“She knew,” Maren whispered. “At the time I thought it made sense to plan for the future when you had a baby…” Maren pressed a hand to her mouth. Anger and grief collided so hard inside her chest she couldn’t tell one from the other. “She knew she was in danger and…” Her voice cracked. “She knew, and she didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry.”
The words should have sounded useless. Maren had heard them enough. From police. From hospital staff. From people at the funeral who hadn’t known what else to say.
From Colin, they didn’t feel useless. They felt like a hand offered in the dark. He said them like he understood, like he’d been there. Maren braved a look into his eyes. All she saw reflecting back was pain.
She took a breath and forced herself to keep going. “What else?”
“Her work at LRH checks out. She moved into a higher-profile program before Juni was conceived. After that, her online footprint changed. Then around Juni’s birth, she went quiet.”
“She was a new mom.” Maren shook her head. “That’s the answer I would’ve given forty-eight hours ago. Now, I just don’t know.”
Anger flashed in Colin’s eyes, and she realized with a start that he was angry—no,furious—at her sister, a woman he’d never met.
“What about the man who called me?”
“They’re still tracking the call. It was a burner, but it still pinged a tower.”
“So you don’t know his name.”
“Not yet.”
Maren sighed. “One more secret Mira left behind.”
Maren closed her eyes. Mira’s secret life had swallowed everything.
Colin’s hand darted out and grabbed hers. His touch felt electric before settling into warm comfort. He ran his thumb across the back of her hand. “You aren’t alone in this, Maren. Neither of you are.”
Maren opened her eyes to find Colin staring intently at her.
Colin shifted closer. “Hey.”
She shook her head. “I’m okay.”
“You’re not.”
“No, but I’m functional, which is the next best thing.”
Colin looked…not amused, exactly, but close. His expression was soft enough to make her heart ache.
“You don’t have to be functional every second.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No,” he said. “You don’t.”
She looked at him then, really looked. There was a tenderness in his eyes that went straight to her core. No man had looked at her that way in such a long time—if ever. Maren was always the one who held it together, who shook off the little things with a smile and ‘it’s fine’ and got on with the next task. She wasn’t a risk-taker like her older brothers or Mira, who’d been the one to sneak out of the house to meet her boyfriend or go to a late-night party.
Maren wasn’t used to beingseenthe way Colin was studying her. It made her feel all melty inside, like maybe she could let go. Because Colin looked like a man who would protect her as long as she wanted him to. That was a dangerous thing to want.
And dangerously easy to want it.
“I’m angry at her,” Maren whispered.
“At Mira?”
She nodded, ashamed as soon as it was out. “I love her. I miss her every day. But I’m so angry at her right now. She knew she was in danger. She had time to make a will, but she didn’t havetime to tell me what was going on? To tell me Juni’s father’s name? To tell me that if she died, people might come after us?”
