Page 7 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

J amison’s head nearly flew off her shoulders when it snapped around to see how everyone else was taking Toby’s announcement. Silent chaos had ensued, and she and Simone hurried over to watch.

Klausen shook his head as he whispered to the second agent, and Will did the same while her father spoke to him. Rowan remained focused on the laptop, but his eyebrows were raised in shock.

Liam and Samuel shared a glance for a split second, then composed themselves, both signaling Evie to keep going with the charade.

“You are not married, Toby.”

Evie rolled her eyes, acting her little heart out.

Shocking statements aside, Jamison thought her sister was doing a fantastic job.

Ever since the attack on her home, Evie had gone into what they were calling Monster Mama Mode.

She had never been more ready—more willing—to do whatever it took to make this nightmare end.

When Liam approached her with the idea of speaking directly to Toby before his transfer to Florence ADX, Samuel was wholeheartedly against it, but Evie had told him to get the hell over it.

“We would know if you were married.”

There was no record of any marriage, either during his time in prison or while he was free. The investigative team had covered every facet of Toby’s life, and once they were done, an obsessed public took over the task. If Toby had a wife tucked away somewhere, they would know .

“Oh God, I never wanted to tell you this.” Toby covered his face with his hands. “But I was young and stupid, and in my defense, it wasn’t legal.”

Evie remained unimpressed. “Then she’s not your wife.”

“Do we have a record of a Brandy?” Jamison whispered to Will. “That name isn’t sticking out to me.”

Will shook his head. “He’s playing with her after the Samuel comments.”

A constant stream of names scrolled across one of the laptops in front of Rowan. He’d become a man on a mission these past two weeks.

“Not on any visitor list,” Rowan confirmed, calling up a secondary scan. “No co-workers at the hospital here or—” He paused as the scan finished. “At the hospital, he worked at in Miami.”

Toby’s hands dropped, and fat tears rolled down his face. “I’m sorry, Evie. We just said some random vows on a beach.”

Will’s brows knitted together, and he grumbled to himself. “Beach,” he whispered. “Go further back, Rowan. Anything we have on his time in the islands. St. Thomas and Grenada.”

After leaving Haven House, Charlie had taken Toby and CeCe to Houston, where they stayed for a time before going to live in St. Thomas.

Inheriting his mother’s villa, Charlie enrolled the kids in school and seemed to live a normal life.

But never one to stay out of trouble long, they learned he lost the villa in a poker game and had to live on a sailboat until his son murdered him.

Liam raised his hand to get Evie’s attention. She didn’t look directly at him, but tilted her head just enough to catch his signal.

“Beach,” Liam mouthed. “Ask where.”

“Random vows? On a beach?” Evie sneered at Toby. “How lovely.”

Evie hated the beach. She would occasionally go watch Samuel surf or if their girls wanted to play in the sand, but spending time on a beach was probably her sister’s least favorite thing in the world, and Toby knew this.

“I guess there’s no time like the present to speak my truth, considering where they’re sending me.” Toby turned pensive, chewing on his bottom lip. “But it was nice. Our wedding. It was the first time I knew someone could love me for me. It made me think maybe you could love me like that, too. ”

“Nothing during his college years in Grenada.” The screen to Rowan’s left paused in its scrolling, highlighting a name.

“Here we go. Brandy T. Carroll. Antilles Private School in St. Thomas. A couple of years behind Toby, but they would have overlapped.” He ignored the laptop showing Toby and the group behind the screen gathered to watch Rowan engage in a search for the woman.

“Daughter of Bryan Carroll. No mention of a mother in her transcripts.”

Jamison crouched next to Rowan, her face wedged between his and Will’s as they read. “Do we know anything about Bryan Carroll?”

“Yeah,” her father said. “He’s the man Charlie lost the villa to. Drug supplier to a few of the islands down there. When I found out who took the property, I decided Carroll was a big enough pain that even I didn’t want to fuck with the guy to try and get it back.”

“And that’s saying something,” Will mumbled, shifting in his chair to address Klausen and the other agent. “Bryan Carroll. St. Thomas. Drug runner. You know him?”

“Oh yeah. I know him,” the other agent said. “He’s still active. Operating out of St. Lucia these days, far as I know.”

“Shit. This keeps getting better and better.” Will turned back around. “Give me everything you can find on her, Rowan.”

While Rowan continued to search, Evie continued working on Toby.

She had spent the last two days rehearsing with Liam, learning how to act.

Body position. Voice control. Emotional restraint.

Liam had played devil’s advocate to every worst-case scenario Toby might throw at her.

He trained Evie to hold the line and to know when to let it drop.

It had been brutal to watch, but Jamison was sure it had been even harder for her brother. Samuel prowled around through the whole thing. He tried to focus on caring for the girls, but Josie took over that department, knowing it was for the best if he were involved.

“So let me get this straight.” Evie looked pissed, pretending as if Toby had betrayed her. Off to the side, Liam grinned while Samuel scowled. “You married some woman on a beach , then came here and expected me to do what exactly? Play second best to your wife ?”

“Equal,” Toby replied, like he still had it all planned out. “You two will be equal in all things.”

“And I’m sure she loves that idea.”

Toby’s face darkened. “She doesn’t have a choice. ”

“She should have a choice,” Evie snapped. “Marriage is a partnership.”

“Oh, is that what you have? A partnership with Sammy?” Toby snorted and shook his head. “He has you so brainwashed. No offense, but it’s pathetic. I guarantee he doesn’t think of you as his equal.”

“Because you know so much about us.”

Toby remained unnaturally still for a moment, and Jamison checked the heat scan. The indicator showed his body temperature starting to rise, creeping higher and higher as he slid closer to the camera.

“I know everything about you.” Toby blinked one eyelid at a time as he spoke. “I know how you like your coffee and the brand of wine you prefer. I know the type of books you read. I know how you sing along to every song on the radio and play music at a horrifically high volume.”

Distracted by the shift in Toby’s tone, everyone stopped what they were doing, returning their attention to the interview. Jamison moved around the table, already seeing the panic swelling behind Evie’s eyes.

“I know how you sleep with the curtains open at night and how beautiful the moonlight looks on your skin,” Toby went on, his lips twitching when he realized he was striking a nerve.

“I remember standing behind that closet door, watching Sammy fuck you and memorizing every sweet sound you made. I know how the world laughs at you both. They call your marriage something straight out of a soap opera. Strangers worry over the welfare of your kids. What will happen when they enter school, Evie? Do you really think the other children will just let it go? You know they won’t.

They’ll have the whispers of their parents in their little ears, and they’ll repeat those vile things to Harper and Theodora. ”

Evie flinched. Her breathing had picked up, and the color in her cheeks was going from bad to worse.

And it was feeding Toby. The monster, who hadn’t had a meal in years, was gobbling up the pain as if he were starving.

“When they’re old enough, do you think your girls will abandon you?

” Toby asked. “Will they leave their sicko parents behind, too embarrassed to have anything to do with you or Sammy? Trust me. No one wants to be known as a freak, and no one wants to know that their parents are basically step-siblings.”

Evie rose from the chair, eyes wide and unfocused. “I think I’m done here,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Cohen. I can’t. ”

“Not yet.” Realizing he had pushed her too far, Toby stood and knocked his chair over. Desperate and afraid, he screamed. “I might not ever see you again!”

Liam struggled to hold Samuel back, not wanting any engagement between the men, otherwise it might make the situation worse.

Jamison was in motion immediately, ready to pull her sister away, but Evie appeared frozen, either by her panic or from seeing Toby decline into an animal-like state as he thrashed on screen.

Railing against his chains, he roared in denial, begging her not to go.

Before Jamison could make it over, she watched as her father swooped in to guide Evie out of frame. “We’re done,” he shouted, loud enough for the guards in the room to hear. It was their signal to end the interview. “Turn it off.”

All hell broke loose in the interview room. The guards went in simultaneously. It was a coordinated takedown, each handling a different part of Toby’s body as he fought them.

“Evie, please!”

Samuel had Evie in his arms once she was out of the camera’s view. Cradling her to his chest, he comforted his wife as she cried. “You are so fucking brave, Evangeline.”

Toby’s shouting halted when he heard Samuel’s voice. Throughout what felt like endless days and weeks of his trial, the two men glared at each other, with Toby’s lawyers vigilant about keeping their interactions limited, or else Toby would fall into a frenzied, nonsensical state.

Not that her brother needed to interact with Toby. Jamison didn’t doubt Samuel would kill him if given the chance again. Witnessing her brother’s own darkness come out that day in the graveyard would remain forever etched in her memory.

“Let me see you, Sammy!” Toby roared, straining as he battled the guards. “Let me see you.”

Rubbing Evie’s back, Samuel met Liam’s gaze over her head. “It wouldn’t matter. It’s over, and you owe me this.”

When Liam didn’t move immediately, Jamison came over to take his hand. She understood the battle raging in his big brain. Good versus bad. Right versus wrong. He was weighing each outcome on how allowing Samuel to interact with Toby could play out .

“Hey.” She tugged on his fingers, and his midnight brown gaze focused again, meeting hers. “If it were me.”

That was all she needed to say. Since the night the women came, Liam had taken to overthinking everything.

He was angry at himself for allowing it to happen or for missing something that could have prevented it.

But to place him in Samuel’s shoes, to make his mind accept that if things were reversed, he would want to send one last parting shot at the man actively ruining their lives and the lives of so many others.

“Go ahead,” Liam said to Samuel, moving out of his way. “But make it count.”

After handing off Evie to her, Samuel made his way to the laptop. Jamison held her sister tight as everyone waited to see what he would do.

Will stood suddenly when he realized Liam wasn’t going to stop this. “Samuel—”

“Show your face, you bastard,” Toby raged, his screams drowning out whatever Will was about to say. “You think you’ve won? You haven’t won. She’ll never be yours. Evie will always love me, and you can’t erase that!”

The muscle in Samuel’s jaw ticked, and the resolved look that came over him had Jamison holding her breath. He didn’t move to stand in front of it, but instead leaned down so his face filled the prison’s visitation room screen.

Seeing him for the first time in years, Toby went absolutely feral and fought the guards with a newfound strength. Kicking and biting, he struggled to get free, growling like a beast trapped in a cage.

Samuel watched it all with a sinister gleam in his eyes and a condescending smirk growing on his lips, especially when a guard struck Toby directly in the gut with a fist so the four of them could regain control.

Locked in tight, Toby wedged his head in a way that allowed him to see the prison laptop through the arms of the guards. “Listen to me,” he snarled, aiming a finger at Samuel. “This isn’t over. I’m coming for you, fucker.”

Samuel rested a hand on the laptop, prepared to snap it shut, and cut the feed. “Not if I come for you first.”