Page 243 of Ruptured

Grabbing her purse, Meggie got to her feet. “I need to talk to Christopher, then buy airline tickets to LA.”

“No.” Kendall stood, too. “You can’t go to Rule. You’re needed here.”

“I most certainly can and I will. Even if he doesn’t want to see me, I’ll be nearby—”

“You gave Father Wilkins temporary custody, Meggie.Hehas ultimate authority and he thinks it’s best we all stay away.”

Meggie stood rigidly, wanting to revoke the guardianship but knowing Christopher would never allow it.

“I need you to listen carefully to me, sweetheart.” She nodded to the chair. “Please?”

Though her insides shook, Meggie held onto her composure as best she could and returned to her seat, clutching her purse as if it were a lifeline.

Kendall sat in the chair next to her, leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “I’m meeting with Bash Sunday or Monday. Johnnie isn’t happy. Understatement, but when has he been happy lately? I don’t trust him. I think he’ll tell your husband the type of woman his mother was as payback for giving my meeting the go-ahead against his wishes.”

Meggie blinked. “The type of womanPatriciawas?”

“Vile and evil,” Kendall stated, and Meggie jerked as if she’d been hit. “Your mother-in-law was as bad as Logan.”

“But—” She thought of Christopher, the esteem he held for his mom, and how discovering her marriage to Cee Cee hadcrushed him. His entire world would shift if he found out she was psychotic, which was the only sufficient description for Logan Donovan. Her hands were tied with Rule. If Christopher hadn’t said all he had to her, she could give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he’d taken his usual—albeit wholly wrong—approach to protect her. But he needed her now. Whatever else was going on between them, she’d protect him however she could. “I take it you have proof that Johnnie knows about?”

Kendall nodded. “Letters. A fuck load of letters.”

Sighing, Meggie scrubbed a hand over her face. “Destroying them isn’t an option, I suppose.”

“Mine are copies. I have no clue who else has a set and if Johnnie made more copies.”

“So, what can we do?” There was only one way to prevent Christopher from seeing the actual letters and holes filled Meggie’s idea. “Even if we find someone to forge new letters, copies like the ones in your possession can crop up at any time. Or, worse, the originals.”

“But would he believe them? If we get vintage paper and…I have a client, a forger who I represented last year—”

Meggie shook her head. “That’s too risky. The more people who know, the more of a chance Christopher can find out.Ihate knowing because that means I’m keeping this big secret from him.” Another big secret, but who was keeping count? “The forger may see this as a blackmail opportunity.”

“I’ve thought of that. The only thing I have in my arsenal is money and NDAs.”

“Suppose this is all for nothing? Suppose Johnnie wouldn’t stoop that low?”

“Your faith in my husband is admirable, honey.”

“It’s wishful thinking,” Meggie responded. She met Kendall’s gaze. “Do youhaveto meet with Bash?”

“I do. I have a lot of questions that I hope he’ll answer.”

“If you’ve discovered the truth about Patricia, what else have you found out, Kendall?” The words came out sharp, though she felt defeated rather than annoyed. “Am I in danger? My husband? My boys?”

“Youwerein grave danger,” Kendall admitted, describing Sharper and Logan’s plans for her that, in an ironic twist, Cee Cee prevented. “It’s tangled and twisted, filled with revenge but rarely redemption. I need to talk to Bash,” she reiterated. “To make sense of it all, and to appeal to him. Maybe I can bring a deal to Christopher. One that appeases both of them and stops whatever might be planned. But Johnnie’s the wild card.”

Clenching her jaw, Meggie folded her arms and nodded.

“Especially if I do what he hasn’t been able to. Get Bash to back off.”

Kendall was right.Ifshe came up with a plan that worked, Johnnie would lash out, especially at Meggie. Hurting Christopher would also hurt her, so, yeah, he’d expose Patricia’s vileness.

“I really don’t like your husband, Kendall.”

“I know,” Kendall said softly. “And I know you keep him alive for me and the kids. All the years you two were close tortured me, but it protected him. Now that you’ve turned your back on him, his life hangs in the balance.”

“One of Johnnie’s problems is he could never separate attractiveness and attraction. Christopher always thought you were gorgeous. Now that you two are friends, that hasn’t changed. Neither is the fact that he’s never beenattractedto you. Johnnie, though? He never,neverunderstood that I saw him as one of my close friends. Because I wasn’t attracted to him, he thought I rejected him. In Johnnie’s mind, men and women can’t have a platonic relationship.”