She looked at him incredulously. “Please try to understand, Allison. I had to do it. If I hadn’t, some developer would have snatched it up.” He was a con artist, a smooth-talking crook. There was no other explanation. Gran wouldn’t sell Elysium. Allison wanted to fling herself at the man, scratch the compassion from his concerned gaze. “He’d have paid more than you, I bet,” she said bitterly, knowing all the time that he was telling the truth. “Possibly, but the estate would have been destroyed,” Joker replied, considering whether or not he ought to tell her that the down payment he’d made was part of the creative financing Miss Lenice’s lawyer and he had agreed on. It had been precisely figured so that the hospital bill would be paid, leaving monthly payments large enough to supplement Miss Lenice’s income later. “I paid your grandmother a fair price,” he said quietly. “I don’t believe you, and I won’t let you take advantage of her. I’ll sue you!”
