Page 38 of Twisted Hearts

“What’d he say?” She wrung her hands together in her lap and chewed that bottom lip. If she kept doing that, she’d make it bleed.

“Not much at all, which was the problem. No name, no description, no basic story of why his son’s fiancée disappeared, and I gotta say, having done this as long as I have, it didn’t sit right.”

“You didn’t take the case?” she asked, her voice wavering, containing hope mixed with no small amount of lingering fear.

“I told him if he couldn’t give me enough information to decide if I wanted to take the case or had the team to handle it, then I wouldn’t. He offered me money, a large amount, and I declined. That seemed to piss him off, which again didn’t sit well with me.” He nodded in my direction, never once taking his eyes off her. “Shawn here said he’d look into it on Monday. We wanted to figure out who he was, who the girl was, see if she was in trouble—not for him, but because there are very few reasons a woman runs on her wedding day, and I’m guessing you had one hell of a reason if you’re coming to me today.”

She faced me, green eyes holding a glossy sheen to them and the color still gone from her face. “You…”

“We got a call we didn’t like and I was going to look into it, but I hadn’t yet.” I turned to Jaxon. “But you did. Before I could.”

He shrugged. “I was here early and thought about it. As I said last week, it was a simple search to find the engagement announcement. Not very many mayors in South Carolina having kids getting engaged. Took about forty seconds before I found you.”

Our very first meeting slammed into me like a ton of bricks.

What’s wrong?

Nothing. It’s the best day of my life.

Best day of my life. That’s what women say when they think of their wedding day.

A rush of breath left me, and I turned to face Addi. She had her hair pushed back with one hand and let it fall down. The color was slowly returning to her cheeks.

I shook my head to clear it. “Maybe we should start this over at the beginning.”

Addi pressed her lips together. Seconds passed where my heart thudded and the urge to demand she start talking pulsed down my spine.

“My name is Adrianna Marquess,” she finally whispered. Her eyes were downcast, staring at her hands in her lap. I had the sudden itch to wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her to me, but I held back. She still looked a moment from running, and I didn’t want to scare her or intrude in her space.

She spoke woodenly as she continued. “My dad has been Matthew Johanssen’s financial manager for as long as I can remember.”

“Matthew is—” Jaxon started, looking at me, but Addi cut him off.

“The mayor of Charleston. His dad was, his grandfather was, and so on and so on. Over a year ago, they came for dinner one night. It wasn’t unusual. We ran in the same social circles and always saw them at the country club or the yacht club.”

Yacht club?She hadn’t seemed to be a woman who came from that kind of wealth when I met her. Either she was damn good at hiding it or I had to freshen up my instincts.

I glanced at Jaxon. Across from us, his expression hadn’t shifted. “Go on.”

“Matthew’s son, Daniel…” She glanced at me once before returning her focus to Jaxon. Good thing too—had she looked at me longer, she would have seen the fury growing in my eyes at the way she said his name. It trembled, barely noticeably, but I caught it.

Perhaps my instincts weren’t so off after all.

“Daniel and I grew up together, same graduation class…everything. He’s…he’s an asshole.” She reached for her water.

“How so?” I asked, jaw clenching tight.

She blew out a breath and pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth.

Across from us, Jaxon gritted his teeth and said, “You can take your time, and you don’t have to tell us everything. By the way you’re reacting, we can fill in the blanks, Adrianna.”

“Addi,” she corrected immediately. “Please, call me Addi. It’s silly, but the day I left, I decided I no longer wanted to be Adrianna Marquess. My family is old money in Charleston. Both my parents come from a long line of generational wealth back to…well, way back before we were ever a country, and the day I fled, I decided I didn’t want anything to do with it, or them, ever again.”

“Addi then,” he said.

She set down her water and curled her hands into fists. Taking a deep breath, she rolled her shoulders back. Her bravery, the way she was clearly fighting against her fears to talk to us spoke volumes—about her, about her strength. She was so damn beautiful while doing it, and my chest ached for her. It ached to touch her and comfort her. I was going to do it, went to shift closer—then she suddenly blurted out the statement that made me freeze.

“Daniel is an asshole in all the ways men can be assholes, especially when it’s toward women.”

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