Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Josh had betrayed her. Grim had gone along with it.
“I mean my team can create a false trail. You did a good job of staying off the grid. I had to do serious legwork to catch up to you,” Kim admitted. “It wasn’t your digital footprint I followed. I had to find people you had connected with.”
“She means you were smart,” Abby said, giving her a pat. “You did a good job but people remembered you because of your kind heart. I think Kim wants to trick your in-laws into thinking you went places you didn’t. So when they inevitably hire someone else, they’ll start looking there.”
“Exactly,” Kim affirmed. “I’m going to lay a false trail that has you disappearing into Mexico approximately two months ago. If I can get them to keep me on the case, I’ll send you further into Central America.”
“It can be dangerous for a woman to travel alone,” Abby mused. “It wouldn’t be surprising if you died. Do you think we could fake some records with the police down there? Money isn’t an object. I’ll write you a check for a retainer.”
“That’s not necessary.” Kim waved her off. “I’m happy to screw with the Holloways. They’re assholes. From what I can tell Micah married Nicole because he knew he could do whatever he wanted with her. No one wiped his socials after he died, and his DMs were full of shit I can’t unsee. No one outside of his family had a good impression of the man. Or rather no one who knew him in a more than casual way. He apparently was good at pretending to not be a violent shitbag of a human for a couple of months at a time.”
It was a good description of who her husband had been. “I think they only tolerated me because they wanted grandchildren. I know he messed with my birth control pills. It’s why I went to Portland and got the shot instead.”
“That was smart of you, baby girl,” Abby praised. “You did a good job, but now you need to let us help you. Now you’re not alone. You have a family around you, and everything is going to be okay.”
She was going to cry again. She’d thought she was all cried out. “Mrs. Barnes-Fleetwood, you need to think about this. They’re dangerous, and being associated with me could cause you problems in the community when it comes out.”
Abby’s auburn hair shook. “You call me Abby for now, and sweet girl, I was the whore of Willow Fork when I was seventeen years old and had only slept with one boy. I loved him but his family didn’t think I was good enough. Do you honestly believe I give a damn what those people think of me? I don’t. I care about what happens to you. They can go straight to hell, so put that out of your mind. And I might be mad at Jack right now, but I do believe him when he says all he was going to do was talk to you.”
“He didn’t call the police and he could have,” Kim pointed out.
“He was never going to call the police. I’m going to admit I’ve been worried he would try something like this, hence me getting in the truck with him when he said he needed a surprise trip to Austin,” Abby admitted. “My husband can be overly protective, and we all knew you were in some kind of trouble. He wasn’t patient. I told him to wait and you would tell us when you were ready.”
There was a lot of that going around. “Josh didn’t wait either.”
“He’s a lot like his daddy. I’m afraid he’s more like Jack in that way than Sam and me. Josh can be as ruthless as his father.” Abby studied her for a moment. “How did he handle it? Did he get mad? I know how Jared handled it, but I’m worried Josh might let his temper flash. Jared had to learn to control himself at a young age.”
“Grim asked me if I did it and when I said I didn’t, he said okay.” Yep. There were the tears because that moment had been so sweet, and she couldn’t trust it. She wasn’t sure she could trust this one. Being coddled by two older women felt too much like having moms who cared about her. It felt like something she’d never once had. “Josh yelled at the twin brothers and asked me if they hurt me and talked about lawyers.”
Abby’s smile was completely satisfied. “That’s my boy. Jared’s been an excellent influence on him. They were on each other, really. I was worried he’d screwed this up, and you haven’t been with him long enough to forgive him.”
“He walked in and started talking like he was taking over,” Nicole complained.