happened, but it damn sure didn’t excuse what Juliet Prince had done, the pain she’d caused, the terror she had inflicted. Nothing would.
That hadn’t been the point of this place. The interactions that went on here weren’t meant to be excuses to cheat, yet Travis knew that Juliet Prince wasn’t the only person who’d been discarded thanks to those indulgences. He wondered how many people blamed him personally for their ill-fated marriages. She had. Juliet Prince had held Travis personally responsible for her happily ever after going up in flames. The husband had taken their daughter from her, getting sole custody in the divorce. However, Travis suspected that had nothing to do with the new wife and everything to do with the crazy that was Juliet Prince.
Not that he particularly gave a shit about her happiness. In fact, he had to believe she deserved what came to her. Maybe not before, but certainly now. The bitch had traumatized his daughter. Kidnapped her, abandoned her. According to the details that were slowly coming out in therapy, those two days had been hell for Kate. Absolute hell.
But Juliet had also traumatized Kylie and Gage. Travis’s wife and husband had been fraught with terror and grief during the ordeal, and he hadn’t been able to do a damn thing about it. Something else he would never forgive her for.
Which was the reason Travis was hell-bent on ensuring Juliet Prince received payback.
At his hands.
If only he could find her.
The fact that he couldn’t spoke volumes. He wouldn’t deny he had more means than most. Money, power, reputation. He had it all and he’d worked damn hard to earn every bit of it. He had connections from the White House down to the criminal underworld, people who would do whatever he needed.
Yet he hadn’t utilized those connections, relying solely on his cousin Brantley because he knew, once the Navy SEAL set his mind to something, he would see it through. And Travis needed this kept on the down low. Finding her was a priority, but he didn’t need the world to know he had.
So why the fuck hadn’t Juliet Prince been found yet? She was one woman. Where the fuck was she?
As that question bounced around in his head, he fought the urge to return to his office, bury himself in his computer. He’d been looking high and low, running searches of his own in an attempt to nail her down. A couple of times he’d been close, but she had evaded him.
“Hey.”
Glancing over, Travis saw his husband strolling toward him, that worried expression firmly on Gage’s handsome face. It was the same look he’d seen every single day since Kate was returned.
“Yeah?”
“Think maybe we could head out early today? Take the kids to do somethin’?”
“You and Kylie should do that,” he told him, continuing to walk so he could greet the other guests who had ventured out of their rooms for the evening.
“We’d prefer if you came with us.”
“No can do.”
“Why?”
Travis came to an abrupt stop, turning to face his husband. “Because I have shit to do.”
“Do you? Or is that your excuse to ignore us?”
Frowning, Travis lowered his voice. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about?”
Gage’s dark eyebrows lifted skeptically. “You’re gonna stand there and pretend you haven’t been so completely absorbed with finding that woman that you can’t spend an extra minute with us?”
“I see you every damn day,” he countered, his ire rising. “Here. At home. You’re every-fucking-where I am, Gage. That not enough for you?”
The second those words were out of his mouth, Travis wished like hell he could pull them back, swallow them down. He hated the pain he could see in Gage’s eyes.
“No, actually, Trav, it’s not,” Gage bit out. “But hey, you do you, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Travis didn’t get a chance to apologize or argue his point, because Gage spun around and stormed off, heading right for the doors leading to the employee parking lot.
He was tempted to go after him but changed his mind. He didn’t have the energy to fight with Gage right now. And this thing between them—the temper, the frustration—it would dissipate soon enough.
As soon as Travis found that bitch and put the hell they’d all suffered behind them.
*
“Oh, my heavens, Bristol, I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this,” Renee Bridgewater said from her spot at the small table in the daycare kitchen.
“I know.” And boy, did she.
For the third time this week, Jennifer,