Page 22 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity (Secure Watch #2)

It had been a long day, but it wasn’t over yet.

Thankfully, the recliner in the cabin was a comfortable place to sit and watch the videos from Binate while Reece worked on whatever Reece worked on.

She had finally convinced him that it was wiser for her to watch the videos while he worked on finding more information on Miles to help Iris.

He didn’t know Miles, so he wouldn’t catch something on the videos that would give him away.

Only she could do that. If it was there to find, she would.

However, her focus was split, making it hard to concentrate on the videos.

What had happened today at Secure One weighed on her—both the health and personal implications.

Autonomic dysreflexia was a dangerous condition that could turn deadly.

Her level of spinal cord injury made it more common, but the episodes she’d had so far were few and far between.

It probably wasn’t fair to compare anything she was going through right now to her day-to-day life.

This was anything but that, the least of which was being in a tight space with Reece Palmer for days on end.

While she thought about him every day, it was easier to pretend she didn’t care about him when he wasn’t protecting her—when he wasn’t sleeping next to her in a buttery-soft, king-size bed.

Her body was…not attractive, to say the least. After years in a wheelchair, gravity had taken its toll, and while she was able to work out her upper body to a degree, there was nothing she could do for her paralyzed abdominal muscles.

She didn’t want to think about her legs.

They used to be what she was most proud of.

She’d had lean, strong, long legs that did everything she asked of them on the field without hesitation.

They were still long, but they were also thin, weak and shriveled.

The skin and bones reminded her every day of her choices, the good and the bad.

Reece walked into the room with two plates in his hands. “Sadie brought dinner. Selina suggested you stay put for the night, so she made us some to-go plates.”

“That was so kind of her,” Skylar said, setting the laptop aside so she could take the plate he held out. “Everyone here truly goes above and beyond.”

Reece sat on the couch beside her chair and handed her silverware and a napkin.

“It’s that military mentality of leaving no man behind.

They carried it over into their civilian work, and it’s served them well so far.

What Cal has built in this little town since he first moved here is nothing short of brilliant.

He started as a mercenary and ended up running one of the most sought-after security companies in the nation. ”

“What’s funny is that he doesn’t act like he knows that.”

“He knows, but he also knows that we got to where we are as a team. You’ll never see him resting on his laurels. He’s not wired that way.”

“I can tell,” she said with a chuckle. “Cal didn’t have to be in that meeting today, but he wanted to keep his thumb on the pulse of what was developing, even if he left it in Mina’s capable hands.”

“You picked up on that, did you?” he asked with a wink.

“Does Sadie do freelance chef work? I could get behind homemade Swedish meatballs like these on a regular basis.”

“I wish!” His laughter was easy for the first time all day. “It’s always sad when I’m here for a week and then go home to my TV dinners and takeout.”

“You’ve been single a long time and still don’t cook?”

“I do, sometimes,” he said with a shrug. “Honestly, it’s more depressing to cook for one than to heat something up and eat it in front of the computer. It makes you feel less alone.”

“I hear that,” she agreed, not making eye contact. “Your computer is my easel, but it’s the same concept. Since Mom and Dad moved to Florida, it’s been difficult. I have friends and people I hang out with, but there are a lot of empty hours to fill.”

“You didn’t want to move to Florida?”

Dropping her fork, she set the plate aside on the end table.

Sadie’s meatballs were filling, and she didn’t want to get sick after the day she’d had.

“We talked about it, but it would have meant finding an accessible place there to accommodate my needs, which wasn’t impossible, but it would have limited my parents when this was their time to make a new life.

They had gone through enough and deserved the freedom to enjoy the life they’d worked hard for all those years.

I didn’t want to hold them back by wheeling around after them. ”

“I know your parents don’t feel that way about it, Sky.”

It was easier to stare at the opposite wall than to make eye contact with him when she talked about her family. “We went through a lot with my brother, Land. Stuff that you don’t even know about. There were things I never told you because I knew you’d kill him if you knew.”

He tipped his head to the side. “You’re not wrong. Especially if it involved him touching you.”

“That time you caught him? It wasn’t the first,” she admitted, shame filling her voice.

She glanced at him and noticed the light go out in that gray eye while fire filled the blue one.

They always said people with two different-colored eyes could see heaven and earth simultaneously.

She was starting to wonder if that was true.

“So help me God, if I find that man alive, he won’t be for long,” Reece ground out, his plate clattering on the table as he tossed it aside to take her hand.

“Why didn’t you tell me? And don’t say it’s because I’d hurt Silas.

You weren’t bothered in the least when I beat him senseless in the seventh grade. ”

“I was ashamed, okay?” she asked, defense clear in her tone as she tried to pull away.

He held tight to her hand and breathed deeply through his nose. “How long, Sky?”

“A couple of years,” she whispered, staring at their joined hands. “It wasn’t all the time, and sometimes I wondered if I dreamed it.”

“Sounds like something a victim would say.” She could tell he was trying to be gentle but wanted to pound on something.

Probably her brother’s face. Reece wasn’t a violent man except when it came to Silas.

It was like he could see under her brother’s skin to the monster he was when no one else could.

“I’m still mad they didn’t kick him out the moment he turned eighteen,” Reece said, holding her hand and leaning in as though he couldn’t stand the distance between them.

She knew that wasn’t true. Not after what happened today, but having someone to talk to who cared about her felt nice.

“I suppose by then it was clear that something was very wrong with Silas.”

“My parents knew something was wrong, but Silas refused to go to therapy. After you beat him and I told them why, they insisted on getting him help. We were all scared out of our minds, and the worst part was I couldn’t talk to anyone about it.

After many years of therapy, I know it wasn’t my fault.

My parents did their best with the hand they’d been dealt.

When my accident happened, everything fell apart with Silas. ”

“Why did your parents work so hard to find him after he left? If everything you said is true, weren’t they happy he was out of their lives? He was twenty-three by then and could more than go it on his own.”

“You’re forgetting that he was their child. We don’t have children, so it’s easy for us to judge what they did or didn’t do.”

“Fair,” Reece agreed. “I’m not judging them. I’m trying to understand their thinking.”

He was more likely digging for an angle to help him find Silas, but she wouldn’t bring that up. He could look all he wanted. Silas was dead.

“I asked my dad about it after the third private investigator couldn’t find him. If I’m honest, his explanation gutted me.”

“He felt guilty, right?”

Skylar made the so-so hand. “Guilty in the respect that he worried letting Silas out in the world unmanaged meant—”

“He might hurt someone.”

She nodded for a long time before she spoke. “Silas had real issues, and leaving home wouldn’t fix them. Staying on his meds and going to therapy would help him, but it’s doubtful that happened.”

“You always use past tense with Silas. Why?”

“Because whether he’s alive or not, he’s dead to me, Reece. We were never siblings. We were two people who lived in the same house. By the time I was born, he was way too old for us to bond with any meaningful kind of relationship.”

“The age difference was there, but that can work in a family’s favor sometimes,” Reece pointed out.

“Sure, if everyone is mentally stable, but we both know Silas was never that. Now we know why. It was no one’s fault, but we had to protect ourselves. The therapist finally convinced my parents that they weren’t responsible for the choices Silas made once he left their house.”

“But you think he’s dead and buried?”

“Definitely dead. Don’t know about buried.

It’s been thirteen years since he left, and we haven’t heard anything from him.

The fact that you’re wasting time looking for him is like watching someone spin their wheels in the mud.

Walk away, Reece. Not only is Silas not behind whatever is going on, but we’re wasting time and energy that could be better used. ”

“Sweetheart, it’s my job to cover every angle of a case. Pretending Silas is dead works for you, and that’s okay, given the history you share, but it doesn’t work in a case like this. We have to look under every rock for anyone who wants to do you harm.”

“He’s dead, Land. And even if he isn’t, he—”

“Isn’t capable of carrying out a plot like this. I know,” he said, holding up his hand to her. “I want you to know I agree with you, but I have to do my job. The last thing I want to do is bring him back into your life, but we have to know if he has anything to do with this. Right?”

This time, she held his gaze, and what she saw in those eyes of heaven and earth said he meant every word.

His search for Silas wasn’t to hurt her.

It was to help her. “You’re right,” she admitted.

“As much as I want to pretend that he’s dead and buried, until we have proof of that, it would be foolish not to consider his involvement. ”

“Did you come up with anything on the videos to help us yet?” he asked, motioning at the laptop.

“No, but I’m not giving up. I will watch them ten times if I have to. Reading the comments on the petition page propped me up. There wasn’t one comment that agreed with whoever this is about me being responsible for these gallery crimes.”

Reece squeezed her hand and smiled. “Hang on to that. Remember that when you return to your normal life, you won’t be shunned in the art world. No one believes you’re responsible for this.”

“It might be better if they did,” she said slowly, her brow going up.

“I don’t follow,” he said, leaning back on the couch.

“Hear me out,” she said, turning on her side a bit to see him better. “If Binate thinks people are buying his story, it might benefit us. If suddenly he sees the tide turning against me, he might ride that wave.”

“Embolden this Binate guy to do or say something that tips us off to his real identity?” Reece asked, following her train of thought.

“That’s what I’m starting to wonder, Land. Should we be feeding his ego rather than fighting it? Can we do that without him knowing it’s a setup?”

“Fake comments on a Facebook page? Mina could do that in her sleep. It would have to be gradual, though, so he doesn’t suspect it’s a ruse. You might be on to something here, angel. Let’s call Mina and get her opinion. If there’s a way, she will know it.”

Angel.

That new nickname was far more dangerous to her heart than Sky would ever be.

Sky was a throwback to their childhood. It was easy and filled her with the warmth of yesteryear.

Angel filled her with a different kind of warmth—the kind of warmth that she’d experienced this morning when his lips were on hers.

It was also the kind of warmth that would break her heart night after night the moment she was alone again.

She couldn’t help but wonder why now. Why tonight?

After what he had witnessed this morning, he should have been walking away.

Then again, maybe it had everything to do with what had happened this morning.

He wasn’t using it as a term of endearment as much as a way to coddle her now that he saw the truth about her fragility.

Her mind wandered back to the look in his eyes this morning when he held her face in his hands and kept her calm as Selina saved her life. That didn’t feel like coddling. That felt like love.