Chapter 16
sixteen
Killian
“Here is the information we have so far.” Liam, one of the lead case managers for Cole Security places a folder on the dining room table, and Tessa reaches her hand out to rest on my thigh like she knows I might need the support
I lower my hand to take her fingers in mine and squeeze before opening the folder.
At this time, Cole Security hasn’t been able to locate Travis.
However, they show a money trail that would make it appear like he’s gone somewhere out of the country.
There’s a plane ticket, a hotel reservation, and car rental in three different places.
One of them is the Caymans, which…of course it is.
The other one is in Europe and the third in South America.
None of it really makes sense because it’s not clear if he went to any of these. There are notes on the side that basically sum up the same conclusion that I have—nothing is adding up.
“What does any of this mean?” I ask.
“There’s a summary on the last page, but basically, we’ve ruled out him going to the Cayman Islands.
I have two very good friends who are there that would absolutely have confirmed his arrival.
It doesn’t show that Travis ever boarded that flight and they were able to say with certainty, he isn’t there. ”
“How would they know?”
Liam clears his throat. “They’d know.”
That answers nothing. “Okay, let’s go with that then—what about the other two flights?”
“The Europe one is pretty easy to confirm. The agency we communicate with has been digging and have no records of him ever arriving,” Liam explains and then points to the third page.
“My guess is that if he did leave the country, which we can’t find any flight record that has him listed, it was to South America. ”
“So you think he’s in South America?” Tessa asks.
Liam smiles at her. “I think it’s possible. I do have an asset in that location. I’ve reached out, but as you can imagine, communication is difficult at times. I’m working on verifying with one of my coworker’s contacts, but my gut says he’s not there either.”
Tessa and I share a look and then I return my gaze to Liam. “No?”
“I think he’s still local. I think when someone works this hard at misdirection, they’re usually hiding in plain sight. Do you have any information on Travis’s past? Anything he ever mentioned in passing that would be a good place to start?” Liam asks.
I think back on anything he ever said, and I can’t remember even having conversations like that. We didn’t talk about our lives. It was all very much about business and visions for the future.
“I really don’t know,” I admit.
“Did he talk about how he got started?”
Tessa speaks up. “When I did some research on him, I found that he started in Kentucky. He comes from a racing family. His father started his love of horses. However, both of his parents passed away when he was nineteen, which is how he ended up working on a ranch with another pretty famous trainer.”
I stare at her, a little shocked. “You researched him?”
“Of course I did. I get why you didn’t. He was already well-known in the racing world, but I was looking into his past so I could use it if I needed to.” She shrugs.
I could kiss her right now. To know she cares this much means the world to me.
Liam clears his throat, causing me to look away from Tessa.
“Right.” I turn to him. “I didn’t do any of that.”
He nods once. “I get it. We’ll start there. If I can build his backstory more, then I can find possible places where he’d be laying low. What I don’t understand is why he’d just take off like that. Do you think there’s any legitimacy to the rumors?”
“No, I test my horses regularly. One of my closest friends is a veterinarian. The only thing Everett has ever said was that Travis tended to work the horses too hard at times, but he never found anything that would indicate he was doping them.”
I even asked him again the other day, to which he emphatically said he didn’t believe Travis did. The signs of a horse being given performance-enhancing drugs were not visible, and he did routine blood work to make sure. Nothing ever showed as abnormal.
“All right. Give me about a week, and either I’ll have Travis in hand, or we’ll discuss the next step.”
Tessa and I stand and we each shake Liam’s hand. “Thank you.”
“Of course, I’ll be in touch.”
Liam smiles at Tessa. “I have to tell you something.”
Her eyes widen. “Me?”
“Yes. I wanted to mention it before, but I wasn’t sure it was appropriate.”
I’m very confused about what the hell Liam would want to tell her that isn’t appropriate.
However, the look on Tessa’s face shows she’s just as lost as I am. Thankfully, I keep my emotions in check and don’t say anything that would make me look like an asshole.
“I’m not sure…”
“You know my daughter.”
Okay, well, that makes me feel marginally less homicidal.
Tessa tilts her head. “I do? I…I don’t know who that is.”
“Aarabelle.”
Aarabelle, like the publicist that was supposed to be here instead of Tessa?
She laughs softly. “Really? Wow, that’s such a small world.”
“It is, anyway, she’s said a lot of great things about you, and I just wanted to let you know that in case I don’t see you again.”
Tessa grins. “I appreciate that. I love Aara. She’s so sweet and I’ve learned so much from her.”
“I’m glad.” Liam looks to me again. “Mr. Thorn, I’ll call you if I know something sooner.”
“I look forward to it.”
Liam leaves, and Tessa is sitting at the table, reading through the folder he gave us. I move behind her, brushing her hair back and staring over her shoulder.
“The information isn’t going to change, you know?”
She looks up at me from the side. “I know, but…sometimes we see things differently after the initial time. I was just hoping.”
I was hoping for a little time with her.
The last few days we’ve both been busy. She’s been at Penelope’s every day as the new website is launching tomorrow.
I’ve been working with the horses and preparing for the auction.
As well as trying to do some damage control by making calls to different people and explaining some of the situation.
While we’ve fallen asleep together, usually after watching a terrible slapstick comedy that she finds absolutely hilarious until she passes out in the middle, forcing me to watch it with more eye-rolls than I can count, I miss her.
I need a little time with her so I can get a grip on my emotions.
“How about we get out of here?” I ask, not really having a plan but knowing I don’t want to waste this little time we have.
“And go where?”
“Let’s go for a ride.”
Tessa smiles broadly. “Okay. Wait here and let me go change.”
She rushes up to her room and a few minutes later she comes down in those tight jeans I fucking love, a T-shirt, and that stupid pink hat.
I laugh. “Really?”
“I thought I should at least be supportive of the new business.” Tessa loops her arm through mine. “Did you forget yours?”
“I did. Completely slipped my mind,” I tease.
She takes hers off and puts it on my head. “Here. You can borrow mine.”
I chuckle. “Thanks.”
“Happy to help.”
We make our way to the barn, saddle up the horses, and head out.
The sun is just starting to fall, casting the skies in purples, pinks, and still a few blues. I want to bring her back to my favorite part of the land. Where we can just be away from it all.
Tessa follows and pulls alongside me when I stop and we both dismount. We walk hand in hand over to the small clearing where the grass is low enough I can put the blanket out.
We sit, her back against my front, enjoying the silence and just being together.
After a while, Tessa speaks. “I’m glad we came here.”
“I used to ride out here all the time. It’s been a while.”
I can feel her stare on me. “Why did you stop?”
My sister isn’t a topic I talk about with anyone. Even my friends. However, with Tessa, it’s almost too easy and I find myself saying words that I’ve never admitted to anyone else.
“Losing Alicia was difficult in so many ways. I felt as though I failed her and the promise I made to my parents. They died when I was in college and I vowed to take care of her, to make sure she was happy, which I think I did in a way.” At least I tried.
“This was her favorite place. She would saddle up Midnight and come out here anytime she wanted to just escape the hell she was in. Even when riding was painful—physically—she did it.”
Tessa looks up at me from the side. “You’re a great brother and man.”
“I hope so.” My eyes meet Tessa’s and a moment of silent understanding passes between us. It’s as though she can see right through me. “I wanted to give her peace.”
“You did, Killian. I may not have met your sister, but I know that if my brother did all this for me, I would cherish it. It would be the most precious gift that anyone could’ve given me.”
I swallow and turn my gaze back out to the mountain range. “And what gift would you ask for?”
Tessa falls silent, and I wait for her to tell me.
“A way to make a difference,” she finally says before turning back to me. “I’d love to have a place I could open a place for girls who were struggling like me. When I went to that camp, it saved me in so many ways. I’d want to give other young girls the same opportunity.”
“Why can’t you?”
She laughs. “Money. Land. Life. All of the things that matter. Besides, I can’t open a horse camp in New York City, not really any real estate options for that, and I really don’t want to go back to Indiana.”
“I would agree with you there, but those aren’t the only places you could live.”
Her sigh cuts through me as it’s filled with resignation and sadness.
She sits up and turns to face me. “I can’t, Killian.
My family is complicated, and I have to take care of them as much as I can.
I’m new at my job, I make enough to live and help out.
It leaves very little extra funds to buy horses, land, staff, building out a camp, all of that.
It’s not that easy and I know that things aren’t supposed to be.
I’m not naive that way, but it would be pretty much impossible for me to achieve it at this point in my life. ”
“I don’t think it’s impossible. Difficult, absolutely and maybe it’s not the right time, but don’t give up on something you want.”
She shakes her head. “I wish it were that simple.”
“Did the camp you went to close?”
“Yes, about two years ago. The costs were high and…a lot of the staff tried to save it, but they ran on a lot of donations that dried up. Most of the girls who went there were from single-income homes, so there weren’t a lot of discretionary funds to send your daughter to a camp like that.
The upkeep was also astronomical, as you know, feeding, housing, medical care, and all the other things with the horses alone were high costs.
Then you had to feed the campers, house them, and insurance…
it was a lot. I did a bunch of fundraisers to try to help through the years, but it was a drop in the bucket and couldn’t make a meaningful difference. ”
I wish she saw her strength the way I do.
Not everyone would work so hard to benefit others.
She wasn’t going to gain anything by keeping the camp open.
Her life was already forged, she was working or going to school, but to give another girl, even one more, a chance to have a better life, she sacrificed her time.
I cup her cheek. “I bet you made a big of difference for the girls who got to go there because of your efforts.”
She tilts her head and rests her hand against mine. “Just like you did for your sister by giving her a place to be safe.”
I walked right into that one.
I smile. “I see your point.”
“Good.”
“Do you see mine?”
She drops her hand and turns to move back into my arms. “I do, but right now, I just want to enjoy your safe place for a bit.”
I’d let her enjoy anything she wants.
I tighten my grip, holding her close, wishing we could have more, have everything.
Tessa makes me feel more than I’ve ever felt before. She makes me want things that I haven’t thought about in forever.
Forever.
That word.
That promise of things I can’t have because this is all we’ll have.
A blip in time, one that will make us someday sit back and think of the fun we had, but it had to end.
Like a fucking song that breaks your heart at the end.
“You can use as much time as you like.” I kiss her temple and rest my head against hers, giving her a safe place, even if it can’t last.