Page 70 of A Secret to Die For

“It’s not too late. There’s no statute of limitations for murder. Where did this happen? My father has influence in Oregon, and if the cops aren’t doing their job, he’ll sure as hell find a way to make them.”

“Don’t. Please don’t. I’ll be risking my own life if I go after them, and part of me thinks I’m selfish for that, for not going after justice, but I want to live. I have dark moments, but I want to live. And Mom and Dad would want me to live too.”

“But this is an old case. How long ago did it happen?”

“Sixteen years.”

“Sixteen years.” Garrett raked a hand through already messy hair. “There’s a new generation of cops, new investigative techniques. The perp might not even be alive anymore, but don’t you want to try? Don’t you want closure?”

“He’s alive.”

Garrett’s head whipped around. “How do you know that?”

His tone was clipped, almost staccato, and I began to fear he was angry with me. Angry that I wasn’t as brave as him.

“Because that night at the Peninsula, I wasn’t only running from you. I was running from him too.”

“This motherfucker’s following you?”

“I don’t…I don’t know. He was just there. And don’t suggest interrogating the hotel staff because I have a friend who’s a PI, and she already did that. The only thing we know is that he arrived with another guy in a car registered to a shell company in Delaware. They weren’t guests, and they weren’t there for dinner. It’s a dead end.”

“They were at Hadley’s party? At that dumb fucking unmasking ceremony? I can get a guest list.”

“No, not at the party. At first, I ran because I didn’t want the twins to recognise me, and the monster was outside on the smoking terrace with another man. I figured they were there for me and I freaked out, okay? That’s when I lost my shoe. But Blue—that’s my friend—she says there’s no evidence either way, so maybe it was all some big coincidence? Whatever, as long as he thinks I’m keeping my mouth shut, he leaves me alone, and I just need to bury this. Bury it deep, where somebody with enough power and influence to tamper with autopsy results and shut down a police investigation wants it to stay.”

Garrett was stock still now, his gaze absolutely piercing, and I wanted to hide under the quilt the way I’d hidden in the back of Mom and Dad’s car all those years ago.

“How certain are you that the man you saw at the Peninsula was the same man who killed your parents?”

“I don’t know! At the time, I was sure, but it was a gut reaction, so maybe I got it wrong? The eyes…the pale, pale eyes were the same. But isn’t everyone meant to have a doppelgänger? Please, can’t you come back to bed? I wanted to explain my nightmares, not start a chain reaction that neither of us would be able to control.”

He began pacing again. Great.

“Please?” I begged. “Please? A week ago, my life didn’t matter so much, but then you came back into it and promised me a future that I never thought I’d have, and I just want to live. I want to live with you.”

Finally, he stilled by the bed. “You want to live with me? Guess I’d better clear out half of my closet, then.”

The anger dissipated, and I could tell he was trying to lighten up for my benefit.

“Can we change the subject now? Just fuck me. Tie me up and hold me down and take my mind off this. Take my demons away.”

The energy rolling off Garrett in waves changed. There was still anger, but now he channelled it, and I felt the raw strength of him when he picked me up and threw me onto my stomach.

“You’d better be ready for this.”

I told one more tiny but oh-so-necessary lie.

“I’m ready.”

25

GARRETT

I’d promised Saralisa no lies, but today, I’d lied. I’d fucked her into exhaustion and then told her something urgent had come up at home, but now I was in my office, alternately pacing and googling everything I could find about the Baldwin-Forlani family because what she’d told me last night was insane.

Crazy.

I’d dated a fantasist before, a woman who’d claimed to be the daughter of an English earl before the background check revealed her to be an out-of-work actress from London. The dalliance had lasted less than two weeks before I sent her packing, and I hadn’t cared one way or the other. She’d been nothing, a nobody, a warm pussy to sink my cock into while I waited for the right woman to come along. If she’d asked, I’d have given her a reference because her acting skills had actually been pretty good.

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