Page 77 of Twisted Hearts

“And women.”

“Wo-women—I’m sorry…” She shook her head then moved to a chair instead of next to me on the couch. She took a long drink of her wine. I waited, gave her time to absorb all the outlandish things I was telling her. It was too insane to be true and yet every word was. “I’m sorry…again…what did you say? Women? Like…they’re pimps? And handle prostitution?”

“Sometimes,” I allowed, but that wasn’t even close to the worst of it. “Mostly, they deal with stolen women and shipping them.”

“What?”

“And Jaxon thinks that’s why MaryAnne married Matthew. What better way to claim a major southern port for both drugsandtrafficking than to have the mayor on your side, a man who comes from a long line of power in the city? It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Holy shit,” she murmured. “This is…this is like something right out of a movie.”

“Or one of those books you like to read.” It was a horrible joke at an even more rotten time, but if there was anything I could do to ease her fear, I’d do it.

Unsurprisingly, the joke fell flat. She stared off into space and sipped her wine.

“Addi,” I called, and when she turned her gaze to me, all the desire that had been burning in it now firmly dispelled, I continued. “You’re in their targets. Somehow, I feel this deep in my bones. I need you aware. I need you safe, and I need you to not ever goanywhere, even the hallway at Dreammaker’s, without your pepper spray on you. Do you understand?”

24

Addi

Ididn’t exactly know what I expected Shannon’s expression to be when I told her everything. She asked if she could come have lunch with me on my break at Dreammaker’s, and I definitely didn’t expect her to bring Elizabeth, Jaxon’s sister, who was married to another football player, and Brenna, one of the sweetest and cutest blondes I’d ever met. She was married to Connor, Malcolm’s friend.

They showed up, ordered margaritas, and when I had some time for lunch, I joined them, telling them all about everything that was happening to me.

For the first time, it felt good to unload everything on someone. My mind was still spinning from everything Shawn had told me the night before.

So when I finally spilled everything, all the fantastical and out-of-this-world, mind-boggling details, I expected them to gape. I expected them to find it as wild as I did.

I didn’t expect Brenna to excuse herself, for Elizabeth to rush after her, leaving me alone with a terrified-looking Shannon who chewed her bottom lip and was still cringing.

“What…what the hell was that?” I looked back at the hallway, expecting to see Brenna and Elizabeth return.

“Um…it’s kind of a complicated story, and really it’s Brenna’s story to share, but the shortest version is that when she was a kid, nine or ten, she was kidnapped.”

“What?!”

“And then she was found days later in a shipping container.”

A shiver rolled through me. The previous night, when Shawn had explained everything, it’d still seemed so far-fetched, a story…something I was so removed from. But…Brenna? The sweetheart who sat next to me and was so kind?

Tears burned my eyes. “How horrible. That’s so disgusting and terrifying. Do you…do you think…?”

Oh my God. I was going to puke. Was I seriously involved with a guy who kidnappedchildren? Even if it was against my will…still. And my father? He had some connection to this? The man who raised me thought this was okay? Everything I’d thought sounded absolutely insane and completely unbelievable came crashing down on me. I trembled so hard I wrapped my arms around my stomach. I couldn’t fall apart. Not here, not now…not ever.

Shannon shrugged. “I don’t know if they’re connected. I don’t even know if Brenna would. I just know she was found with other women of all ages.”

I glanced back at the hallway. Maybe…maybe she knew something. But it was so long ago. Twenty years? Surely Matthew and Daniel couldn’t have been connected then. Daniel would have been just a kid as well. But his dad…? He’d been married to MaryAnne for thirty plus years. What if…?

I swallowed down the bile growing in my throat. “God…poor Brenna.”

“All those women who get taken.”

“And…and my dad might be involved somehow. If Saul was at my house…”

“You can’t know that, honey.” She reached out and grabbed my hand. “You don’t know the story. You don’t know what pull they have on him. He might be involved in things he has no knowledge of or that disgust him as much as they do you, but don’t jump to the worst-case scenario without the facts.”

“You’re right.” Fat chance of that happening. On some level, she was right. On an entirely different level…how had this become my life?

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