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Chapter Three

Joe hung up the phone and stared across his desk at the tall, slender figure of his father’s butler. Johann held the same cool, aloof expression that Joe could remember he had always held. He had seen it crack once in the past thirty years. And only once. The week before when Johann had shown up late into the evening and informed Joe that his parents were going to attempt to convince Melina to once again stand in Maria’s place.

“Mr. Joe, if she walks into the courtroom as Maria, she might as well stick to it. Miss Maria is going to be locked up, one way or the other; I’ve already found that out. Her parents know it, but they won’t accept it. If Melina stands in for her, they’ll lock her away, and she’s just not hard enough to survive that.”

Johann had shed tears at the thought of it. His faded blue eyes had welled with the moisture and they spilled down his cheeks as fear overcame his reserve.

“Miss Melina doesn’t deserve this,” he had sniffed. “She’s a good girl, Mr. Joe.

They’ll hurt her worse next time she gets locked up.”

Joe had been in shock. Not because of the tears, though those had contributed, but his parents’ depth of ignorance. Maria slept with every lawyer they hired for her, and they would tell her parents whatever she wanted them to hear. And as usual, she wanted Melina to take the fall.

“What are the chances of her agreeing to it?” Joe had asked him.

Johann had shaken his head. “You know Miss Melina. She’ll rage and cry but when her Papa speaks sharply to her, he will gain her agreement. She dreams of their love, Mr. Joe. I’m terrified she’ll agree to it.”

Now, a week later, Joe was reasonably satisfied that Melina wouldn’t be agreeing to anything their father wanted. Sending Luc after her thinking she was Maria didn’t sit well with him, but he’d be damned if he would see her nearly broken, almost dead, as

he had after taking her out of that jail two years before. Not that Maria had cared; even though it had been her fault her sister had endured it.

Rather than contacting their parents she had gone on a weeklong high and merrily allowed Melina to face a punishment she didn’t deserve.

“He has her,” he finally told Johann, watching the other man slump in his chair in relief. “Now where’s Maria?”

“Your Papa has her confined to her rooms.” He shook his head dismally. “You know how long that will last.”

“How close are they to buying her out of it?” Joe finally asked, knowing his parents would spend any amount of money to do just that.

Johann sighed bleakly. “I heard them discussing information their investigators had that could embarrass the judge, as well as the prosecutor. They will blackmail her out of it just as they did the last time. They have paid one of the arresting officers off and are now attempting to do so with the other.”

Joe sighed wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose, assuring himself he would not strangle his parents next time he saw them. “What are they asking for?”

“Complete dismissal. They have disowned Miss Melina, though. Poor child left crying. It was all I could do, Mr. Joe, not to cry with her.” Johann shook his head compassionately. “Poor little thing feels so alone. It’s not fair we had to do this to protect her.”

One problem down, one to go. Maria. Joe fingered the file he had before him. The private clinic in Switzerland would cost him an arm and a leg once he delivered Maria to it, but it would be worth it to have Melina protected after all this was over.

“If they manage to pull this off, Johann, you let me know,” he said. “I’ll take care of Maria after this. Just keep me updated.”

Johann rose wearily to his feet. “That Mr. Jardin won’t hurt her, will he, Mr. Joe?” he asked softly. “He was a hard man. I wouldn’t want her hurt.”

“Luc won’t hurt her, Johann. I give you my word.” Joe was positive there would be no true danger to Melina. He wouldn’t have contacted Luc if he thought there were. Luc was just the only man he could trust to do the job and not go to Maria’s parents for more money to release her.

It was becoming harder to protect Melina than it was to keep up with their parents’ attempts to protect Maria. They had always seen Melina as stronger, needing less love than Maria had. Joe wasn’t certain why his parents had made a stronger bond with Maria, unless it had been that incessant wailing she had done as a baby. Melina had always lain quietly, while Maria would scream for hours. Often it had been Joe who had picked up the newborn Melina, fed her, changed her, took care of her as her parents concerned themselves with the other, more demanding, twin.

When Maria had begun getting into trouble, his parents had learned that Melina had a natural innocence and inborn depth of honesty that could get their troublemaking daughter out of her messes. It had been then that they had begun using the youngest twin, almost unconsciously, as though it was Melina’s job to keep her sister from facing the consequences of her actions. Now, Maria had sunk to new levels, uncaring of the harm she created because she knew her parents would use Melina to get her out of it.

Joe had enough the day he learned Melina was in jail in Maria’s stead. Melina had tried calling her parents for days with no success. If it hadn’t been for Johann and Melina’s call to Joe’s secretary, he would have never known the danger Melina was in.

“I must return to Mr. Angeles then.” Johann stood slowly to his feet, his expression weary and grief stricken. “Each day, Mr. Joe, I think more often of retirement, hearing them disown that child…” He shook his head painfully.

“If you decide to do so let me know, Johann.” Joe nodded respectfully. “I’ll make certain there are no repercussions.”

Johann drew in a hard, tired breath. “It is a shame, Mr. Joe. A shame. Once, your parents were good people. Good people. Now…” He tucked his hands in his pockets and moved for the door. “Now, I just don’t know…”

And Joe agreed with him. Like Johann, he had no idea what had happened to his parents, but more to the point, he had given up on them ever returning to the caring, decent people they had once been. If they had ever existed.