The Defender

“Nothing violent. Nothing even illegal. He simply approached Jackson’s father and gave him a business offer that Mr. Rayburn couldn’t refuse. It all happened in a matter of days. Jackson and I were supposed to meet the following weekend. When he didn’t show up, I went to his house and discovered from neighbors that the family had moved away. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Poof! I was so angry. When I confronted my father and he refused to tell me where, I got even angrier. I cried. I screamed.”

A part of Theo wished he could have been there just to see the real Sadie, without her carefully controlled facade. Another part was much too aware of the hurt in her eyes and wanted to just pull her onto his lap and hold her.

“Temper is never the way to handle my father. It’s cool logic that impresses him. I never saw Jackson again. He never called. He never even sent me an e-mail, a letter. Nothing. My father is nothing if not thorough.” She picked up her wineglass and took a careful sip.

“Your father bought him off.”

“Yes. He acted the same way he does in a business deal. When he wants to eliminate a potential problem, he does it with the efficiency and skill of a surgeon. And Jackson let himself be bought. That’s when I decided to go east for college. I wanted to be somewhere far away where my father couldn’t interfere with my life.”

“Did it work?”

“I thought so until—” She cut herself off with a wave of her hand. “That doesn’t really matter now.” She leaned forward a little. “I know that my past relationship with my father could be affecting my objectivity here, but there’s something else that’s been bothering me. The man driving the van—the one that was blocking the driveway and later might have been following Paulo and Juliana—there was something familiar about him. I just haven’t been able to place where I saw him before. I can’t help but wonder if it was at my family’s estate or at Oliver Enterprises.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Theo angled his chair so that he could stretch his legs out and cross them at the ankles. “If your suspicion is right and your father did get wind of the planned wedding, does what happened at the church tonight seem like his work?”

When Sadie met his eyes this time, hers were clear and focused. “You’re thinking it’s messy.”

“Not only that, but from the way you’ve described him and the way Roman has talked about him, sending armed gunmen to stop his daughter’s wedding—that just doesn’t seem to be Mario Oliver’s style. Of course, I don’t know him as well as you do.”

Theo continued to study her as she thought about what he’d just said. He could almost hear her mind working. Her face and her eyes were so expressive that he could tell the moment that some of her tension began to ease.