Moorewood Family Rules by HelenKay Dimon

Author:HelenKay Dimon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Moorewood Family Rule #27: Remember Rule #26 and stay connected . . . even if it kills you.

Anika seriously considered ignoring Jay’s text. He asked her and Astrid to assemble in the operations center, which sounded like a pretty dramatic way of asking them to come to the den.

She couldn’t blame him for being on edge. Waiting for Jillian to cause more trouble was starting to be a full-time job. The money-control issue had Anika pretty twitchy, too. Everything would be easier if she could talk to Harry face-to-face. They texted but missed seeing each other. If this dragged on for much longer, she’d go over there and wrestle him away from his mother. Put him in a plane and take his butt to Las Vegas.

Starving because she’d missed two meals thanks to chaos spinning around her, Anika stepped into the room to find Astrid mixing drinks and Jay downing them. That was never a good sign.

Anika barely shut the door before her father launched into planning mode. “We have a new problem.”

Anika bit back a groan. “I think we’re full. Maybe later.”

“This isn’t a joke.”

“This is about Jillian?” Astrid asked.

“Of course it is.” Jay took a long drink, emptying the glass, then gestured to Astrid for a refill. “She was a difficult child and became an unbearable adult.”

“None of that is new.” And none of it rose to the level of an emergency in Anika’s view.

“I sat in on a private conversation between her and Izzy.” Jay put his finger and thumb less than an inch apart. “Jillian was this close to talking. She was about to spill everything about the house and prison. I could feel it.”

“But you stopped her?” Anika asked.

“This time, but what happens when I’m not there?” Jay’s eyes grew wide. “I can’t watch her every second. Soon she’s going to get Izzy alone and ruin everything. We need to defuse her. Now. Not with listening devices. We need something bigger.”

“There was that issue with her brakes in the past,” Astrid said.

A new admission. Anika had tried for years to get Astrid to own up to that over-the-top attack on Jillian. “Is this the same brake failure you’ve always denied knowing anything about?”

“Accidents happen.” Astrid swooped in and removed Jay’s glass, only to replace it with a new one. One with more liquor. “But the bodyguard is a problem.”

Jay’s expression said no problem. “We’ll get control back and fire him.”

Anika tried to imagine Jay throwing Ugly Hot out of the house. “The car. The balcony railing. Haven’t you learned a thing?”

“At least I’m trying to save us,” Astrid shot back.

“Stop fighting.” Jay took a drink. “But your sister is right, Astrid. Fooling with the car is too risky. We need subtle.”

Astrid made a pfft sound. “Subtle is old school. It doesn’t work.”

Anika did what she did best—she ignored Astrid and her insipid mumblings and painful sucking up to Jay. “We should exploit the issues between Jillian and Gregory. There’s something there. Pick at it.”

“Right.” Jay pointed at Anika.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.