Page 127 of Sinner

I glanced from one friend to the other. “Nothing. Just my own private security team.”

The two women glanced at each other. “Maybe you ought to rethink working for Blackwell.”

Stephanie obviously had discovered some details. I’d asked her to grill her father and see if he knew more. “What did you find on the brothers?”

“Their records are locked down tight. No one can get to them,” Stephanie answered.

“Not even the boys?”

She shook her head. “Some court order that has already been challenged by Wilder Blackwell. He got nowhere.”

“Except for finding his brothers. Right?” Ashley asked.

I nodded. “Xander mentioned something like that. Why can’t they find out anything about their birth parents? There must be a logical explanation.” I toyed with my white wine, swirling the liquid in the glass.

Stephanie leaned forward. “After Dad told me to drop it, I pushed on that question. He said the only reason the information would be locked down was that something horrible either happened with the children involved or one or both of theparents were… well, either criminals or worse. There is no way to break the court order that he knows of.”

“So Xander will never know why he’s the way he is.” I was musing and almost regretted my words instantly.

“I, um, did find one thing,” she said. The flush on her face was surprising.

Ashley and I looked at each other. “Okay. What?” The tone was demanding, but if I needed to learn something about Xander then now was the time.

She grabbed her purse, pulling something into her hand. “I did a deep dive on Xander’s name. There was pretty much nothing I could find until after the Blackwell Group began to become successful. Except for this.”

As she slid whatever she had across the table, I took a deep breath. Stephanie curled her fingers when she removed them as if whatever she’d found had driven her to anger or sadness. I couldn’t tell which. When I unfolded the paper, I realized it was a copy of an old newspaper article from over twenty-five years before.

There was very little information about a little girl who’d been killed except for the person who’d found her. A very young Xander Blackwell, and the girl had been his foster sister.

Poor Amy. I couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through.

A chill coursed down my spine. “He tried to save her,” I said absently, not really talking to either of my friends.

“Are you sure about that?” Stephanie asked, wincing as soon as she did.

“Yes, I am. That’s what…” That was why he’d taken upon himself to become judge and jury. And why he was determined to protect me. I looked away as a swarm of butterflies made their home in my stomach. He wasn’t a bad man after all, just… Just misunderstood. What in God’s name had he suffered?

“Aren’t you terrified of the man any longer? Didn’t you hate him?” Ashley asked and gave me one of her tough girl looks.

“Things change. He’s not as bad as I originally thought. I’m not afraid of him. He inspires me.” That was the truth.

“Wait a minute,” Stephanie mused as she sat back in her seat. “From what I remember, you were out for revenge, which was your reason for you going after this job. Now, you like the man?”

Shrugging, I lifted my glass of wine, finally taking a sip. “As I said, things change. He’s… amazing.”

The two of them stared at me for a full ten seconds before we all started laughing.

“Our girl finally met the man of her dreams. And she’s in love.” Stephanie was far too excited, but I could easily see the continued concern in her eyes. She lifted her glass as if for a toast.

“Don’t embarrass me,” I chastised and leaned forward so we could click our glasses together. When I did, I knocked my purse off my lap. Half the contents spilled out, including the mail I’d picked up. “Shit.”

“Aww. He makes her nervous. You need to tell all, girlfriend. Is he good in bed?” Ashley continued to laugh.

I couldn’t help myself, giving her the finger as I placed the wineglass on the table and reached down for the contents ofmy purse. As soon as I snagged the mail, I realized there was another black envelope I hadn’t noticed.

A rush of excitement tickled my system as I retrieved it.

“A love letter?” Stephanie teased.

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