She typed a few more keys and opened the notes made by the esthetician who had performed the facial. “No way,” she murmured. “Jeannie is one of our best. She has a waiting list a mile long. Nothing about this make sense.” She leaned back in her chair and looked at Cruz.

“It’s Garth, isn’t it?” she asked.

“It smells like him.”

Because trying to shut her down with the loan wasn’t good enough?

“I don’t want to go to court,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “I don’t want to spend the money.” Money she didn’t have. “Not to mention the time. It will suck the life out of this place. It could ruin our reputation.”

She’d worked hard to build up her business, to make coming to Venus Envy the perfect, relaxing experience for her clients.

“That jerk isn’t going to take this away from me,” she said.

“I want to help,” Cruz told her. “Let’s start by investigating the woman suing. Ann Paul. Who is she? Was this a setup? Does she work for Garth?”

Lexi straightened in her chair. “My God. I never thought of that. You mean this whole thing could be a lie?”

Cruz shrugged. “Maybe he’s paying her to file the complaint.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“This kind of damage is hard to prove. The case is probably frivolous to begin with. But Garth is only interested in screwing with your company. If word gets out will it matter if the lawsuit has no merit?”

“No, and he knows it. What is going on with this guy? Why is he so determined to hurt us?”

“I’ll see if I can find a connection between the woman and Garth,” Cruz said. “Give me a couple of days.”

“Sure.” She tried to smile. “Thanks for your help. I’m still in shock.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

She believed that, but it would go a lot faster if she went to the source.

“I’m going to talk to Jed,” she said. “I want to find out how much he knows and see if he has a plan to stop Garth.”

WHEN THE SKY was just the right color of blue and the clouds filtered the sun, the lobby of Titan World could look like a church. As Lexi walked to the bank of elevators, she remembered going to church when she was eight or nine. One of the nannies had taken her. During Sunday school, the lesson had been about God’s power. Lexi had gotten in trouble by telling the Sunday school teacher that her father was more powerful than God.

The woman had insisted she stay after the main sermon and speak with the minister. Lexi had stood in his impressive office and told the man that she’d heard lots of people say that Jed Titan was more powerful than God. Sometimes Jed said it, too. He was her daddy, so it must be true.

The shocked religious leader put a call in to her father. Jed had driven to the church, marched into the office and declared that this was Texas, where a man could be anything he wanted to be, including more powerful than God. Then he’d taken Lexi to lunch at Bronco Billy’s and let her order anything she wanted.

Later, sick to her stomach from too much milk-shake, she’d called for her daddy, but he hadn’t come. The nanny had cleaned her up after she’d vomited, and Lexi had fallen asleep alone in her bed. Her daddy might be more powerful than God, but that wasn’t all they had in common. He was just as busy and unavailable.

Now she rode the elevator to the executive floor, remembering being that little girl. Pru might have been there for her, only Izzy was just a baby and she’d had Skye, too. Pru had always been kind to Lexi, but two children less than eighteen months apart kept her busy.

She walked toward Jed’s office. His assistant waved her in.

Lexi found her father on the phone. He motioned for her to enter, then pointed at the phone and made the jerk-off motion with his right hand.

“Sure, Ted. Anytime. You know I’m a big fan. Uh-huh. Gotta go. Sure. Soon.”

Jed hung up. “I know congressmen are useful to have hanging around, but they can be a big pain in the ass. How are you, Lexi? How’s that man of yours?”

“He’s fine.”

“Good. Good. Now, what do you need?”

Jed was well into his sixties, but still a handsome man. Money had a way of smoothing over a man’s flaws. So why hadn’t Jed remarried after Pru’s death? Lexi didn’t believe he’d been so crushed by her suicide that he couldn’t bring himself to care for someone else. That would require him to think beyond himself, and she wasn’t sure he was capable.

There had to be women. But her father didn’t date much that she knew about. He certainly never brought anyone around the house to parties.

“Are you seeing anyone?” she asked.

“What does that have to do with the price of cattle?”

“I just wondered.”

“My personal life isn’t your business, little girl.”

“All right. Then I have another topic.”

“You’re in trouble.”

“How supportive of you,” she said dryly.

“Am I wrong?”

“There’s a problem, but not in the way you mean it. I want to talk about Garth Duncan.”

She watched Jed closely as she spoke, but he didn’t give anything away. His gaze never wavered. No muscle tensed or twitched.

He leaned back in his chair and nodded slowly. “Damn fine businessman. A shark. Plays hard, but mostly plays fair. I haven’t had much to do with him.”

Which might be true, she thought.

“He’s trying to bring down the family,” she said.

Jed didn’t react to that, either. “What makes you say that?”

“Everything that’s been happening lately. The horse doping at your racing stable, the insider trading charges. Skye’s facing an investigation for money laundering.” She’d already decided not to tell him about the loan. “I’m being sued by a client and I suspect she has some connection to Garth.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Gee, Daddy, why would Garth Duncan want to hurt us?”

Her father didn’t look away. “You think you already know.”

“He’s your son.”

A part of her had hoped Jed would deny it or at least act surprised. Instead he nodded slowly. “That was a long time ago. Before you were born. Before I married your mother.”

She sank into the chair opposite his. Confirmation wasn’t happy news. “What happened?”

“What do you think? I got a girl pregnant. Kathy. She was pretty enough. Full of life. She made me laugh.” He smiled at the memory, then the smile faded. “But she wasn’t the sort of girl a man like me married. I paid her off. The settlement was generous and very clear. She kept the baby and agreed never to contact me again.”

Just like that. A child dismissed. “Did she contact you again?”

“No, and she had no reason to. There was enough money to keep her in style for the rest of her life. Kathy had a good head on her shoulders.”

“She has no reason to be angry with you?”

“Of course not. I took care of the problem.”

She wondered how Garth would feel to be labeled a “problem.” “If everything was so perfect, why is he doing this now?” she asked.

“You don’t have proof it’s him.”

“I have a really good hunch.”

Jed shook his head. “Come back to me when you have proof.”

“And then what? You’ll do something? You’ll get involved? Dad, he’s responsible for the doping and the charges of insider trading. He probably drugged one of Cruz’s drivers. He’s going after all of us.”

“I’m not worried about what he can do, and if you are, you’re not the business woman I thought you were.”

The threat wasn’t even subtle. She ignored it.

“Why didn’t you tell us about Garth? We have a brother.”

“He’s not your brother. He’s not anything. Garth will never be a Titan.”

“He’s your son.” He was family. Lexi had never thought of him that way, but Garth was as much related to her as Skye or Izzy. “If I’m right and he’s doing all this, he’s acting very much like you.”

“Let it go. Garth Duncan isn’t important.”

“You’re wrong, Dad. You can deal with him now or you can deal with him later, but he’s not going away. I think he wants to take us all down. What I can’t figure out is why.”

“You don’t need to know why.”

Lexi disagreed. She had a feeling knowing was the key to everything that was happening to them.

“You’re not going to do anything?” she asked.

“Garth Duncan doesn’t scare me.”

The implication being that if Lexi was scared, she was weak.

Most of the time she respected her father’s opinion…at least when it came to business. He’d done amazing things with the company-had grown it from millions to billions. But he was wrong about Garth. She felt it in every fiber of her being.

CRUZ WAS WAITING for her when she got home.

“What happened?” he asked as pulled her close and kissed her.

She tossed her purse on the counter and leaned against him. “Nothing. He admitted Garth is his son, but not that there was a problem. He says he got a girl pregnant but she wasn’t anyone he would marry, so he paid her off. He says the settlement was enough for them to live on, that there weren’t any hard feelings and Garth isn’t a threat.”

“What do you think?” he asked, still holding her.

She absorbed the warmth from his body. “I think I’m totally confused. Garth is a formidable opponent. He’s already done damage. Jed lost a deal with the Chinese because of the horse doping. That should totally have pissed him off. But he seems almost calm. It’s not as if he expected this, exactly. It’s more…”

“Pride?”

She stepped back. “Maybe. I don’t like it, but maybe.”

“Garth is his son.”

“Great. The son he never had?”

Cruz shrugged. “It’s a guy thing. Especially for a man like Jed. To see himself moving forward into a new generation.”

“His sperm at work? He must be so proud. That’s primitive and misogynistic. Because it only works with a son.”

“I’m not saying it’s right.”

“Is that your excuse for not connecting with Kendra? Would it be different if she were a boy?”

His expression tightened. “No. It’s not about her being a girl.”

While she believed him, there were a fair number of similarities in the two situations. Cruz also hadn’t wanted to marry the girl he got pregnant. He and Jed had been looking for a wife who could elevate their situations. Someone with a history…the right bloodline.

Cruz gave Kendra’s mother money. Jed had offered a settlement. In theory, both children were well taken care of. The basics were provided, but Kendra wanted more. She wanted a relationship with her dad. Had Garth wanted the same? Had childish longing turned into something big and ugly as he grew up?

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“That you and my father are too much alike. It’s scary.”

“I’m nothing like Jed Titan.”

“You want connections. In the past couple of months I’ve introduced you to both senators, several congressmen, local officials and the presidents of the three largest oil companies in the world, including a Saudi prince.”

“That’s our deal.”

It was a whole lot more than that. “You’re looking to marry the right sort of woman. Someone with breeding. You might want to consider how well that worked out for Jed.”

“I’ll make a better choice than he did.” He held up both hands before she could say anything. “Nothing against your mother. I’m speaking more of temperament and the ability for the women in question to get along with me.”

“Right. Because it’s not about you getting along with her.”

“Lexi, you know what I mean.”

“I’m very clear on that.” She walked to the far end of the kitchen, then turned to face him. “I’ve been avoiding the truth for a while now, but it’s all there. You both abandoned children. You just have the one, while Jed’s done it four times. Sure, he kept me and Skye and Izzy around, but he wasn’t there for us. He didn’t love us. Even now that we’re grown, he tries to set us against each other.”

“I’m not like Jed,” Cruz repeated. “You’ve got to let the Kendra thing go.”

“The Kendra thing? You’re the one who brought her into my life. She lived here, Cruz. I saw her every day for over two weeks. I got to know her. She’s a fifteen-year-old girl who needs to know her father loves her. Why is that so hard?”

“She doesn’t need me,” he told her, his voice low and cold. “She’s better off without me.”

Because he’d been better off without his father?

Although she hadn’t been in the room, the image of his father beating his mother until Juanita declared her love was firmly etched in her brain.

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” she whispered. “Kendra isn’t your dad and neither are you.”

Cruz didn’t say anything.

“Besides,” she continued. “It’s total crap. You love your mother. I’ve seen you with her and it’s obvious how much you care. You and Manny are like brothers and you adore Manny’s family. Those people are important to you. You would do anything for them. What about that kid? The one you gave the chance to. I’m not saying you love him, but you were excited to change his life.”