He shrugged. “It’s something I got from my father. He believed it wouldn’t take much for a person to let others know when they’ve done something right, especially when we are quick to let them know when they’ve done something wrong.”

“It sounds like your father is a very smart man.”

“He was a smart man. Dad passed away a few years ago,” he said.

She glanced over at him and a look of sorrow touched her features. “I’m sorry. Were you close to your father?”

“Yes, we were extremely close. In fact we were partners at our firm,” he said truthfully. “My mother died of cancer before I reached my teens so it had been just my dad and I for a long time.”

She nodded and then said, “My father passed away a little over four months ago and my mom a month before that.”

Brandon heard the pain of her words in her voice and from the light from the electrical torches that lit the parking lot, he actually saw tears in her eyes. He stopped walking just a few feet from where their car was parked and instinctively pulled her into his arms. She offered no resistance when he gathered the warmth of her body against his. He briefly closed his eyes, regretting this cruel game he was playing with her.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear, in a way for both her loss as well as his lies. Her loss was sincere and he actually felt her pain. She had loved both her parents immensely. For the first time since John’s death, Cassie Sinclair-Garrison had become a real person and just not a name on a document on a file in his office. And not just the person with whom Parker had a beef.

“I didn’t mean to come apart like that,” Cassie said, moments later, stepping back out of Brandon’s arms, looking somewhat embarrassed.