Page 72 of Betrayal In Calusa Cove
“You’re joking, right?”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.” He kissed her softly. “I love you, Baily. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much. Someday, I want to have kids. However, I’m certainly not opposed to helping you raise Ken’s.”
“That’s putting the cart before the horse.”
He looked down at the box again, and this time, when he closed the lid, it was with purpose. “Maybe. But those aren’t empty words. I mean them.”
“Scary, because I believe you.”
“Good.” He brushed his thumb over her lip. “You know, I’ve got my parents' rings up in my nightstand. You could put on my mom’s engagement ring.”
“Oh, my God. Fletcher Dane, you’re not actually proposing to me, are you?”
“You’ve always told me I suck at being romantic.”
“You do.” She sighed. “And this really is the totally wrong moment.”
“Are you saying that you’d say yes if I picked a better one and did the whole down-on-bended-knee thing?”
“I’m not having this conversation with you right now. Especially after we just learned all that.” She pointed toward the police vehicle as it pulled into the driveway. “And certainly not with an audience.”
Well, at least he knew he stood half a chance when all this was over because he was going to pull out all the stops. Baily wasn’t getting away this time. Not while he had blood pumping through his veins.
Chapter 18
The scent of cinnamon and clove hung in the B&B kitchen like a comforting shawl, but Baily couldn’t seem to relax. It had been forty-eight hours since they’d found the mounds of hidden paperwork. Two days since the FBI and DEA had taken over the case. Two days since Fletcher had told her that the end was close. However, it didn’t feel that way.
Fletcher kept reminding her that it took a while to put together a sting operation, especially one this size. They didn’t want to risk tipping their hand, and the Barbaros were already spooked at it was, considering they’d lost the Crab Shack bid. They hadn’t harassed her about the loan in the last twenty-four hours.
Chloe took that as something completely different. She believed the Barbaros knew something was brewing and were perhaps preparing. But the question was, did they know they were about to be arrested for crimes so massive that it would put them away forever?
Baily sat at the oversized butcher-block island. Her fingers wrapped around a mug she hadn’t sipped from in ten minutes. Across from her, Trinity rocked gently in her seat, a hand stroking the swell of her baby bump as if to calm both herself and the little life within.
Audra sat to her left, arms crossed, her eyes red but dry. The truth about what Ken had known had cut her to the core. No one knew what to say anymore. The quiet between them wasn’t hostile—it was thick with shared disbelief. Days of tears, hugs, and common grief surrounded them like the fog hanging over the Glades.
“I always knew something was off about how Ken reacted to my dad disappearing,” Audra said, palming her mug while staring into it like it had answers to questions only a dead man could bring. Her voice didn’t shake, but it hit hard. “Ken’s journals, they hint that he saw something.”
“We don’t know if that was something about your dad, or more about Massey’s operation,” Trinity said.
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it was, Massey used it to manipulate Ken. To terrorize him into doing whatever he needed. Ken was barely an adult. Only eighteen. I can only assume he tried to tell himself it was to protect me, but let’s be real, he did it to protect himself just as much, and damn it, the whole thing...it hurts, you know?”
Baily reached for her hand. “I know. I wish I had something better than that to say, but I know. I waffle between forgiveness because of the piles of evidence he collected…the risk he took to gather it…the money he put away…and wanting to beat the crap out of him for putting all of us in this situation to begin with.”
Trinity offered a sympathetic smile. “Before Ken joined the Navy, he should’ve trusted Audra to be strong enough to handle the truth. To deal with what he’d done. He should’ve gone to Tripp. He would’ve known what to do.”
Audra nodded, lips pressing together in a hard line. “He always underestimated me. Even when we were kids. But I also don’t understand why he never told Fletcher, Dawson, or Hayes what was going on with Julie and her family. Or why he didn’t just give his dad the money. He bled that man dry.” She set her mug on the table, pushing it aside. “He left Baily vulnerable for years, and he died before he could hand off the evidence.”
The three women fell quiet again. Outside, the wind rattled the porch swing against the railing. The only other sounds were the low hum of the refrigerator and an occasional thump from the upstairs rooms.
“So,” Trinity said, lifting her cell and tapping the screen. “Did Chloe give any indication of when the FBI, DEA, ATF, and whoever else is involved in this big sting operation is actually making their move?”
Baily huffed a dry laugh. “The fact that Chloe, Hayes, Keaton, and Fletcher all raced off to the station to meet Dawson, I’m guessing something either happened, or is happening as we speak.”
“Enzo couldn’t believe the crap Ken had collected.” Audra sighed.
“He’s been going through the documents for the shell corps and LLCs for the offshore accounts,” Baily said. “Enzo said it’s like a maze, and it’s going to take a while before I’ll be able to access any of that money. Some of it’s also tied to the boys, and Enzo’s worried about the legality of some of it, but as he follows the trail of deposits, it appears it all came from Ken’s personal accounts. Direct deposits over the years, right from his income from the Navy.”
“I hope for your sake it’s all legit because the laundering information was more than enough to file charges against the Barbaros and so many others that work for them. But then you add in the detailed information about the way they bring in drugs, money, and people?” Audra shook her head. “Dawson was mortified. He sat at his desk for hours, just staring at the mounds of documents, near tears over it all.”
