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She frowns. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, and struggling with it. But I know that you’re a good man. To me, anyway, and to those you love. I see how you love those around you, how you love me. I know you’re a complicated person, but I trust you. And I feel safe with you.”
She hugs me tightly, and then goes back into our bedroom to get ready for the day.
Without knowing it, she’s just given me the best gift ever.
Acceptance.
I’ve always thought I’d be seen as a monster, and no one, especially women, ever got to know the real me. I kept all of that hidden. But Bella is slowly seeing everything, and she’s not running. In fact, she only seems to love me more. Corey was right.
I’ve really hit the jackpot with her. She’s not just a woman I love.
She is the woman.
I get dressed and head down into the garage, where Romeo is sitting with Mark, who has been untied. Romeo’s even given him some food and water, obviously onto the good cop routine. Mark freezes when he sees me, and the fear in his eyes is a familiar look.
“Someone has kidnapped Mark’s fiancée,” Romeo says to me, “and told him if he wants her back alive, he needs to bring me down.”
Fuck. So he isn’t married, but close enough.
“Same person who put out the hit on you? Was it a woman?” I ask Mark, who nods. “Is that how you found out about the forgery?”
“No, actually. I found the forgery by looking at public documents. I know Bella’s signature and that the person who signed her name was definitely not her. I found it on dumb luck. But it is a woman who’s blackmailing me,” he replies, swallowing hard. “Now that I’ve told you both the truth, are you going to help me or not? I can’t let anything happen to Sarah.”
Shit.
We are up to our neck in our own problems, and now we’re going to help the love of my life’s ex-FBI agent ex find his fiancée? Oh, and our own grandmother, who we can’t locate, might have her.
Wonderful.
Romeo looks over at me and I shrug. I mean, he did tell us the truth about everything. And we do want to find Cathy anyway.
But I don’t trust this Mark guy one bit.
Romeo nods, as if he can read my mind and understand, and we’ve known each other so long he probably does. “We’ll see what we can do. But we’ve already been looking for this person with no luck, so don’t get too excited. And if you double-cross or betray us in any way, I will let River do whatever he wants to you.”
Mark gulps and agrees to the terms.
So I guess that’s what we’re doing now.
Chapter Nineteen
Bella
“Wait, what?” I ask when River tells me about the new plan. “Someone kidnapped Mark’s fiancée?” No wonder he went quiet when I asked him if he really was married to someone.
“Yeah, and he got fired. Seems like he’s having a pretty shitty run. And not that we’d usually care, but we think the person who might have his fiancée is Cathy,” River explains, sitting down on the daybed in my new office.
My jaw drops. “Okay, wow. I didn’t see that one coming. Do you really think it’s her?”
I’ve obviously heard about their grandmother and how she chose Victor over them all, and I know she pretty much got banished from the family, but I thought that was it, and she moved away and on with her life. I guess the old lady still has plenty of life and hate in her, which is sad. She’ll probably only know peace when she dies.
“I don’t know. All we know is that it’s a woman, and she’s the only one we can think of with a motive. Problem is we can’t find her, and we really don’t have much else to go on,” he says, shrugging. “But Mark isn’t going to try to put you in prison, especially after we let him go, so there is that.”
“That is a good thing.” I smirk, swiveling around on my chair to face him. “What do we do now?”
“Keep an eye out, don’t trust anyone, the usual,” he says. “I thought I could take you to go and visit my mom in the next few days. It’s an hour’s drive to get there.”
“I’d like that.” I smile, excitement filling me. “It might be nice to get away too, even if it’s just a day trip.”
