Page 111 of A Secret to Die For

“Can you remember what worried you? Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Her face crumpled, and Garrett wrapped her up in a hug until the tears stopped. If Congressman Mandell had been in the room at that moment, I would have taken a blowtorch to his balls and enjoyed every second of it.

“There was a video,” I whispered. “We’ll show you later.”

“I need to get her back to the hotel. Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

That night, I lay awake, turning over the latest horrors in my mind. The revelations. Compass. I knew now why my parents had died, and it was all so…so pointless. Mom had been trapped between a rock and a hard place, between Compass and Congressman Mandell, and it hadn’t even been her fault. And as for Mike Colvin… What a snake. Sure, he might not have cheated on his wife or accepted bribes or raped a helpless young woman, but he’d turned the other cheek to the abuse and exploited the situation instead of trying to fix it. No wonder Mom had wanted to leave politics.

A car drove past on the road outside, and I tensed. Harless was still out there. But the engine faded away in the distance, the building remained silent, and I relaxed again. Thought of my own mistakes.

Because I’d messed up too. By bringing Gracie to help in the search at The Lookout, I’d invited consequences I hadn’t foreseen. I’d hurt her, and it wasn’t lost on me how mad I’d been at Garrett for doing the same thing to me. We’d both done what we thought was right.

We’d both been wrong.

37

SARA

“How’s Gracie?” I asked Garrett.

Thursday morning, and he’d arrived at the old car dealership bearing pastries I didn’t deserve and coffee I couldn’t stomach. His sister wasn’t with him.

“She’s doing better.”

“Is she mad at me for putting her in that situation?”

“She’s mad at Mandell. She mentioned something about a flamethrower.”

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything. For stirring up her pain, for bringing both of you into my mess, for shutting you out these past few days. I was scared—no, terrified—after everything that happened, and losing control of my secrets and the circumstances meant I couldn’t think rationally.”

He opened his arms and I stepped into them, borrowing a little of his strength as I tried not to cry.

“Can you forgive me?” I asked. “Can Gracie?”

“There’s nothing to forgive. Gracie’s resting, but she asked me to give you a hug. As for me, I love you, and that isn’t going to change. You’re mine, Saralisa, and I’ll destroy any man who tries to harm you. Can you forgive me?”

Garrett shouldn’t have gone behind my back, but he’d been trapped too, trapped between a man he thought was a family friend and my hazy memories. If I threw away our relationship, Mandell would win yet again.

“I already have.”

I kissed him. It was only meant to be a quick peck, but he tunnelled his hands through my hair and suddenly, the atmosphere got a whole lot hotter. I finally felt whole again, complete, back where I was meant to be. At least, I did until Blue made a gagging noise behind us.

“Okay, we get it, you’re back together. Congratulations. But we have work to do, hotshot, so put her down. Is that coffee?”

“Help yourself.”

“And you brought Danishes too? Fine, you can stay.”

Garrett kept an arm around my waist as we followed Blue back to Aaron’s study, the scene of so much drama last night. Brooke and Deck were both working today, so there were only six of us present, and Aaron opened up the files one at a time for Garrett to view, first the letter and then the videos. With each clip, Garrett’s fingers dug harder into my hip. By the time we got to Mandell, I had bruises and Garrett had a face like a thundercloud.

“Do we know who any of the women are?” he asked.

Blue shook her head. “No. But if we release the tape, they might come forward.”

“I can see some of those girls being paid players as Samantha alleged, but not the woman with Mandell. She wasn’t acting.”

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