make one?”
“I don’t need the details.” She grabbed her purse and pointed me to the bedroom. “Go. Now. Seriously. And call Sean and tell him you need another day off. You should go to a doctor tomorrow and get checked out.”
“I will.”
She smiled and let herself out. “Night-night, Momma.”
Oh Lord. I wasn’t used to that nickname. I didn’t mind it though. I just wished Maddox was the one to hear the news first.
I peeled myself from the couch and avoided the containers of leftover Chinese. The smell wasn’t doing anything for my appetite. I battled my wavering tummy and stole the files Delta brought for me. I made it to bed without throwing up. A minor victory.
The papers from the insurance company weren’t new, just copies of the original documents filed after the adjustor walked with the fire marshal.
Except for a few.
Some of the pages were stamped VOID. I wasn’t sure why they were kept, or why they were stapled to the official paperwork. No one ever said Delta wasn’t organized—even if most of Saint Christie politely referred to her as dedicated instead of OCD, just like her mother.
But something was weird with the pages. Both the voided copy and official were signed by the adjustor. The official paper detailed the police findings—citing ARSON in bolded letters as the cause of the fire. I checked the second. That was the same. And they both detailed the same method—electrical tampering.
Except the voided copy included two additional words.
INSURANCE FRAUD.
“What in the world…” I stared at the page. It didn’t make any sense. I flipped to the official copy. Those words were missing, and the paper was signed and stamped a day later.
Weird.
I reached for my phone to call Delta and ask about the discrepancy, but a violent knocking rattled my door once more.
I leapt from the bed, clutching the reports. I couldn’t catch my breath, and the hope surged through me, mending a heart that shattered like peanut brittle and the guilt that poisoned me in bitter regret.
Maddox.
I had stripped to my tiny tank top and boy cut panties for bed, but I didn’t bother dressing. I raced to the door. The pounding hadn’t stopped.
Maybe Delta called him. God bless her meddling. She wouldn’t let me be alone and pregnant, even if she didn’t trust Maddox.
My fingers trembled over the chain. Maybe he came back on his own? Maybe he knew? Realized I needed him? That…we needed him?
The door burst open, shattering the old lock. I leapt back, but the intruder grabbed me before I had time to react. The handkerchief was stuffed over my mouth. It smelled horrible, and I struggled against the cloth. I ran, but the man caught me, wrapping me in his arms from behind. I reared back, head butting his nose.
He swore.
It wasn’t Maddox’s voice, but I recognized it.
His words crashed around me as I dropped in his arms and fell into a dark and terrible nightmare.
18
Maddox
I meant to forget her.
I thought I’d get over her.
I hoped I could live without her.
Fucking bullshit.
How the hell was I supposed to breathe without her sugared, honey scent? I couldn’t sleep without dreaming of her. Couldn’t eat without imagining the desserts she used to stuff in me. Couldn’t dress without remembering the heat of her hands.
Couldn’t speak without feeling an imaginary brush of her lips.
Couldn’t exist without understanding why she would betray me, destroy me, damn me.
Why she thought that was the only way to protect me?
Fourteen nights on the road hit me harder than the year in prison. At least then iron bars and guards and the law kept me from Josie’s bed.
Now?
For two weeks, I’d lived out of a cheap motel with a pre-paid cell phone and the last hundred dollars in my wallet. I gave the chief two grand before I left. It wasn’t enough to buy Chelsea’s freedom, but it convinced him to leave her in peace until I could find some money.
Wherever that would come from.
When I got to the city, Ironfield welcomed me home with a piercing rain shower and an attempted mugging. I blackened the eye of the asshole who tried to knife me, and then I chased him to steal the blade. Some instincts died hard, but the streets had once been my old job. I did whatever I could to survive, and I wasn’t proud of any of it. Josie only ever knew what she had to know. I vowed I wouldn’t corrupt that cupcake any more than necessary.
Though the lies