Page 47 of Still Burning

I placed both palms flat on the table to keep from my knees giving out. Grief punched me in the chest with a force so heavy that I needed to sit down before I collapsed.

“I don’t think he knew about that,” I heard Liam say.

I grabbed the nearest chair and sank into it, then buried my head in my hands.

She’d been pregnant—with my baby—and she’d lost it. Alone.

Wave after wave of anguish and horror hit me. Had she known when I broke it off with her? Had she been sick? Fuck! She’d have been terrified. How had she paid the hospital bill? Jesus, I’d fucking abandoned her.

I could hear the other men talking, but they were drowned out by the roar in my head.

How could she have forgiven me for that?

And the shit with Nixie! Motherfucker!

She still thought Nixie was pregnant with my baby. That had to be tearing her up inside.

Yet she hadn’t said one word about the miscarriage. How I’d left her to deal with it all alone.

Tears stung my eyes, and I fought the emotion strangling me. I had to fucking find her.

Dropping my hands, I stared straight ahead at the wall. Devastation clawing at me relentlessly.

“When we find her, you can spend the rest of your life making it up to her,” Liam said.

“She thinks Nixie is having my baby,” I replied. “Fuck, I’d been at a goddamn doctor’s appointment with her. Doing the shit I hadn’t gotten to do with Salem, and she didn’t get angry or hold it against me. She never even told me.” I paused and tried to take a breath, but my chest hurt so bad that it wasn’t easy. “It is ripping me to fucking shreds.”

The door to the bar opened, and my gaze swung to see Marlana Newbury walking inside. Her gaze shifted from Liam to me, then stalled on Blaise. A flicker of recognition in her eyes.

“I didn’t realize we’d have a crowd,” she said, looking back at Liam.

“I’ve got things to get back to. Just dropped by for a visit. They’re all yours,” Blaise said, then turned and gave Liam a nod before he started for the door.

“No rush, Mr. Hughes.” Marlana said his name with an emphasis as she raised a brow at him. She wanted him to know she was aware of who he was.

“Things are waiting on me, Mrs. Newbury,” he replied, not pausing to look her way. “But be sure to tell Anders I said hello.”

Marlana tensed and then took a deep breath before moving her focus on a retreating Blaise to us. She shook her head and pursed her lips.

She continued toward us as the door closed, signaling Blaise’s exit.

“Who is Anders?” Liam asked.

I sat silently, staring at her. Needing her to tell me something that would lead me to Salem.

“That would be my boss’s boss,” she replied in a clipped tone. “Anyway, did he have useful information?” she asked.

“Just a family visit to check on things,” Liam replied.

I hadn’t known we weren’t sharing this with her, but message received.

“I see,” she said, not looking convinced. “Very well. I was given this information by someone who wasn’t supposed to share it with us. It’s not DEA knowledge, but there are others looking for the ghost. Those who have the power to do something if they can find him and get the evidence they need to shut down his operation. They got close, and he turned into vapor again. But what they did get in their attempt was that there was a houseguest at the Murphys’ home in Birr. It’s not known who exactly because the staff is well trained not to talk. But one of the maids let it slip to a family member, who then unknowingly shared it with our contact.”

I stood up and jerked my phone out of my pocket and began typing like a man possessed.

“What are you doing?” Marlana asked.

“Finding the airport closest to Birr.”

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