Page 36 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

“Do you want me to tell this story or not?” But my reprimand doesn’t hold any bite.

“Continue. Please.” He bows over his outstretched hand. “I need more words likene’er-do-wellsin my vocabulary.”

I stick my tongue out because it seems like the appropriate response. “Anyway, this house became the social center of Rainwater Bay. Harriette hosted parties and picnics year-round. Their philanthropy saw a lot of families through hard winters and transformed Rainwater Bay from a quiet fishing village to a thriving community.”

“Sounds like they were an amazing couple.”

I wiggle my finger back and forth. “But all was not as it seemed. Thomas was rumored to be the mastermind behind a smuggling operation that moved prohibition alcohol up and down the seaboard, corrupting innocent souls and condemning them to a life of debauchery and gluttony.”

Landon’s eyebrows wiggle. “Ne’er-do-wells, indeed.”

“Correct. Siren’s Bluff Road was named after the schooner he supposedly used in the operation,Siren’s Call. Rumors insist Thomas brought his criminal ways with him and used Rainwater Bay as the hub to monitor shipments and make sure his enemies didn’t know too much about his business.”

“That’s genius. In today’s interconnected world, we would never get away with using that strategy, but back then…” He whistles low. “If you own a town filled with loyal people, you control the information and the product.”

“And get rich off other people’s vices.”

“That’s still pretty par for the course.”

The flurries from his attention stop swirling. “Speaking from experience?”

“I’m not going to lie and tell you that I haven’t participated in my fair share of business ventures that other people question, but I have never done anything illegal or immoral.”

“But your actions hurt people?”

“Unintentionally, but that’s how business is done.”

“Does it have to be?”

He tucks his chin but doesn’t defend himself.

Does he know who he’s hurt? Are there faces to go with the damage? Or are they numbers on a spreadsheet? His money comes from so many sectors of the economy, he may not even fathom his influence.

“Tell me more about Thomas. Bootlegging?” His gentle entreaty breaks through my reverie.

“Those were the rumors, but we don’t know what was true. It’s more likely he ran a successful company his rivals envied, so whenSiren’s Callwas lost at sea, they lied to ruin his reputation and steal his clients.”

“That’s a kind assumption.”

“There’s no proof Thomas did anything illegal.Siren’s Callmay have been a regular sailboat. We don’t have records of the ship. No pictures, ship registry, or passenger logs. Just crotchety men complaining about old Thomas Reeves sitting high and mighty in the cliff-top castle he built with his ill-gotten gains.”

Landon gestures to the house. “How does the Reeves family go from owning a town to the crumbling facade we see before us?”

“That’s Emmett’s fault. Emmett was barely sixteen when Thomas’s ship sank, so Harriette and a business partner named Bellamy Davis took over until Emmett reached his majority in 1947. In less than four years, Reeves transportation filed for bankruptcy and liquidated all their assets. The town never recovered, and the Reeves reputation was irrevocably tarnished.”

Landon swings his legs below him and leans forward. “Wow. No one stopped him?”

“It was a huge scandal. He’d married his wife Valarie a few years before, and the rumors are that she was insatiably greedy and spent every penny he earned. They moved into a small two-bedroom home on the edge of town and became a shadow of what Emmett’s parents were.”

“Tragic. No wonder Archer was weird about fixing the house. If his grandma hadn’t been a gold digger, this would have been theirs.”

“I don’t buy that story. Mom loved Valerie. It was Valerie’s stories that first hooked my mom on the legends. If Valerie was a gold digger who’d destroyed the family, why tell the stories? Why remind us that Thomas and Harriette were amazing people who helped a lot of families? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless she wanted to rewrite history, so she didn’t look like the villain.”

I shift onto my knees, mirroring Landon’s posture, and press my palms into the blanket to steady myself. “Collin and Archer’s dad believed their mom was the villain. Mom said he hated that Valerie told her and Maggie, Collin and Archer’s mom, the stories. According to Mom, he was a bitter, angry man. In 2002, he abandoned their family while their mom was pregnant with their seventh child—and took the only daughter with him.”

“What did the rumor mill say about that?”