Page 56 of The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

“She told me how they controlled her. Her parents and that man.” Marian hugs herself. “They never let her have a job. They controlled all her finances. If she doesn’t get that trust fund, she’ll have nothing.”

“She can’t go back to them.” As soon as I say it, I hear how much I sound just like them, deciding her fate.

“No, she can’t,” Marian agrees, and hearing her share my fear makes it okay. We’re looking out for her, not trying to trap her.

“I worried when she showed up, if trouble would come,” she tells me. “I spoke with Ken and Earl in town.”

I raise my brows. “The grumpy locals?” They warned me that Breckenridge looks after their own. I would appreciate it if their protective attitude stretched to Lauren.

She nods. “Ken is a retired cop and Earl worked for the FBI decades ago. I told them about my concerns. They’ve been after me, insisting I need security up here. Sure, I’ve got a gun to handle animals that might threaten anyone on the property. John made sure I know how to use it, too, but Ken told me last year that I need a camera up here.”

I mentally make a note to invest in surveillance equipment up here. I’m not a local, but I’m fond of this gentle old soul. She’s not mine, but I’ll look after her as though she is. I’ll adopt her as the mother I never had and see to it that she doesn’t need to worry.

“Whatever conflict is coming, I’ll keep it off the property.”

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

I shake my head. “He’s not going to drive by and intimidate us like that.”

“Caleb. Wait. You need to be careful. I know you’ve got feelings for Lauren, but don’t let that color your judgment. Earl looked into him.”

“So did I.”

She nods. “Good. But while nothing is on Jeremy’s record, his father has a list of charges. They’ve all been dropped.”

“Bought out?”

“Probably. He’s probably paid to have it all covered up and swept under the rug.”

“What kind of things?”

“Assault. And I can’t imagine the apple would fall far from the tree. If Jeremy doesn’t have any record of violence, we can’t assume it hasn’t happened. He’s treated Lauren so poorly, and even if I didn’t see signs of him physically harming her, I can’t assume that won’t apply to you. He can’t be in the mood to play nice with the man trying to replace him.”

I wasn’t trying to replace him. I was more than eager to shove him out of the picture of Lauren’s life completely.

“I appreciate you telling me this,” I tell Marian. I feel more prepared. White-hot anger fuels me, but with her words of caution, I feel smarter about approaching this bastard.

“Caleb. Please. Be careful.”

I hug her quickly and release her before I get back in the truck and chase down Jeremy.

It’s past time he learns Lauren isn’t his to “own” anymore.

And I can’t wait to drive that message in.

Chapter 22

Lauren

He found me.

Jeremy tracked me down here in the middle of nowhere.

I ran from California so desperate to be rid of him. I fled from that wedding, escaping a future I didn’t want at all. I did so with one motive: to get out. To hide and live my life.

I had gotten out, but I was so stupidly naïve to think, like a damn fool, that this idyllic peace at the Goldfinch Bed-and-Breakfast could last. Nothing lasts for good. Not the good or the bad. But that’s not entirely true. If I married Jeremy, I would’ve been stuck being his wife forever, or at least until I could come into my trust fund and have the resources to divorce him.

And how messed up was that? What kind of a woman should enter a marriage with the expressed goal of divorcing him as soon as she could?

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