Page 54 of Beautiful Revenge

“Why? Why go to the trouble of creating a completely new identity and disappearing?” I frown. “I know Dad wasn’t a good man. He was abusive toward her, but that seems… I don’t know. Excessive?” I say, and Dylan nods.

“It is. She could have run, and I doubt he’d have chased her. Not as long as she left you behind.” His voice cracks at the end.

I know what he’s getting at. By then, I was what Dad wanted, not her. It’s why he never made a move to date or remarry while I was growing up. Women weren’t his preference.

Fuck. I feel sick just thinking about it.

“Can you look into her new name?”

He nods. “Already on it. I’m looking into her husband as well, and there’s already been some less than pleasant shit come up for him.”

“Less than pleasant, how?” That ball of dread just gets bigger and bigger.

“He’s had a few complaints against him in the past. Nothing seems to have come from them, but I’m working on unsealing the records now.” He narrows his eyes at the computer. “His records shouldn’t be sealed for any reason. It isn’t making sense, but I don’t have a good feeling,” he says quietly.

“Yeah. You and me both,” I tell him, my hand going to my stomach. “I have this feeling of impending dread, guys.”

“That makes three of us then,” Devon says, cursing. “Okay, we need a plan.”

“Cameras. I want cameras watching Sophie at all times. We need to know where she’s going to stay when Candice is working,” I state calmly.

Focusing on finding out what she’s afraid of is a lot easier than being haunted by my past right now.

“We can get them outside of Candice’s house no problem. If there are any surveillance cameras set up, I can run interference for a few minutes while Dev sets them up.”

“My mother’s will be a problem, I take it?” I ask.

“Yeah. If they’re hiding something, they’re going to be overly suspicious of their cameras blacking out, even for a few minutes. I don’t want to take the chance of tipping them off until we know exactly what’s going on and why she ran.” Dylan gives me a sad look.

“Don’t look at me like that, Dyl. Don’t,” I say firmly, and he nods.

“I just need you to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” he says gently.

“That my mother could be hurting this little girl? Yeah, I get that. If she is behind Sophie’s fear, she will be dealt with,” I promise, feeling the same determination I had against my own father.

“And if she’s not? What if it’s her husband?” Devon questions.

“It’s possible. We won’t know until I can unseal these records and dig a little deeper into their pasts,” Dylan says, focusing on his computer.

“He’s right. All we can do is wait and see what he finds, Dev,” I add.

“When do you want to do the cameras, then?” Dev asks, and I don’t hesitate.

“Now. We do it now, while it’s dark.”

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