Page 15 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Evie laid a hand on her belly, and Samuel tried to shove Liam aside. She had already been ordered to rest before all this bullshit with Sinclair, and from what Rowan had heard, things had gone from bad to worse in the baby department.
“He’s very capable of it.” Rubbing circles on her abdomen, Rowan could tell Evie was fighting the urge to wince. He recalibrated the feed, letting it freeze briefly so Toby wouldn’t see her masking the pain. “I mean, at least I’m not just another woman in a harem.”
She sounded disappointed and a tad jealous, which is exactly what Liam wanted.
By the time Rowan unfroze the feed, Toby was buying into it. Locked away for five years, his instincts had dulled, and while it was sick to watch this murderer dissolve into a puddle at the smallest hint of affection from Evie, it was playing into their plans perfectly.
“Don’t say that.” Toby licked his lips, thoughts of an impossible future with Evie likely rolling through his head. “I would have given her up. I would have given them all up. They were nothing.”
“Her?” Evie’s upper lip curled in jealous disgust. “Who are you talking about?”
Toby’s eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but Evie. “No one.”
“Oh, so you’re going to lie to me?” She slid her chair back, the legs scraping on the hardwood floors, giving the move just enough impact. “You know what? I don’t have time for this. I will not sit here and listen to more lies. This whole time, you’ve said that you loved me. How can you love me if there’s aher? And don’t try to make excuses. Love—real love—doesn’t require excuses.”
Frantic over the idea of Evie leaving, Toby panicked. “Brandy!” he rushed out. “Oh, God, please don’t hate me, but her name is Brandy.”
Hitting the jackpot, Evie lowered herself into the chair again. “Tell me about this,” she wrinkled her nose, “Brandy person.”
“She’s my wife.”
Chapter 3
Jamison’s head nearly flew off her shoulders when it snapped around to see how everyone else was taking Toby’s announcement. Silent chaos had ensued, and she and Simone hurried over to watch.
Klausen shook his head as he whispered to the second agent, and Will did the same while her father spoke to him. Rowan remained focused on the laptop, but his eyebrows were raised in shock.
Liam and Samuel shared a glance for a split second, then composed themselves, both signaling Evie to keep going with the charade.
“You are not married, Toby.”
Evie rolled her eyes, acting her little heart out. Shocking statements aside, Jamison thought her sister was doing a fantastic job. Ever since the attack on her home, Evie had gone into what they were calling Monster Mama Mode. She had never been more ready—more willing—to do whatever it took to make this nightmare end. When Liam approached her with the idea of speaking directly to Toby before his transfer to Florence ADX, Samuel was wholeheartedly against it, but Evie had told him to get the hell over it.
“We would know if you were married.”
There was no record of any marriage, either during his time in prison or while he was free. The investigative team had covered every facet of Toby’s life, and once they were done, an obsessed public took over the task. If Toby had a wife tucked away somewhere, they would know.
“Oh God, I never wanted to tell you this.” Toby covered his face with his hands. “But I was young and stupid, and in my defense, it wasn’t legal.”
Evie remained unimpressed. “Then she’s not your wife.”
“Do we have a record of a Brandy?” Jamison whispered to Will. “That name isn’t sticking out to me.”
Will shook his head. “He’s playing with her after the Samuel comments.”
A constant stream of names scrolled across one of the laptops in front of Rowan. He’d become a man on a mission these past two weeks.
“Not on any visitor list,” Rowan confirmed, calling up a secondary scan. “No co-workers at the hospital here or—” He paused as the scan finished. “At the hospital, he worked at in Miami.”
Toby’s hands dropped, and fat tears rolled down his face. “I’m sorry, Evie. We just said some random vows on a beach.”
Will’s brows knitted together, and he grumbled to himself. “Beach,” he whispered. “Go further back, Rowan. Anything we have on his time in the islands. St. Thomas and Grenada.”
After leaving Haven House, Charlie had taken Toby and CeCe to Houston, where they stayed for a time before going to live in St. Thomas. Inheriting his mother’s villa, Charlie enrolled the kids in school and seemed to live a normal life. But never one to stay out of trouble long, they learned he lost the villa in a poker game and had to live on a sailboat until his son murdered him.
Liam raised his hand to get Evie’s attention. She didn’t look directly at him, but tilted her head just enough to catch his signal.
“Beach,” Liam mouthed. “Ask where.”
