“Kiely!”
Part of her wanted to be shocked but really, how could she be when her sister was right.
So very right.
She and Tripp hadn’t lasted that many days in confinement before giving in to the attraction between them. The three days had felt like an eternity but really wasn’t.
“He’s an attractive man and you’re a beautiful woman. And the air practically combusts around you. How could I have been wrong?”
“The air combusts?”
“Yeah, it does. Which is yet another reason Tate Greer was never right for you.”
“I thought it was because he was a killer and a criminal.”
Kiely waved a hand. “That, too, of course. But if I suspend all that for the briefest moment—”
Sadie tried to stop her—how did you just suspend criminal activity?—but Kiely steamrolled over it. “Seriously. If you hold that part of it for just a minute, you’ll understand what I’m saying. None of us knew who or what he was and, really, how could we? But we all knew there wasn’t a spark between you. That was what we all kept pushing up against when we tried to talk to you about him. We wanted to know if you were happy.”
“I still say him being a criminal makes sparks a moot point.”
Kiely eyed her through the video chat camera before cutting to the chase once more. “If you’re having what I presume is amazing sex with Lieutenant Hottie, what are you doing emailing me so early in the morning?”
“We had a fight last night.”
“Did you get makeup sex?” When Sadie said nothing, Kiely only smiled again. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I’m still mad at him.”
“Why?”
“Because I gave him a no-strings out to this whole thing. The world is upside down and this place is like a cocoon. But the real world is still outside. Tate’s still not caught and neither is Wes Matthews. I’m a big girl and I know the score.”
“And you told him all that?”
“I was much more eloquent.”
“No wonder you pissed him off.”
The solidarity and support she was so convinced she’d find from her sister was nowhere in evidence. Instead, Sadie’s mouth dropped and she nearly shouted into the screen before she remembered the sleeping baby as well as the sleeping man in the next room.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she hissed instead.
“It means he wants to think he has no strings. But he sure as hell doesn’t want you to actually tell him that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not what he really wants.”
Sadie flopped back on the couch, utterly confused and rapidly losing the thread of the conversation. “This is stupid. And not the regular sort of stupid but the multiple-O stoooopid.” She elongated the middle of the word, pleased when her sister finally seemed to agree.
“Totally. But that’s men for you.” Kiely kissed the top of Alfie’s head again before looking down at him. “I have no idea how they start out this way but end up that way. But somehow they do.”
“Tripp is a grown man. He knows what he wants and I’m trying to respect that. He had that awful thing that happened to him with his fiancée dying…” Sadie searched her sister’s face. “I have to be okay with it if he doesn’t want a relationship.”
“For him?”
Sadie shook her head, the truth crystal clear. “For me. Or it’ll decimate me.”
Kiely’s gaze softened, her tone quiet. “Only you can decide that. But I will tell you one thing. Don’t let him off the hook too easily.”
Sadie heard the stirring from the other room and stared at the closed door before turning her eyes back to her sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means your feelings matter, too. What you want matters, too. You need to believe that, Sadie.”
The clear sound of another human moving around came from the bedroom. “I’ve got to go.”
“Think about what I said?” Kiely added.
“I will.”
Then the screen went dark and Sadie shut down her email just as Tripp came into the living room.
“Morning.”
“Good morning.”
“Everything okay?” His eyes were alert, even through the lingering vestiges of sleep.
“Yeah. Fine. My sister Kiely called me. The baby was up, so it gave them something to do.”
Tripp nodded. “I thought I heard voices.”
Before she could respond with some sort of excuse, he headed for the kitchen, seemingly unconcerned she was already up or that she’d talked to her sister. She heard him open the fridge and the light scrape of a tin can against the countertop when he set it down to prep the coffee maker. Then she caught the sounds of water being added and coffee grounds hitting the filter.
How was it all so normal?
She got off the couch, not sure what she wanted to say yet deeply aware of the need to say it. And as she came upon him in the kitchen—his shoulders broad beneath a navy GRPD T-shirt, gray sweatpants riding low on his hips and his hair mussed from sleep—her sister’s parting words rang loud and clear.
Your feelings matter, too. What you want matters, too.
“I’d like to know about before.”
Tripp’s gaze lifted off the coffee maker, the sleep fading a bit more. “Before what?”
“I’d like to know about your fiancée.”
* * *
Tripp wanted to be angry. Somewhere down low and deep, he wanted to find some ire to blunt the pain and surprise of Sadie’s words.
Only nothing came.
Not fury or frustration, or even the smallest rub of irritation.
Funny, how he’d felt all of those emotions yesterday during their argument and now he couldn’t find a bit of them. Couldn’t conjure them up, no matter how hard he tried.
“You know about Lila?”
“Yes, Tripp. I’m sorry, but I’ve lived in Grand Rapids my whole life. Even if I hadn’t joined the force, I’d have heard the story.”
“But you did join the force.”
“Everyone there knows what happened to you. To her.” Sadie’s voice was gentle, but there was something insistent there, too.
Or maybe it was something insistent inside him.
A driving need to get it all out. Maybe, by finally speaking the words, he’d remove the ashy taste from his tongue and the bitter remorse that always steamrolled him when he thought about Lila and the baby.
Maybe.
“I had a girlfriend named Lila. We’d been dating about six months when we found out she was pregnant.”
Sadie’s eyes went wide at the news of the baby but she remained silent. It was the proof he needed, though, that he had managed to keep that part of the story as his own. The entire GRPD might have known what happened to him but no one had known about the baby.
That seemed monumental, somehow. Like there actually was still something completely private about his grief.
“I’d already made detective a few years by then and had several cases under my belt. I made enemies. And one decided to enact his vengeance when he got out of jail on a technicality.”
“Tripp.” She laid a hand on his arm but he slipped away, moving to the cabinet to pull down a few mugs. Her touch felt good—too good—and there was no way he’d get through this if he let her touch him. So he made himself busy with the mugs and taking spoons from a drawer and even moving to the fridge to get milk.
All while telling her about the day that changed his life.
“We got engaged after we found out about the baby. Lila had a checkup that day and I was going straight to the doctor to meet her.”
He paused, images of the day still so fresh in his mind. The hints of spring in the breeze. The sun that beat down, warming
the still cool air. And the dark, nondescript car that rattled without its muffler, moving through the medical center’s parking lot like a shark preying the waves.
He’d seen it, of course. Heard it first, really. But he’d had no idea what evil lay inside. Or the desperate heart that beat for revenge.
Tripp told Sadie those things as he leaned back against the counter sipping his coffee.
“We were at a medical center and I kept hoping that would be enough to save her. I rationalized it to myself. That by having doctors close by, she’d have to be okay.” He stopped then, the images that were never too far away seeming to fill all the open kitchen space, pushing out the air so that his breath came hard and fast. “But I was wrong.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Of course you are. Everyone’s sorry.” Tripp finally glanced up, surfacing from the depths of his memories. “Everyone always is. But no one is sorrier than me.”
With that, he set down his mug and walked out of the kitchen. He didn’t really care if she had any questions or if there were any other details she needed to know. None of it really mattered anyway.
* * *
Tate extended a hand, issuing a series of commands to Snake as he took a deep breath of the bracing cold air. They hadn’t had any more snow, but it had remained frigid. The freezing temperatures seemed to hone the dog’s reactions, his movements swift and immediate.
Which was exactly the response Tate needed right now.
Sadie and her police officer had vanished again. He’d called in every favor he’d had and no one had seen them or known where they’d gone. The two of them had basically disappeared four days ago and Tate had no idea where.
After three fruitless days spent trying to hunt them down, he’d had a vision overnight. An inspiration, really.
Snake returned when called, his back ramrod straight as he stared up at his master.
Tate flicked his gaze down to the dog, curious how a creature not nearly as smart as a human could be both tool and companion. He’d thought it before, until he’d had an epiphany while training Snake so many years before.
Discipline was nothing more than training with purpose.
All he needed to do was to use what the dog wanted as the reward to keep him in line. Praise. Food. Shelter. Pack. Whatever it was, identify that carrot and then dangle it at the end of a very long stick.
Each and every time, the dog responded in kind. It was time to do the same with Sadie.
She could hide, but all he really needed was the proper point of leverage. A lone carrot to immediately pull her out of hiding.
He issued another command to Snake. And as he watched the dog bound over the cold ground as instructed, Tate considered the perfect place to snatch Sergeant Victoria Colton.
CHAPTER 16
Tripp avoided the wood-chopping routine again, even as he knew there was nowhere inside the cabin that would put him far enough from Sadie.
But he tried.
After he left her unceremoniously in the kitchen, he’d walked off to the bedroom, taking a shower and adding plenty of time to shave, too. Even with meticulous swipes of his razor, he was still done too quickly, so he’d finally opted to sit quietly on the couch and focus on his computer.
Sadie had obviously sensed his reticence to talk further, keeping to herself and focusing on the other department laptop he had with him.
Somehow they made it through most of the morning before she finally spoke. “We should probably start thinking about how to get out of here.”
Tripp glanced up from the report he was reading. “Greer’s still out there.”
“Yeah. And we’re stuck in here. I read Riley’s report this morning and Ashanti’s getting closer on the work with Matthews.”
“So we stay put until it’s done. Until we know you’re safe.”
She ignored his point and kept on pressing hers. “I still keep going back to the bigger idea that the only way we end this is to pit Tate and Wes Matthews against each other.”
“Tate’s trying to kill you.”
“So we make sure he doesn’t succeed.”
He’d spent enough time with Sadie now to know that she wasn’t nearly as flippant as the comment suggested. But still, he couldn’t understand how she could be so blasé. Tate Greer was a threat. Tripp had several GRPD team members hunting for the man even now, trying to find him in any possible location anyone had ever placed him. All to no avail.
He’d ghosted them once again.
And Tripp didn’t want Sadie anywhere near him when the man decided to reappear.
“It’s not like we set you up as bait in the hospital or at my house. You were hidden away and that didn’t stop him.”
“I need to go back to living my life. Between a month in the safe house and now another week of running, I need something different.”
Or she needed away from him.
Underneath, Tripp wondered if that was the real truth here and it drew a harsh stab of pain low in his gut.
He’d believed himself unable—and, more to the point, unwilling—to care for anyone again. But somehow, some way, Sadie had gotten to him. Having sex with her had made it all more real, more tangible, somehow.
But it was being with her. Spending time with her and seeing her at her most personal and intimate that had allowed him to really see her.
Yes, he’d been fascinated before. And he’d even been smitten. But now?
The word love played through his mind, consuming him with all the impact of an avalanche.
He couldn’t be in love with Sadie. Not now, not ever.
“You can go back to living your life after Greer’s caught.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
Although the declaration was pointed, there wasn’t a trace of anger in her tone. Yet it was as effective as waving red before a bull. “Don’t brush me off or dismiss me like I don’t matter, Sadie. It’s my job to keep you safe and I’m going to do it.”
“It’s my job to keep myself safe. I got myself into this and, while I appreciate all you’ve done, it’s time to go home.”
“And what if something happens to you?”
“Then I’ll face the consequences.” She set the computer down on the coffee table and turned to him, eyes pleading. “I’ve spent the past five weeks hiding from my life. I haven’t worked. Haven’t seen my family for much of that. I haven’t even been inside my own home.”
You were with me, that small, traitorous inner voice taunted, before going in for the kill. Where you should be, always.
Only, to hear her now, that time away hadn’t been enough. What was between them wasn’t enough to make her stay. That was rich, coming from a man who refused to admit he cared for her. Maybe even loved her.
But, like always, he fell back on what he knew. What was tangible to him. “You said something to me the other day. About safety being an illusion. Do you believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Then you make my life’s work and the work of everyone else at the GRPD a lie.”
“That’s wildly unfair.”
“Why? Isn’t that what you’re saying? If there’s no such thing as safety and security, why does any of the work we do matter?”
Although she’d remained calm and measured up to now, Tripp saw her fight for composure. “My parents were murdered. Your fiancée and child were murdered. I almost married a man who wants to kill me. What safety is there in a world where any of those things can happen?”
Once again, a brick wall of disagreement seemed to have sprung up between them. “So you acknowledge it. Work with it. You don’t go putting yourself in the crosshairs of a killer.”
“No, Tripp. Instead, you deny any and all happiness in life. You deny yourself love and someone who cares for you because something may happen. You’re accusing
me of wanting to get back to my life but you refuse to live one.”
Tripp’s phone went off, the heavy ring interrupting the still rippling waves of her accusation. He saw Emmanuel’s name on the caller ID screen at the same time a text came in from Cooper Winston.
“McKellar,” he answered.
“Is Sadie with you?” Iglesias’s question was out without preamble.
“Yeah. She has been for several days.”
“Is Vikki with you?”
Ice pitted in the center of his stomach as Tripp shot a glance at Sadie. “No. Why?”
“She hasn’t been seen since this morning.”
Tripp glanced at the sun filtering through the window. “It’s barely noon.”
“Flynn is going out of his mind. They were supposed to meet for an early lunch and when she didn’t show, he got worried. She hasn’t been to work all morning.”
“What’s going on?” Sadie moved beside him, her gaze intent.
“Put me on speaker,” Iglesias ordered.
Tripp did as asked, setting his phone on the table. He reached for Sadie’s hand, not caring about the argument or their philosophical differences on life and love. She was going to need every bit of support he could give her.
“Tell her,” Tripp ordered, willing everything he felt—and all he couldn’t say—into their joined hands.
“Vikki’s gone.”
* * *
Sadie heard the disembodied voice of her future brother-in-law float off the coffee table and tried to process what Emmanuel was saying.
Vikki was gone? She’d never made it to work or a lunch date with Flynn. Nor was she answering her phone.
She wanted to ask questions—knew she should be asking questions—yet nothing came to mind.
Her sister was gone.
They were twins, damn it! Shouldn’t she have felt something? Shouldn’t she have known?
But she’d been here, hidden away. It was just like she’d told Tripp, only now, somehow, it seemed worse. She hadn’t just run from her life, she’d put her sister in the crosshairs of a killer.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense December 2020 Box Set Page 20