AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know why, Tackle.”
“Tell her I said no.”
“Already tried that.”
“No means no, man. I’m not coming every time she calls. In fact, I’m never coming again. She needs to accept that.”
“She’s threatening to come there.”
“Stop her.”
“It isn’t that simple. K19 arranged for a place for her to live and supplied her with a new identity, but she isn’t under house arrest, Tackle. She isn’t a prisoner. We’ve even cut back on surveillance.”
“Tell her it’s for her own safety that she not return to Massachusetts, at least until her husband goes to trial.”
“Ex-husband now.”
That in itself was a relief. It was pretty easy to get a divorce in Massachusetts. All one spouse had to do was cite irreconcilable differences. Even if Caruso had tried to contest it, unless Nick filed based on fault, the courts wouldn’t allow it. The only holdup was the ninety-day waiting period.
“Ex or not, he could still have people on the lookout for her.”
Ranger didn’t reply.
“Listen, I’m involved with someone else now. It’s serious, and I won’t jeopardize that relationship because Nick believes I’m, somehow, her knight in shining armor.”
“That news would be better coming straight from you.”
Ranger was probably right. As much as I detested confrontation, I had to shut Nick down once and for all. I had to make her understand that there was no chance she and I would ever be together.
“All right. I’ll talk to her.” I’d blocked her from contacting me, even from the new phone K19 had supplied her with, so I didn’t want to call her directly. “When will you be back at her place?”
“I’m sitting out front.”
“All right, let’s get this over with. Go inside and put me on speaker.”
25
Sloane
“Where are you?” my brother asked when I answered his call.
“At the office. Where are you?”
“Just landed at Logan. Got time for lunch?”
It was almost two in the afternoon. I’d eaten lunch at eleven, but I was already hungry again, so I said yes. When Knox asked where we should meet, I gave him the name of the Mediterranean place where Tackle and I had eaten. Since it was at the public market, if my brother wanted something different, he had plenty of choices.
“Wow, look at you,” he said when he saw me. “How long was I gone?”
“I know,” I murmured, rubbing my belly. “Since it popped, it just keeps growing.”
“Mom told me that you told her and Dad you were pregnant.”
“I figured she would.” It ended up not being a big deal when I sat the two of them down to tell them. My mom insisted she already knew, which I doubted. If she really had, she would’ve been fussing over me as much as she had been over the last week. My dad’s face broke into a knowing smile, making me think he had truly suspected.
Knox went to get our food when they called our number.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked when he sat back down.
