Page 222 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
Theo’s fingers traipsed up and down my back. Soothing. A promise that he could hold whatever I told him.
But how could I admit this?
The secrets that I’d held for so long bellowed from inside me, but they felt too big to expel.
“I was nineteen. He…got me involved in some criminal activity. I was naïve and had no idea what he was actually up to.”
How in the world did I admit this? Give it all to him? I didn’t even know if I could force the words from my mouth if I tried.
“When I realized how dangerous he truly was, Nelly and I left. Just ran like we could leave it all behind. Except I had something Justin wanted.”
I left out the rest of the horrible details.
Theo flinched below me.
“We traveled for years. Just the two of us. Then I met this guy named Jay in a small town in Kansas, and I decided I wanted to stay. Decided that enough time had passed that Justin would have forgotten all about me.”
I could barely swallow around the lump in my throat. “Nelly and I were at the grocery store, and on our way back, I came up on the small house where we were living with Jay, and I just knew. I knew Justin was there. I could feel him. We kept driving and didn’t stop until we were halfway across the country. The next day, I saw on the news that Jay’s body had been found.”
Guilt and grief curled through me, and Theo’s muscles bunched with the information. I knew he was taking it inside. Making it his own. A piece of the vengeance that always prowled beneath his flesh.
“I didn’t know I was pregnant when we left.”
Theo’s jaw clenched. “And you’ve been running ever since.”
“Running. Hiding. Pretending.” I gulped. “I told you I didn’t want to put you in this danger.”
His head shook, and he fiddled with a lock of my hair. “And I told you I’m the exact kind of trouble you need. I will take care of you, Piper. Fight for you. Stand for you.”
Gratitude pulsed.
His mother had been so sickeningly wrong. This man was impossible not to love.
“Whittman isn’t your real last name, is it?”
I shook my head and held tighter to him.
“I’m going to need all of his information.”
I heard the pledge that was carved into that demand.
He was going to hunt him down and do the same thing to him that he’d done to Alicia’s husband.
Fear clamored through my being.
Is that what I wanted him to do? Put himself in the ultimate line of fire for me?
For my son and my grandmother?
My thoughts moved to the sheriff who’d shown up last night. Could he help? Guilt urged me to just come clean, but what would happen to Finn?
“I will give this to you, Theo. I promise. But I need to figure out a couple of things first. This is all so new, and I’ve been carrying it for so long.”
Violence tightened Theo’s face in brutality. “I’ll end him, Piper. Put him in the ground for hurting you.”
“I know.” I paused, contemplating before I continued, “The first several days after we got here, I had the sense that maybe I was being watched…that someone was out there. That same sense when I realized Justin found us in Kansas. But I realize now it was related to Alicia. I think someone had been watching her.”
“Yeah…that black SUV, plus there were a couple times I felt someone lurking on the grounds, too. Guessing he sent his guard here first to scout around to make sure she was here.”
