Page 13 of New Beginnings
“She’s damn good at what she does. I knew if anybody could find anything it would be Rebel fucking Pierce.”
“What can you tell me about her?”
His brows drew together in confusion. “What do you want to know?”
I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know why she interested me so much. And I wanted to know why now and why her.
“Umm... she’s my ex-sister-in-law.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal he’d been married. I’d known this man for years and he’d never said not one damn word about being married before now.
“And when were you going to tell me you were married?”
He let out a weary sigh, his shoulders slumping. “It was a long time ago, man. We were so fucking young. Too young to be married. And I fucked it up, anyway. Rumi put up with a lot of shit from me while we were together until she didn’t.”
He shrugged again like it was nothing, but by the look in his eyes that breakup had done a number on him. Caesar had been a ladies’ man for as long as I’d known him. I’d never known him to settle down and never thought he’d ever have an Old Lady. But the look in his eyes let me know this woman must have meant a lot to him and he fucked it up.
“Anyway, Rumi and Rebel are twins. I met them when we were younger. Rumi was the goody two shoes, where Rebel was thevery epitome of her name. She’s smart, very blunt and has shitty taste in men.”
“I know. I met one of her exes.”
“Although she has shitty taste, she doesn’t hang around them too long. But they’re the kind that can’t take no for an answer when she cuts them loose.”
“Hmmm....”
“Hmmm? What the fuck does that mean?”
“Nothing man. I just wanted to know more about her.”
He narrowed his eyes. “And why is that?”
I leaned back in my chair. “I find her interesting.”
I told him the truth. Rebel Pierce was interesting to me. From the way she dressed, to the way she showed no fear in that situation with her ex when most women would have cried or some shit, and how she bluntly asked me questions about my marriage.
Rebel didn’t back down from asking me the hard question. And I had to admit, I admired that shit. Of course, the question about Dani cheating pissed me off, but I couldn’t fault her for asking. Some of the evidence was pointing in that direction but I also knew Dani and how tight our relationship was. And cheating wasn’t in the playing cards for either of us.
“You find her interesting?” he asked, repeating my question.
“Fuck yeah. Is that so wrong?”
“Not wrong, just strange for you to even look at a woman unless you want to get your dick sucked.”
“Fuck you.” I stuck my middle finger up at him, causing him to chuckle. “Anyway, she found video from the daycare that morning.”
He leaned up in his chair, anger marring his face. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! They said there wasn’t any.”
“I know. Dani received a call that morning, and she was fucking terrified, Caesar. It was all over her face, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I felt so helpless.”
I hadn’t felt that helpless since I made it to the hospital the day of the accident.
“She lied about the appointment?”
“She did but I don’t know why. Why in the hell would she be keeping something from me? We told each other every fucking thing.”
“You know she had her reasons man. Dani was a protector. She was protecting something or someone. We just need to figure out what or who.”
I nodded. “The number couldn’t be traced, but she had been talking to this person for at least three weeks prior to the accident.”
