon be out of the state, he’ll cease to be our immediate concern.”
Jenny was pretty certain that if Carp ever set foot in the Lonestar State again, the Lusty Town Trust, aka Grandma Kate, would learn of it.
Then Grandma Kate turned her attention to Jenny. “And aside from the fact that you now know who your mother was, and that there’s a lawyer in Austin waiting to speak with you, I think you learned something else, as well.”
Jenny met Kate Benedict’s gaze. How could she have known the one doubt Jenny had harbored about herself all these years?
“I did. Over the last several weeks I learned things about myself I never believed could be true.”
“Sweetheart?” Dale had his head tilted as he waited for her to say something.
“I guess I do have a bottom line after all—and that when I have to, I can stand firm. I can take control of my own life and my own destiny and make something happen. I’m not a spineless push-over, after all.”
“Aw, Jenny.” Just her name, on a sigh. Parker lifted one hand and kissed it. Dale repeated the gesture with her other.
“Sweet Jenny, Dale and I never had a doubt in the world, and we’ve never thought you were a push-over.”
“That’s true,” Jackson said. “Your men warned me that you wouldn’t be manipulated where you didn’t want to go. And that was a while ago.”
“No…I think I was a bit of a push-over, in the past. It’s kind of all tangled up in having been adopted, and the way I used to think about that when I was a child—and a classmate named Petra, who had also been adopted.” How odd that I might end up living poor Petra’s most cherished dream.
Jenny shook her head. She might only be twenty-four, but already she realized that life could be very strange. She looked around at the group of people, all of whom, in essence, had had her back. “So, what happens next?”
“That’s up to you, sweet girl.” Grandma Kate’s tone had softened. “If you like, we’ll get you in to see Robbie. Then, when those DNA results are in, we’ll make an appointment for you with that lawyer in Austin. But it’s up to you. It’s your decision.”
Jenny nodded. She looked at each of her men. Parker offered her a small smile, and Dale’s expression was one of encouragement. She knew that whatever she decided to do, these good men would back her up one hundred percent.
Jenny turned back to Grandma Kate. “All right. Let’s do that, and see where it takes
