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“Talia? Oh, right, the…”
“Whore.” Melissa cringed. “I shouldn’t say that… especially now that she’s…dead.”
“Who was she?”
“Henry’s mistress. See, the others, he’d kept to himself. From the outside, he looked like a skirt-chaser but he never had the audacity to parade his women in public. Talia was different. He took her on lavish trips, to charity functions, on business dinners. She was his public mistress. A big fuck you to his little wife back home, breaking her back to take care of a toddler all alone.” The bitterness in Melissa’s voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Even in the middle of all the stress of the past couple of days, I’d never seen her angry.
“So she was the catalyst to you wanting to find a way out, then?”
“Essentially.” Melissa nodded and then threw back the rest of her wine. “Henry and I started fighting and arguing whenever he was home. He’d gotten angrier and more…physical…over the years, but when it came to Talia. God, he would just lose his shit. If I said her name, I’d get thrown to the floor. He was protective of her, or at least his freedom to see her. It’s all crazy, now that I know he was responsible for her death.”
Melissa paused for a second as though trying to make the pieces fit together before throwing out the puzzle. She reached for the wine bottle and poured the rest into her glass. “One night, about two years ago, after Jackson was asleep, we got into a huge argument. We’d been trying to have a second baby, but when Talia came into the picture, I started sneaking birth control pills. Somehow he found out and when he confronted me about it, things got out of control. He threw me down and kicked me so hard I thought my ribs would break…” she sucked in a breath.
I reached across the table and set my hand on hers. “You don’t have to tell me this…”
Her eyes met mine. “I want to. You need to know what you’re up against.”
Our eyes stayed locked together. “He knew he couldn’t hit me because people—the staff—would see the bruises. But he kicked me and hit me where no one would see and told me he was done with me. That if I wasn’t going to give him another child then he was done. He threw all of my belongings out of our bedroom and I moved into the guest room that night. After that, we still went to events together and I played the perfect, doting wife and did as he asked—but it was only so I could make plans to get away.”
“Damn. I’m sorry, Melissa. You should have never had to go through that.”
Contrary to earlier, there wasn’t a tear in her eye. “I won’t go back, Chase.”
O’Keefe would only get his hands on her over my dead body. If he wanted her, he was going to have to go through me.
And I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I’d kill him myself.
9
Chase
We made good time and two days later, we arrived in Cabo and docked among a small cluster of other boats and yachts. Matt’s boat blended right in with the other vessels that likely belonged to ex-pats and winter birds on an extended vacation. Melissa, Jackson, and I had settled into a comfortable routine aboard the boat, but when we docked, it was obvious we were all getting a little stir-crazy and ready for a chance to stretch our legs.
Melissa in particular.
“I think we should go get a big, authentic Mexican dinner!” she declared, once I’d secured the boat to the dock and arrived back on deck.
“A fiesta!” Jackson cheered. Obviously, Melissa had given him a crash course in Spanish.
I laughed. “How can I say no?”
“You can’t,” Melissa said, flashing me a flirty smile.
“All right. A fiesta it is, then.” I made sure no personal items were left out and locked everything up and set the alarm before we set off, keeping close together as we went up the coast to the main part of town. We were surrounded by tourists and blended right in with everyone else. Even in my paranoid, double-check-your-double-check mind, I couldn’t see a way Henry or his cronies could possibly have followed us. Matt didn’t even know where we were.
I hoped they hadn’t gone back to question him, though. Calling him was on my list for after dinner.
Melissa and Jackson were in such bright, excited moods, I wanted to stretch out the carefree feeling of the evening as long as possible. Calling Matt would only rile suspicion and fear for Melissa. Jackson had no idea what was going on as far as the reason behind our excursion. But if Melissa panicked, he’d no doubt pick up on her anxiety and start asking more questions.
