Hello, Again (Book 2)

Chase Industries

BETSY

It was all I could do on the other side of the prison table to not break through and throttle Richard Chase. "They can't make a wife testify against her spouse, husband," she spat, "so you might as well answer my question."

His infuriating expression, a poisonous mask of amusement, never shifted. "Of course, my dear Elizabeth. Could you repeat it for me, please? I was too busy admiring your beauty."

My stomach twisted and I crossed my arms over my chest. Though my purple dress had a neckline up to my collarbones and a skirt down to my knees, I still felt exposed under his icy gaze. If anything, the last few months in prison had made him glacial, his eyes deep with some hidden darkness.

"What was your business with Dumont and Pierre?" I basically spat the words at him. "And what does Gregor know about it?"

"Well, my dear," he said slowly, "that costs more than a pretty bracelet."

He reached into his pocket and shook the silver chain. The charms clinked as he set it down on the plastic table, and I realized how much I missed the stupid plexiglass. Rick had been moved from the higher security facility to this one, slightly lower, and with that move I lost my strongest defense.

If Shane were here, he'd show Rick a thing or two.

"What do you want now?"

He gestured to a guard, who brought forward a stack of papers. Even more wrinkled and yellowed than before, I recognized them instantly from the last time I'd sat across a table from him.

"Sign the papers, Elizabeth, fulfill your end, and you'll get answers."

"That's not an option."

A dark expression crossed his features. "I'm throwing information in for free, my dear. The original bargain was signing Chase Industries over to me, and all its assets."

"Not on the table."

"Oh, it is." He smiled, eyes flashing like ice and I fought the shiver that ran down my spine. "If you want to know about Gregor as well."

Kat's grandfather. I glared at him. "You can't mean that. What gives?"

"You're desperate, dear, and so am I." He scowled and shifted. As he did, he lifted the hem of his shirt to just under his armpit, and I gasped. Dark red scorched his side like lightning, and ugly black stitches still lingered in the wounds.

"What—what happened to you?"

"Some old friends have friends in the right places, at the right price." He let his shirt down again. "You can do that for me."

The understanding hit me and I was speechless. Hire fighters within the prison to help him, defend Rick. "No way!" The words were out of my mouth before I could even think and Rick's face morphed into an expression I hadn't seen since a few weeks into our marriage: vulnerability.

Suddenly he appeared all the more gaunt and pale and broken and the fear fled my system.

"I'm in trouble, Elizabeth."

Concern twisted my insides. "Rick, I can't—"

"I know. So are you."

"Then tell me what I need to know."

Rick shook his head. "No..... Either sign the papers or leave me alone. But if you push me to go on, Elizabeth, you may get your freedom after all, only as a widow."

The guard stepped forward. "Time's up."

"Wait, I—"

But I was pushed out of the room and the door was shut. The guard, much nicer now, escorted me to the front foyer. As soon as I stepped through the double-locked main doors, Shane got to his feet from the bench.