that question for the past twenty-four hours. “Jet lag?”
Avery tossed her hands in the air. “Great! That’s just great. Shannon finally breaks her sexual sabbatical for a man who doesn’t trust her any farther than he can throw her.”
He’d ask about the sabbatical later, right now he wanted to know more about Africa. “She’s in Africa?”
“I don’t know where she is. No one knows where she is. She ran off. Do you know how unlike Shannon that is? Me, yes . . . Trina, check. We’re the runners. Shannon is the rock. She never runs. She thinks and considers her options in quiet silence. Until you.” Avery blew out a breath and rubbed her stomach.
Victor suddenly felt the pull of his protective male sex. “Avery, please calm down.”
She snapped her head his way.
He warded her off with a display of his palms. “This can’t be good for your baby. I know you’re upset, I get it. I’ll fix it. I promise I will. But if something happens to you, Shannon is never going to give me the chance.”
Avery took a couple of steps, turned, and sat in the chair.
He waited for her to take a few breaths before he sat opposite her and spoke as calmly as he could.
“How can we find out where Shannon’s sister lives?”
“Reed is working on it.” Avery opened her eyes, which sparkled with unshed tears. He hated to see a woman cry. “Did you know that today is Shannon’s birthday?”
Victor frowned. “No.” That was something he should have known.
Avery nodded. “What a mess she must be. Between last week, the papers . . . you . . . her birthday.”
Victor stopped trying to pick apart the fact that he didn’t realize today was Shannon’s birthday and analyzed Avery’s words. “What was last week?”
“Corrie vandalizing her house. A late night visit to the ER . . . ,” Avery said as if he should have known what she was talking about.
“Whoa, back up. Corrie did what?”
“She wasn’t positive it was Corrie, but yeah, she was pretty sure.”
It was Victor’s turn to feel his blood pressure rise. “Can you start at the beginning? I don’t know anything about this.”
When Avery completed the tale of rocks, windows, and stitches, Victor turned hard. No wonder Shannon was so upset and unreasonable when he’d asked her for an explanation. Here she was, trying to save his worries by keeping the situation away from him while he was away on work and unable to do anything about it, and here he was . . . not trusting her.
Such an asshole.
“She was even going back on the pill for you. Do you know that?” Avery was in tears now. “For over a year she’s been talking about how much she wants a baby, and then you come along and she’s like, ‘No, can’t risk an accident and him running away.’” Avery looked at her stomach. “I told her it wasn’t all that. Emotions all over the place, the need to pee all the time. And the morning sickness. Such a mess.”
“Did you drive here?” he asked.
She grabbed a tissue from his desk, blew her nose with a nod.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Liam’s number. “Let me get you a ride home.”
As soon as Liam tucked his wife into his car, Victor called Reed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Shannon pushed her toes into the sand of the Mediterranean waters. Her sister sat by her side, a blanket covering their shoulders. She’d forgotten how alike the two of them were. Angie had put on a few pounds and her hair was shorter than Shannon remembered, but she was the same.
When Shannon arrived in Spain, she crashed on Angie’s couch for six hours. Now it was dusk, her birthday almost a memory, and the two of them watched the sunset.
Shannon explained the past few months of her life and Angie listened.
“Why did you marry Paul?” Angie finally asked when Shannon had run out of words.
She studied her pink toes, realized she was in need of a pedicure. “Money,” she finally revealed.
Angie blew out a breath.
“Freedom, a way out from under Mom and Dad.”
Angie looked away.
“Don’t look so shocked. It wasn’t a lot different from what you did.”
“How can you say that?” Angie asked.
“You ran away, found a cause . . . to escape them. Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll believe you.”
Angie shrugged but didn’t deny her.
“I wasn’t that brave. I finished college with a major they approved of and set out to follow