Page 40 of Seeking Two Lovers

I made a quick escape to my home office and shut the door against the ruckus, barely answering in time.

“It’s amazing what a little money will get inquiring minds these days,” Higgins said the second I greeted him.

“What’d you find out?” I stood in the middle of the dark room, my entire body tight.

“That place is completely off the grid. Sequestered like that damn Shyamalan movie but without the monsters.”

“Oh, there’s definitely monsters,” I disagreed. “They’re just in human skin.”

“On that, I have to agree from what I’ve seen so far. Public punishments. People shut away in small metal boxes, just like you’d claimed, but when they’re freed, the leader…he kisses their feet and leads them into what appears to be the temple or main gathering room.”

“You managed to get inside the compound?”

“Let’s just say I have eyes in the sky through black market means.”

Drones of some sort, I figured.

“And Sarah?”

The sound of papers shuffling reached through the cell I clutched tight to my ear, my heart racing over what he might have uncovered about Blaine’s sister. Would it set Blaine’s mind at ease? Stir up enough darkness that he’d crash into a deep depression I wouldn’t be able to help him escape?

My fingers curled into my palm, itchy for a soft hand—

“According to records, the cult leader, Abraham Quell, was married to a woman named Clara, but the younger woman I’ve seen countless times walking at his side and holding his hand is no stately raven-haired beauty.”

My lips pressed tight at the memory of what I’d exposed Blaine to with our last hookup—but even more worrisome was where Higgins headed.

“There’s no record of Clara’s death, but no woman I’d seen since keeping watch over the compound matches her description. There’s also no record of Abraham Quell remarrying, but it sure as hell looks like that’s the case. I’m going to send you an image…hold on…”

I put my phone on speaker, and a texted image came through.

My breath caught before I let out a curse at the slightly grainy headshot. She had the same hazel-green eyes as her brother. The same cowlick just left of center in her hairline. An identical deeply furrowed line between her eyes that pulled her dark brows low, portraying deep sadness.

Sarah could have been Blaine’s twin.

“That’s her,” I croaked.

Higgins let out an audible exhale. “She’s pregnant.”

“Fuck.” I rubbed a hand down over my face, pulling at my jaw, my stomach turning inside out. “Quell’s?”

“That would be my guess from what I’ve seen.”

Eyelids slamming shut, I cursed again, knowing how that news would wreck Blaine. “Find everything you can,” I stated through clenched teeth. “I don’t care what it costs or how long it takes. We’re toppling this fucker’s supposed kingdom to the ground.”

Higgins assured me he’d only just begun, and with the intel he’d gathered within a matter of days, I trusted him to get the job done sooner than later.

But my mind wasn’t so easily put to rest. I hated withholding truth from my best friend, but what choice did I have? Until I accomplished what I’d set out to do with the investigator’s help, I needed to keep the shit I’d stirred up to myself to save him anxiety, nightmares, and emptying his guts all over the floor.

Forcing the scowl off my face, I went back to the party, putting on my mask of an ease and lightheartedness I definitely didn’t feel. Thank fuck for all those lessons when I’d been a kid.

A sudden longing for Blaine swelled over me like a crashing wave, but another hit me just as hard for my bikini girl.

I liked Lily. A lot. Loved her bubbly, flirty nature, the way she didn’t filter her thoughts before spewing them out as most of those mingling in my living room did. Kind smiles and soft touches, no qualms, no pretenses. Just…simply her.

Same as Blaine, even though his personality was the complete opposite. Quiet. Introverted. But with honesty and true friendship I could trust.

He was my other longed-for half, and Lily…she soothed a part of me I’d recognized sat empty since Mom had passed. She’d barreled into my life with one app’s pinged notification, and I craved more.

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