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“Do you have any proof, or is this just a hunch?”

She swallowed hard. “At first, it was just a hunch. Deep down, I believed he was responsible, but I couldn’t connect him to it. And he never appeared to be off when he was at work.”

“Did that change?”

“I learned about what they found.”

“I’m not following.”

“The mark they found on her back. That odd bruising. That diamond shape with the perpendicular lines through it. That’s him. That’s from his ring.”

All the thoughts I’d had about Bethany and Reed and their involvement in Annie’s death flew out the window. No matter that Georgia had said at the start of the conversation that she felt responsible, it wasn’t until she said the mark they found on Annie’s back was from Jackson Taylor’s ring that I believed we’d just learned the truth.

“Oh, my God,” Alana gasped, reaching into her bag for something. “Are you serious? How do you know?”

Georgia directed her gaze down and to the side. From that side profile, I could see she was tormented. She brought tear-filled eyes to us and rasped, “When someone puts their hands on you in ways that you don’t want, and you have no other escape, you try to find something else to focus on, anything to take your mind away from what’s happening to you. I studied that ring more times than I care to admit. The diamond is missinga piece on the upper right side, because that’s theGand the perpendicular lines in the middle of it are theT.”

TG.

The Taylor Group.

Fuck.

Fuck!

This guy killed an innocent woman because she was trying to help another innocent woman.

Alana pulled out a notepad that I’d only seen the day she sat in the Harper Security Ops conference room and went over all the notes and information she had from work she and Yasmine had both done. I hadn’t realized she was still carrying around this notepad.

Frantically, she flipped through the pages until she landed on one, pointed her finger at it, and said, “Yasmine knew. I saw this the first day I went through her notes. I thought she was simply doodling.”

Right there on the paper was a drawing that matched the description of the ring Georgia had just given us. There was no time left to waste.

“Georgia, are you ready to talk to the police about this?” I questioned her. She squirmed in her seat, growing visibly uncomfortable. Needing her to understand the full scope of the problem, I said, “I’m not a journalist. I’m not a reporter. I’m a bodyguard. I’ve been by Alana’s side for weeks now, because somebody has been coming after her, threatening her life. That same person went after her friend, who is also a reporter. That friend wound up unconscious in the hospital and has a long road to recovery ahead of her. And this is all because they both have been trying to figure out what happened to Annie. You have the chance to stop this, to make a difference for them and yourself, just like Annie did for others and tried to do for you.”

Georgia’s wide eyes slid to the side, her gaze settling on Alana. “You mean, you’re not doing a piece on the kind and selfless woman that Annie was?”

“I am,” Alana assured her. “I still fully intend to do that, but it wasn’t my motivation from the start of this. I wanted to find out what happened to her and to my friend.”

For a long time, we sat there in nothing but tense, awkward silence. I worried that Georgia wouldn’t give us the answer we were hoping for. “I… I don’t want you to think I don’t want to do this. I do. It’s just that I’m worried about my mom, about how I’ll afford to take care of her. If Mr. Taylor gets arrested, especially because of me, I’m not going to have a job.”

Alana reached across the table and took Georgia’s hand in hers. “We’ll help you. I’ll help you. I’ve met a lot of people throughout my career, many who own businesses. I fully believe we can find you a job in no time at all. And we’ll work together on figuring out a solution for your mom’s care. But you can’t keep doing this. It’s not even about Annie at this point, Georgia. It’s about you. You’re being taken advantage of, and that’s not okay.”

I could see the moment Georgia made her decision. Something changed in her expression, the look in her eyes growing determined.

A moment later, she shifted her attention to me. “He won’t be able to hurt us, right?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. Until he’s arrested and I can guarantee your safety, I’m happy to have one of the other bodyguards on my team with you. We’ll keep you safe.”

She gave me a slight nod. “Then I’m ready.”

With that, I stood and said, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

When I stepped out of the room, Jagger made his way over to me. I brought him up to speed on what I just learned. Then, while he told the rest of the team what was happening, I gotAlana and Georgia, and we made our way down to the police station.

TWENTY-TWO

Alana

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