The Ballerina's Stand. Angel Smits

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СКАЧАТЬ couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight. He knew that if he saw her on the street, he’d definitely recognize her, and probably stop and stare. She was stunning. The dance beautiful—flawless as far as he could tell.

      Time stopped. Haymaker faded into the distance. Nothing existed except her beauty and perfection. Music wafted around him, slipping inside somehow. He felt his heart echo its rhythm. Beating. Stopping. Pounding.

      The emotions of the story came to life. Anger and pain ripped across the stage and tumbled into an anguished heap in the center of the floor. A single light remained. She didn’t move. He barely breathed.

      Arms, a multitude of bare arms, reached out of the darkness and lifted her limp body. Her limbs dangled lifelessly as the darkness swallowed her whole.

      Jason’s eyes stung, and he shook his head to clear his mind of the image and emotions. He looked over at the old man. Tears trickled down his pale cheeks.

      The audience shot to their feet. Jason could see the old man wanted to, his legs trembling as he tried to scoot forward. Jason reached out and put a hand on the bony shoulder. “I’ll do it for us both.”

      Jason stood and applauded hard and strong. She deserved the acclaim.

      The rest of the performance flew by, but there were no more signs of her, and Jason felt disappointed. The old man settled back, nearly dozing off, as if he knew the show he’d come for was over.

      With the lights on and the curtains down, Jason rose to his feet once again.

      “Call the driver,” Haymaker barked to the nurse.

      Jason frowned. “Aren’t you going to go see her?”

      Haymaker spun the chair around with surprising speed. “Hell, no. She doesn’t know I exist.” The anger was more mask than real. “I didn’t just invite you here for a show.”

      Jason had known that, but he’d learned years ago not to question a client until they were good and ready.

      “Then I’m charging for my time.”

      Pal grinned. “I expect you to. Here.” He pulled out an envelope from his jacket pocket. “Take care of this. Make sure it’s all California legal. Dallas will courier the rest of the file when the time is right.”

      There was no address, nothing written on the outside of the envelope. Jason turned it over and found it unsealed. He pulled out the pages. There were only a few. One handwritten. The scrawl was messy. It was Haymaker’s own hand. There was a birth certificate, with no father listed, and a detailed report from a private investigator. And a neatly folded copy of a will.

      Haymaker had been shrewd, as usual. He’d made sure every T was crossed and every I dotted. Jason skimmed the report, then the letter and will. The old man was changing everything. The “boys” as he referred to Pal Jr. and Trey, got to keep the ranch, but every investment vehicle, and every other blasted thing Pal owned was to be put on the auction block the instant he died, the money divided three—not two—ways.

      Except for a property in Northern California that, according to a separate report, had sat vacant for over twenty years. That was to be hers. And hers alone.

      “Back in Texas, you said you weren’t going to screw the boys.”

      Pal laughed, or what served as a laugh. “I don’t owe you or anyone an explanation, but I’ll tell you something, boy. My kin don’t have a clue what the hell I have. So dividing it up this way is more than they expect.” He looked away. “More than they deserve,” he whispered.

      By the time Jason looked up again, the nurse had wheeled the old man down the ramp to the exit. Jason knew a limousine would be waiting just on the other side of that door. He wanted to run down that ramp and catch the old man, to demand an answer to the question of “Are you crazy?”

      But he knew Haymaker. There was nothing crazy about the old man. Nothing.

      Jason glanced back at the empty stage. That girl down there had been beautiful, pure. Clueless. She had no idea she was about to become a very rich young woman.

      And damn it. He did not want to be the one to tell her. Not like this.

      Later that night, at midnight exactly, Jason stood in the hospital room’s doorway. The call from the nurse who’d gone to the ballet with them had surprised Jason. He’d thought Pal was on his way back to Texas already.

      “Get in here,” the eldest Haymaker barked when he saw Jason.

      With a fortifying breath, Jason stepped into the room. In between gasps for air from the oxygen mask, Pal tried to look intimidating. But he was just a sick, broken old man now.

      Pal struggled to sit up straighter. It was a waste of time. He only started coughing and had to outwait his own body. Jason fought the urge to remind the man that paybacks were a bitch. Law school and two years in private practice had taught him well how to hold his tongue.

      “You check it?” Pal demanded.

      “Business can wait.”

      “Like hell it can.”

      “Before we get to this.” Jason waved the papers Pal had given him earlier—that he’d barely had time to glance at much less read thoroughly. “Tell me what you really have in mind for her.”

      There was no way Jason was going to put this young woman at risk. Heck, just being Pal’s child put her in danger. Pal Jr. and Trey would want to kill her. If Pal even intended to tell them the truth.

      “That’s none of your damned business,” he bit out between gasps.

      “Like hell it isn’t. You hired me. You made it my business.” Jason turned to leave. “Guess we’re finished here.”

      A wheeze of hard-won breath filled the air. “You’re nothing like your brother.” Another breath. “He’s a good, fair man.”

      “Yeah, we’re nothing alike.” Jason wasn’t talking about Wyatt, and he knew the old man caught his meaning. “I have very little respect for you, and you have even less for me. That’s part of why you had me do this job instead of your attorney in Dallas.”

      Cough. “Just get on with it.” Pal waved at the papers. “She’s safe.”

      Jason stood there for a long minute, the papers tight in his hand. “I’ll hold you to that. Everything has to protect her. Not you.”

      Oddly, the old man relaxed. His eyes grew distant, almost sad. That wasn’t possible—Pal Haymaker didn’t have emotions.

      “I know you hate me, boy,” he whispered. “But thirty years ago, I was a different man.” He paused, trying to catch his breath. “You might have even liked me.” He cleared his throat. “But that man died—” Breath. “With Lauren’s mother.”

      Lauren. The name held strength, and the pretty ballerina came to mind. It fit her.

      Jason watched as the old man’s gaze turned to the window. Emotions flitted across his weathered face. And something inside Jason shifted. He cursed. He didn’t want to care about this man. Or his daughter.

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