stand without looking quite as threatening. “Yeah, I slept with Aline when we were in Iran, and I was on the job, but Cain had no way of knowing I’d do that. Hell, I didn’t know I was going to do it.”
“You’re my employee–” Cain began.
I cut him off too. “Aline’s an adult. Was it stupid? Yeah. But I didn’t force her or take advantage of her.”
I didn’t bother to mention the fact that she’d kissed me first or that the reason I’d given in was because she’d thought I didn’t want her. First of all, it wouldn’t do anything to make either of them think better of me, and second, it was none of her damn business.
“Nothing else has anything to do with the agency,” I continued. “That’s all between Aline and me.” I gave the snarling woman a moment to absorb what I’d said before saying the words that tore through me like a knife. “And it’s over. You know that.”
Cain shot me a glance but didn’t ask.
The expression on Freedom’s face slipped. “You mean she didn’t come to you? Didn’t ask if she could stay with you during her little temper tantrum?”
I felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on me. “What are you talking about?”
Now, I saw the worry under the anger.
“Sunday morning, she threw a fit after I told her that I’d…” Freedom’s voice faltered, her eyes darting to the side, but not before I caught a flash of guilt. “She left. Took our car to the bus station and left it there. Our parents and I have tried to call her, but her phone’s off. We called the police, but she’s an adult, and there’s no evidence of foul play.”
My hands curled into fists as fear and fury fought in my chest. Freedom hadn’t said it, but I could guess what she’d told Aline on Sunday morning. No way was it a coincidence that they’d gotten into a fight only hours after Freedom had told me about Aline having been a virgin.
Yeah, I’d left, and I hadn’t talked to Aline since, so that was on me. Truth be told, I knew Aline well enough to know that, if Freedom had told her about the whole conversation, Aline would’ve been even angrier at her sister for the betrayal than she was at me for leaving.
“I tried calling the phone company to get her call and text history, but there’s nothing on it after Saturday night, nothing but our calls and texts to her. I went back to our apartment in Stanford, but she’s not there either. All her stuff is still there. She only took a few things from our parents’ house. Her credit cards haven’t been used either.”
The way Freedom was explaining the situation made me think this was how she’d tried to convince the cops as to why they should be looking for Aline. I was worried about Aline, but it honestly sounded to me like she’d been upset at her family and decided to take some time to cool off.
“Then, Monday, Aline took money from her trust fund. Cash.”
No surprise that Aline had a trust fund, but that was neither here nor there, as my mom liked to say. Sounded to me like she really didn’t want to be found and was smart enough to know how her family would try to track her down.
Again, I couldn’t really blame her, even if the logic wasn’t doing a damn thing to make me less anxious.
“None of her friends have seen her?” Cain asked.
Freedom gave him a dirty look. “If they had, do you think I’d be here, talking to him?”
“Would they tell you if she asked them not to?” I asked before I thought better of it.
Freedom glared at me. “Of course they would. They know how worried we all are and would’ve told us if they knew where she was. All of our friends know that Aline doesn’t always think things through.”
Freedom said ‘our friends,’ which made me wonder if Aline had any close connections that weren’t also close to her sister. I didn’t ask, though. Freedom already looked like she wanted to murder me for my question. Well, my question and everything else.
“Maybe she just needed some time to think,” Cain offered. “She had just gone through something pretty horrible.”
“Which is why she shouldn’t be out there on her own,” Freedom countered, jamming her fists on her hips. “On her best days, she can barely take care