LITMIR.BIZ

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headed toward her rendezvous with Brody and his loan shark. For about the hundredth time she wondered what the hell she was doing. These were dangerous men. But it was a public place. And if it got her off the hook then it would be worth her trouble.

      She spotted Brody before she reached the restaurant. He was deep in conversation with another man who faced away from her. She’d recognize those broad shoulders and the arrogant stance anywhere. Max. Her heart hit her toes as the worst of her imagined scenarios began to play out.

      Max handed Brody a thick envelope and slid a folded piece of paper into an inner pocket of his suit coat before heading toward the elevator without ever noticing her standing in stunned immobility in the middle of the enormous lobby.

      Brody spotted her as soon as Max headed for the elevator. A broad smirk transformed his boyish good looks into engaging handsomeness. The effect was lost on Rachel. She stalked over to him.

      “What were you doing with Max?” She pitched her voice low, conscious that Max stood twenty feet away waiting for the elevator.

      Brody waggled the envelope. “Collecting the money you owe me.”

      “Give me that.” She made a swipe at the envelope, but Brody lifted it out of her reach.

      “I don’t think so.”

      “That money doesn’t belong to you.”

      “The hell it doesn’t.” Brody’s smug smile made her grind her teeth.

      “Where’s the guy who’s been threatening me?”

      Brody laughed. “You’re such a sap. There never was anyone. I knew you needed motivating so I made him up.”

      “No guy?” She shook her head, confused. “But you owe someone the money?”

      “Nope. I needed the fifty grand to buy into this poker game a buddy of mine is running. I knew you wouldn’t give me the money unless you thought I needed help. I remember how scared you were when I owed money to Chuckie back when we were married.”

      “Poker?” Was she that much of a sucker? Shame overrode her other emotions for a moment. Then she grasped what Brody had done. “You terrorized me and my sister over a stupid poker game?”

      Rachel saw red. She raised her fists, ready to beat him silly, but spotted Max returning across the lobby toward them. Her hands fell to her sides, the fight draining out of her.

      Max stepped between her and Brody. “Get out of here,” He addressed the command to her ex. “And don’t let me catch you anywhere near Rachel or her sister ever again.”

      He might be a bully with her, but Max’s threat made him pale. However, when Max made no further move against him, Brody sneered at Rachel and departed across the lobby toward the street.

      Frustration surged as Rachel watched her ex-husband getting away. “Damn it, Max.” She turned the full brunt of her irritation on him. “What the hell did you do?”

      “I paid your debt with your ex. You don’t have to worry about the guy ever showing up again.”

      Dismay consumed her. “You paid my debt? I didn’t ask you to do that.” Now she was in his debt. Someplace she’d sworn never to be.

      “Yours and Hailey’s. He’s out of both of your lives forever.”

      Rachel stared at him, some of her anger draining away. “Hailey didn’t owe him any money.”

      Max nodded. “She did. She was paying him back for her schooling.”

      “What?” Rachel struggled to breathe as the weight of these new revelations crushed her.

      “It was the only way she could get him to leave you alone. He agreed to stay out of your life if she reimbursed him the hundred thousand for her college education.” Max frowned down at her. “Only you had to go and borrow money to start your agency and bring him back in.”

      She ripped her wrist from his grasp. “I didn’t borrow money from him,” she snarled. “I told Hailey that so she wouldn’t know what was really going on.” Bitter laughter tore from her throat. “What a bunch of idiots we all are. I was already paying Brody back for her schooling. It was part of our divorce decree. He played all of us. You. Me. Hailey.” She set her back against a nearby pillar as strength left her limbs. “How much did you give him?”

      Max didn’t look the least bit worried about what she’d just told him. “A hundred and five thousand dollars.”

      Rachel gaped at him. “What? Why so much?”

      “The twenty-five you owed him plus the eighty Hailey still owed.”

      “How much had she paid him already?” She shut her eyes, fought tears, and awaited the answer.

      “Twenty.”

      Helpless fury welled up inside her, but she didn’t have the energy to vent it. Hailey had been paying Brody behind Rachel’s back? That hurt.

      “Rachel?” Concern tempered Max’s tone. “What the hell is going on?”

      She looked up at him. His brows had come together in a concerned frown that made her stomach turn cartwheels. From deep inside her mind, Devon’s words surfaced.

      Or maybe he’s found the one he wants.

      Her heart ached for it to be true, but Rachel shied away from the foolish hope.

      “I need to get out of here,” she said. “I need to find Brody and get that money back.”

      Max caught her arm. “I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

      “I can’t owe you.”

      “You don’t.”

      “I do. You paid my debt.”

      “To get him out of your life, forever. If you hadn’t shown up today you’d never have known about our deal.” Max’s steel gray eyes sliced at her. “Isn’t that the way you work? Keeping everyone in your life in the dark about what’s going on with you.”

      “That’s not fair. I was only trying to protect Hailey.”

      “Fair? Do you think it was fair of you to keep the truth from your sister? She was paying your ex-husband a hundred thousand dollars to protect you.”

      Rachel gasped. “She didn’t need to do that. I had everything all worked out.”

      “Only she didn’t know that, did she? You were too busy keeping her wrapped in cotton to realize that by isolating her, you made her vulnerable.”

      “I was trying to keep her safe.”

      “And she was trying to help you. But you couldn’t let her. You can’t accept help from anyone.”

      Max’s accusations lashed at her. Unable to deny that they made sense, she retreated into her convictions. What he said rang true, but it was only half the story.

      “For good reason.”

      “Care to share?”

      She recoiled. Telling Max about the mistakes she’d made with Brody would substantiate every negative thought he’d ever had about her. Rachel wasn’t convinced she was strong enough to watch his concern die, but what choice did she have?

      “So you agreed to pay him for Hailey’s education.”

      “I didn’t borrow money from Brody to start up the business. I was paying him so he would agree to a divorce.”

      “How much?”

      “A hundred thousand dollars.”

      “Why so much?”

      “That’s how much it cost to put Hailey through college.” All at once, the secrets she’d lived with for years could no longer be contained. “Brody used me to keep his gambling a secret

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