for water and bathroom breaks when she needed them. Her pregnancy wasn’t showing yet, but she did have to pee a lot.
At one point, they brought her a cup of coffee that she left untouched, and later a sandwich from a fast-food place. She ate some of that.
As far as why she stayed away for so long… she had heard the news that her lawyer had been killed and her husband had died.
Frank had stepped out for a moment, so Rubio asked, “Why didn’t you come back when you first heard the news?”
“Because the money in that offshore account didn’t appear out of thin air,” she said flatly. “And Austin attacked me for a reason.”
“Had he ever been violent with you before?”
“No.”
“Where do you think the money came from?”
As Rubio asked those questions, the door opened and Frank returned, followed by another man who redefined the room when he stalked in.
The newcomer wore dark slacks and a white shirt that was open at the throat and rolled up over the arms. He had a muscular, spare frame and moved like a wounded panther, limping slightly, his hard face expressionless. His amber, catlike gaze sparred with hers.
She had been leaning forward, elbows on the table. Now she sat back to tuck her hands underneath the scarred tabletop to hide how they shook.
Her hungry gaze soaked in details. He’d lost weight since the last time she’d seen him. He looked leaner. He looked mean.
Mottled bruises marred his deeply suntanned skin. A new scar slashed along the knife-edge of his jaw, curving around to the back of his neck to disappear into his collar. It looked as if…
Abruptly, she pressed her mouth hard with the heel of one hand. It looked as if he had almost been decapitated. Her stomach heaved. While she hadn’t suffered any morning sickness, for a moment she thought she might vomit up the few bites she had eaten of the chicken sandwich.
The two detectives didn’t notice her reaction. They had focused on the newcomer. Rubio looked shocked. “DA Mason. Good to see you. We hadn’t heard you’d been released from the hospital, or that you’d already returned to work.”
“I left the hospital this afternoon. Officially, I’m on medical leave.” Josiah turned the laser beam of his attention away from her to focus on the two detectives. “But I’m making an exception for a few special cases.”
“I see. Well…” Rubio gave Frank a look that clearly said now what?
Frank responded with an infinitesimal shrug.
Josiah’s hard gaze swung back to Molly. “Mrs. Sullivan, I was one of the guests at the party the night you and your husband had difficulties.”
Hearing her name spoken in his deep voice after so many weeks was like touching a live wire. He was so angry at her. He hadn’t tried to speak to her telepathically. She didn’t dare reach out to him either. Her control felt precarious enough as it was.
“I remember.” She met his gaze steadily.
“Frank has filled me in on things.” Josiah crossed his arms. “If you were so afraid for your life that you’ve stayed away all this time, what made you come back now?”
You. I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. I had no way to find out. Hospitals don’t give out information to anyone other than family. I had only the news to watch.
She waited until she could speak again without losing her shit. “I was tired of waiting and wondering when it might be all right to claim the life I deserve. I decided I needed to have my questions answered about what had happened more than I needed to hide in safety. That I needed more than anything else to confront this.” She spread out both hands, indicating him and the two listening detectives.
His cold expression hadn’t warmed in the slightest. He said to the detectives, “Go grab some coffee.”
“But, sir…” Under the pressure of Josiah’s icy stare, Frank’s protest fizzled into silence. He muttered to Rubio, “Come on. Let’s do as the man says.”
As they filed out, Josiah pulled out the chair across the table from Molly and sat. Holding her gaze, he deliberately put his hand over the recorder that was stationed in the middle of the table and switched it off.
What was he doing now?
Even as she opened her mouth to ask, he said, “The audio might be turned off, but the camera isn’t. They’re watching everything you do.”
“Understood.” More than anything, she wanted to reach out to touch him. She clenched