Give in to Me (Heart of Stone #3)(45)
Author: K.M. Scott

Dear Tressa,

I know it’s been years since we last spoke. I’ve never forgotten how wonderful you were to my girls when their mother died. It’s because of that kindness that I’m writing you today in the hopes that by doing so I can lessen the pain of what I must now do.

An investigation into what I thought was merely a simple case of a workplace lawsuit at Stone Worldwide has unearthed a story I have to believe you know nothing about. It’s with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I cannot keep this information secret much longer. Please know that if I could spare you the pain I know this will cause you, I would.

Your husband is at the center of my investigation that shows he was responsible for a bombing at a coffee shop in Atlanta that killed innocent men, women, and children. The intended victim was the judge in a sexual harassment case against Stone Worldwide, but the story goes far deeper. The judge’s daughter, a fifteen year old, had become pregnant with your son Taylor’s child and when he abandoned her, she committed suicide. The judge knew what your son had done and would have made sure the case went against Stone, so your husband made sure that never happened.

Tressa, I wish there was another way to tell you this, but I didn’t want to put you in harm’s way. I’m sorry. Be careful and if you need to reply, do so only to the address on this letter. Your husband and the men surrounding him are dangerous.

Take care.

Joe

I sat stunned at what I’d just read, unsure of how it was possible that my father had written Tristan’s mother. Thinking back to when my mother died, I couldn’t remember her coming to see us. How had she known my family then?

Nothing seemed to make any sense. Had my father and Tressa Stone had an affair before my mother died? Just the thought of my father cheating seemed wrong. If not, how had they known one another?

Looking up from the letter in my hands, I saw Tristan finishing with a box and motioned for him to come over. I held the letter up and shook my head.

“What’s wrong? Did you find something?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

“I don’t know. I…I don’t understand this letter. You read it and tell me what’s going on.”

My hands shook as his eyes moved across the page reading the words my father had written. When he finished, he looked up, his expression telling me he was as confused as I was.

“What does this mean? Your father knew my mother?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are there any other letters from him?”

I handed him the other two letters I found inside the card. “I found three letters. They’re addressed to your mother at somewhere in Pennsylvania. Did she ever live there?”

Tristan nodded as he silently read the address. “My mother was from Gladwyne, right outside of Philadelphia. The address this was sent to was my grandparents’ house there. It was left to her when they died.”

“How would my father know to send her a letter there?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find something out in the other letters.”

I watched as he read the next letter, silently hoping it would tell us that my father hadn’t been unfaithful to my mother. Lifting his head, Tristan smiled. “I think I know what you were thinking, but it’s not like that. Listen to what he wrote.”

Dear Tressa,

Diana would never forgive me if I didn’t tell you first, and I hope you understand what I must do. We’re a long way from the nights when you and she would sneak out of your dorm at Bryn Mawr to come see me at the News Gleaner, aren’t we?

You asked me if there was anything you could say or do to convince me to keep what I’ve found to myself. I wish I could. My investigation has uncovered many secrets around your family. I promise you that the only details that will come out will be those related to my investigation. Please know that I would never intentionally hurt you or your family. You’re the reason I met Diana, and I’ve never forgotten that wonderful favor.

Take care to keep yourself safe. Do whatever you must to protect yourself and your family, but know that I have no choice now.

Joe

The news that my mother had been Tressa Stone’s friend and had met my father because of her touched my heart. To me, my parents had always been older. To think of them younger seemed odd, but as Tristan read my father’s letter, I imagined the three of them as college friends. The idea left me with more questions than answers, though. Had they remained close after college? How had Tristan’s mother met my father and later introduced him to my mother? Sadly, none of them were around to answer any of my questions.

“It seems that your father knew far more than just what my father and Taylor did,” Tristan said with a smile.

“They were college friends. My mother and your mother. Do you think we met as kids? My father mentioned that she was wonderful to Kim and me when my mother died. Maybe she brought you along.”

“Maybe. Maybe I fell in love with you all the way back then,” he said with a grin.

“Now you’re just making fun of me. You’re terrible! I don’t care what you say. I like the idea of us meeting when we were kids and falling in love years later.”

“I know what you were thinking, though. You were worried that my mother and your father had been together.”

“I was. That’s sort of creepy, don’t you think? A little too close for comfort for me.”

Tristan shrugged and shook his head. “People love who they love, Nina. If my mother was in love with your father, I don’t see anything bad in it, especially if he was anything like you. She deserved someone good in her life since she sure as hell didn’t have that with my father.”

“Then why was she with Karl, of all people?” I asked, still puzzled at how someone so good could be with someone who wanted to kill us.

“I have no idea.”

I pointed at the third envelope. “There’s one more letter we need to read.”

He slipped the letter out and began reading it aloud.

Dear Tressa,

I’ve found evidence that Stone Worldwide is the maker of the heart medicine Cordovex. The company that produces the drug, Rider Pharmaceutical, is a subsidiary company of Stone run by a man named Karl Dreger. I don’t know if anyone in your family knows what Rider is guilty of, but people are dying because of it.

I can’t wait with this part of the story. I’m sorry if your family is innocently tied up in this. As I’ve promised, only what I must reveal will come out.