Page 60 of Malicious Marriage
Dean smiles slightly. “Back then, it was all the rage.”
“I’m sure.” My attention settles on the swirling chocolate pattern as it adds to the milk and slowly combines with Dean’s stirring.
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about that was so important? Bobby’s medical bills?”
“Oh, no, it wasn’t.”
“Is it about the charges Bobby might face?”
My stomach knots further. “Is he going to get into trouble?”
“No. I’m sorting it.”
“What does that mean?”
Dean smiles sweetly. “It means I’m sorting it. So, if it wasn’t that, then was it about your sister?”
My eyes snap back up but Dean’s gaze is down on the pot as he stirs. In the warm, low light of his kitchen, his beard almost looks gold and it’s very flattering against his jaw while being momentarily distracting. “My sister…”
“You should know that I have people working on it. From the information you gave me, I’m looking into the Russians to see if I can find out who she was seeing. To my knowledge, no one on their end has gone missing, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection. My contacts in the police are also helping me and we’re tracking down all airplane manifests from the past three months.”
My eyes widen. “That’s… that’s got to be a lot of manifests.”
“It is, but since her passport hasn’t been in use, then it’s the easiest way to go about it. If we’re lucky, we’ll find someone on one of those manifests who doesn’t really exist.”
He’s doing so much for me already and hearing him talk makes my pulse quicken. Finally, some real effort is being put into tracking down Hailey. Granted, the past three months’ worth of manifests will be useless since she’s been missing for four years, but it’s a start. Once I’m Dean’s wife, I can expand the search to match the truth.
“That’s so kind, thank you so, so much.”
“Of course.” He flashes me a warm smile. “I told you I would help you and I meant it.”
He did. Which only worsens the guilt stirring in my gut. “My sister… isn’t exactly what I wanted to talk about, either.”
“Oh?” Dean lifts one brow and his attention splits between me and the warm milk. “Is there something else?”
“Yes. But I… I don’t quite know how to say it.”
“Honesty is always the best option. Why don’t you tell me straight and we’ll start from there and work backward?”
Honestyfeels like a blade to the heart and I twist my fingers so tightly together, it’s a wonder they don’t break. Honesty is important. And I’m the worst liar out of all of them.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath and press my shoulders back. “I don’t think Trisha’s baby is yours.” That’s as direct as I can manage.
Dean’s hand freezes his stirring and he very slowly lifts his face to me. “That… is straight to the point,” he says tightly while his grip increases on the wooden spoon. “Why?”
“Uhm…” My fingernails dig into the indents between my fingers as my knee starts to bounce. “Last night, I was with Bobby and we were having dinner at his place with his family until he got a call from a friend asking him to pick him up. He agreed and he was picking him up while on a detour to take me back to the—back home. The guy we picked up moves in the same security circles as him, and I believe Bobby said he is friends with Jack, which is how he even got Bobby’s number.”
The words pour out in a rush and the kitchen is painfully silent afterward.
Dean doesn’t speak but he slowly resumes stirring the milk. It’s different this time. Before, he was stirring lazily as if caressing the milk and encouraging it to mix with the chocolate. Now he stirs stiffly, almost robotically, and his knuckles pale significantly.
“So we picked him up and he was drunk out his face talking about this woman he loved who dumped him. On and on he went.” I grow more breathless while I talk as nerves start to get the better of me. “Although I suppose that doesn’t matter. But he… he eventually called her and he was pouring his heart out, all these feelings and promises, and then he said he would be such a good dad to their baby. And he said her name. Trisha. Because… because of the circles he works in, I had this horriblefeeling so I asked him if he meant Trisha Wilcox and he said yes. He kept saying he would be such a good dad to his baby and I…”
Dean stops stirring but the spoon trembles faintly with how tight his grip is. “Name.”
“What?”
“What was his name?”