She hung up the phone and pressed her forehead to the filthy metal plate covering the wall. Her shoulders shook, as if from the force of unbearable grief. Her words replayed in his mind and he shoved his sympathy away. He had a job to do and his method had never failed him. This wasn’t emotional. It was business.
Schooling his expression, he took a step toward her. She was a paycheck. That was all. Her personal problems were none of his concern. But damn it, why did she have to cry? This was why he needed to get back into security and out of the bounty hunting business. It was fucking draining.
He slowly approached, not wanting to alarm her by his size and presence, which often caught women off guard no matter how calm his mannerisms. He waited for her to notice him. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat.
“Excuse me, ma’am, are you all right?”
She turned and clutched her purse tight to her chest, her back pressing into the payphone. Shit. So much for making a good first impression.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just, you look like you could use some help. Are you stranded? I’m heading to Pennsylvania and would be more than happy to give you a lift if you’re heading in that direction. My name’s Trenton Cole.”
He held out his hand in introduction but she didn't move to touch it. Her brown eyes formed big circles. He dropped his arm to his side.
“Do you need help, ma’am?”
Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin, hiding away any signs of fear with an off-putting practiced ease. “I need money.” She twisted a knob of a diamond ring off her finger and held it out. “I have this I can sell you.”
He frowned and she huffed, her hands moving to her ears and plucking off two diamond studs. Opening her palm, she again held the stones out to him. “What will you give me for these? They’re platinum and the diamonds are real.”
Any normal person would take the jewelry, but he’d rather get paid for a job well done. “I’m sorry. I don’t have that kind of money on me—”
“I’ll take whatever you can spare. You surely have twenty dollars on you. I need to get to my children and I lost the last of my money.”
“I can’t take your jewelry, miss. I have a car. I could offer you a ride, but I won’t take your jewelry.”
“The last man who offered me a ride required a payment I couldn’t abide. He dumped me on the side of the road when I refused to give him what he wanted in exchange. I’d rather pay for my transportation with cash.”
“I don’t need any payment. I just don’t like seeing a woman upset and alone. I want to help you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “No man expects nothing for something. There’s always a cost.”
“I give you my word I only want to take you where you need to go, to your children.”
Skepticism danced in her untrusting eyes. “Why are you going to Pennsylvania?”
“I live there. I’m only in Maryland on business.” He just needed to get her in his truck. He could figure out the rest later.
“What is it you do—Mr. Cole, was it?”
“I’m in security.”
Her gazed traced down his body and remained still for her inspection. There was no hiding his frame under his gray thermal shirt, so he opened his palms in a gesture he hoped translated to non-threatening.
“Maybe this will help.” He reached for his wallet and removed a photograph. “These are my sisters and their children. I’m a good man, miss. I’ve never been arrested and I got a truck outside with an empty seat for anyone that needs it. I can’t, in good conscience, leave you abandoned here.” He held up a Pennsylvania driver’s license. “That’s my name and address.” He smiled awkwardly, mimicking the staged smile on his ID.
Her gaze jerked to the cash in his wallet. “Then take my ring and give me some money so I can be on my way.”
He considered her for a minute. “And what happens when the money runs out? I’d spend the rest of my life wondering what happened to the woman I found crying in the subway. How about this… You keep your ring, as I’m sure your husband would wonder what happened to it, and I’ll give you thirty dollars plus a ride to your children.”
“I don’t have a husband. The ring means nothing to me.”
But she didn’t seem as eager to give away the earrings. Odd, since they weren’t as nice. Pinching thirty dollars between his fingers, he glanced at his watch and folded his wallet, into his pocket. “No more trains are running to Pennsylvania tonight. This isn’t enough for a motel in this area. Let me help you. What part of Pennsylvania are you heading to?”
She hesitated. “New Castle.”
Perfect. He was familiar with the area. “I could get you to your children in a few hours.”
She noticeably processed that information and he felt her resistance weakening, so he pushed his tempting offer.
“By car, you could see them tonight.”
Her hands lowered, fisting the jewels in her palm. He’d strangle his sisters if they ever accepted a ride from a stranger in a subway. It was good sense to say no. But there was something else in her rejection. Something that told him this woman didn’t trust anyone.
“I have a cell phone. You can hold it the entire way and call 911 if at any time you feel threatened.”
Her mouth twisted. “Those numbers only save people who actually get through. If you wanted to hurt me that phone wouldn’t be enough to stop you.”
There was a sad sort of wisdom in her eyes, something that told him she knew this from experience, something that, again, complicated his job. “I just want to get you home.”
The words might have registered as reassurance, but he was repeating his objective so he could remind himself what he was there to do. Get her home and get paid.
But he also wasn’t a bad guy, so he added, “I have no intention of hurting you, miss.”
Exhaling, she wedged the ring back on her finger and clasped the diamonds to her ears. “I’d be very grateful for your help.”
“My truck’s parked in the garage across the street.”
She didn’t walk beside him. Rather, she stuck about two paces behind, which was fine if it made her feel safer. They rode in silence. After days of traveling by bus and on foot, it seemed impossible for her to hold a rigid pose after the first ten miles. As she relaxed so did he.
He figured he should start working on the next step of his plan—building her trust. “Mind if I ask what you were doing in Maryland when your kids are all the way in Pennsylvania?”
Her answer was slow, following another long appraisal of him. “They’re staying with a relative until I can reach them.”
Not true. She had no living relatives according to her husband. What other lies would she tell? “You got girls or boys?”
“Boys.”
A point for honesty. “Older? Boys can be a handful.” He laughed. “But my sisters were no joke growing up. I guess it depends on each kid.”
“Do you have children of your own?”
The more he got her to open up the more she’d let down her guard. “Nope. No kids for me. But I’m the favorite uncle. Why not travel together?”
“We needed to move quickly and I could travel faster without them.”
His brow pinched as another unsettling comment joined the others he’d pushed away. He kept it light, purposefully ignoring her implication that she might be escaping. “Seems to me, for as fast as you say you can travel, they beat ’cha there.”
She responded to his teasing with cold realism. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to take a longer route.”
Making light of things wasn’t winning him any points. He switched up his indifference to concern. Perhaps she’d be more responsive to protectiveness. “You running from someone, ma’am?”
Again, she appraised him, her words tumbling out with a bit of force. “I’m going after the life I deserve. I prefer to think of it as running toward a happy future—for myself and my children.”
Though she
was guarded, Trenton was shocked how easily she gave up telling details. Although she lied about not having a husband, she seemed to offer genuinely honest answers about her situation when she didn’t dodge his questions altogether. But that sort of information would make no difference in the end.
“You said you don’t have a husband. Is that because you aren’t married or because you don’t want to be married anymore?”
When she didn’t answer right away, he glanced her way. She was staring at him, eyes wide. Afraid he might’ve ruined their fragile rapport he quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business.”
They sat in silence for several minutes and he cursed himself for getting too familiar too fast. He was tired. Otherwise, he would have chosen his words more carefully.
When she finally responded, her voice was small and introspective. “It must be different, being as big as you are, never having to be afraid of anything or anyone.”
Surprised she broke the silence, he slowed down and responded with open an ended comment, letting her fill in the blanks. “Everyone’s afraid of something.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think a man your size can imagine what it feels like to live every moment of your life in fear. That’s what my life was like, Mr. Cole. I have no choice but to remain vigilant, unsure if the rules are going to change again. I forget what happiness feels like, but I remember enough to know life shouldn’t be this miserable.”
His chest tightened. She didn’t seem crazy or unbalanced. Just sad. He hated thinking what sort of life might do that to a woman. He hated the idea of stealing away her hope of happiness to return her to misery.
“Your boys must make you happy.”
“I can’t enjoy my children without being punished. I’ve always wanted to be a mother, but I’m not raising my children the way I dreamed I would. I can’t. Not there. I’ve been a wife for seven years, but as far as having a husband, a partner, a normal marriage… Well, I have no idea what that’s like.”
“Your husband scares you?”
“My husband’s a demanding man. He had a good side at one time. I wouldn’t have married him otherwise. He provided for us in a way I can’t criticize but, as the years went on, it turned out he didn’t need a wife as much as he needed a maid or a vessel to bear his sons.” She turned to face the window, muffling her words, but he caught the almost inaudible whisper. “…and a whipping post.”
Taking his eyes off the road, he gauged the sincerity of her words. The truth was there in her tired face. “Did you ever go to the police?”
“There were a lot of nice looking people in that picture you showed me. Are they all your sisters?”
Recognizing her diversion and accepting it, he nodded. “One is my sister’s partner—sort of a sister-in-law—but I’m equally protective of all of them.”
“What would you do if a man you trusted pushed one of them around? Some men hit women but it isn’t always the punches that hurt most.”
His gut twisted at her casual use of the word punches. He didn’t want to imagine his sisters ever having to deal with that kind of treatment or any woman for that matter. “I’d probably wind up in jail myself.” Because he sure as fuck would slaughter anyone who hurt those he loved.
“But revenge doesn’t erase abuse. The only solution is escape. And the baggage is heavy because most disparaging remarks cut too deep to heal. Feeling worthless, hopeless, and like a failure, after you’ve done your best makes that sort of baggage all the more difficult to carry. It breaks a person. I’m very lucky that I’ve broken away. But even I know this isn’t a true escape. It’s just borrowed time until I figure out a better plan.”
This was a bad idea. He shouldn’t care about these details. She kidnapped her kids. That was against the law. Period. If he could get her to admit there was a better way to start over he could possibly get rid of the sick feeling filling his gut every time he imagined hauling her back to Virginia.
“Why not file for divorce and do things legally so you get the law on your side? I’m guessing your husband doesn’t know where you are.”
“Court ordered paperwork won’t change who he is. He’d never let me walk away. I had no choice but to run and I have to succeed. The last time I tried and he caught me…”
He glanced at her as she went silent, her unblinking eyes seeming to see something no one else would ever witness. She drew in a deep, slow breath and faced him.
“By now I imagine he’s hired someone to find us. All I can hope is that I threw him off our trail and that I make it to my children before he does. I don’t have any money and I have very little hope, but if I go back there...” Her head turned, her stark eyes reflecting on the drizzle of the passenger window. “I can never go back.”
There was quiet resignation in her voice, but also determination. Why had he accepted this assignment? This woman wasn’t crazy. Somehow she’d had the foresight to get her children someplace safe to protect them. Or was she feeding him a line of bullshit? Someone was lying to him and it pissed him off that his instincts said it wasn’t her. Damn it.
Pushing away the unsavory wave that soured his stomach, he mentally questioned her honesty. If she was actually telling the truth, the disappointment in her eyes once he usurped her chance at freedom might haunt him forever.
They’d cross that bridge when they got to it. “Well, it looks like you will be seeing your boys soon. We’re crossing over to Pennsylvania in the next mile.” No need to mention she’d be getting hauled back to Virginia.
He thought it best to stop talking for a while and she didn’t seem to mind the silence. As they neared the town of New Castle, she could barely keep still in her seat. She fidgeted with her bag and ran her hand over the wrinkles in her shirt.
As they approached the exit, Trent found himself slowing down to just below the speed limit, reluctant to get to the next part of his plan. “You nervous?”
“I’m something. You have no idea how much I had to go through to get here, Mr. Cole. I can’t thank you enough for keeping your word and delivering me to my children.”
He said nothing, guilt souring the words on the back of his tongue. They pulled in front of a medium-sized home, tucked safely away in the suburbs of New Castle.
The light on the porch flickered and she scrambled to undo her seatbelt. He had to make a move soon. Fuck. He wasn’t a bad guy but at the moment he felt like Lucifer himself.
It’s just a job. Do it and go home to your family. You need this payout.
Her breath hitched as an elderly woman opened the front door and a small child in footie pajamas burst onto the porch.
“Mommy!”
She sprang out of the truck and raced across the lawn, pulling the boy into her arms with surprising strength being that she appeared weaker than a tattered string. The older woman carried a toddler on her hip. Taking the youngest in her arms, she pressed kisses into his pudgy cheek.
Trent sat frozen with his hand on the door, watching the scene play out, paralyzed by crushing ethical awareness. He cursed under his breath as the older son wiped tears from Chloe’s face and asked why she cried. The older woman wiped her wrinkled cheeks and smiled.
He didn’t belong here. This was a private moment and one he wished he didn’t have to see.
Chloe turned and smiled at him, her open hand resting over her chest. She no longer looked like the weathered, desperate woman from the subway. Happiness hid every ounce of fear he’d observed over the journey.
She said something to the woman and turned back to the truck, taking a step in his direction. His foot lifted off the brake and her smile fell, confusion knitting her brow as he eased away from the driveway. He didn’t deserve her thanks because he wasn’t her friend. His intentions were tarnished. Let her live with whatever memory she wanted, but he refused to accept gratitude for misleading her.
He also refused to help a man who would hurt a family like that. Hunt could find someone else to track down his wife. She cou
ld be a raving lunatic of a wife for all he cared. But he believed she was a good mother and was doing what she believed best for those two boys.
He beat himself up as he drove away, wavering between going back and letting her go. “Fuck!” So much for taking the rest of the year off. Why was the right choice always the fucking hardest?
He never did anything half ass. So he intended to see his new solution through. He’d be sure to let her husband know he lost her and the kids crossing the border to Mexico. Hunt would likely hire someone else, but Trent could at least see that she got a decent head start to a peaceful life, a happy life like she wanted. God, he hoped he made the right choice and took the right parent’s side.
As he shifted lanes, something sparkled on the dashboard. Pristine and abandoned, her ring, nestled between two diamond studs, sat on the thirty-dollars he’d given her. He plucked up the cash and held it in his hand for the next ten miles. It wouldn’t pay his bills, but it certainly helped him accept he’d made the right decision in the end.
Chapter One
New Castle, Pennsylvania
Six Years Later
Dr. Chloe Wolfe finished her wine and went to find her coat. It was after midnight and the intimate wedding reception held at her friend slash patient’s home was over. Jade Schultz was officially Mrs. Jeremy Larson and Chloe’s happiness for the couple went beyond what a therapist typically feels for a client.
The coats were piled on the bed of the master bedroom. She located hers and adjusted her scarf. In the dimly lit room, she searched her bag for her keys and the floor creaked behind her. She turned, and her smile fell.
Shock jolted her veins as their gazes met, a thousand volts of electricity thawing her blood with the heat of a thousand white flames. She staggered back as her head shook, certain her mind was playing tricks on her as unforgettable blue eyes stared down at her.
Something Borrowed (New Castle Book 3) Page 3