Page 54 of Accidentally Mine
“What is it?”I urged, fingers digging into her shoulder.“Do you have something to tell me?”
She shook her head violently.“No.No.I just want to go home.”
Completely frustrated, I shook her slightly.“You’re her.Aren’t you?The woman at the scene of the accident.”
“No, I…” Her eyes met mine for the briefest of flashes, filled with remorse and guilt and a hundred other emotions.“I’m sorry.”
She was shaking.Terrified.I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone look so terrified.
I forced my muscles to relax.“Hey.Listen to me.I don’t blame you.It’s okay.You can trust me.Please.Trust me.”
But her eyes strayed past me, to the window beyond my shoulder.
The car slowed to a stop at a red light on Broadway.Before I could say another word, before I could put my mouth on hers and kiss that fear away, she reached behind her and lifted the handle, pushing open the door.Bundling the fabric of her gown in her hands, she jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and ran in the opposite direction, down a dark, empty Broadway sidewalk.
What the hell.
“Roselynn!”I shouted, scrambling across the limo and re-opening the door.Scanning the street, I spotted her.She’d taken off her heels and was at the intersection before I could call her name.When I finally found my voice and shouted her name several times, she didn’t even pause.
Fuck.I started after her, but a bus surged by, and by the time the street cleared for me to cross, she’d disappeared.Worry lanced through me.I told myself she’d be fine, that she’d survived this city and more, long before I’d ever met her.I cursed as I went back to the limo and climbed into the back.
“Give her time,” Ernest said.
I glared at him through the rearview.Right.Time.But she’d told me she was going to flee town for whatever reason, and soon.This could have been the push she needed to leave for good.I scrubbed my hands over my face and dropped my head back against the headrest, then loosened my bow tie.
Then I placed a call to Kyle at the police station.“Hey, asshole,” I said when he answered.“Thanks for calling me back.”
“Your Highness,” Kyle responded, “I would have, but I had this pesky little thing called a job to do.Rebecca Reece disappeared without a trace over two years ago.She was last seen at her dorm at Boston College, arguing with her boyfriend, one Anthony Markin.A real piece of shit.”
Anthony Markin.“What do you know about this Anthony?”
“His father pretty much runs the Boston mafia.”
Fuck.So it was just as her aunt had said.I let out a long breath.“Okay.Do you know the day that she disappeared?The date she was last seen?”
“Not off the top of my…” He exhaled.“Let me check.November third, two and a half years ago.”
I clenched my fists.Everything was starting to make sense.
“Hey,” Kyle said slowly.“Wasn’t that the day of your accident?”
“Can you look into one more thing for me?The name Roselynn Reid.”
“Yeah.I’m in the computer now.”I spelled the name for him and there was a pause as he typed.“Well, this is interesting.”
“Yeah?”I prompted.
“It says she’s twenty-three and lives in Illinois.But she didn’t exist until two years ago.There’s no previous known addresses or anything.Like she just appeared one day.”
She hadn’t just appeared.Rebecca Reece had simply become Roselynn Reid.
“Hey,” my friend continued.“What is this all about?She’s not by any chance the woman who caused the damn accident?”
Shit.I’d told him too much.“Thanks, but I’ve got to go.”
“Wait.Dude.Are you saying Rebecca is hiding out now in Chicago under the name of Roselynn Reid?”
“Sorry, man, I’ve really got to go.Do me a favor and hold that thought until I get back with you,” I said quickly, cutting off the call.
