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“Because I couldn’t,” Travis answered angrily.
Travis could be a coldhearted bastard when he wanted to be, but Kade knew he loved his family. Although he was still pissed, Kade had to know what happened. “Tell me everything. And start at the beginning.”
“We don’t have time for that right now. I’ll tell you everything later. We need to find Mia. She has to be scared. She doesn’t know the man who was threatening everyone’s life is no longer a problem.” Travis stood and reached for his suit jacket, pulling it on in jerky motions, acting nothing like his usual calm, controlled self.
“And why is that?” Kade replied, rising to stand beside his brother.
“He’s dead,” Travis remarked with deadly calm. “Unfortunate accident.”
“You should have shared this with me. You’re my goddamn brother,” Kade told him, his tone hostile. That Travis had kept this knowledge to himself for so long still made Kade want to throttle him. Travis always thought he knew what was best for everyone, spent more time trying to fix everyone and everything else except himself.
Travis turned to him abruptly, piercing him with a cold stare. “Why? What would you have done? Gone to find her, thinking we could protect her? Told Max so he could go find her?”
“Probably. She didn’t need to do this. We have security—”
“Agents who failed to protect her from a madman,” Travis informed his brother bitterly. “Max was gone, you were gone…and I was left to make a decision. So I made it. So go ahead…beat the shit out of me for trying to protect our little sister, for never wanting to see her debased and abused again. Had you or Max gone after her, she would have never stayed hidden, never been safe. I’ll live with your hatred if it means you’re all alive,” Travis finished with the ruthlessness of a man who had always done whatever he had to do, his blue eyes glacial and dangerous as he eyed his twin.
Kade flinched, hating it when Travis drilled him with that eerie, arctic glare. “I suppose I need to hear you out. I want to know what happened. You’ll tell me about it on our way to find Mia,” Kade grumbled, knowing he wasn’t going to like what his brother had to say. Much as Travis could be a pain in the ass, he was the glue that kept their family together, the problem solver, the doer of dirty jobs that had to be done.
Travis nodded once curtly and walked toward the door. “I’m pretty sure I know where she is. We’ll have awhile to talk.” Travis stopped at the door, his eyes traveling down Kade’s chest and torso as he mentioned casually, “That’s probably the most butt-ugly shirt I’ve ever seen on you. Congratulations on topping the puke green one with the ugly frogs.”
Kade grinned. “I knew you’d like it.” He followed Travis out the door and to the elevator.
“Are you ever going to grow up?” Travis asked blandly as he stepped into the elevator.
“Not if I can help it.” Kade’s grin grew broader as he watched his twin’s disgruntled expression.
“You’re changing your shirt, right? I’m not traveling with you if you’re wearing that shirt.”
“Sure. I can change. We just have to stop by my house after we tell Max,” Kade answered with a deadpan expression. “I can pick up some extra clothes if we’re going to be gone overnight to go get Mia.”
Travis looked relieved. “Good.”
Kade had no problem with changing his attire. He had a whole closet full of similar shirts at home that he could change into. Despite the urgency of the situation, he snickered quietly as the elevator doors closed.
Later that day, Mia arrived at her grandmother’s forty-acre ranch in Montana, exhausted and deflated, her heart completely shattered. Two weeks ago, she’d gone to Tampa because Travis had sent a team of security to get her, telling her he needed her to come back to Florida. She hadn’t even had a chance to find out why he had contacted her and wanted her to come back. She hadn’t had any contact with Travis, or anyone else from Florida for that matter, since she’d fled the state, bound for Montana, over two years ago. Not until recently, when she’d finally seen them again, not knowing that she hadn’t laid eyes on any of their beloved faces for over two years.
Coming back to Montana this time had been so much different from the time she’d come here to hide, to disappear. No one had been here for years before she had come back to the ranch over two years ago, and even Travis had needed to be reminded that she did have a home here.
She hadn’t been sent on Travis’ private jet in secrecythistime. She’d flown commercial under her own name, leaving a trail so obvious that anyone could find her. It had been done intentionally, to draw attention to the fact that she’d left Tampa. The media had uncovered the fact that she wasn’t dead, and she’d need to lead evil away from the people she loved. If that led malevolence in her direction, it was all for the best. It was better that Danny Harvey findherrather than someone she loved. Let him come after her. She no longer cared. If he knew that she wasn’t dead, hewouldfind her, but it was better to be as far away as possible from her family. She’d be the bait, the lure that brought Danny here, far from Max and her brothers.
Even if Danny doesn’t kill me, even if he does something and goes back to jail…I’ll never be able to go back to Max. I’ll never put him in harm’s way again for something stupid I did in my past.
Mia exited her compact rental car, using the moonlight to find her way up the steps of the ranch style house, the place that she had called home for the last two and a half years. Digging in the dirt of the wilting potted plant next to the door, she grasped the key to the house, dusted her hands on her jeans and opened the door. She flipped on the lights, getting welcome relief from the darkness, thinking it was too bad that it couldn’t illuminate the dimness of her heart and soul. The house still looked the same: comfortable leather furniture in the living room, the stone fireplace that brought coziness on cold Montana winter nights, and tons of memories of the grandmother who had taught her to make her first piece of jewelry right here in this home. She’d found peace here; she’d found herself here. But now, she could feel nothing except a hopelessness that nearly swallowed her whole. There had never been a time when she hadn’t yearned for Max, but after seeing him again, the pain of separation was unbearable.
Dropping her purse and house key onto the couch, she made her way to the kitchen, glancing at the clock to make sure it wasn’t too late to call Maude and Harold, her closest neighbors. The ranch was small by Montana standards, a hobby ranch, but it still left her isolated. Maude and Harold watched the ranch when no one was here, which had been all of the time for many years before she had moved in over two years ago. She dialed their number, explaining that she was back and they didn’t need to come over daily anymore to care for the horses. It was something she actually enjoyed doing, and the reason her hands were rough and not manicured. And the exercise around the ranch had slimmed her body naturally. After a short chat with Maude, she hung up, exhausted just from trying to sound cheerful on the phone. Everything was an effort, and trying to pretend like everything was okay was painful. It wasn’t okay. Max was completely gone from her life, and it felt like she had lost part of herself, a portion that she’d never find again.
You’re Mia Hamilton. You don’t have to be Mary Peterson anymore.
She had been Mary Peterson to everyone except Maude and Harold, who knew exactly who she was from her visits when she was younger, when she had spent her summers here with her grandmother. They had been friends with her gran, and there was no way she could have fooled them. Even though it had been years, they remembered her, but they had kept her secret. There had been very few others who really knew her—even as Mary Peterson. She’d lived in isolation at this ranch, making trips to Billings only for supplies, to sell her jewelry, and for her counseling sessions.
It doesn’t matter if everyone knows who I am now. It’s not like I’m keeping any secrets anymore. I’m trying to lure Danny here, away from my family.
Still, it was unlikely that anyone would recognize her, even though she wasn’t planning to hide her real identity anymore. Her neighbors were too busy on their ranches to read social gossip from Florida, and she had always stayed out of the media as much as possible. Even when she went to Billings to see acquaintances again, no one would know who she was, who her parents had been, if she told them her real name. That was one thing she loved about living here. People here either liked her or they didn’t because of the person she was, not because of how much money she had or who her family was.
Mia walked back through the living room, down the hallway and into one of the bedrooms that she had converted into a workshop. As usual, the room was chaotic, exactly as she had left it. But the disorder was an organized mess. She knew where every stone, decorative bead, and piece of metal was located. In the absence of availability of the gems and metals she had usually worked with, Mia had started working on Native American inspired pieces of jewelry and had found her niche as she never had in working on fancy jewelry without any real meaning to her. Now, every piece she made was a labor of love, every article containing a part of her as she’d crafted each ring, bracelet, and pair of earrings.
Miraculously, her unique items had caught on, and she sold enough to make a living, never really needing to touch the money Travis sent.