Chapter 27
Addie just concentrated on her breathing.
Otherwise she was concerned that she was going to pass out or throw up. And airport security didn’t want them leaving the room.
It had been close to an hour since they’d been chased through the airport and it felt like her heart was still racing. Her hands were trembling.
Where was Cash? He’d told Monroe he would be here shortly.
“Look, this is all ridiculous. We just need to get on a plane back home,” Dotty said. She paced up and down the small room they’d been left in. There was a coffee machine, a vending machine, and some tables and chairs, and that was about it.
“Should we go home?” Monroe asked. “What if they follow us there? We were doing what they wanted. I just don’t understand.”
Dotty sighed and sat on one of the chairs. “I don’t get it either. Who are these people? Why are they after us?”
There was a loud voice on the other side of the door, and it suddenly opened. Ink walked in, his face tired. Behind him were Cash and Ralen, both of them looking irritated. Butch followed up in the rear, looking angry.
But he always seemed to look that way.
Addie immediately stood and took several steps toward Cash before she brought herself up short. She couldn’t just go running to him and expect him to take care of her.
He wasn’t hers.
To her shock, though, his gaze zeroed in on her as he strode forward. He ran his gaze over her, as though checking her for injury.
“Addie, are you all right? Did anyone touch you, hurt you?”
She shook her head. Her throat was burning, and there was no chance of her talking right now. Monroe had given her some painkillers, but they’d barely taken the edge off.
“She’s completely lost her voice,” Monroe said. “The police kept asking us all these questions, and Addie was trying to answer them, since she was the one that first saw the men coming towards us, but it’s ruined her voice.”
He frowned, and for a moment, she thought he was going to start scolding her, and she just couldn’t take it. There was no way she could take anyone telling her anything bad right now.
But his face seemed to soften as if he realized she was close to the edge.
“Sorry we took so long to get to you,” Cash told her. “Security wouldn’t let us through until Ink got here.”
“This is all ridiculous,” Dotty said. “All they need to do is escort us onto the plane, and then we’ll be fine.”
Ralen shot her an incredulous look. “You really think you’re going to be fine? What if they come after you in Las Vegas?”
“Why would they?” Dotty asked. “We’re leaving like they want.”
“But why would they come after you now?” Ralen said to her. “You were leaving, so why did they come after you at the airport? And why were their several men? If it was just Vextar who left that message for you guys, then who are all these other men?”
Dotty gave Ralen an uncertain look. “I don’t know.”
“What it means is that you’re probably not safe going home on your own,” Ink said. “I think the three of you need to come with us and let us keep you safe, like we originally wanted to do. I have a safe house set up for you all.”
Dotty shook her head. “I have to get home. I have work to do. I can’t just hole up in some safe house for God knows how long.”
“You can if it’s going to keep you safe,” Butch said, looking tense and angry.
“I can’t imagine how much a safe house costs,” Dotty said.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ink said. “We’re invested in this now.”
But she knew her sister, and she wouldn’t want to be indebted to anybody.
Dotty sighed. “Well, I don’t think we need it.”
“Someone just chased you through the airport and into the women’s toilets,” Ralen pointed out. “Why would you think you don’t need it?”
Dotty glanced at Monroe then at Addie.
“Let us keep you all safe,” Ink said.
“Fine,” Dotty said. “We’ll go to the safe house for a few days, just until we can figure out what is going on, but I’m not staying there any longer than that.”
“And your sisters?” Cash asked. “What about them? Are you just going to play Russian Roulette with their safety as well?”
Addie immediately moved up to Dotty’s side, while Monroe took her other side, backing her like always.
“Everything we do, we do together,” Dotty said to him. “And don’t question my loyalty to my sisters. I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.”
Ink’s phone rang, and he stepped out to take the call with a frown.
“We still don’t know who these people are and why they’re threatening you, or why they would come after you when you’re obviously leaving town,” Ralen said. “It might take more than a few days to sort this all out.”
Butch grunted as though in agreement. Which was odd, since he and Ralen never agreed about anything.
“That’s all I can give this,” Dotty replied. “I need to get back to Las Vegas.”
Ink walked back into the room, his gaze immediately going to Monroe. “Brody thinks he’s worked out why they came after you. It’s because of your social media post.”
Monroe frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Photos that you loaded up onto social media,” Ink said. “The ones of you and Vextar that night.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t post any photos.”
Addie grabbed out her phone and started to look into Monroe’s social media accounts.
Oh hell.
God, what had she been thinking?
“I didn’t post anything,” Monroe protested. “It must be someone else that you’re looking at. It’s not my account.”
Addie turned her phone around and showed Monroe, who immediately grew pale. She took Addie’s phone and started flipping through the photos.
“No, no, no. I didn’t put these up. Oh God, wait. Where’s my phone? Shit. I think I set them up on a schedule. I forgot about it. I did it the night we got married, but I didn’t want to announce it too early in case we went on a honeymoon.”
They all gaped at her.
“I was drunk and not thinking clearly!” She handed Addie back her phone and grabbed her own phone from her handbag. “Shoot, the screen is all cracked. I don’t know if it will even turn on.”
“It still doesn’t explain who those guys were. But maybe Vextar saw those posts and didn’t like them so he sent those men here?” Ink said. “But how did he know you girls were here?”
“Why come after us for those photos?” Monroe asked. “I don’t get it!”
“Maybe it’s because you posted part of his face,” Cash said as he stared at the images over Addie’s shoulder. “They’re kind of blurry, though. But you can just see his side-on profile.”
“They’re terrible!” Monroe said. “I never would have posted these if I was sober.”
“He wasn’t one of the men that was here this afternoon?” Cash asked.
Monroe shook her head. “No, I would have recognized him. I don’t understand. What does it matter if his photo is up on social media anyway?”
“Brody hasn’t been able to find out anything about him,” Ink told her. “He’s likely using a fake name. Which means he probably doesn’t want to be found. Maybe he’s got a warrant out for his arrest.”
“I should have just waited and divorced him quietly,” Monroe said. “Why did I think it was a good idea to chase after him? I mean, if his name is fake, doesn’t that make the marriage void or something?”
“He must have had some form of ID, though, to get married,” Dotty said.
“So why is he using a false identity, and who is he really?” Ink mused.
“Do you really think that he sent men after Monroe because she put a blurry photo of him up on social media?” Dotty asked.
Cash nodded. Addie didn’t understand any of this. It was like she’d woken up in some weird nightmare.
“You definitely don’t have any more photos of him, Monroe?” Cash asked.
“No, I don’t. I would have put them up if they were better. I’m so sorry. I really did forget about how I’d set them up to post.”
Addie wrapped her arm around her sister.
“I can’t believe I married a stranger. I don’t even know who he is. He could be some sort of criminal hiding from the police. And for some reason, he’s sending other people to chase me down? None of this makes any sense.”
“Look, let’s just get you guys somewhere safe, and then we can try and figure all of this out,” Ink said. “Maybe, after a good night’s sleep, some more information might come to you. We’ll get the luggage tomorrow or the day after, hopefully.”
The plane had already left with their luggage onboard.
Monroe nodded sadly. Poor Monroe. She had to feel so bad about all of this, but it wasn’t her fault. How was she meant to know that her husband was using a fake name, and that he was going to send men after her to do God knows what.
As they headed out, Addie spotted the security people who had come to their rescue and nodded over at them, waving her hand.
One of them winked at her, and her smile widened until Cash stepped in their path, blocking her view. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and when she glanced up at him, she saw that he was glaring at the man.
Huh. That was really strange.
Why would he glare at that man? Wasn’t he a stranger? And he’d helped them.
But she didn’t have the voice to ask him. Plus, she was feeling really tired. In fact, the world around her was starting to get a bit fuzzy, and she stumbled as they headed out of the airport via a side door. One of the security guards was escorting them through.
“Whoa, Stowaway. Are you all right?” Cash asked as she leaned heavily against him. She nodded and then stumbled again.
“Addie? Is she all right?” Dotty asked. “Why is she stumbling all over the place? Addie?”
Addie turned to look at Dotty and gave her a small smile to let her know she was all right.
Cash paused and reached down to tilt her head back. He frowned down at her. “I think she’s exhausted.”
To her shock, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her outside. She should have protested, but before she could even figure out how to do that, she was sitting in the back of a truck.
This wasn’t Crystal, and she didn’t think it was Butch’s either, considering it wasn’t pristinely clean.
No, this one had some food wrappers scattered around, and there were coloring pens and a coloring book in the back of the seat in front of her.