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“I know,” I muttered, glancing at the cunning little vixen in the backseat peering up at me.
“Based on the way she looks at you, I’d say Aubrey’s got a bad case of hero worship going on.”
“Yeah, well…she’ll just have to get over it.”
“Why?”
“It’s too involved. I’ll explain later. Let’s go.”
Curiosity lined Dalton’s face as he silently climbed in behind the wheel.
Once I slid onto the passenger’s seat and closed the door, we headed back to the demolished club.
“Holy shit,” Dalton barked, gaping at the flattened remains as he pulled into the parking lot. “You weren’t shittin’. There’s nothing left but the meat locker. You two are damn lucky to be alive.”
“I know.” Now that I wasn’t focused on getting help, seeing the level of devastation made my stomach knot. Wewerelucky to be alive. If it hadn’t been for the meat locker… I quickly shoved the gruesome thought from my mind and glanced at Dalton. “Sorry about the furniture, man. Most of it is gone.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. It would have been nice to have, but…” He shrugged. “I’ll give Mika a call. He’ll order what we need. It’s all good.”
When Dalton turned the SUV around, I glanced over my shoulder. The tornado had cut a wide gap in the field across the road.
“Hold up a sec. I want to get a picture of that,” I said, digging out my cell phone.
As the other two turned to see what I was talking about, I swiveled in my seat and snapped off a couple shots. Then I paused, praying the fake Aubrey would look my way again.
I didn’t have to wait long.
“Oh, my goodness,” she gasped, blinking at me. “I had no idea the tornado was that wide.”
Focusing on her face, I clicked several more photos, then tucked my phone away. Though I was anxious to run her image through my facial recognition app, I needed to wait until I was alone. Once I had her name, I intended to spend hours, days, or weeks—however long it took—until I’d uncovered every facet of her life. Thankfully, I had the skills, tools, and the tenacity to delve deep. I wouldn’t stop until I knew everything about her, starting from the minute she was born to what she’d eaten for breakfast this morning.
“It was a monster, all right.” I nodded.
“You knew it was that big?”
“Yeah.”But it wasn’t as big as the lies you’ve been telling, darlin’.“Didn’t you?”
“No. I only caught a glimpse of it before the road curved. If I’d known it was that massive, I would have had a heart attack. Thank you,” she moaned in gratitude as she leaned up and cupped my shoulder. “Thank you again for saving me.”
Dalton hit me with anI told you sosmirk as he turned off the county road and onto the highway.
During the hour-long drive to my ranch, I listened closely, waiting for the woman to paint more lies or slip up and contradict the ones she’d already told. But she didn’t do either. She peppered Dalton with questions about Chicago, and me, about cattle ranching. When Dalton pulled his SUV onto my gravel driveway and stopped in front of my two-story, refurbished farmhouse, she peered out the window in confusion.
“Where are we?”
“Home,” I said. “Well, my home. I’ll drive you to yours after I change your bandages.”
“Oh. T-that’s not n-necessary. T-they’re fine,” she nervously stammered, glancing at her hands.
“Relax, darlin’. I’m not going to hurt you. If that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No. I-I know that.”
“Good. If I’d wanted to do something to you, I’d have done it in the storage room where there weren’t any witnesses…like him.” I smirked, nodding to my foreman and fellow dungeon monitor, Mack Boon, wearing a look of relief as he hauled ass toward us from the barn.
“Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who was worried about your sorry ass.” Dalton grinned.
“That’s because you sent my sorry ass out there,” I teased with a mock growl.
