Free The Ex Who Saw a Ghost (Charley's Ghost Book 4) by Sally Berneathy

it was really cute to see Mr. Macho Cop blush and stammer.”
    Teresa seemed more interested in the caring part, not the rich part. Interesting. “Okay, he wants you to have an exclusive relationship. That’s good. How about the rich part? His family’s wealthy? Didn’t he say his parents were dead?”
    “Yes, they are. His dad was a cop who got killed on the job when Ross was three.”
    “Another cop? So where does the money come in?”
    “Probably stole it from a drug bust,” Charley mumbled.
    Teresa’s lips thinned. “Really, Charley?”
    He shrugged and looked away. “I guess not.”
    Teresa turned her attention back to Amanda. “Two years after Ross’ father died, his mother married Nicholas Minatelli who adopted Ross and raised him. He barely remembers his real father except what his mother told him, but it was enough to make him decide to be a cop.”
    “So his step father wasn’t a cop?”
    “No, he came over from Italy and opened a small pizza parlor. He was making enough money to pay the bills and was perfectly happy with that, but Ross’ mother saw potential. She jumped in and helped him turn it into a chain which they sold for a lot of money when Ross was twenty-five. But they didn’t get to enjoy their wealth for long. They were in Hawaii on vacation, took one of those helicopter tours and crashed.”
    Amanda flinched. “That’s horrible!”
    “Yeah. Ross doesn’t like to talk about it. That’s why he hadn’t said anything before. All the money went into trust funds for him and Parker. He hasn’t touched his. If he thinks about the money, he thinks about the death of his parents.”
    “And Parker is Ross’ brother? His half brother?”
    Teresa nodded. “Technically, yes, but Parker came along a couple of years after Ross’ mom married his step dad, so they grew up together. Parker is his little brother, and he’s always taken care of him. Parker was only seventeen when his parents were killed, so he got an allowance from his trust until he turned twenty-one, which was last year. A few months ago he changed, became very secretive, something he’d never been before.” She stopped talking and looked around the room.
    Amanda and Charley followed her gaze.
    “It’s okay,” Teresa said. “I just wanted to be sure he isn’t here. It feels weird talking about him in front of him. He was with me most of the night. After Ross left, he confirmed everything Ross said, that they were close and Ross took care of him after their parents died. Then he had charge of his own money and his own life. Suddenly it hit him that his parents were really gone and he had to become an adult. He won’t tell me what he was being secretive about, but he didn’t deny it. He just said it wasn’t important.”
    “Good grief,” Amanda said. “There sure are a lot of things that aren’t important to dead people.”
    “Hey!” Charley protested. “Don’t stereotype dead people. Lots of things are important to me.”
    Like seeing to it that she and Jake didn’t spend time alone together.
    “What was important to him,” Amanda said, “was that Ross find his body and get his accounts transferred into Ross’ name?”
    Teresa nodded. “Ross was designated the beneficiary of the trust if anything happened to Parker.”
    “But what difference would it make if Ross is already rich? Not like he’s going to lose his house if he doesn’t get his brother’s money now instead of seven years from now when he’s declared legally dead. And if that was the reason, why is he still here since he’s already done that?”
    “I’ll ask him next time he comes around, but I doubt if he’ll tell me.” Teresa looked at Charley. “Why did you come back to Amanda?”
    “I came back to save her from Kimball, the man who murdered me.”
    Amanda leveled her gaze at him. “And Kimball is now in prison serving life without parole. Why are you still here?”
    Charley considered her question for a moment. Finally he