Shattered Trust (Colorado Trust 4)

Unless she found…what? Justin wanted to know what she wanted with an intensity that shook him. He surged to his feet, but after two steps, he made himself sit back down. He would not chase after her. She’d quit. No notice, no thanks, no see ya later. Just “Get the hell out of my way,” and no looking back.

His intercom buzzed, startling him.

“Justin—you gotta come see this.”

The combination of seriousness and excitement in Jordan’s voice made Justin hurry from his office, but two steps into the hall, he caught movement in his peripheral vision. A quick turn caught Nate being shoved through the doorway to the exit stairwell by none other than his father.

Justin pulled up short. After a glance toward Jordan’s closed door, he strode toward where the other two had disappeared. What did his dad want with Nate Wade? Nearing the exit, he heard his father speaking in a harsh undertone.

“…away from us. You’ve got no business with him—with any of us. And if you’re here for more money, you can forget it.”

Justin absorbed the shock of that statement even as Marley’s assertion that Nate and his father hadn’t met pinged his memory. He put his back to the inside wall and stayed out of sight.

“I don’t want any more of your damn money,” Nate said. “I wish I’d never taken it in the first place.”

“Then give it back,” his father demanded.

“Fuck you.”

Justin frowned at the hatred in Nate’s voice.

“Get out of here,” Dale snarled. “You cause any problems for me, and I’ll make your life a living hell. You’ll wish you were never born.”

“Too late for that.”

Justin could just imagine his father’s reaction to Nate’s flippant statement. Any act of open defiance infuriated him, something Justin took pleasure in doing any chance he got.

Dale spoke again, his anger almost palpable. “Your sister, then. I’ll—”

“Leave Marley out of this, you bastard.”

“Now, listen here—”

Justin heard a thud, as if someone had been thrust against the wall. The sound was amplified in the vast height of the open stairwell.

“No, you listen, Dad. You don’t want to claim me? Fine. I don’t give a rat’s ass. And even though I’d like nothing better than to ruin your family the way you did mine, I’d much rather no one know I’m related to a selfish prick like you.”

Another thud, louder this time, though it barely registered in Justin’s stunned brain. Dad?

“Stay away from Marley,” Nate snarled. “Hurt her in any way and you’ll wish you were never born. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Heavy footsteps thudded down the stairs and echoed back. Justin tensed when he heard his father curse under his breath before storming through the door. With his gaze focused straight ahead, he didn’t see Justin press against the wall in an instinctive move to avoid detection. When Dale slammed into his office, Justin stepped around the corner to discover Nate had indeed left.

Dad? Nate had uttered the word with enough disdain and loathing that Justin couldn’t dismiss it.

Jordan’s door opened. He started across the hall until his absent glance located Justin at the end of the hall. Justin met his brother’s gaze as he walked toward him, still trying to come to grips with all he’d just heard.

“Where you been? Get in here.” Jordan held his office door open with impatience. Justin walked in without a word.

“I finally broke Granddad’s password for that last file. Wait till you see this.”

Jordan pulled his arm until they were in front of the computer monitor. Justin skimmed what looked to be a scanned document, signed by both Dale Blake and Karl Hunter. One more shock to pile on top of the rest of his morning.

“It’s an agreement between Dad and Granddad,” Jordan said when Justin continued to stare at it silently.

“No shit.” Justin sank down into Jordan’s chair. And after what he’d heard in the hall, it made perfect sense. “Can you tell when it was created?”

Jordan leaned over, maneuvering the mouse to bring up the date as Justin buzzed Bonnie and asked her to get him Mark Wade’s hire date and Nate Wade’s birth date from human resources. Jordan gave him an odd look.