Runaway Wolfes of Manhattan Three - Helen Hardt Page 0,62

women. Hunted them, and killed them.”

I stared into space, almost seeing right through Riley next to me.

Hunted women.

Killed them.

The words became jumbled in my head.

It was too much. Too much just to know what the psycho had done to the woman I loved. But now? To know he played fucked-up hunting games with others? With fellow human beings?

“H-How…” The words caught in my throat.

“Roy. He saw it once. He… It was a memory he’d buried inside his mind. He underwent guided hypnosis last week and uncovered it.”

“Did any… Fuck. Did any of the women…”

“As far as we know, one might have survived. We have a name. Just a first name. Zinnia. It’s an uncommon name, but still, what are the chances we can find her? And even if we do find her, we don’t know that she’s behind the murder. And if she is, I kind of want to let her go.”

“I understand, but you have to save yourself, baby.”

“I know.”

“They’re going to look at your phone records. Your emails. Will they find anything suspicious?”

“You mean will they find emails and payments to a hired killer? Of course not.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I heard that.”

“Baby…”

“Part of you wonders if I did it.”

I cupped her cheek, hoping she felt the love through my fingertips. “No, it’s not that. I’m just concerned. We have to get you out of this.”

“We have to get us all out of this. We need to find this Zinnia and uncover all my father’s secrets. Only then will we be able to move forward.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to suggest this, but…”

“What?”

“Can your family pay off the authorities. Get the case closed?”

She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I can’t lie to you. I’ve thought about it.”

“And your brothers?”

She opened her eyes. “They haven’t brought it up. But there’s this detective, Hank Morgan, who seems bent on finding a culprit. I don’t know why. My father was no paragon of virtue.”

“Then we figure out this detective’s angle.”

“We already have the best PIs in the business on this. They’re looking for Zinnia. They’re looking into Morgan. They’re doing all they can.”

“Are they loyal?”

“I assume so. They’re getting paid a boatload of money.”

“Are they the same PIs your father used?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Reid, but probably.”

“Then they owe their loyalty to your father. Not to you.”

“Except my father’s dead.”

“He is. But his money isn’t. There might be a stream somewhere that you and your brothers don’t know about.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I don’t trust your father,” I said. “You have to consider that this is all a setup.”

39

Riley

A setup.

We’d considered that, and we decided that our father was too much of an egomaniac to orchestrate his own death.

I should tell Matt this.

I should tell Matt a lot of things.

But right now…

Right now I wanted—needed—something else from him.

I turned to him and crawled into his arms.

He held me tightly, and my body responded instantly. My nipples hardened and I ached between my legs.

How could this be?

How, when I was just thinking about all the horrid things my father used to do to me?

Still, I yearned for Matt’s lips on mine. Yearned for him to undress me, kiss me all over, take me to that amazing place I’ve only been once.

I kissed his neck and inhaled his crisp, masculine scent.

Intoxicating.

Then I trailed kisses to his mouth and pressed my lips against his, parting my own slightly, letting my tongue touch his firm lips.

But they remained closed.

“Kiss me. Please,” I whispered.

He parted his lips and I slid my tongue between them. But his tongue didn’t meet mine. I searched for it, found it, twirled my own around it.

And he pulled back.

“Baby…”

“What is it?”

“After all you’ve been through…”

“You don’t want to kiss me?”

“God, yes. I want it more than air. But—”

I moved out of his arms and slumped on the couch. “I disgust you.”

“Riley! Of course not.”

“You’re thinking about what he did to me. And you don’t even know the details!”

“God, no! I’m not. I can’t even let my mind go there. I’m thinking of you, Riley. You.”

“If you’re thinking of me, and my needs, you should kiss me.”

“If I’d known, I never would have pressured you in Montana.”

“Pressured me? You didn’t.”

“I wanted you.”

“And I wanted you. Do you think I would have let it happen if I didn’t want it? I know how to say no, Matt.”

“But—”

“I said no all those times. He just didn’t listen. You would have.”

“Yes, of course I would have.”

“Then get over yourself and

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