Chapter 9
Zane
After a night of tossing and turning, I called Ryker and asked him to sit on the boat to keep watch over Tessa. I’d needed room to breathe. To let my racing thoughts quiet if only for a few minutes.
The side of my face is a bit nastier than I let on last night.
I’ve definitely had worse, but I probably should have gone in for stitches.
Every movement of my mouth, whether to drink coffee, talk, or eat something, sends stinging pain through my cheek.
Still, a run was my only chance to burn off some of this steam.
Bright sunshine sneaks over the horizon, bathing the world in gold as I pick up the pace, pumping my arms faster.
The sand is cool beneath my bare feet as I sprint along the coastline.
Sweat slicks my skin despite the chill hanging in the air, but I keep pushing on, hoping to outrun the myriads of emotions slamming into me every single time I see Tessa.
The fear in her eyes when I threw her to the floor in her dad’s trailer last night.
The scream that ripped from her throat the moment the bullets started flying.
The bruising on her face that first night she’d shown up here.
Anger fuels me like a hit of adrenaline, and I run faster, sprinting until I can hardly breathe. Only then do I slow down and take a pause, giving my racing heart a break. Dropping down onto the sand, I raise my knees and rest my forehead against them.
Lord, I don’t know what to do here. Why is she back? Why did she leave in the first place? Is her return part of Your plan? How can I forgive her for leaving all those years ago? How can I protect her now?
My chest tightens, but no answer comes.
So I push back to my feet, ready to run back toward my boat so I can shower and move on with my day. Before I start, though, my cell rings. I pull it out of the zipped pocket of my joggers and stare down at Tucker Hunt’s name on the screen.
“Knox,” I answer.
While I don’t know Tucker well, I trained with his cousin, Silas, and his twin brother, Dylan.
When Dylan was in trouble last year, I helped them rescue him and his now-wife, Emma.
They’re good people, and he has a knack for getting into places not even law enforcement can legally get into.
At least, not without a body weight in red tape.
“Hey, this a good time?”
“It is if you’ve got answers for me,” I reply, slightly out of breath as I start walking back toward town.
“You sound like you’re out of breath.”
“I was running. What do you have?”
“Fair enough. Okay, so your girl—”
“She’s not my girl,” I interrupt.
Tucker is quiet for a moment, but doesn’t argue when he keeps talking. “Noted. Even though I wasn’t able to find anything on that company she was working for, I did get some info on her whereabouts over the last eighteen years.”
“Great. What do you have for me?”
“Tessa Lane didn’t just run away; she fell off the map eighteen years ago. I’m talking everything. No new credit cards, no usage on her current ones or access to her debit account.”
“I know all of that.”
“Yes, but what I did manage to track down is the name she was living under. Or rather names. She changed them every five years or so.”
She’d said as much. But I wanted confirmation. “How’d you do that?”
“Facial recognition software. I fed an old image of Tessa through a couple databases and got a hit. Tessa Lane is also Taylor Newport, Kate Angelo, Janice Lewis, and, most recently, Lisa Phillips.”
“What could you find on them?”
“Taylor lived in Sacramento, California, and Kate lived in Dallas, Texas. They don’t have anything but birth certificates and driver’s licenses.
No credit cards or tax documents. They both have pretty clean records, and it looks like, as Taylor, she worked at a department store, while Kate was a receptionist at a veterinary clinic. ”
“And Janice? Lisa?”
“Janice is where things get a bit dicey. She had that name for less time than the others because it got listed in a police report out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“Assault?” I ask. Is this the same guy she spoke of before? Or someone else?
“Well, she was working at a truck stop outside of Tulsa, and it looks like she was involved in a domestic dispute with a Jaguar Billings. I looked it up—twice. That’s his birth name.”
Domestic dispute. “She said something about that last night. What did the report say?”
“She was treated at the local hospital for some abrasions and a sprained wrist. He’d been attempting to sexually assault her when someone intervened.”
Rage boils my blood all over again, and I have to bite it down to keep from exploding right here on the beach. “And after that?”
“Janice disappeared, and Lisa popped up in Savannah, Georgia, right after.”
So she’s been running since she left Stormwatch Landing. The thought of her out there alone, with no one to count on, makes my chest ache. “Anything on Lisa?”
“Not really. Lived a quiet life. Looks like she worked as a maid in a local motel a few months before she got a job as a secretary for Southeast Environmental Commission. It’s an environmental agency, though—” He sighs.
“What is it?”
“I’m going to look into them further, but on the surface, things are a little too smooth.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, a company like that? They’re bound to have some kind of lawsuit going on.
Most environmental companies are fighting against big corporations in an attempt to bring about change and all that.
But this one is squeaky clean. It could be because they’re relatively new, but I’ve got a nose for this, and something smells off. ”
Which means it likely is. “I can do some digging. Thanks.”
“I’ll keep looking, too.”
“Be careful, Tucker. If they’re behind what’s happening now, they nearly killed the both of us last night.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “What happened?” The friendly tone from earlier is gone, replaced with a seriousness I’ve come to expect from the Hunts whenever someone they consider family is in danger.
I’m a lucky enough man to be on that list.
“Someone put a whole lot of new holes in the place where Tessa grew up—with us inside.”
“Oh, man. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. Me, too. If you want to leave this alone, I don’t blame you. We’ve got enough to deal with.”
“Nah, I don’t run from a fight. You know that. I’ll be careful, but I’ll see what I can find.” He’s quiet a moment. “Look, I know you tried to find her, but don’t kick yourself over it. I had to do some serious digging to find her, myself.”
“Thanks for this.”
“No problem. Want me to email over what I found?”
“Sure. That would be great, thanks.”
“Anytime, man. Listen, if you need anything—”
“I’ll reach out. Thanks, Tucker.”
“No problem, Zane. Stay safe.”
I end the call and pause to take a deep breath before continuing down the beach.
She was abused by her father and by a man she met afterward. Now, someone is trying to kill her.
Was changing names and living as different people really better than what I could offer her? Or is there more to that story, too?
“Hey there, Cap.” Ryker sets aside his book and stands as soon as I’m on board.
“Thanks for this.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be working tonight, but if you need me, let me know.”
“Will do, thanks.” I start to walk away, then pause. “Actually, can you grab the others? Have everyone meet back here in an hour?”
He nods. “You get word on what’s going on?”
“Tucker got back to me. I’ve got some information, but nothing concrete yet.” I start toward the door, pausing just a moment and turning toward him. “Did she say anything to you?”
He shakes his head. “She’s been down there ever since I got here. Aside from me briefly checking in on her just to make sure she didn’t climb out of one of the windows, I haven’t seen her.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“No problem. See you soon, Cap.”
“See ya.” I turn back toward the door and grip the handle to pull it open.
Tessa is sitting at the table, a notepad in front of her. “I hope you don’t mind, but I pilfered your stash of office supplies.” Since her clothes were destroyed last night, she’s wearing a pair of my joggers and one of my t-shirts.
They’re far too big for her, but she’s breathtaking. And seeing her in them ignites something in me I’m not quite ready to face. Especially not when the anger in my chest is building with every passing second.
“Has your life really been better without me?” I blurt out. I should have prepared. Eased into it, but as the color drains from her face, I realize that approaching it any other way might have just given her time to put those walls back up.
I need them to come down because I desperately need to understand what it was about her new life that was so appealing compared to what I was offering.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I can’t sit, so I cross my arms. “What happened in Dallas, Kate? Or should I call you Janice? Taylor? Oh, I know—” I snap my fingers.
“Lisa. I can’t quite keep up with all the names you have.
” Anger laces every word, and even though I know I should have calmed myself before this conversation, my desire to get answers is stronger than the manners my mother ingrained in me.
I’m all over the place, but I just don’t get it. I don’t understand why she left. None of it makes any sense. After all we’d been through, all we were to each other, I’m just not buying her story that she simply changed her mind.
How could she?
I would have given her everything I could. Would have done anything to make her happy.
Tessa gets to her feet, using a hand on the table to steady herself. “That’s none of your business.”
“It is my business because you showed up on my boat with a stab wound in your thigh.” I take a step closer. “It is my business because I nearly took a bullet for you. If you want my help, you need to be honest.”
“I never said I wanted your help,” she growls. “In fact, I was fairly adamant that I wanted you to leave me be.”