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“I think it was a hit on Hayden,” Bones said.
I flinched even though I’d been thinking the exact same thing.
He looked at me. “We set the alarm. There was no forced entry. No struggle. No broken glass. Someone knew how to get in. And a few weeks ago, someone stuck a gun in her face before Willa shot him dead. Cops said it was some tweaker looking for an easy mark. But now I’m not buying it.”
I nibbled my lip, my mind churning.
“Okay, so someone’s trying to kill her,” Zip said. “Why?”
“Because I’m worth a lot of money,” I stated baldly.
“Not just that, but she’s set to inherit a seat on the board of her father’s pharmaceutical company when she either gets married or turns thirty,” Bones said.
“Father’s pharmaceutical company?” Zip asked.
“Spencer Pharmaceuticals,” Bones clarified.
“Shit. You’re that Spencer?” Colt asked.
I nodded.
“God damn, you hooked up with a rich bitch,” Zip stated. “No offense, Hayden.”
While the three of them discussed my wealth like I wasn’t sitting right there, my brain went haywire. And then all at once the picture came together and I finally admitted the truth.
Tears began to prick my eyes.
“Duchess?” Bones asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I think,” I croaked, “I think we both know who’s behind all this.” I met Bones’ blue eyes. “Arnold.”
“That’s the same conclusion I got to,” Bones said.
I looked at Colt. “The board seat I’m set to inherit was set up by my father in a trust. It’s a controlling seat with a huge percentage of the company shares. It would make me the largest single shareholder and put me in control of Spencer Pharmaceuticals in full. No one would be able to challenge it unless the seat is voluntarily forfeit and the trust revoked by me once it goes into effect…or if I die, in which case the shares revert to my mother. Right now, there are only two things standing in the way of me being on the board; I’m not thirty, and I’m not married. And I had a boyfriend I was set to marry, but yesterday Bones told me that it was actually Arnold who forced Tyler to leave me after my father died. Why would he do that? There’s only one reason. He’s trying to prevent me from gaining my seat on the board and taking control of the company.”
“Who is Arnold, and why wouldn’t he want you in control?” Colt asked.
“Arnold is my stepfather. He was my father’s best friend and married my mother shortly after my father died. He was the senior most manager in the company and the board elected him as interim chair until I could take his place as was set forth in the trust.”
“He’d benefit from your death,” Colt said, nodding in understanding. “Because he’d remain in control. So the board seat goes up for a vote if you die?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m an only child and my mother has no interest in running the company. She still has enough shares for a seat on the board, but she votes how Arnold tells her to. If I die, she’ll be the majority shareholder and Arnold will get voted in as permanent chair. If that happens, Spencer Pharmaceuticals all but belongs to him.”
“And you have no husband and no children, so you can’t leave the seat to anyone if something happens to you, right?” Colt asked.
I nodded my head. “Exactly. In fact, until the trust executes upon my marriage or turning thirty, I can’t alter or revoke it in any way. At this point I can’t even choose a new trustee if I want. It’s completely set in stone until it executes.”
Colt rubbed his jaw. “So then killing you is about that board seat and controlling the company, not just the shares. What’s been going on with the company since your father died?”
“Patents are getting approved; medications are selling well. There were some major ups and downs right after Dad died. Speculation went wild after his death about the direction of the company. But things settled down when Arnold took over…until recently. Arnold wants to take the company in a different direction and the shareholders are spooked. The board has been split with Arnold as the tiebreaker.”
Bones and Colt exchanged a look and then Bones asked, “How did your father die, exactly? You never did tell me the full story.”
“Ski accident,” I answered absently. “But he was an expert skier. It never made any sense. He was always so careful. Wore a helmet and everything.”
I hadn’t remembered much about the details of his death. I’d been grief-stricken and nothing really registered, especially those first few days and weeks after he died.
Suddenly, I jumped out of my seat, feeling the blood drain from my cheeks.
