AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vaughn narrowed his eyes. “The way I carry on? What the hell does that mean?”
Riva said nothing, but her gaze dropped to the floor, refusing to meet her son’s.
That feeling in the pit of my stomach intensified. I’d tortured the truth out of enough men to know what it looked like when someone lied.
Riva had that expression in her eyes right now.
“My guys said they got in the car with you,” I accused.
Riva shook her head. “They’re lying.” She turned to Vaughn. “This is ridiculous. They aren’t children. They’ll be home when they want to be home.”
I got out my phone again and searched for a number.
Kian watched me. “Who are you calling?”
The woman on the other end answered at the same time, and I held up one finger in Kian’s direction, indicating for him to wait a moment.
I put the phone on loudspeaker. “Uh, hi. Listen, my girlfriend was in there earlier today. Short-ass with a pixie haircut? Super loud. She was with her best friend, Bliss. She’s taller, kinda reddish-blonde hair. Really pregnant…”
“Oh, yes. I remember the two of them.”
“Great. Did you by any chance see an older woman with them?”
Riva’s mouth fell open in indignation, but Vaughn hushed her with a glare.
The store clerk cracked her gum. “Dark hair? Yep, I assumed she was your girlfriend’s mom or mother-in-law.”
“Did they all leave together?”
“No. They didn’t. The older woman left before the younger two.”
Riva shot me a triumphant look.
Well, fuck. That blew that idea out of the water then. Shit. I probably owed Riva an apology for not believing her. “Thanks for that,” I said to the woman on the phone.
“I told you,” Riva hissed. “We had separate things to do. I left them at the store, I haven’t seen them since.”
I nodded. “Sorry.”
My thumb was headed for the end call button when the woman spoke up.
“Oh, I did see them drive away together though. I went outside for my smoke break as the younger two were leaving. The older woman was driving. I remember because the car was really nice.”
We all stared at Riva.
“Hello?” the woman on the phone asked.
I ended the call.
Vaughn’s gaze turned to ice. I’d known cold-blooded killers who had more warmth in their eyes than he did in that moment. “Where are they, Mom? I know you aren’t telling the truth.”
Riva shrugged. “She’s remembering wrong. That woman probably saw five hundred short, dark-haired women with a taller pregnant friend today. It’s hardly unusual.” Her gaze darted away nervously.
Vaughn pushed past me, taking long steps down the hallway to the bathroom and then back to where we stood in the hallway. He thrust the positive pregnancy test in his mother’s face. “She’s pregnant, Mom! She’s carrying your grandchild! Why are you lying to me? It’s written all over your face.”
Riva stared down at the positive pregnancy test, her bottom lip wavering. “She’s actually pregnant?”
“Of course she fucking is!”
