Page 65 of Twisted Secrets
This is how the rest of my life is going to be.
She wasn’t sure if the thought was scary or exhilarating. Sloan pulled the flip phone out of her purse and turned it on. Teague’s instructions had been detailed to the point of being tedious, but he knew more about puttingpeople in hiding than she did, and she wasn’t about to take any risks that her family could find her. She pressed one, speed-dialing the only number in the phone. Two rings later and her brother’s voice came over the line. “You’re there?”
“Yes.” The house was dark, not even the exterior lights on. “I thought there was someone already here.” The whole reason they’d picked this place to begin with was because Callie had some distant aunt who owned it. Sloan fully expected to have to deal with that once she arrived, but the place looked deserted.
“She’s out of town, but she’ll be back in a few days—a week at most. You have enough money to get you started in the meantime. I can always wire you more if you need it.”
“I won’t need it.” She was going to get a job and provide for herself. Teague had already put himself out there too much for her. She wouldn’t let him take any further risks—or give her any more handouts.
“If you do—or if you need anything—I’m there for you.” He paused. “I’ve got to go, but there will be a package showing up in the next day or two with phones to contact me. Don’t ever use the landline.”
“I won’t. And, Teague, thank you.” She hung up, took a deep breath, and started up the narrow walkway to the front door. She reached for the key she’d shoved in the inner pocket of her purse, when the sound of a foot on the gravel had her turning around. She squinted, trying to make out the details in the darkness. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
A shadow detached itself from the corner of the house to the left of her, and Sloan had to cover her mouth to keep from shrieking as it formed into a hulking brute of a man. He had shoulder-length hair and a close-cropped beard and looked like he was capableof the kind of acts that would put someone into prison for the rest of their life. “Stay back.”
“Trespassing is against the law.”
What is he talking about?She backed up a step, hating the fear that clogged her throat. “I’m renting here.”
“That’s impossible.” His voice was so low, it was almost lost in the nearby sound of the waves hitting the shore.
Get a hold of yourself. You can’t spend the rest of your life jumping at shadows. Now’s the time to discover your spine. She lifted her chin like Keira tended to do before a confrontation, though the move made her feel like an impostor. “Hardly. I have a key.” She turned, resisting every instinct that screamed she was an idiot for presentingthatman with her back, and inserted the key into the lock.
Or she tried.
A hand covered hers and, this time, she couldn’t fight down a small shriek. The man used his hold on her hand to turn her around. Being faced with the fact that he towered over her made her literally shake in her boots.Show no fear. “Get your hands off me.” Instead of coming out harsh, the words were small and weak.
He didn’t answer, just turned her and used the hand not touching her to point at a house about fifteen feet away from where they stood. The lights were on and it appeared downright cheery. “That’s where you’re going.” When she just stood there, shivering, he cursed. “The O’Connor place. That’s the only empty house on the street.”
Callie’s aunt’s name was Sorcha O’Connor. There was no way it was a coincidence—which meant he was right and she was most definitely trespassing. She tried to jerk away, but he held on to her for several seconds—long enough to make it clear he was choosingto let her go. In that second, she could have sworn his thumb traced a line across her inner wrist, but it had to be her imagination, because his expression was just as forbidding as it had been since he appeared.
Show. No. Fear. She took one cautious step back. “I guess that makes us neighbors. I’m Sloan.”
He didn’t respond, didn’t so much as grunt, so she carefully made her way down the steps and back toward the relative safety of the street. He said something, and she turned around, nearly impaling herself on what looked like a rosebush. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m Jude.” She made it a few more steps before his gruff voice carried the rest of his words to her. “Now stay the fuck off my property.”
Thatwould not be a problem. She didn’t want to spend any more time with that horrible man than she already had. Sloan hurried over to the correct house, kicking herself for mistaking the address in the first place. She wasn’t the most social of creatures, but even she wouldn’t have reacted like that man—Jude—had to an honest mistake. It wasn’t as if she’d been peering into his window and taking pictures.
She let herself into the house and locked the door behind her, that barrier between her and the rest of the world allowing her to take her first full breath since she stopped on this street. The hallway led straight into a small living room. It should have felt cramped, but with the dainty couch and coffee table facing the wall of windows, it didn’t. She stopped in front of the windows, trying to see past the glare and into the night. It was no use, so she opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the back porch.
The sound of the ocean was louder here, the reason obvious once she moved past the lightsilluminating the porch. There was a narrow path leading right to the beach, her property and the sand separated by an uneven white picket fence. She almost laughed at the sight.It’s perfect. She didn’t need to see the rest of the house to know that.
All the same, she went back inside to explore. There were two bedrooms, both decorated in shabby-chic beach style, and two massive bathrooms that overlooked the ocean. There were windows everywhere, which should have made her feel like she was living in a fishbowl, but she suspected the views they’d offer in the morning would make it more than worthwhile. She glanced through the nearest window to where her cranky neighbor’s house stood.I wonder what his story is.
“No. Absolutely not. You’ve gone out of your way to leave danger behind, and if there’s one thing that man is, it’s dangerous.” She yawned. Tomorrow would be soon enough to unpack and settle in. Tonight, she was going to take a walk on the beach. Sloan smiled. She’d taken the first step—the most important step. Now all that was left was for her to press forward and make a life for herself here.
A life where she could truly be happy.
***
Despite how the morning started and the sheer volume of the calls he’d had with both Teague and Aiden, the rest of the day went off without much drama. Cillian moved his work into the living room and kept pulling on the leads that he’d gotten from the shell corporations while a Disney movie about Rapunzel played in the background. Hadley couldn’t quite sing the words, but she had the tune of every single song down pat. Even Olivia managed torelax a little, though she got up every half hour to wander the room and look out the windows.
Sometime around Rapunzel using her hair to save the hero, Cillian got sucked back into the numbers. It took longer than he would have liked to crack the shell, only to find another shell within it.What the fuck?That was a lot of work for a measly three percent—which added up to a few grand a quarter from this particular business. Even with all the other businesses that seemed to be paying it, there was barely a hundred thousand dollars missing. It wasn’t exactly chump change, but in their line of work, it wasn’t enough to put this level of effort into.
It just didn’t make any sense.
“Are you hungry?”
