“Prison has a way of kicking the life out of you. Is Samantha okay? Jordan?” Hearing his daughters’ names roll off his tongue shocked even him. Regret choked him hard.
“They’re fine.”
“The baby?”
“Fine.”
Reading about your child in the papers wasn’t the same as hearing the words said aloud by someone who had contact with them. Some weight of Harry’s concern lifted. “Does Samantha know you’re here?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Then why are you here?”
Blake assessed him with a deep, penetrating stare that ran through Harry’s body with a rush of power. There was a time in his life when he could make a man squirm with a look, but that wasn’t easy wearing jailhouse blues. He sat taller however, and did his best not to look away.
“Why did you do it?” Blake asked. “You had to know you’d get caught sooner or later.”
Harry blinked. Blake wasn’t there to ask about his past crimes but something told him his answer would either gain Blake’s trust, or dispel it. Having the trust of your daughter’s husband might mean catching a glimpse of his grandchild or daughter outside of a newspaper article.
“You’re a business man. You understand the power of money.”
“Money-induced power can be a curse.”
Harry nodded. “Precisely.” Money was Harry’s addiction. It didn’t matter that he had more than he could ever spend. Each week his portfolio grow. He acquired everything a man could want and lost his family, his freedom, in return.
They both sat for a moment and said nothing. Again, Blake stared and Harry felt his heart kick higher.
“Do you think of your daughters?”
He thought of the only items in his cell he might consider isolation time to keep safe. “Every day.”
“How come you’ve never tried to call Samantha?”
Harry looked away. “I don’t deserve her. I’ve only brought her pain.” His throat tightened and he swallowed hard.
Blake shook his head, clearly struggling with what he wanted to say. “I need you to do something for me, Mr. Elliot.”
“What can I possibly do for you?”
Their eyes met. “I need you to destroy every picture, every article, every anything in your possession about us.”
His palm ached with the death grip he had on the phone. “Why?”
“There is someone inside who doesn’t need to know about us or our friends.”
Harry considered his son-in-law with narrowed eyes. “Are you going to tell me who this man is?”
“I’m not at liberty. But for the sake of your daughters, and the people they love, you need to do this.”
“One more minute, Harry,” the guard informed him.
He contemplated Blake’s request and affirmed it with a nod. “Take care of them.”
“I will.”
Harry replaced the phone on the hook and took one last look at Blake before he walked away.
****
“The press wants to see both of you, on stage in full color.” Jay tapped his pen against the legal pad sitting on his lap and stared at both of them. “If you don’t hold a press conference about your marriage, you’ll be hounded until you forgot what it was like to go into a public bathroom without a camera in the next stall.”
Carter closed his eyes and shook his head. When had life become so damn complicated? Eliza ran a finger along his forearm and he tried to smile.
Now that he knew the truth behind why she hid, he understood the need to keep her beyond reach and out of the spotlight. Dean had been right. Eliza should have run. Carter felt selfish knowing she stayed because he asked her to marry him. The image of innocent women murdered at the hands of Sanchez threatened to surface, but he pushed them back.
“Carter?”
He blinked a couple of times until Eliza’s chocolate eyes met his. “Yeah?”
“I think we need to let Jay in on what’s going on.”
“Let Jay know what?” Jay asked. The smaller man kept tapping his pen and switching his gaze from one of them to the other.
Carter ran a hand through his already tousled hair. To tell Jay anything was risky. But then marrying Eliza and showing her off to the world had been ludicrous. He knew that now.
Eliza fingers rolled in small circles over his as if coxing him into submission. If anything ever happened to her, it would be his fault. Had he listened to Dean and pushed, maybe she would be safe. Secluded from her friends, but safe.
“Let Jay know what?” Jay bit out.
There was already speculation on the news about Eliza’s background. It appeared his rival in the gubernatorial race wanted a full background check and immigration status of Eliza Havens Billings. With illegal immigration at the top of California’s hot topics, having a possible illegal as the first lady of the state was Carter’s ticket to second place.
He couldn’t bring himself to care.
Yet being the governor, or running for office, afforded him some insight and protection that Carter Billings the judge or lawyer didn’t have.
No. He needed to see this through.
And he needed to call in a few favors.
He turned his palm over and laced his fingers with hers. “Eliza has been part of the witness protection program. Her name was changed to protect her.”
Jay’s pen stopped tapping, and his gaze swiveled to Eliza. “Really?”
She lifted her eyebrows and nodded. “Yeah.”
Jay stood and started to pace like a man who had drunk six cups of coffee before his first union break. “So that’s why the extra security? Someone is after you?”
“It’s possible.”
“Who else knows this?”
“Close friends, close family… Why?”
Jay rubbed his chin in thought. “Now that you’re married this is going to come out. You know that, right?”
Eliza’s slow nod let him know she wasn’t completely prepared for what would come next.
“What about your uncle?”
“Max?”
“Yeah, him.”
“We’re not close.”
“But he’s family. The voting public is aware of that. I’ve said all along you needed to tap into his connections, and now it seems you have no choice.”
“Max can’t be relied upon.”
“He’s up for election in two years. He’ll obtain votes however he can.”
“What are you suggesting, Jay?” Carter leaned forward and listened.