Page 41 of Secrets Within Us

“Hadley,” Tim interrupts. “We only have four minutes left and you have a lot to fill me in on before they come back. I appreciate your dilemma here, but we need to handle that first so you can handle this after.” He said, looking down at me kindly.

Sheriff Boyd left the room, leaving me, Tim, and Kip alone.

I took a deep breath and looked over at Tim. Ripping the band-aid off, “He kidnapped me from New York City the night I left for Florida. Used some injectable sedative to get me here. I was here six days before I almost escaped. He caught me and he tried to kill me with a knife, and I fought back. He died, and I took off.” I turned back to look at Kip, who was hanging on my every word. “Kip found me two days later buried in the snow with death clawing at my back. He saved my life, but I never told him what happened. He’s innocent, he knew nothing about it.”

Tim nodded, processing the short version. “Okay.” He said, placing his big palm on my shoulder and pulling me into a hug. “I’m going to get you out of this, Hadley. I promise.”

He never made promises unless he was completely confident he could deliver.

Kip cleared his throat from behind me, and I pulled out of Tim’s arms, turning to him.

“How do you know each other?” Kip asked as he sized up Tim.

Tim chuckled from next to me. “I’m a partner at the most prestigious law firm on the East Coast and Hadley is my head paralegal. She’s brilliant and makes sure I look good at each court appearance. Or at least she did before she quit to move to Florida.” His face saddened as he looked away from Kip and back to me. “When the FBI showed up at the firm looking for you I followed them here and set up shop at the hotel. I knew something happened and that what they were saying wasn’t true and if you were going to be arrested, I was going to be here to protect you when you did.”

“Thank you, Tim. Truly.”

Kip moved closer to me and kneeled down next to my chair, drawing my attention back to him.

“You have to stop pushing me away. I’m sorry for everything I said. I was so incredibly wrong, and I can never take it back or make it right. But please don’t push me away right now, let me be here for you and lean on me.” He paused as he looked at Tim over my shoulder, before leaning in closer and said, “My alpha is hungry.”

I cracked a smile at his joke, and he brought his hands up to cup my face as he leaned his forehead against mine, breathing me in. “My bambina.” He whispered before kissing me softly. It felt incredible to be in his arms again. Earlier, when he had been so mad at me, my emotions were in ruins and the grief of losing him devastated me. I didn’t forgive him for acting the way he did when he found me inside his kid’s room, but as Tim said earlier, we had to handle the bigger problem before any of that mattered.

The door banged open, and Agent Harvey and her posse walked back in, breaking up the first moment of true calmness I’d had in hours.

“Kip, go on back next door.” Sheriff Boyd said, and Kip sauntered out, keeping his eyes on me the whole way.

“Big guy, you got there.” Tim joked from next to me. I smiled and looked at him before shrugging in answer. “The alpha.” It was all I had to say to describe Kip.

When everyone got settled, I looked back up at the camera in the corner and watched the little red light turn back on.

They were watching again.

Chapter 14 - Hadley

The Grave

Agent Harvey wasted no time and started asking the questions as soon as she was settled. “When did you first meet Peter Daniels?”

I took a deep breath and began. “When I was sixteen. He volunteered at a youth shelter I stayed in occasionally.”

“And what was your relationship with him, then?”

“Nothing. He mentored some kids who stayed there. I never stuck around long enough to interact with him. He tried a couple of times, wanted me to know that living on the street wasn’t the only option I had, but I wasn’t receptive and only stayed one night at a time every couple of months when I was in between places.”

I knew over sharing could be dangerous, but I was trying to give them the complete answer.

“When was the last time you saw him before this time?”

“I stopped going to the shelter when I turned eighteen, so before that.”

“How did your paths cross this time?” she asked.

What a nonchalant way of putting it. “He recently hired Jenks and Sawyer Law Firm, Tim’s firm, where I worked, to represent him for a case. Maybe three months ago. He was working with one of the junior associates, so I didn’t have any interaction with him other than in passing through the building.”

“What had he hired the firm for?” She asked. I noticed the way her right eye twitched slightly as she asked it. I held her stare for a minute, staying silent because even I knew she couldn’t ask that before she looked over at Tim.

“What a rookie cop question, Agent Harvey. At least try to make yourself look like you’re not fishing for information we both know you don’t have access to. Hadley wasn’t privy to that knowledge as my paralegal, and even if she was, it’s confidential under the legal representation clause. You’ll have to subpoena the firm if you want to know that.” Tim answered for me.

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