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We pass one of the nurses on our way out, and I order her to text me any updates. Griffin doesn’t say anything to me on the way up, but the tension between us tells me the talk upstairs won’t be pretty.
When we get to my office, Natalie, Tank, and Dallas are surrounding the conference table. Griffin and I take our designated seats.
Dallas speaks first. “This is going to be hard to hear, Mason, but we think Teagan and Jase are more of a threat than we thought.”
I grind my molars together painfully, not ready to speak, nor do I know what to say. Could I have been that wrong about her? Did I misread the situation that badly?
“Her friend Ainsley is actually Chelsea Fisher. She only recently changed her name, and somehow, that paper trail disappeared.Someone was covering up the name change and who knows what else.”
“What does that have to do with Teagan?”
“Teagan has been friends with Ainsley since they were kids. So when we looked up Ainsley’s birth name, we came across old social media accounts. One of them had this posted to it.” Dallas flips his laptop around to show me the screen.
It’s a picture of a younger Teagan sitting on some guy’s lap. Her arms are wrapped around his neck while his hand is sprawled on her ass. Irrational jealousy swirls around my chest.
“Is there a reason you’re showing this to me?”Other than trying to piss me off.
“That guy she seems very close with happens to be Dave’s younger brother,” Dallas explains.
My heart stops. My body goes numb, but my mind races a million miles per second. Betrayal hits me like a freight train at full speed.
Dallas pulls up the guy’s profile. Randy Tucker is his name. He doesn’t have a resemblance to Dave, but when Dallas pulls up profile pictures, there are multiple images with his brother Dave.
“We checked it out, and this is true. They are brothers, and Teagan was in a relationship with Randy at one point. What are the chances that she didn’t know Dave?” Griffin questions. “And why would Chelsea change her name and create new social media profiles?”
“I still don’t understand how all of this is supposed to fit together? What were Teagan’s and Chelsea’s motives behind all of this?”
I glance over at Natalie. Her facial expression is blank, but her eyes give her away. The same betrayal and hurt I’m feeling reflects back at me.
Dallas closes his laptop and leans back in his chair. “We’re not sure why or how yet, but this can’t be a coincidence. My best bet is that Teagan is still involved with Randy, and he talked her into helping them get to you. Teagan probably tried to let Dave go, not realizing how out of it he was.”
“But Dave is no one. I interrogated him myself. He himself had no reason to come after me; he didn’t even know what this hotel was. Someone else hired him.”
“And that someone seems to have a lot of money. Money that could be very useful and enticing to someone like Teagan.”
“She asks a lot of questions.” Natalie speaks for the first time. Her voice is flat. She has always been an expert in compartmentalizing. The friendship she has built with Teagan was burned to a crisp the moment she found out about the betrayal.
My sister is right, though. Teagan’s questions never stop; her curiosity is endless. Why did that not raise any more red flags?
There’s still a lot to unpack here, but this is all I can handle for now. I need to process all of this, but that doesn’t mean my team isn’t looking for my directions.
“Griffin, question Jase, see if you can get anything else out of him.”
I turn to Tank. “As soon as Teagan is discharged from medical, escort her and her brother out of the hotel. Don’t let them take anything.”
“Dallas and Nat, dig a little deeper. Use the new information we have to find out more.”
“Already on it.” Natalie’s fingers fly over her keyboard.
“I’ll be back,” I announce as I push up to my feet. “I need a breather.”
I’m not sure where I’m going, but for once, I feel a pressing need to get out of this hotel.
TEAGAN
While pokingit with my spoon, I stare at the oatmeal-filled glass bowl, wondering if my life will ever feel whole again.
Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that we used to be a happy family—my parents, Jase, and myself. We didn’t have much, and like every teenager, I used to complain, and just like every other parent, mine used to tell me, “You don’t know how good you have it.” It took death to make me realize they were right. I didn’t realize how great my life was until everything changed.
