Ultimate Sins by Lora Leigh Page A

secret she would give her life to keep hidden away just a little longer.
    Most especially if Wayne ever learned what she had hidden from him.

 
    CHAPTER 2
    By God, he was going to kill her.
    He should have killed her when he had the chance. Before she had done this to him.
    Before Amelia had betrayed him.
    Wayne Sorenson leaned forward, his arms braced against his stomach as panic rushed through his system and threatened to send him into a furious rage.
    All his dreams were shattered.
    Lifetimes, generations of searching, and he had lost it all.
    He watched as the cavern beneath Crowe Mountain was breached, the artificial wall his ancestor had created to hide the legacy he and his son had amassed over the years turned to brittle stone and dust. And inside, a fortune of gold, jewels, and priceless artifacts gleamed dully beneath the cameras’ light.
    Found.
    A week after Wayne’s partner and then his daughter had betrayed him, and now, the Callahans had it all. They’d taken everything.
    His dreams.
    The dreams of Clavern Mulrooney’s direct descendants had fallen into the hands of the hated Callahans. The descendants of the bastards who had stolen the land and murdered the captain and his son before their fortune could be reclaimed.
    Where was the fairness in this?
    â€œMs. Sorenson, do you have a statement? Your father hasn’t been found yet, nor has his partner. Do you think they’re watching?” A whimper escaped Wayne’s lips at the journalists’ excited questions as he watched the attention shift from the fortune to those watching the revelation.
    His precious daughter.
    She stared back at the cameras, satisfaction gleaming in her turquoise gaze as she addressed the journalists.
    â€œWayne’s watching,” she said with a tight smile as she stared back at him through the television screen. “He won’t be able to help himself. And I hope he knows this ends it. It’s over, Wayne,” she stated softly. “And you lost.”
    The camera turned from her to one of the journalists who somberly nodded as he faced the camera’s eye once again and gestured back to the once hidden cave with a jerk of his head. “The treasure, as per an agreement with the state of Colorado as well as the federal government, will be split with fifty percent going to the Callahans for the generations of persecution by Wayne Sorenson and his ancestors. The Callahans will place the treasure in a museum that will be created on the coming resort property Avalanche, which will be overseen by the Callahan family. The other fifty percent will be auctioned off to benefit the families of the young women murdered by Wayne Sorenson and his partners, Thomas Jones, Lowry Berry, and Amory Wyatt…” Excitement suddenly transformed the journalist’s expression. “And here’s the spokesperson for the Callahan family, Crowe Callahan. Mr. Callahan.” Microphones were suddenly thrust into Crowe’s face as more than one journalist now vied for position. “Mr. Callahan, do you have a statement? What would you tell Wayne Sorenson if he were here at the moment?”
    Wayne watched as Crowe reached out and drew Amelia to him. Lights were suddenly exploding as Amelia turned her face into his broad chest.
    â€œWhat would Sorenson think of your relationship with his daughter?”
    â€œMr. Callahan, can you verify the rumors of a relationship with Ms. Sorenson stretching back to the summer she graduated from high school?”
    â€œMr. Callahan, can you comment on the rumors of Sorenson’s murder of his daughter’s ex-husband?”
    The questions were flying, and all the while, Crowe stared back into the camera with an expression that had a scream building in Wayne’s throat.
    â€œIt’s over,” he stated, and Wayne knew the message wasn’t for the journalists or the world that would see it. “This ends it.”
    He pushed through the