Page 6 of One More Chance

Maizie was still talking about how they both took the Jaxton family name when Kenna married Jax because Jax and Kennahad legally adopted Maizie. But she had more important things to talk about with Maizie. The teen was already eighteen, legally an adult, and they’d talked at length about her moving in with them. In the end, Maizie had opted to stay in the Airstream in Colorado rather than invade the space of two newlyweds. Not that they’d have minded.

Still, the girl had all the care she needed where she was. Kenna would’ve liked to have Maizie with her, but spending time alone with Jax was never a bad thing. She didn’t want anything about their closeness as a married couple to remind Maizie of the horrific parts of her childhood as the captive of an evil man.

Kenna said, “I’m headed to the doctor’s office right now to find out the results of all the tests.”

Silence was her only answer.

“Jax gave me a cold case. I’ll upload all the pages this afternoon. Want to help me with the research?”

“Why did he give you a cold case?”

“He probably thinks I need a good distraction.” Which, to be fair, she likely did. With all the angst she’d been feeling surrounding what was wrong with her, she could use a juicy distraction. One that had nothing to do with her father, her history, or international criminal consortiums who called themselvesDominatus. The kind of group she couldn’t find a way to take down, no matter how long she worked on it.

“If you need something to do, I have a history paper you can write.”

Kenna laughed. “Not on your life, kiddo.”

“It was worth a try.”

“I’ll upload the cold case fileafteryou’re done with your history paper.”

“Ugh.”

Kenna smiled to herself. “Did you find anything out about the medical center?”

The insurance she should have as Jax’s spouse didn’t kick in until ninety days after the wedding, so it hadn’t started yet. With her kind of enemies, she hadn’t wanted a doctor where her records would be official, so she’d opted for a specific medical center. One that had her on a rougher side of town in front of a rundown strip mall. The store next door was empty, boarded up. “I should rent an office. Hang a shingle.”

“Whatever that means.”

“Set up an office for Banbury Investigations. Like with a sign out front.”

“You have a website.”

“Okay, Two Thousands,” Kenna said, scared to even think about the year Maizie had been born. “But back in thenineteen hundreds, when we had to do thingsbeforethe invention of the internet, we lived on a more…local level.”

“Sounds boring.”

Kenna parked the car but didn’t turn off the engine, so the air-conditioning continued to blow on her. She drank some more iced coffee and watched traffic go by on the four-lane road. A chain hotel sat on the far side. The strip mall housed her doctor’s office, which was a twenty-four-hour medical center that let people pay cash and use whatever name they wanted. There was also a Russian grocery store, and beside that was a children’s consignment clothing boutique.

Maizie continued, “Unlike the dark secrets of that medical center.”

Kenna frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Your doctor? Nicola Santorini? She’s connected with the Mafia in Las Vegas. I had to show Stairns so he could explain it all to me, but he put it together right away. The Santinos are a huge crime family in Vegas, and she did a decent job keeping her life separate from them, but it’s never completely foolproof. You can’t bury everything. Not when so much is online nowadays.”

“And the medical center is part of it, or just Nicola?” If the doctor had changed her name and moved to Phoenix, maybe she wanted nothing to do with the rest of the “family.” Kenna knew the Santino family—or she had known one member. At the time, she hadn’t even realized there were more of them. What happened in Vegas had stayed there when Anthony Santino died on the same night Kenna killed the FBI Director. She’d also killed the man who’d kept Maizie captive.

Maizie had escaped with them.

None of them had ever looked back.

“The medical center is funded by a foundation, and on the surface, it’s this philanthropic cause. Helping people who can’t afford treatment or insurance and who don’t qualify for help to get adequate medical care.”

“And below the surface?”

“The foundation is backed solely by the Santino crime family. They use it to launder money.”

Kenna blew out a breath. “Maybe Nicola has no idea.”

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