Page 40 of Edge of Desire

“Do you always ramble a lot?”

“Always, Preston.”

“I thought so.” I scratched my head. “Avery?”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to let you know that Justin and Caroline are fine. I talked to Pete, and they’re still in their apartment with protection. Eight men tried to break into their house but were caught and are being interrogated as we speak.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Thank God they’re okay. Does that mean I can go back?”

“Not yet. We’re positive they’re still hunting me down. They’ll keep searching, so we still need to sit tight. You understand, don’t you?”

She let loose a sigh. “I suppose so.”

“Good.”

“Preston?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you ever going to tell me how you’re really connected to Justin and Caroline?”

Her question caught me off guard. There was no trying to cover it up any longer. She deserved the truth as her life was on the line as much as my own. If I didn’t trust her now, I’d have to keep her around for life. For some reason though, trust wasn’t an issue. Whatever I was getting ready to tell her, I knew for certain she’d take to the grave.

I began with the entire story of Preston Mitchell and his sister, Terri, and what really happened that night. She listened patiently, not asking any questions.

“I hated myself more than anything for ripping the two of them apart. I’d never seen two people more in love than Terri and Justin. The worst part was the aftermath. I’m sure Justin was in bad shape too. Terri was—well, she ended up in a psychiatric hospital for three months. She became so despondent and kept failing the treatments they tried. Her depression swallowed her up. I worried I’d never see my sister again. Luckily, she had a great psychiatrist who finally got her on the right track. It took a while but eventually her spark returned. Terri, or Caroline I should say, was the one who worked diligently toward crashing the cartel. It was her intel that did it. She was relentless. After everything was over, she talked to Pete and me. You met Pete at the airport. He runs the ops I’m on. Anyway, she told us she wanted to go to Charleston for closure. The only things she’d kept from her relationship with Justin were her engagement ring and the diamond necklace he’d given her for Christmas.”

Avery looked at me and said, “I remember that necklace. Justin always wondered what happened to both of those because neither was found in the car or the house.”

My head shook as I recalled that day. “She refused to part with them, no matter how much we begged her. She said we might as well kill her. I couldn’t deny her. I mean, my God, I’d already taken so damn much from her, ruined her life and nearly destroyed her in the process.” I stopped for a minute to collect myself. Even now, after all this time, it still choked me up thinking about how she had suffered. “After the op was over, and the cartel no longer posed a problem, she decided to go to Charleston, like I said, to see Justin for closure. One of the things she wanted to do was pass on the ring and necklace to him. Terri Mitchell had finally died in her eyes and those two things had been her security blanket. She thought it was time to let them be his, if he needed them. If not, he could sell them since he was the one who’d bought them to begin with. She knew in her heart she would never love another man for the rest of her life. It didn’t really matter to her if he was with someone else. Her time had come to move on. Once they saw each other and she explained what happened, they knew they had to be together. That’s why Justin moved to Seattle. Terri became Caroline Cole as part of WITSEC or witness protection. She had plastic surgery, and her identity was changed. She can never go back to Charleston, and no one can ever know. You’re not supposed to know. She was so nervous about being around you, about you suspecting something. That’s why we all acted so weird when you arrived that day. Keeping her secret is paramount to protecting her life.”

Avery rubbed her eyes, stared at me, and nodded. She didn’t say anything right away but sat in silence. I suppose she was digesting everything I’d just explained, and I was sure she despised me for what I had done to her brother. When she finally got up, it was to go in search of a tissue. She returned and sat next to me, taking my hand in hers.

“You probably know this, but the day Terri died, so did Justin. We were all so happy when he made the decision to move. It was his chance to start his life again. Now I know the truth. For whatever it’s worth, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted either of them to die and you did what you had to do. Had Justin known what was going on, he would’ve been killed in his attempt to protect her. You did the right thing, Preston. You saved both of them.” She squeezed my hand.

That tiny gesture meant more to me than I could tell her. The weight on my chest lifted a bit and I could breathe easier again. She noticed the difference, so I tried to explain it to her.

I half smiled and said, “It was all my fault, you see. My profession and what I had chosen to do. I was responsible and carried the guilt of what they both had dealt with. And not only them. My father was murdered because of me and this crazy job. And I put your entire family at risk. They would’ve gone after all of you. So, there you have it, all the ugly mess of Preston Mitchell.”

Thirteen

Avery

I’d suspected something had been going on between the three of them, but it wasn’t this. I wouldn’t have known Caroline was Terri. Now that Preston told me, I could detect a resemblance in the two women. Not in their appearance, but in their mannerisms. Preston agreed. We talked about that for a while when he suggested we get some of the chili he’d made for dinner.

I followed him into the kitchen, and he’d set two places at the island while he’d been cooking. I watched him as he filled two bowls, and we sat side by side eating our dinner.

The chicken chili was delicious. “Mmm. This is excellent. Where’d you learn to cook like this?”

He laughed and said, “Avery, I’m thirty-five. If I want to eat, I have to cook.”

“I realize that, Preston, but I can’t even cook chili this good.”

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