Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
And then I do. Hawk. His place. Our lovemaking.
Our love.
I drag my hair over one shoulder and stare at the phone. Raven and Vinnie must be losing their minds by now. I should’ve checked in.
I scroll down to Vinnie’s name and call him. He picks up on the second ring.
“Where the hell have you been?” His voice is low, restrained, but the steel underneath is impossible to miss.
“I’m fine,” I say quickly, before he can work himself up. “Spent the night at Hawk’s. Don’t worry.”
Silence. I’m not sure what it means. I’m of age. No longer married. Not that I ever really was.
Then, “You sure you’re fine?”
“Yes,” I whisper. My throat feels dry. “Really.”
“Good. Because I’ve got something on Hernando Reyes. You ready to come home?”
The name alone tightens my chest. “Yes. Absolutely.”
“Bring the note and the flowers you got from the hospital. I know a guy who can run DNA and get us answers tonight.”
“They might still be in Hawk’s truck.”
“Get them from him, then.”
“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I rise. “Hawk?”
I walk to the bathroom. No Hawk.
Then I see it. The note on the night table. Not sure why I didn’t notice it before.
He’s gone. Things to take care of. And Raven dropped my car off.
Why did Vinnie not know where I was then?
Maybe she didn’t want to tell him I’d spent another night at Hawk’s. He’s protective of me, even though I’ve never felt safer than I did last night.
I’m slightly irked that Hawk left me without waking me, but I also understand he wanted me to get some rest after all the activity of yesterday. And he had the foresight to make sure I wasn’t stranded here without my car, which means he cares.
Still, I need those flowers for Vinnie.
I grab the first thing I see to put on—a T-shirt of Hawk’s—and walk out of the bedroom toward the kitchen.
The flowers sit on the counter, so innocent-looking from where I stand. Hawk must have brought them in before he left.
The rusty barbed wire is still invisible. My arm still smarts a little from that tetanus shot yesterday.
I go back to the bedroom and shower again. I have only my clothes from yesterday. Not optimal, but I can change when I get home.
I gather the roses, the envelope, the card. The teddy bear’s gone, destroyed by the bomb squad. The chocolates are still in my trash.
I drive with the windows cracked, letting the late-morning heat pour in. By the time I reach Vinnie and Raven’s, my nerves are crawling under my skin.
I step inside and set the bouquet down on the table in the foyer. I take the note and find Raven and Vinnie in the recreation room. The first words out of my mouth aren’t about Reyes.
“How’s Belinda?”
They glance at each other. That look says more than any answer could, and guilt spikes through me. I’ve been so fixated on Hawk, on the danger circling me, I’ve neglected her. She’s been through enough without me vanishing into my own mess.
“She’s fine,” Raven says. “She’s at a friend’s house. Spending the night. They met at one of her homeschool groups.”
I raise an eyebrow. Belinda doesn’t do sleepovers. Not ever.
“We encouraged it,” Raven continues. “She needs more time with kids her own age. We checked out the family—good people. She’s safe.”
I want to argue, to demand they bring her home, but I swallow it. Raven would never put Belinda in danger.
“Okay,” I say, even though my chest still feels tight. “What do you have on Reyes?”
Vinnie leans back, one arm over the back of his chair. “I tracked Reyes to West Lake Hills. Ritzy. Gated. Security’s probably a nightmare. But it’s a start.”
He hands me a photo.
I hesitate before touching it, as if the image itself might burn me.
The moment I see his face, the air in the room changes. My spine goes cold.
“That’s him.” The words scrape my throat raw as I hand him the note from the flowers.
Vinnie nods and takes the note. “You still have the chocolates?”
“In the trash in my suite. I don’t think the staff emptied it yet.”
“Good. Bring them over. We’ll have toxicology look at them. If one was poisoned—”
“It was,” I say, cutting him off. “I’m sure of it.”
He doesn’t question me. Just makes a note and then looks at me in that way that says he’s about to drop something I won’t like. I’m not sure why. I’ve seen everything in my short life. Bring it on.
“Derek Wolfe?” he finally says. “One of the names you gave me.”
I clear my throat. “Yeah.”
“You ever hear of Wolfe Island?”
“No.”
Vinnie sighs. “The man was a pig. Worse than a pig. A fucking demon. Wolfe Island was a private island where Wolfe kept women as prisoners. He catered to the elitest of the elite. Men paid a million dollars per day to stay there.”