Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his hand across his jaw. “This case is too big for our department. I’m assuming the step-son wants this prosecuted in his county?”

Robert nodded. “That would make the most sense, but with it possibly crossing state borders, it would become a federal case.”

“And I suppose you just want to walk away without any charges.”

“Well, that would be nice,” I said, hoping he would be that nice. However, the smirk on his face told me that wasn’t going to happen.

Lorelei

I was packing up my stuff, ready to head home and get as far away from this place as possible. I had stayed longer than expected, over two weeks, because Callum thought it would be better to stick around for a while. He thought we might be able to fight the trust with me here. Our attempts had been met with silence. I could see the worry in Callum’s eyes every time we were put off by the attorneys. It didn’t seem like there was anything else I could do from here, and I was desperate to get back to Andrew. Though I’d tried calling him over the last few weeks, I’d only reached him once, and the conversation was short. I wondered if his cold feet were now frigid.

Barty and Elena were still in the house, and it didn’t escape my notice that quite a few things were missing around here. They couldn’t get their hands on the trust, so they were hocking whatever they could.

I laughed to myself as I zipped up my suitcase. It really was funny. They were so greedy, neither of them really wanting to work for their money. Bartholomew only did what was absolutely necessary, which is why his father would never hand over everything to him, and Elena had never worked a day in her life. Oscar was the only one with promise, and he was actually a really good kid…young man.

I carried my bag downstairs and smiled broadly when I saw Oscar walking into the house. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Winter break. Bartholomew called and said that you were back and something about needing me to get back here. Do you know what that’s about?”

I rolled my eyes. “You know your brother, always so dramatic. I just came home for a few days.”

His eyes fell slightly. “Oh, you’re leaving already?”

“I have a flight back home in just a few hours.” He nodded and looked a little upset at this. “But I still have time if there’s something you wanted to talk about.”

“Well, I was hoping you could help me figure out some stuff for college.”

“Of course. Let’s go sit down.”

We walked into the living room and he pulled out a ton of papers from his bag, all bent and crumpled. “Sorry, I’m not very organized.”

“That’s okay. So, what did you decide to do?”

“Well, you know I’m minoring in music, but I’d like to make that my major…and not take any business classes.”

I grinned at him. “That sounds like a great idea.”

“Yeah, but I need help filling out all the paperwork. There’s uh…there’s a lot of paperwork for switching my major and I just got a notice that my next semester’s payment didn’t go through.”

His cheeks flushed red and I sat there speechless for just a second before my brain kicked in. “I’ll take care of it right now. I know the trust is supposed to cover tuition, but I have enough to pay.”

Relief flooded his face and I quickly put in the call, making sure that the money was transferred for his next semester. It put a huge dent in my savings for the house, but that didn’t matter. Oliver might not be my kid, but that didn’t make him any less my responsibility.

We spent the next hour going over all the paperwork, making sure everything was filled out as it should be. I glanced at my watch and sighed, giving him a smile.

“I have to get to the airport. If you need anything else, just call me.”

“Thanks, Lorelei.”

I hugged him and then stood, grabbing my bag as I headed for the door. I was just pulling the door open when I was startled by the sight of two men standing in front of me. Not just men, police officers.

“Can I help you?”

“Lorelei Henning?”

I almost sighed. They knew exactly who I was. “Yes.”

“You’re under arrest for the murder of Arlen Henning.”

I stared at them in shock, my face surely showing the surprise that I felt. Sure, I knew they might drag me into the station, but arrest me? I heard a chuckle behind me and turned around, watching as Barty laughed, obviously enjoying what was happening. As for Elena, the smirk on her face was all too clear. She was happy that I was going down. But when I saw the look on Oscar’s face, I felt gutted. Never in the last year and a half had I considered how badly this would affect Oscar. Despite his feelings for his father, Arlen was the only parent he had left, and now he thought I killed him.

As the officers handcuffed me and read me my rights, I watched as Oscar’s face slowly turned to disappointment and then anger before storming out of the room. I wanted to tell him that I hadn’t done it, that I wasn’t a bad person, but only half that statement was true.

I sat in the interrogation room, waiting for Callum to show up. I had already been finger-printed and booked, and now I was waiting in an orange jumpsuit that made me look like a pumpkin. I didn’t care about that so much. I was more concerned about where they got evidence that I had murdered someone.

The door opened and Callum strode in, looking every bit like the powerful attorney he was. He just wasn’t a criminal defense lawyer, which meant that I was in