Page 85 of Hero Unbound

“The only possible sketchy stuff I found concerning Gareth Metter is connected to her.”

“Like what?”

“Eva’s got a giant red flag that can be found by a determined six-year-old who has internet access.”

He fought to keep from slamming his fists on the dashboard. “Callum just told me he ran Eva and she had no criminal record.”

“No, this wouldn’t have come up on a criminal background check.”

“Then what is it? Just spit it out, Linc.”

“Evidently, Eva Dempsey studied to be a vet, finished all her vet schooling, and then cheated on her licensing exam. She has been stripped of her degree and is ineligible to practice veterinary medicine anywhere in the United States.”

Theo shut his eyes, trying to process the information. “She’s not a vet, she’s a vet tech. An assistant.”

“There’s no record of her having any sort of vet tech licensing. I assume anything she knows about animals she got from her days in vet school, but dude, she is not legal to practice. The whole cheating thing was a big brouhaha—written up in the paper and everything. She was a disgrace.”

Theo’s hands fell away from the steering wheel. “Any chance she was set up? Eva doesn’t strike me as the type of person who would cheat on a test. Hell, she knows so much about animals, I can’t believe she would need to cheat on a veterinary exam at all.”

“That’s just it, man. She admitted to it. Basically admitted to destroying her own life.”

26

Theo’s mind was still reeling when he pulled up in front of the big house a few minutes later. He could see lights on inside, so he knew Eva was in there. Tucker sat in the darkened south corner of the front porch, barely discernible in the twilight.

As Theo walked up the steps, he could see his friend had donned a holster over his T-shirt, with a Glock G19 tucked inside. Tucker hadn’t known what sort of trouble might be coming, but he’d obviously been determined to be ready for anything.

“Thanks, Tuck. I’ve got it from here.”

Tucker walked forward from the shadows. “There’s been no sign of Metter at all. Everything’s quiet. Want me to hang around, keep watch?”

“No. Further intel from Lincoln suggests Metter probably isn’t a physical threat, so there’s no need for you to stick around.” And Theo definitely didn’t want any outside ears on the conversation he was about to have with Eva.

Especially with the images of her sporting a ring with a huge smile on her face burned into his mind. Why did that make any difference? It shouldn’t.

It didn’t. If she wanted to leave Metter, regardless if they were married, engaged, or had only been dating for two and a half days, she should feel free to do so.

It wasn’t that she’d been engaged to him that bugged Theo. It was that she looked so damned happy in the pictures. Her eyes held not one iota of fear or distrust. Nothing that suggested she was faking her happiness. She looked exactly how you’d expect a newly engaged woman to look—giddy.

And just as bad was this whole cheating on the vet exam nonsense. He’d completely refused to believe what Lincoln told him, so his friend had sent the information to him directly.

Theo couldn’t deny the facts right in front of him.

“Okay, well, I’ll do a couple of laps around the property before heading home. Just to make sure we don’t have any unwelcome guests.”

“Thanks, Tucker. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Theo walked to the front door and then entered without knocking. He’d always walked right in in the past but had stopped when Eva had moved in.

He grimaced. He still should’ve fucking knocked, no matter what he’d found out about her.

She was fooling around in the kitchen cooking something, her back to him. The dogs were underfoot, obviously hoping to catch any scraps that might get dropped. She was humming a tune, stopping every few seconds to mutter something to herself. A few hours ago, he would’ve found it charming.

Now…he wasn’t sure how he felt about anything.

The dogs noticed him before she did, but they didn’t want to leave their spot where they might possibly get some extra food. It was only after he took a few steps into the room that Eva noticed him. She looked up at him with an embarrassed smile.

“Hi. I was trying to cook some chicken breasts for us, and it’s not going so well.”

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