Page 37 of His Wicked Revenge

Veronica stares at me momentarily, eyes burning with a playful fire. The part of her that was worried a moment ago has disappeared, and what has surfaced in its place is a determined Veronica.

“Ask me anything.” That beautiful smile that only I ever got when we were together beams across her face.

“Where did you grow up?”

“A little town in Colorado,” she answers without hesitation.

“What was the town’s name?” I ask another question right after she responds to my previous one.

Hesitation causes her to pause briefly. “Silverton.”

“Silverton,” I hum. “Sounds like it would be a cute little town.”

“It is.” She nods, a soft expression painting her face as if she were remembering the town she’s never been to. “I worked at a boutique in the middle of town. We sold books, clothing, candles. Anything you could think of.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek as she speaks, biting back an amused grin. She assumes she has taken over the conversation by giving me information I didn’t ask for. Thinking that since she gave me all of this, I won’t bother asking any more questions about it.

Veronica may think that she will take the reins and hijack the conversation to go her way so she won’t accidentally slip up.

That’s not going to happen.

“That sounds so cute!” Chloe says from her seat.

“It really is! All of the clothes were handmade by—” Veronica begins to explain to my sister, but I cut her off.

“What was the boutique’s name?”

Her smile falters a little, and her eyes turn a shade darker because of how pushy I’m being. She glances down at the table; the only things on the white cloth are our food and drink menus. I watch as she reads the menu, and then I peer down to where she is reading.

All of this happens in seconds, and then Veronica tells me the boutique's name, “Miss Molly’s Boutique.”

My stare holds on to the drink menu, reading the Molly Moscow Mule, and I laugh internally. Her using the name Molly was clever enough. Molly is a common name, and Chloe wouldn’t think of questioning it.

“Was Molly the owner?” Chloe questions, thoroughly intrigued by the conversation now.

I glance at Myles and smirk at him as he rolls his eyes at all the nonsense she is spilling out of her mouth before returning my attention back to Veronica.

She swallows a sip of her drink and nods. “Yeah. She was the owner, but the store had been around for so long that she grew old and sadly passed away. The shop was passed down to her granddaughter. I worked with Molly for about a month, but we grew close then. Losing her was like losing a part of my family.”

Lies fall from her lips like a waterfall. And my sister is believing every word.

“How sad.” I pretend to pout, placing my hand on top of hers to show comfort. Her hand twitches beneath mine, the kind gesture throwing her off guard. “And your family? Your parents, what were they like?”

She rolls her jaw, inhaling a deep breath. “It was just my mother and I. I never met my father.”

“So, no siblings?”

“Nope.” She shakes her head. “No siblings.”

I let go of her hand, and she stares at the absence of my touch. “Why did you leave then? If it was only you and your mother, wouldn't you want to stay with her?”

The wheels turn in her mind as she figures out how to respond. Finally, she says, “As I got older, she started seeing someone. She was genuinely happy and in love for the first time in forever. She knew I wanted to travel the world and not stay trapped in that small town for the rest of my life. She gave me her blessing to leave.”

Trapped. The word stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You aren’t ever really trapped in the places you live. You can leave whenever you want. You just have to overcome that initial hill of nervousness and fear.”

“Spoken like a true doctor.” She grins and leans closer to me, lowering her voice. “You, of all people, know what it’s like to be trapped in a place you can’t escape from.”