Once Upon A Friendship

Clearly his father hadn’t been pleased by the Arapahoe deal. That, mixed with Liam suddenly moving and not talking about the old man for the first time ever...

Once home, she opted not to wait for the as yet unfixed and very slow elevator in their building and took the stairs to Liam’s.

She knew she’d done the right thing—barging in on him uninvited like this—when Liam opened the door to her knock. He was white with shock and let her in without saying a word—not even asking how she’d known to be there. Heart thudding, she followed him to the living room, where a man and a woman, both dressed in dark pants with matching suit coats, sat on opposite ends of the sofa.

Liam introduced her by name. She added, “I’m an attorney.”

The female agent, introducing herself as Gwen Menard, and her associate as Mark Howard, showed her badge and looked at Liam. “You called your attorney?”

“No, he didn’t call me,” Gabrielle said before Liam could respond. “A...friend of ours...let me know you were here.”

The agents looked at each other. Shared a frown. And she realized, too late, that her sudden invasion made Liam look guilty.

“Gabi’s a friend of mine from college,” Liam said. “She and Marie—the woman you met in the coffee shop—live in the building. They’ve appointed themselves my guardian angels.” He shrugged, looking handsome, all male and as though having unsolicited attention from pretty women was all in a day’s living for him.

He stood with his back to the window, the sunlight behind him casting shadows on his face. A face other women fell for. In droves.

He had his hands in his pockets.

Something she’d long ago noticed he did when he was unsure of himself.

“So what’s going on?” She stepped forward and took a seat in the armchair opposite the agents, inviting herself into their gathering whether they wanted her there or not.

They looked at Liam. He looked back.

“You want her to stay, Mr. Connelly?”

She held her breath.

“Of course.”

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. Did he want her there because he knew something she didn’t and thought he might need her? Professionally?

Or was this just him sharing his private business with her again?

Years before, Liam had made some stupid, rebellious mistakes, but nothing even close to breaking the law. He was a man of integrity.

Gwen Menard had Gabrielle’s full attention when she started to speak.

“What can you tell us, Mr. Connelly, about the Grayson deal?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you know about it?” Agent Mark Howard addressed Liam with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing.”

“Is Liam in trouble?” Gabrielle had to ask.

“No,” Agent Menard said, directing a serious look at Gabrielle before returning her attention to Liam. “At least at this point we have no reason to believe he is.”

“Obstruction of justice is a crime,” Howard said, his gaze never leaving Liam. Probably watching for a reaction to his not so veiled threat. Gabrielle could have told him he was wasting his time, not only because she believed Liam wouldn’t have committed a crime, but because she’d never met anyone with as much skill at hiding his reaction to threats.

Liam had had a lifetime of practice. “He’s right, Liam,” she said, just in case he didn’t know that this threat was not empty. “If you know something about this Grayson deal, and it turns out to be illegal, and you didn’t say anything, you could be brought up on charges.”

He nodded, pulling his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms. Not in self-protection, but in a way that showed a confidence that was all Liam. “The Grayson deal is the Indian land,” he told her.

“I thought that sold to Senator Billingsley.”

“It did.”

Menard and Howard were looking at them intently.

Liam had been out of college by the time his father had gotten all of the agreements and changes he’d needed and actually purchased the land that bordered the Indian reservation. He’d been on the top floor when his father sold the completed development.

A sale that had never made sense to her. The elder Connelly had wanted that land, to develop it, seemingly forever. He’d finally gotten the tribe to sign an agreement allowing the development, created the successful upscale shopping, eating and housing community he’d envisioned, and then had promptly sold it.

“Did you have anything to do with the sale?”

“Are you kidding?” Liam asked. “Grayson was my father’s dream. No way would he entrust that to me.”

Walter Connelly was not only a controlling jerk, in Gabrielle’s opinion, but he was also plain stupid where his only offspring was concerned. Liam might appreciate beautiful women a bit too much for Gabrielle’s taste, and was prone to wanting expensive things, but he was 100 percent trustworthy. She’d bet her life on that fact. He also had a good business head on his shoulders.

“What about in your Connelly files?” Menard asked.

“I am not in possession of a single file that is the property of Connelly Investments.”

Gabrielle practically gave herself whiplash as her gaze shot to Liam. What? No files? That didn’t make sense.

“Access to them, then,” Howard said.

When Liam turned, giving her only a side view of him, as though he was shutting her out, Gabrielle’s stomach clenched.

“I already told you,” Liam was telling the agents, “I no longer have access to anything pertaining to Connelly Investments. My father took my key card, emptied my office and wrote me out of his will.”

The air was cold on her face.

His father had completely cut him off? She’d known something was wrong, that Walter Connelly was acting out another threat of some kind, but surely even in the worst case scenario, the man wouldn’t cut Liam out of his will.

She’d always believed, as Liam had said, that deep down his father not only loved him but needed him. Other than Liam, the old man was alone in the world.

“Just before Ms. Miller interrupted, you were about to tell us why your father just happened to disown you a week before the FBI served his office with a search warrant.”

Oh. No. This was bad.

“I think I can tell you why,” Gabrielle blurted, afraid that they’d twist whatever Liam might say. “Walter Connelly has been controlling Liam for his entire life. He gives him the world so that he can then take it away if he does anything he doesn’t like...”

Menard’s gaze softened as she looked at Liam. “Is this true?”