Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,275

A little girl.”

My heart drops to the depths of my stomach before sputtering out a few weak beats. Does he have a child he never told me about?

She pulls out her phone to show me a picture and I can barely see over Chelsea’s blonde hair trying to get a glimpse.

“He’s been with her this entire afternoon. I have to say though, we haven’t seen any untoward affection from either party. He hugged the girl and gave her a high five, but that’s all. It’s just weird that a man would shop with a woman who wasn’t his girlfriend so I figured you’d want to know. I mean…”

“I get what you’re saying,” Victoria says. “The other day Reed acted like I was prying his fingernails off when I went to look for a pair of jeans.”

The PI nods. “I just felt that I should call because other than this, he’s been clean all week. Courthouse, office, and home. He went to lunch with a client one day.” She slides the screen of her phone over to another picture and there’s my friend Scarlett Quinton at a small sandwich place with Roarke. “It’s up to you whether you think this is worth confronting him over.”

I step away from the phone and she presses her hand to an earpiece. “She’s here.” There’s a pause. “Okay.” She stands from the massage chair and her hand falls to her side. “My partner says the woman went into the intimates area after she modeled some pantsuits and the subject had the seamstress come to fit her on two of them. He’s been playing goldfish with the young girl while they’ve been waiting.”

“Oh, we’re going.” Chelsea’s already wide eyes grow bigger and she nods toward the entrance.

Take the step, Hannah. Just confront him and then it’s over.

I hesitate for a second. I don’t know why. But then I remember the humiliation of other people knowing about Todd’s affair before I did. How stupid they must have thought I was, the poor in-the-dark wife.

“Let’s go.” I head toward the entrance, the three women following behind me. With every step, my body weakens. My heart pricks like it’s slowly draining of blood knowing it will soon be in little pieces anyway. This is going to hurt so much more than Todd.

How is that even possible? A man who entered my life only a few short months ago will tear me to pieces more than my marriage did.

We enter the intimates and I see a blonde woman leaving the area with bras, garters, and silk panties in her hands. She smiles over to us in her jeans and t-shirt clad body. I register the fact that she’s about two sizes smaller than me but refuse to examine it right now.

“What’s your name?” Chelsea stops as I pass by to reach Roarke.

My issue isn’t with the woman, it’s with the man who made the promise to me.

“No Chels,” I say.

“Hannah,” the PI who was tailing Roarke nods when she says my name signaling that the blonde is the woman who is with him this afternoon.

I swallow past the lump in my throat. Roarke’s head peers up over the racks of designer clothes. Did he hear my name?

His face pales and his eyes dart over to the woman with me. Seeing the one woman who was shopping, join a woman already with us, I can see that he already understands what just happened. He’s way too smart not to know when someone gets caught in the act. Hell, he’s probably seen the live version of this go down in discovery more than the host of Cheaters has.

“What are you doing here?” He weaves through the racks of clothes.

When he clears them and stands on the carpeted path, a little blonde girl follows, her head peering out through the clothes like they’re curtains.

“Reese,” the woman says and the girl goes to her mom’s side. The mom who’s holding lingerie in her hand.

“Oh sir, I have the receipt for the suits. You can pick them up next Monday. I can ring up those bras and panties next.” The sales associate talks while she’s headed down the path toward our group but everyone’s eyes are on me and Roarke.

“I’d ask for an explanation but I don’t need one,” I say with deathly calm.

“You had me followed?” he asks with the nerve to make it sound like I did something wrong.

“I told you I knew the best.”

A hollow laugh floats out of his mouth. “Why