Page 78 of Twisted Hearts

I reached for my water. My throat had cotton balls stuck in it, and my appetite was ruined. Still, I tried to force it down, knowing Shawn was at the bar behind me, on his phone. I’d heard him earlier talking to Charlie, who was still tracing the money links.

Two weeks before, I’d thought I was running from my fiancé because he was a sexist asshole who had no problems forcing sex because he considered life to be all about him…I’d had no idea it would turn into this.

Now, the way Daniel always treated women made sense. To him, they were disposable, only good for one thing, possibly because that was how he’d been raised.

My only question was…was it MaryAnne pulling the strings? Or Matthew?

At that thought, I slammed my hands to the tabletop, making Shannon jump in surprise. “I’ll be right back.” I hurried to Shawn and pressed my hand to his shoulder to get his attention. “MaryAnne,” I said sharply, and his face shot to me, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“What about her?”

“What if nothing about this has to do with the Johanssens, and it’s all her? She gave my dad the money, right?”

“Yeah.” His blond brows tugged together.

“So is anyone on her? I mean, she’sneveraround. I just always thought she was some abused, meek woman because Matthew was such a complete dick, but what if it’s the opposite—what if she’s the one pulling the strings?”

“We haven’t found her bank accounts that show anything else suspicious except for the money she gave your dad. And as for following her, we literally haven’t seen her.”

“But you don’t know where that came from, right?”

“No. Charlie’s working on it, though, and it’s still possible Matthew took it without her knowledge.”

My head was completely spinning and my pulse thrummed. My idea was completely outside the realm of sane and normal, but wasn’t everything else I’d heard in the last fifteen hours?

“What are you thinking?” He spun in his stool and settled his warm, large hands at my hips.

I fumbled for a moment. With him sitting in front of me so focused and intense, I had a flash of memory of when he’d grabbed my hips just like that. He looked sexy as hell when he was concentrating, and I’d seen that concentrated look on his face a lot in the last day.

He made me feel wild, out of control. He made me feel sexy.

It was better than anything I’d ever felt in my life, even if now wasn’t the time. I forced myself to focus on my life and not my attraction to Shawn. “MaryAnne is never around, Shawn.”

“Okay.”

“So hear me out…I always figured she was hiding out, abused, and the same kind of typical rich woman. But what if she wasn’t around…because she wasn’tthere. What if she’s the one finding girls they’re taking?”

“Addi…” He drew out my name, and I couldn’t figure out if I sounded insane or brilliant.

“Think about it. Women, from the time we’re young, are taught safety. Never walk alone at night. Always have our keys or pepper spray”—I winked—“in your hand to be armed. Never take a drink or an open container from a stranger. Don’t walk too close to cars in parking garages or on the street and always be aware of your surroundings because an evil rapistmanmight be around any corner or hiding in the shadows…but what if that evilmanis a beautiful, refined, wealthy woman?”

He stared at me and finally blinked. “Shit. I’ll call Jaxon.”

“You think I’m right?”

“I think we’re thinking about what you said is the case, that she’s holed up in her home for whatever reason, so we didn’t bother trying to track her movements. If we ignore something that basic knowing her family history, we’d be fucking idiots.”

My shoulders fell, and behind him, Elizabeth and Brenna were finally coming out of the hall. “Also…” I dipped my head and whispered in his ear. Like Shannon said, it was Brenna’s story to tell, but it might be something. “You might want to talk to Jaxon—see if he can talk to Connor, or his wife Brenna. There might be a connection.”

“What are you talking about?” He pulled back.

“Shannon told me Brenna was kidnapped when she was younger. I figured Jaxon might know something since he’s friends with Connor.”

“Right.” His jaw jutted out like it usually did when he was stressed, and then his blue eyes turned on me and made my stomach woozy. I barely braced myself before his hand was at the back of my head, cupping me, pulling me toward his lips with a firm, closed-mouth kiss that left my toes tingling.

“You’re brilliant. And beautiful. Now go make sure you eat your lunch—you’re going to need energy later.” He patted my backside, gently pushing me toward the girls. “I need to get Jaxon on the line.”

I wobbled my way back to the table of women who were hopefully, maybe becoming my friends, my head in the clouds. Somehow, despite the stress and all the madness, one kiss and promise from Shawn and I walked away believing everything was going to be just fine.

---