The Switch by Debra Kayn (desktop ebook reader TXT) 📗

Trip gave the boys permission to go swimming. She hated the mixed feelings going on inside of her.

She soaked him in because she missed him.

She wanted to scream and hit him because he'd lied.

How was she supposed to go on, knowing he was involved in everything she'd learned? It was like he was two different people.

The man she loved.

The man...

She had no idea what to call him.

Trip shut the door after getting the boys settled in the gym and returned to her. His gaze kept going over every inch of her before returning to her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Will you let me explain?" He reached for her.

She stepped away. "No."

"Damnit, Bonnie." He fisted his hand. "I need you."

Her chin trembled. "Let me talk."

He dipped his chin and moved back, sitting on the arm of the couch. She had no idea where to start. All the ideas had only been formed in her head. She hadn't talked through everything yet or planned what to say.

No one knew what she'd found out. Grandpa Gene had left the second notebook in the safety deposit box, telling her everything because he believed the government officials would be gone from the mountain by the time she found it.

Her grandpa had no clue that she'd return sixteen years after his death and fall in love with the man responsible.

She kneeled on the floor, putting the pack in front of her. Unzipping the outer pouch, she removed the notebook.

Not wanting to go near Trip, she slid it across the floor to him and waited for him to pick it up.

She wasn't scared of him. Keeping her distance from Trip made it possible for her to get through the immediate future without falling into his arms or running out of the house before she heard the truth from his lips.

"What's this?" He opened the notebook.

"After Grandpa Gene passed away, my mom cleaned out the house. She never messed with the shed because...well, I don't know why. Probably because there was nothing in there that meant much to her. When we moved in, I happened to climb up in the loft to show Kenny where I used to play and found a notebook—not that one." She fisted the backpack. "I was so busy with the kids, work, and you, I only got around to reading it the other night."

"Like a journal?" The notebook in his hand was forgotten.

"Records of mysterious things happening on the property." She paused to gauge his reaction, but he continued to gaze at her with interest. "He described seeing men run faster than humanly possible and men who looked like government officials hanging around the mountain."

"Go on."

"All he cared about was his wife. Her ashes are buried at the base of the mountain. Grandpa Gene made her a headstone with her name. It was where they'd fallen in love." She swallowed. "In his notes, he mentioned Avery Falls Motorcycle Club paid him off in exchange that they could keep using his property with the caveat they don't harm the area around the gravesite. An agreement was reached."

Her heart hammered. Couldn't he show her that he was aware of the agreement?

"It was you, Trip. You harassed my grandpa to leave his property, and when he refused, you eventually paid him off for the use of his mountain and to keep him quiet," she said.

Trip's head moved slightly. She would've missed him acknowledging the truth if she would've blinked. But she wasn't blinking. She wasn't even breathing.

"Grandpa Gene mentioned a key to a safety deposit box, and I found the key. I went to the bank over in St. Maries this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. Grandpa Gene had paid to have an executor retain the right to keep the box for thirty years after his death, only allowing myself to be the other person legally able to sign in and open the box. I only found that out this morning when I gained access." She pointed to his hands. "Inside the safety deposit box was that notebook."

He kept watching her and ignoring the evidence.

She unzipped the backpack's main compartment, and as she lifted her hand, it was her turn to watch him. Slowly, because the bag was heavy, she dumped the contents on the floor.

"I haven't counted, but in the notebook, Grandpa Gene told me you'd paid him nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars to be able to keep using the northwest section of his property without any interference from him," she whispered.

Trip gazed up from the pile of cash surrounding her. "He handed me a dollar back and told me I'd insulted him with the offer."

Her eyes burned, knowing that would be something her grandpa would do. "He refused to spend it because he swore his secrecy to you. He never told my mother— his daughter, and he'd set it up for the executor to contact me when thirty years had passed after his death. He felt you, the club, and the government officials would be gone from the mountain at that time. But I came back to Avery Falls on my own and found all this."

She picked up a bundle of cash and put it back in the backpack. The money meant nothing to her. It was dirty.

"I came here tonight to ask you if my family is in danger?"

"No."

"In that notebook, if you read it, you'd find out Grandpa Gene knew more than you're aware of about what happens in that cave." She glanced at him. "He knew more about you than I ever knew."

"What do you know?"

"I know that whoever wanted access to that cave experiments on men and makes them bionic."

"Enhanced," he said quietly.

A lump of emotions clogged her throat. "Those men abused you. Tormented you. Changed you."

Trip stared at her. She continued putting the money away.

"He claimed you were dead inside and dangerous." She cleared her throat when her voice cracked. "I trusted you with my boys."

"You can still trust me."

She shrank