Page 54 of Loving Her Enemy

“Just answer a few more questions.”

“Who is she?”

“Is she someone famous?”

Everyone talked at once, and Halayna’s head was spinning.

“Bristol!” she yelled as rogue tears slid down her cheeks. “Bristol!”

“Halayna?” Bristol’s frantic voice sounded in the distance.

Someone grabbed Halayna’s arm, and she screamed. “Get your hands off me! Get away from me!” She jerked away from the woman who’d first started asking her questions and shoved her. The woman didn’t budge.

“Come on, Mrs. Davidson. Just answer a few questions. What’s it like being married to a billionaire?”

Jostled back and forth as she tried to get away, fear like nothing Halayna had ever experienced clawed through her.

“Move! Move! Get away from her,” Halayna heard Bristol say, but when Halayna turned to run in the direction of her voice, she slammed into someone and lost her balance.

“Oh my God.” She felt herself falling. Arms windmilling, she tried to grab on to something, anything, but she couldn’t catch herself.

She crashed to the floor, and the side of her head hit something sharp.

Hot, unbearable pain shot through Halayna’s skull and stars danced in front of her eyes before everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Yeah, it might not be the best idea for our bottom line initially, but it’ll meet our goal of providing more jobs.”

“I get that, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

As some of their department heads discussed the idea of an expansion, Sloane tried to hide a yawn behind his hand, but he probably wasn’t fooling anyone. He was exhausted, and sitting in on another meeting was making him even more tired.

He hadn’t slept well the last couple of days, still angry at his mother for the ambush. Then this morning, Hershel had informed him that they’d located Owen—in New Mexico. Seemed the guy moved around a lot, never staying in one state for more than a few months. Relocating enough to make it almost impossible to find him.

Sloane had already instructed them to not approach Owen, at least not until Sloane figured out what he wanted to do with the guy. He honestly wanted to beat the crap out of him—but he had to tread carefully.

Right now, they’d keep tabs on him while they tried to dig up any dirt they could find on the guy. They’d already learned there were warrants out for his arrest for unpaid parking tickets, failure to appear in court for a domestic disturbance charge, and suspected criminal activity.

Sloane could have him turned in but wanted more on him. Enough to keep his ass in jail for the foreseeable future.

But he had a problem. Actually, a couple of them.

The man might still have enough money to eventually disappear out of the country, especially since he was using several fake identities. If he disappeared, there was always the chance that Owen would show up and make their lives a living hell.

Sloane had reached out to an FBI friend to ask a few off-the-record questions. Based on that conversation, if he played his cards right, he and Halayna could get what they both wanted. She could get her money back, maybe, and he could make Owen disappear without having him killed.

But if Sloane had him arrested, Halayna probably wouldn’t get her money back, at least no time soon. And Sloane’s secret would be revealed. The one where he had paid Owen to disappear.

Sloane wanted more than anything to honor Halayna’s request of finding Owen. It was a part of their written agreement, and bringing him to her was important to him, but at what cost? If he arranged a face-to-face, Owen might tell her about the deal that Sloane had made with him.

Hell, he was sure the guy would, and it wouldn’t matter if Owen had signed a non-disclosure agreement, basically saying he would never mention Sloane paid him to break up with Halayna.

Sloane didn’t trust him, and because of that, he was screwed.

I need to come clean with Halayna.

He needed to tell her everything, but he wasn’t ready. At least not yet. Not until he knew she loved him and could forgive him for what he’d done.