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And there it was, the shocked expression that said she had no idea what either of the women in her family were involved in. “What? Wait, you said she had Mom’s diaries?”
“Yeah, they were in those boxes. The actual diaries as well as copies of certain pages.”
Ellie shook her head and sat back, finally releasing the fork she’d had a death grip on for too long. “What does Mom’s diaries have to do with anything? She was just a paralegal.”
I smiled. “Turns out she was one of the most sought-after paralegals in the county. The firm she worked for handled a lot of high-profile businesses, and they relied heavily on your mom. She accidentally received some files she shouldn’t have seen, and they piqued her curiosity.”
“What kind of files?”
“The kind that indicated that a well-known businessman was also in the business of human trafficking.”
Ellie gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. “No. Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yep. She uncovered a lot of useful information, and when she found what she was looking for, she wanted to go over it one more time before she approached the authorities. But she was worried someone was watching her, so she shared her findings with a friend. Belinda Mason.”
“She lived in our neighborhood. A single mom to a boy about Stacy’s age.”
Her memory matched what Slate had found. “Belinda clearly didn’t realize the seriousness and she told the wrong person what your mom was up to. A week later, she went to file some paperwork at the courthouse, and she was never seen again.”
“Did you find any evidence she ran away?” Ellie held her breath and I knew how much my answer meant to her. She’d lived her whole life not knowing what happened to her mother—she needed to know.
“None. Her credit cards or bank account weren’t touched until seven years later when Stacy had her declared legally dead. It seems that Stacy had taken up your mom’s investigation. In fact, it looks like she took the accounting job for that exact purpose.”
“No.” Ellie shook her head, blinking rapidly as tears coated her long eyelashes before they slid down her cheek. “No, this can’t be.”
“I’m sorry, sweetness, but it’s all true. We went through every scrap of paper in those boxes. The only thing missing is any indication of where Stacy went or why.”
“Someone killed my mom.” The words came out on a shaky whisper, and she shook her head as if that act alone would make them untrue.
I pushed out of my seat and went to comfort her, but she kept shaking her head, stepping back as she refused my touch. “Sweetness.”
“I just…I need some time to process this. It’s a lot.” She blinked again and more tears fell before she rushed from the kitchen. From me.
“Dammit.” I was angry because it felt like she was blaming the messenger when I had nothing to do with any of it. Instead of succumbing to my anger, I cleaned the kitchen, checked on Leo, and went to bed.
Alone.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ellie
I couldn’t sleep at all last night, since Diesel told me about the link between Stacy and our mom’s disappearance my mind couldn’t stop churning. I felt bad about my reaction to him, for the way I hurt him, especially seeing that he really didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. But he had, because he was a good and honorable man.
But that small detail was blotted out by thoughts of what might have happened to my mother. Did she suffer? Was she kidnapped and tortured before she was killed? No body had ever been found, and after she’d been legally declared dead, her case was closed. All because she stumbled upon some information she shouldn’t have and tried to do the right thing.
Stacy too. That had surprised me. I loved her and admired her, respected the hell out of her for stepping up to raise me when Mom vanished. I’d been eight and she’d been just shy of her nineteenth birthday when she applied for guardianship—she’d given up her teenage years to look after me. Though I would have never, not in a million years, pegged her as the type to do what she’d done. Stacy worked hard and played harder, once I hit sixteen, I guess she started living a little and making up for all those lost years. Because she hung out with bikers and had been a bit wild, that had led the cops to think she ran off because she didn’t want the responsibility of being a mom. But I’d always known my sister wouldn’t just take off, not after our mom disappeared without a trace, as she knew what pain it would bring to me and her son.
Then again, who in the hell would have guessed they would stumble upon evidence of a respected businessman engaged in human trafficking? It was a big damn deal, and my guess was that businessman was responsible for their disappearances.
You both tried to do the right thing and what did it bring you other than pain?
It was a shitty thought, I knew that, but neither of them thought about me or Leo when they tried to do the right thing, and now we were alone. Which meant my thoughts had, once again, come full circle.
Thankfully, the sun started to slip in between the blinds, providing enough light to let me know that it was morning. With morning came another realization that I’d been reluctant to accept last night while I was busy blaming Diesel for information he’d uncovered, rather than deeds he’d done. I was in love with him. I loved the big, burly biker with my whole heart, my body, and every inch of my soul.
It was only when I realized that the thought of losing him had me frozen in fear that my feelings became crystal clear. I could live a half life without really loving anyone other than my kids because that was risky enough—but I couldn’t live my life waiting for something bad to happen. For Diesel to leave.
Because last night’s news had reinforced the fact that everybody leaves. One way or another, love wasn’t permanent. Loving someone seemed to be the quickest way to lose them, and I had to think about my children. Stacy was almost certainly dead, which meant this time next year I would be a single mother of two children. I was all they had, and I couldn’t afford to trust or love someone who would leave, because I couldn’t afford to fall apart.
