Page 20 of Hidden While In Sight

She paused in front of Connor’s door, standing still in the hallway outside the room for almost a full minute. When she pushed her way inside, the night-light let off enough of a glow for Diego to see her son spring up in bed.

“I won’t do it again! I promise!” Connor’s voice trembled and broke.

Hannah moved to his bed, sinking on its edge. “I love you, Connor. I just want you safe.”

Her son crawled into her lap, clinging to her.

Hannah’s gaze darted toward the door, her body stiff for a moment before she curled her arms around her son and rocked him, holding him close.

Diego dialed his phone, knowing after hours it was rerouted directly to Ramiro’s cell, and waited for the click.

“Figure it out,” he told Ramiro.

His friend sighed. “Tonight? Or do I have a few days?”

Diego continued to watch the mother and son. “Not tonight,” he said, hanging up the phone so he could focus on the monitor. Memories like wisps of smoke teased at his senses, making him think about things he didn’t clearly remember.

Chapter 11

Hannah was missing from the monitors again. Diego froze from towel-drying his hair, narrowing his gaze on the view of the Ashford’s bedroom. The light was off, and the sheets were unsettled in a way they usually weren’t, as if someone had lain there not long ago. And the Ashfords had. Despite the toxic scene he’d watched in the dining room the night before, they’d been lying in their bed together as if it was easy to sleep next to each other every night, so Diego had stalked off to the shower, ready to catch some sleep himself.

Everything had been back to normal today. Normal for the Ashfords, anyway. Even Diego had been tense when the time for their family dinner rolled around, and while it wasn’t any more of a loving experience than the night before had been, the familiar pacing was back.

There’d only been one difference. Hannah’s plate held three sprouts of cauliflower and nothing else. She’d lifted her fork without hesitating, eaten all three slowly, and then put her fork down and folded her hands in her lap.

Connor had tried to eat the same, but the nanny pressed him to eat more. At least the bitch had kept her mouth shut about Connor’s disappearance the day before. When Ashford didn’t bother looking away from his phone at the exchange, Hannah caught her son’s eye and flicked her eyes down to his plate. Connor began to eat, managing more than he usually did.

One happy fucking family.

The bedtime ritual was back to calm tucks and forehead kisses, with little emotion showing on Hannah’s face and no smiles for her children.

Her reversion made Diego antsy. He wanted to storm over there, shake the woman, and ask her what the hell she was thinking. Was this the real her, or was it the glimpses he’d seen of the other her that was real?

Now she was fucking missing, with no light on under the bathroom door to indicate where she was. Ashford had left the bed as well, but he was easy enough to find. He was pressed against the nanny, in the barely used formal living room this time. At least they weren’t in Hannah’s space. Ashford was trying to convince the nanny to have sex with him, and his face was becoming more and more tense as she sulked. It served him right. He hadn’t bothered to take care of her last time. Diego hoped the nanny held out and taught him a lesson.

His gaze roamed the monitors again, the tension ramping up in his body the longer Hannah was missing. No, not missing, he reminded himself. Just not on any of the cameras.

He turned, stalking barefoot through the empty house and to the sliding glass doors. The pool held no ripples. She wasn’t swimming laps in the middle of the night. When his gaze scurried away from the water, he saw movement near the Ashfords’ sliding glass doors. The doors led into the brightly lit living room, where Ashford was getting more and more frustrated with the nanny.

Hannah was just outside the spill of light, her nightie fluttering along her thighs as her hands clenched the thin material. She watched the couple inside.

Diego unlocked his sliding glass door and slipped into the night. He gave the pool a wide berth, sticking to the shadows as he drew closer and closer, stopping close enough to Hannah’s back that he imagined he could feel the heat of her sinking into his chest.

When Anne Clemmon let out a breathy little moan, Hannah’s hands unclenched and her tension seeped away. Her relaxed posture closed the distance between them, and the back of her silky nightie slid against Diego’s bare chest before she tensed again.

He half expected her to scream at his presence. He wasn’t a big man, but he was still someone you’d avoid if you passed him on the street, what with his full tats and unruly hair.

Hannah didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even pull away.

His hand twitched with the need to wrap around her stomach and pull her in tighter.

“Hey, neighbor,” he whispered in her ear.

Her body shuddered against him, and his mouth watered. He wanted so badly to nibble her ear, then her neck, but he knew he’d struggle to stop at just that.

“Enjoying the show?” he asked. His words against her skin didn’t cause her to tremble again.

Her gaze remained fixed on the window.

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