Page 81 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

I can’t even imagine the confusion and fear Frankie felt as a kid.I so wish I could have been there for her then.

I come back and hand the jungle cat over to her owner, wash up, and make us some dinner at the fire ring.I make us dinner outside—nothing fancy, just burgers, but they’re delicious, if I don’t say so myself.

“This is so much better than the marshmallow fluffy stuff,” she says, dabbing her chin with a paper napkin.

“Yeah, I saw your stash inside the cabin.You must have the metabolism of a hummingbird.”

She smiles sadly.“I was in sort of a hurry the night I got here.Just grabbing random crap off the Wal-Mart shelves and throwing it in the cart.I actually thought it was peanut butter.”

Her shoulders stiffen.That was another thing she didn’t want to share.

I don’t want to pry, but I do anyway.“Why were you in a hurry?Who were you running from?”

She looks at me with an expression of horror, fear set in stone.Frozen.The visual sends a jolt of recognition through me.Holy shit.I’ve seen that kind of dread on a woman’s face only one other time in my life.

Before I can stop it, the memory of the young rape victim pushes into my mind.My chest tightens and my breath goes shallow.Frankie’s eyes are empty in the way hers once were.Frankie’s terror is absolute, the way hers was.In both women, I could see that they knew the nightmare had just begun.

That little girl’s face turned to stone.The way Frankie’s just did.

She swallows hard and shakes her head.“You want to know why I’m hiding in a mountain shack with my cat.I know that’s what you want.I totally get it.”

“The thought has occurred to me.”

She looks up at me, then looks away.“And that’s what I can’t tell you.I’m not being coy, Special K.I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t.”

“Is he your husband?”

She looks up at me again, her mouth hanging open.I think she’s about to lose her temper with me, but she pulls back.“No,” she says, her voice flat.“If I were married I wouldn’t be up here fucking your brains out—no matter what kind of asshole my husband was.”

“Then who is he?”

“I got myself in a real mess, Special K.I’m in deep, and I can’t drag you down with me.Or your family.I won’t tell you any more than that.Please just leave it alone.

”Frankie—”

“I’m poisonous.Radioactive!I came here to disappear, not…” She stops herself, shaking her head.“I’m not good for you, all right?And no matter how much I’d like for you to ride your trusty steed up here, slay my dragon, and rescue me, you can’t.Stop pushing me.”

My jaw clenches.I’m trying, butfuck!This chaps my ass.“So, I’m a Navy SEAL hero but I still don’t have what it takes to help you?”

Her pale blue eyes flash.“I’m nobody’s victim.You understand that?Not once have I asked you for anything!I never asked you for your help!”

She’s right.“But you damn sure need it.”

Frankie squeezes her eyes closed and keeps them tightly shut.Then she sighs deeply and looks at me.“I made a spectacularly poor choice—the worst choiceever.I fell for the wrong man, okay?And by the time I understood just how bad my choice really was, I was already in a shitload of trouble.”

My whole body tenses and my hands ball into fists.“What the fuck did he do to you, Frankie?All I need’s a name.I’ll rip him to shreds.”

She jumps to a stand and points at me.“This!” she yells.“Thisis why I don’t want to tell you anything!Because you’re Captain America!You’re compelled to right all the wrongs and seek all the justice, but thatain’t gonna workin this situation because he’s a soulless, purely evil psycho killer.Hewillkill you.Then, he’ll kill your family.”

I remain perfectly still.My blood’s turned to ice water.

“You want to know more about me, right?

“I do.”My thoughts are racing.I want her to tell me more because, with just a few additional clues, I can figure out who he is.Finn and Declan can hack into every database on the globe and find this douchebag.We can be on his front doorstep in hours.

“Fine, cowboy.Here’s some additional fun facts about me you might like.I tookdressagehorseback riding lessons, if you can believe that shit!I was a straight-A student, right up until my dad was killed, and I’ve always dreamed of going back to school.Get this—I want to go tobusiness school.I’m so good with money that my dancer friends call me ‘Tits with Assets.’”

My jaw falls open.She still holds the paper plate in one hand, and she’s shaking so hard that what’s left of her hamburger is about to slide into the dirt.