Page 29 of Dangerous Secret

“Go ahead. Get it out of your system.”

If she hadn’t heard the amusement in his voice, she would have worried that she’d insulted him, or worse, hurt his feelings. But she had heard it, and his lips were twitching. He was trying as hard as her not to laugh.

“One thing, Harlow. You can be amused all you want, but you have to promise never to tell Liam or Cooper. Swear it.”

“Why can’t they know?”

“You’ve met those two. They’d never let me hear the end of it if they knew.”

She grinned. “Although tempting, I promise not to share your Swiftieness with your friends.”

He laugh-snorted. “Much appreciated.”

“Well, I guess it’s time for mine.” Her amusement died a sudden death now that it was time to tell him. It was strange, but his confession and that he’d made her laugh eased her apprehension.

“I’m thinking it’s important, so yes.”

“Okay. Um… There’s evidence in Anthony’s safe of a murder.” His mouth opened, then closed. Well, he wasn’t expecting that, was he? She waited to see what he’d say. If this wasn’t so serious, she would have enjoyed that she’d surprised him. But it was, and there was no enjoyment to be had.

“You better start at the beginning,” he said as he leaned back in his chair.

“I overheard Anthony and his father talking one day. I was angry that Tyler’s nanny wouldn’t let me into his room because it wasn’t my scheduled time. Like what the hell?” She glared at Grayson even though he’d had nothing to do with that edict. But he was a man, and men seemed tothink they could make the rules. “Why do men think they can run roughshod over women?”

He threw up his hands, as if warding off her accusation. “You’re right. Men suck.”

“Well, most of them do, but maybe not you.” She wasn’t ready to put too much thought into that little gem. “Anyway, I marched myself downstairs to Anthony’s study to have it out with him. This was two or three months before I told him I wanted a divorce, and during that time, I was angry a lot. About everything, but especially about how Anthony was punishing both me and Tyler for reasons known only to him.”

“Before you throat punch me for being a man, and I totally understand why you might want to, can I just say that your ex needs to be first in line?”

“Yes, you can definitely say that.”

“Splendid, and sorry for interrupting.”

This was it. If she told him, she would put him in danger just for knowing what she did. “This is a secret that’s unsafe for anyone who knows. Maybe it’s better—”

“Harlow, believe me when I tell you I’m not afraid of Anthony Pressley. I’ve come up against much worse than he can ever hope to be, and I’m still breathing.” He took her hand. “Tell me.”

His hand was big and strong, and just the weight of it over hers made her feel safe. “I didn’t realize Anthony’s father was in the study with him, but when I heard Arthur’s raised voice, I hesitated to go in. I’ve never liked Arthur. He’s always treated me like I’m not good enough to have the namePressley.

“Anyway, I was in the hallway, and they didn’t know I was there. I turned to leave when Arthur said, ‘You didn’t have to kill her. There were other ways to shut her up.’ Well,whoa. That got my attention. Then Anthony said, ‘I didn’t kill her, Delgado did.’ I’ve never been sure exactly what Don’s job is other than cleaning up Anthony’s messes. Arthur told Anthony he was stupid if he thought just because Don killed her that he wouldn’t be charged for murder, too, if Don got caught. Then Anthony said that wasn’t going to happen because they… I assume he meant him and Don, that they dumped the body out in the ocean.”

“Do you know who the woman was and why she was killed?”

“There’s a blackmail letter in Anthony’s safe from a Veronica Dunbar, so that’s probably who. Neither Anthony nor his father mentioned a name. Veronica was one of Anthony’s hookups, and I guess she learned some of his secrets and saw dollar signs.”

“And no one suspects Pressley had anything to do with her missing?”

It amused her that he refused to refer to Anthony by his first name. “No. Anthony’s good at keeping his affairs secret from the public, so I’m not even sure if there’s anyone who knew he was seeing her. But in the letter, she was angry that he ended things with her. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of it, but I was afraid of getting caught. I should have gone to the police, but by then, I was afraid of my husband, and then there was the fact that he had the police chief in his back pocket. Now I realize I should have gone to the FBI or something, but I didn’t even think of doing that. I was just trying to survive.”

“So, you did read the letter?”

“Yes. Anthony kept my jewelry in his safe, only letting me have what pieces I needed when we were dressing up for an event.” She shrugged. “Maybe he thought I’d sell the jewelry and run away. Which is what I planned to do. Afterhe left the night I caught him kissing the nanny, I went to the safe to get my jewelry and when I saw the letter, I read it. I was shaking by the time I finished reading it. Anthony wasn’t aware that I knew the combination, and if I took the jewelry, he’d be suspicious that I saw it. I didn’t want to think about what he’d do to me, so I left the jewelry, closed the safe, grabbed Tyler and ran.”

“You did the right thing. What did the letter say?”

“She didn’t say exactly what she was blackmailing him with, just that she knew what he’d done and if he wanted to stay out of prison, he’d pay her a million dollars.”

“We need to find out what she knew.”

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