AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wasn’t an ass to her,” Mac denied with a shake of his head. “I would never be disrespectful to a woman. Especially someone in a relationship with my best friend.”
“I’m not even sure we’re going to classify this,” Declan murmured.
“Well, anyway. Have you checked into her? Something is off about her. Her eyes are haunted, as if she’s carrying secrets.”
Declan’s eyes flew to Mac’s, and he wasn’t surprised that Mac had picked up on it, too. He’d tried to ignore the warnings in the back of his mind, and had put them away as him being paranoid. But if Mac had sensed something was off, then Declan knew he wasn’t crazy.
“Yeah. It came back clean.”
“There is something—”
“Don’t worry about it. No need to try to decipher her. She’s who she says she is.” He held up a hand to cut off his friend. Maybe the long life in the Navy and law enforcement was making them both paranoid.
Aspen was a beautiful woman who made him smile. He glanced up, and his eyes met hers as she and Sarena made their way back to the table. His cock stiffened. Somehow he’d have to get this woman out of his system.
She could be dangerous.
“So, how’s the wedding planning coming?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Speaking of wedding planning,” Sarena said, arriving back at the table, turning to him. “I have a few things I need the best man to do.”
Aspen sighedand wrapped herself in her plush robe. It was late at night, and she didn’t even feel sleepy. She was still quite wired from her day. After breakfast with Declan and his friends, he had taken her back home, and somehow they had ended up back in bed again.
Her core clenched as memories of him braced over her came to mind.
She had to get him out of her head.
They couldn’t have a future.
She walked out of her bathroom and went into her bedroom. Being hidden in South Carolina was driving her crazy. She wanted to go back to her life. It had been a good one. She missed her parents and her friends. She needed to know how her family was doing.
It just wasn’t fair how the US Marshals had burst in her house and taken her away.
“They didn’t say I couldn’t be on the internet.” She grabbed her laptop off her bed. She walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch. It was explained to her when she was put in witness protection that she could no longer have any contact with family members.
Nothing.
But they didn’t say she couldn’t stalk them from afar on the internet. They did allow her to have a computer, but it was forbidden for her to be on any form of social media.
She tucked her feet beneath her and reached for the remote to the television. Needing some background noise, she flicked the television on. She flipped open the laptop and waited for the computer to boot up. Her heart raced with just thinking of what she’d find on the internet.
“Here’s goes nothing…”
The internet opened. She typed in Ray’s name, and countless stories returned. A gasp escaped her, and she read the first story.
Ray Acosta, former CFO of Irwin Enterprises, was indicted on charges of murder, embezzlement of two hundred million dollars, conspiracy, money laundering …
Her gaze flew along the words as she continued reading. She clicked to another news outlet and gasped again.
Ray Acosta, former CFO of Irwin Enterprises, indicted on multiple charges. He is facing a life sentence along with one hundred and fifty years in prison…
She closed her eyes briefly, still unable to believe that the person who was close to her family would do something like this.
She moved the cursor to the search bar and hesitated. Since she’d been in witness protection, she hadn’t searched herself. She had been warned against it, but at the moment her emotions were flying high and she needed to know what had been told to her parents. She knew they had faked her death, but it wouldn’t prepare her for what she found.
Tears filled her eyes from the multiple articles covering her death.
Irwin Enterprises founder and CEO Mason Irwin’s only daughter, Aspen Irwin, was killed in a horrific car crash, while driving late at night…
