Part 27 (1/2)
”We'll talk to Zeke and he'll understand-”
”You think Zeke called us to his house to have a conversation? Eden tried to leave us, for heaven's sake! She meant to find that judge and tear up the power of attorney. She betrayed him!”
The turn into Zeke's was just ahead. She stared at the moonless night beyond the window.
”There's gonna be h.e.l.l to pay, I swear.”
Wyatt pulled into Zeke's compound and brought the truck to a stop. Claude leaned against a pillar on the porch, watching them as they climbed out of the truck and made their way to the front door.
Claude pushed the door open. ”He's waiting in the study.”
The study. Judgment was in the air and there was no running from it.
She cinched her night robe tight, entered the house, and angled toward Zeke's office to the left of the living room. Through the door she could see him sitting at his desk.
They entered the study without a word, followed by Claude, who stopped at the doorway, arms crossed.
Zeke's piercing stare was as dark as midnight and for several seconds he simply studied them. She felt naked, stripped to the bone, nothing more than a desperate failure. The bitter disappointment on his face said everything.
”Sit.” He nodded to the two leather chairs opposite him, watching them from his black, high-back chair, whisky gla.s.s cradled in his hand.
Kathryn eased into a chair and Wyatt began to take the seat beside her.
”Not you,” Zeke said.
Wyatt stood upright, confused for a moment. ”Sure, Zeke.”
Zeke tilted his gla.s.s and took a drink. ”Why'd you give her the keys, Wyatt?”
Wyatt stood stock-still, like an animal trapped in a cage.
”Do you take me for a fool?”
”No, Zeke. Of course not.”
”No. Of course not. Stupid, Wyatt. Very stupid.”
”I . . .”
”Like that boy of yours. But at least he's honest. He must get his backbone from his mother.”
Kathryn's pulse drummed in her ears.
”You gave Eden the truck keys and walked away. Unless Bobby's lying, in which case I would have to punish him. You know how I hate liars.”
Wyatt's hand began to quiver at his side. ”Bobby's an innocent boy.”
”You're right, Bobby wouldn't know duplicity if it smacked him in the mouth. Tell me Wyatt, are you duplicitous?”
Wyatt s.h.i.+fted on his feet.
”It means two-faced, double-dealing,” Zeke said. ”Deceitful. Or is that not a clear concept in that thick skull of yours?”
”No,” Wyatt said quietly.
”No what?”
”No . . .” A tremor had taken to his voice. ”I mean . . . Yes.”
”Yes what?”
”Yes. I understand.”
”Understand what, Wyatt?”
He hesitated. ”That I was deceitful.”
His eyes, guilty as sin, flitted to Kathryn, then darted back to Zeke. She felt the room begin to close around her. Wyatt had betrayed her too. The whole world had turned against her.
”Why did you defy me, Wyatt?”
”I'm sorry . . . I wasn't thinking.”
”No, you weren't. And unfortunately I can't allow people who don't know how to think to remain with me in an hour like this.” He drilled Wyatt with an uncompromising stare. ”I'm sending you away.”
Wyatt blinked, dumb, face white. Blinked again.
”You understand I have no choice, don't you?”
”Yes.”
”Whether or not I ever allow you to return to Bobby will depend on how you conduct yourself these next thirty days. Do you understand?”
”Yes, Zeke.” He cleared his throat. ”Thirty days.”
Kathryn could see the beads of sweat on his forehead, but her mind was on her own head. If this was Wyatt's sentence, what would be hers? Dear G.o.d, it was all falling apart. All of it!
”Well, now, I can't have a traitor around while we reap our blessing, now can I?”
Their blessing, Kathryn thought. Eden's money. It was Zeke's fixation as much as their obedience.
She kept her eyes on Zeke, now unnerved by any impulse to look at Wyatt-it would const.i.tute some kind of betrayal of Zeke. She couldn't allow herself sympathy. Not now. But she didn't have to look at him to know that he was shrinking and for that she couldn't help but to feel strangely conflicted.