Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I don’t know exactly, except that it’s possible he either knows our history somehow and that’s another callout—one that he decided to use immediately—or he’s discovered you’re working with us, and he’s pointing out that he knows.”
“Knows our history . . . how—”
She shrugged. “Maybe the old wedding announcement I put online.” She felt a zing of embarrassment for that hopeful girl she’d been, the one who had devastation heading her way and didn’t even know it. “A Google search would produce that. I checked.” She saw his tiny flinch before she looked away, squinting out to the horizon.
He was silent a moment, and from her peripheral vision, she could see him rubbing his lower lip absently. “Or all of the above,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
When she looked back at him, Gavin appeared troubled. “Okay. Well, there are several maybes as far as me. But this guy definitely has you in his sights. There’s no question there. Are you taking extra precautions?”
“There’s no indication I’m a target of violence. He’s playing games, and I’m sure using my name is one of them, but yes, I’m always cautious. I’m sure as someone who works in security, you are too.”
His frown deepened. “Always. Will you keep me updated if you find out anything?”
“Of course.”
The sliding glass door opened, and Argus stuck his head out. “Dinner is served,” he said with a mock bow. Despite the heaviness of their conversation and the worries that swirled around it, Sienna and Gavin both smiled, and in that moment, a vision so bright hit Sienna. This could have been them. Standing together outside Mirabelle’s house, talking easily, waiting to be called to dinner. Together. Lives entwined.
It could have been.
But it wasn’t.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Gavin watched as his mother placed her hand over Sienna’s on the dining table, giving it a pat. “I’m worried about you, honey,” she said. “This killer Gavin has been telling me about sounds scary, to say the least. Strangling women and posing them?” She drew her shoulders up in a shiver, then passed the rolls to Argus.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Mirabelle,” Sienna said. “I have a great partner, and I’m well trained.” Gavin believed her, but no amount of training would matter if she was taken by surprise by some demented nut.
“Oh, I have no doubt of that. Still . . . it’s dangerous work you do.” His mom shook her head as she dished up some mashed potatoes and passed them to Gavin. He took the bowl from her and put a generous helping on his plate. “You love it, though, don’t you? Your work?”
“I really do,” Sienna said.
“So why leave New York?” Argus asked. “They kick you out or what?” He chuckled at his own joke, what he thought was a joke, and Sienna cringed slightly as Argus’s face went blank. “Oh. They kicked you out.”
She glanced at Gavin, and he gave her an encouraging nod. She should not be ashamed of what she’d done. In fact, she should be proud. He was proud of her—damn proud—and he knew for certain Mirabelle and Argus would be too.
She was still the highly moral girl he remembered, and it made him smile. How she’d come by that quality—considering her upbringing and that no one had taught her not to abide injustice—was a mystery. She just never had. When she’d told him about putting everything important to her at risk so that a pedophile would be removed from the streets rather than continue to victimize children—no matter the personal cost to her—it hadn’t surprised him in the least. She was different in so many ways, but she was the same in all the ways that had caused him to fall head over heels in love with her when he was still just a boy. He was a man now, but he still responded to those things, God help him.
He’d sensed by her reaction to his initial pride in hearing her story that she’d needed validation. He sensed that she hadn’t had much support, if any, for the choice she’d made. Why? he’d wondered. So he’d looked up her “main squeeze” and found that his impression was accurate. The guy didn’t deserve her. Not even close.
“Well,” Sienna said, “they did kick me out. At least, in a manner of speaking.” And she told them, albeit a little less haltingly than she’d told Gavin. He wondered why. Had she expected his judgment more than she expected Mirabelle’s or Argus’s? Or did his reaction mean more to her for some reason? He hoped it was the latter. He hoped his reaction still meant something to her. There were worse places to start.
Is that what you’re trying to do, Decker? Start?
Because if you’re considering pursuing her, you’ve gotta go all in. There can’t be any half-assing it with Sienna. No wishy-washy. He’d already destroyed her trust in him once. Forget that she had a “main squeeze”; forget that the man didn’t deserve her and he’d be competing with someone else—Sienna was going to be wary with a capital W when it came to Gavin, regardless of anything else.