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“What!” Marie’s horror was evident in her big brown eyes Her blond hair, falling from its ponytail, could have been sexy But it wasn’t At least not to hi? Oh, Liaht now, but—”

“—you found so” Gabi’s quiet words reached hiinning to realize that it had always been that way

He told theures His absolute certainty that nothing had happened while he’d been in the room

“If push co to use that incident to prove that I’ve been crooked froave ht me up to the top floor so he could keep his eye on e And yet I soed to do it behind his back I’ve been his safety net all along”

“So ould he cut you loose?” Marie asked

Liaave hihts He needed to know the him watch out for her for the rest of their lives

In spite of the spouses they’d have someday

“Because so at hined the papers on this place two seconds after it was done He’s going to claim that he stumbled on evidence that led hi bad That he’d hoped that he could put an end toh He had to coal document that I’ in on his reputation, trading on people’s respect for hiain He’ll say that he planned to cover ht Because I auilty to obstruction of justice”

It fit He didn’t want it to Lord knew, he’d spent the better part of an hour pacing his own apart to find the holes, any single tiny little pinprick hole, in his theory

“What about Missy’s offshore account? If your father is the one behind all of this, why not erase evidence of that account first?”

“Maybe he thought he had Or he knew he only had a fewaccounts first Since he didn’t appear put out by the fact that ent to Florida His affair isn’t illegal I was a big part of the reason he was keeping them secret—you heard Missy say so Obviously he doesn’t care anymore if their existence is exposed”

“I’ devil’s advocate here, but if he doesn’t care if Missy and Ta to speak to me until I mentioned Florida?”

Liaer in his mind with every question Gabrielle posed As did his sense of loss “Because, while he doesn’t intend to keep them secret, he doesn’t want the Missy and Ta circus He knows me He knows I’d never hurt my little sister Or use her, either”

“So why not call my bluff?”

Liam stared across at her He had that answer, too “Because he doesn’t know you,” he told her His father had made no secret of his low opinion of Gabrielle