Page 5 of See You There

“You both get your stubbornness from your father. That man was never wrong.” Anne chuckled.

Luke’s shoulders tensed. Out of habit, he was analyzing her words and tone for a hidden meaning. David Bloom was the love of his mother’s life. They never married, but Luke suspected that even when Anne fell in love with and married Bruce, David Bloom still held a piece of her heart.

His father had been an infamous, billionaire bachelor—until he’d married Courtney Crawford, a little more than a year before his death. The flash of pain on his mother’s face, when Luke and James told her about the wedding, was seared into his heart. Luke hadn’t been able to forgive his father for it. Maybe if there had been more time…

Luke cleared his throat. “James is stubborn. I’m focused.”

“If you say so,” Anne paused. “You don’t need to call every night. If something happens you need to be aware of, I’ll tell you. I promise. Go live your life.”

Luke rolled his lips in. He hadn’t realized he was so obvious.

“It’s not that I don’t love hearing from you,” she continued, “but you’re young. You should be out having fun, not worryingabout your mother every night.” Her voice firmed. “Bruce takes excellent care of me.”

He sighed. “How do you know I’m not calling you becauseIdon’t have a social life?”

Anne snorted again. “You’ve called me drunk enough times that I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Plus, the media loves you.”

Luke grinned. “Point taken. All right, I’ll let you go. I’m flying up to Rhode Island tomorrow, but I’ll be back in the evening.”

“Are you going up to talk to Elliot?” Anne’s voice was sharp.

He should have realized how ridiculous it was to think he could slip it by his mother. Her body might not always cooperate, but her brain was still sharp. Plus, he didn’t lie to his mother—ever.

“He’s recovering from heart surgery and finally agreed to speak with me. I need to get up there and talk to him in person. Find out what he knows about—”

“David’s murder?”

Luke’s hand clenched on the phone.

One of the few things that all four Bloom siblings could agree on was that somehow Courtney had killed David Bloom. Another was that their mothers didn’t need to be involved. With Anne’s condition, they didn’t want her to worry. And Luke was fairly certain that Declan hadn’t told his mother, Siobhan, either. The Irish woman was even more likely to take matters into her own hands than Declan was.

“Did Cara tell you?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, imagining the various ways he could kill his baby sister.

“She is a terrible liar. Cara brought Wes over to meet me and Bruce,” Anne said. “She wanted to tell us about her engagement, but she was visibly stressed out about something. I was concerned she was having second thoughts about the wedding. After pressing her, she finally revealed that Mrs. Woodson waskilled in a staged home invasion. After that, it wasn’t hard to get it out of her.”

Luke blew out an angry breath.

“Don’t you dare give her a hard time about it, Luke! I figured out what was going on from what she said and asked her point blank. Did you want her to lie to my face?”

Damn!She had him there. Anne had been an excellent attorney. But he was still going to say something to Cara about her big mouth.

“Of course not,” Luke finally managed.

“And be nice to her new husband. He is enamored with your sister, and she is glowing.”

Luke made a face at the phone. “Fine.”

“See, if you didn’t call me every night, you wouldn’t get lectures,” his mother finished sweetly, and Luke laughed.

“Message received. Love you.”

Luke made himself a drink and reclined on his leather sofa looking out at the lights of Buckhead through the large floor to ceiling windows of his living room.

He didn’t want his mother to have this extra worry in her life. The doctors had told them stress was terrible for her condition.

They needed to get the situation with Courtney and Chris settled so they could all move on. Even if they never recovered their father’s billions, Luke wanted justice.

He wanted someone to pay.