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I had the construction crew back to work on the family wing behind the clubhouse. Paying them double to get the exterior completed before the snow arrived. Then they’d work on the interior over the winter. Madeline and I would live in it after the baby was born. No chance in hell I’d let my little girl sleep in the same building where open fuckin’ commenced on the regular.
And yes, little girl. No, we didn’t know the gender yet. But I knew in my heart it was a girl.
“She sounded happy when I talked to her the other day. Make sure she stays that way. And safe.”
“Toby, her safety is my top priority, along with her happiness.” I had every intention of building my girl her dream home with a porch. Even had the plans already drawn up. We just had to wait until next summer to begin construction. Hence the urgency to finish the family wing before the baby arrived in May.
Grizzly groaned, dropping his head back. What the actual fuck?
“That’s exactly what I want to hear,” Toby replied. “Hey man, I got an incoming call. Gotta take it.”
“Sure, keep me posted.”
“Will do. Take care.”
I ended the call and leveled my gaze at Grizzly. “What’s going on with you?
“Nothing.” He scrubbed his hand across his cheek. “Just didn’t see the point of being here while you’re on the phone. Got other shit I could do.”
“Other shit? All you need to do is what your president tells you to do, asshole. Did you notice anything unusual at Tara’s?”
Grizzly nodded, pursing his lips together. “Yeah. It’s pretty fucked up too.” He handed his iPad to me. “Just click start. When I listened to the audio, I heard a cat whining and Tara crying. Couldn’t make out anything else.”
Grizz was right. There were a bunch of weird painful noises without a clear picture of where she was in the house. I sped past the video until after I left. I pushed play to watch Tara sitting on the sofa with her new kitten. “Who she on the phone with?”
“Madeline.”
I hiked a curious brow. If Tara told Angel I forced my way into her home, I’d have hell to pay with my wife. Luckily, it didn’t sound like she ratted me out.
Grizzly stood from the chair and leaned over my desk. “Okay, right here.” He pointed to the screen. “See how she screws up her face like she’s in pain with the cat on her stomach?”
“Yeah.”
“She takes her top off—”
“Stop!” I slammed my eyes closed. This was what married life did to a man… or did to me. It struck fear in them like no other. It did to me, anyway. Looking at another woman without clothes was the same as cheating on my wife. Not gonna fuckin’ happen.
Grizzly rolled his eyes. “She has a bra on, for fuck’s sake.Anyway, there’s a red mark on her stomach, right… right there.” He paused the video and zoomed in.
I narrowed my eyes, not sure what it could be. “Okay, so she got hurt. So what?”
Grizzly shook his head and clicked fast-forward. “It’s a burn. Just like the one on her inner thigh, in the shape of an H.” He stopped the video and zoomed in again. “There.”
Tara had taken off her pants, removed a bandage, and behind it was, in fact, a fuckin’ H seared on her inner thigh.
“You think she burned an H into her skin?”
“Copper wouldn’t. How else would it be there?”
“Fucker, don’t get smart with me,” I growled.
A grim expression swept across his face, but he said nothing.
“Son of a bitch. I smelled cigarette smoke at her place.” I scratched the back of my head. “This is messed up. Why in the hell would she burn herself?” My next thought was, did Madeline know Tara did this shit?
“Self-harm comes in many forms. Cutting, hair pulling, cigarette burns.”
I cut my gaze to him. My brother sounded like he knew a lot about this kind of shit. “Self-harm? How do you know about this?”
