AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She needed the new identity to be able to live in the type of care facility she needed, but we didn’t have enough to support her and get a new identity for me. I thought at first I could just hide her and go on with my life, but he came after me. I had sold my car when I took my mom to hide her so I was taking the bus to and from work and then walking the three blocks to a friend’s house where I was staying. He was there one night waiting for me.”
She began to shake at the memory. She’d been so scared. “I told him I’d never tell him where she was. That she was away from him and happy. He threatened me and said he’d have me arrested for stealing the jewelry but Texas is a community property state so my mother had every right to take those jewels. In fact, she could have taken anything she wanted since they were never divorced.”
She couldn’t stop the shaking as she talked. She swallowed hard and continued, needing to get it all out now that she’d started. “He threatened me then. He was holding my arm so tight it hurt and he told me horrible things. Things he would do to me if I didn’t tell him where she was.”
She looked at Kaeden, seeing his eyes swim with barely controlled rage.
“I believed him. I believed every word. He began to drag me to his car and I knew if I got in that car with him, he would kill me. I screamed but no one came and I couldn’t fight him off. He was too strong.”
Kaeden held her so gently but she could see the battle raging inside him. Could see that if it were up to him, Turner Carson would probably be in a shallow grave somewhere with no one to save him from whatever punishment Kaeden was imagining dishing out.
She loved him for that, but it terrified her to think that he might go up against Turner for her and her mother and end up losing everything in his world, just as they had. She couldn’t do that to him.
Chapter 29
Kaeden swallowed down the anger pounding into him, through him, at Jane’s story. He wanted to hide her away somewhere and then go find this man and show him what should happen to any man who put his hands on Jane. What should happen to a psychopath that would do what he’d done to his wife.
He didn’t. He controlled the rage and talked to her, surprised when his voice came out so calm. “How did you get away?”
Her eyes were faraway when she answered and he hated that she was reliving this for him.
“Someone opened their door and shouted. They must have finally heard me yelling. He ran and I was able to get to my friend’s.”
“What did the police do?” She must have called the police. Surely they arrested him.
“He was arrested and out the same night. He can buy all the fancy lawyers he wants. He was watching my friend’s place later that night. I knew then that I needed to leave. He was driving by my house regularly so I put on layers of clothes to make myself look heavier and used the leftovers from an old Halloween costume. A wig and glasses and some makeup to make my face look darker. I told my work I needed another leave of absence to help my mom again. They weren’t happy but they approved it. I think I knew, though, that I wouldn’t be coming back. Part of me just didn’t want to admit it. I took the clothes I was wearing, a bag of clothes, and the little money I had left and I ran.”
She took a deep breath. “I’ve been hiding since then. I let myself occasionally pop onto Turner’s radar through the private investigators he’s using, but I stay ahead of him. If he’s following the sightings of me, he’s not locked onto my mom. My mom emails me but until this morning, I haven’t talked to her in two years.”
“This morning? Why this morning?”
She leaned into him and he was glad to feel it. He had a feeling she’d needed to tell this story to someone, needed to know she had someone by her side in this.
“I called her.”
He saw guilt etched in her features.
“I shouldn’t have,” she said, “but I was worried.” She went on to describe the email she’d gotten from her mom with the picture of the flowers someone had given her and her subsequent call with her mom.
“It was probably nothing, but now I’ve not only laid a trail to me here, but I’ve possibly led him to my mom when he finds the lodge.”
Kaeden shook his head and squeezed her leg. “You said you used your cellphone. I assume it’s a disposable?”
“Yeah. There’s no contract or anything.”
“Then he’s not going to be able to track that.”
He saw the exhale of breath as she realized what he was saying was true.
“I want to go to her, to be sure this wasn’t anything to worry about, but I’m too afraid to.” Her features seemed to crumple and she covered her face with her hands. ‘I’m terrified to go check on her and terrified not to.”
He pulled her hands down and tipped her chin up. “You’re not alone in this anymore.”
As he said the words, he also realizedhewasn’t alone anymore. He had options here, too.
He pulled his phone out and looked at Jane. “Do you trust me?”
He could see the indecision in her eyes, but she nodded.
