Page 9 of Conquered Betrayal
“Then you’re going to need to figure out how to ditch him on your own.”
“Fine.” I gritted my teeth. “How about our friends tailing us?”
“Oh, they’re long gone,” Alina chirped. “We were just enjoying your heart-to-heart with Lover Boy there.”
4
LANDON
I leanedback in my chair, my eyes glued to the contents of a file folder spread across my desk, the one the private investigator left behind. A copy of Jolyn’s service photo lay in the center of it all. She’d corralled her hair into a ponytail, topped with a fatigue-patterned cap. Her bright blue eyes stared straight ahead, her expression serious. The other information told me she’d enlisted a year ago—right after she left me.
Picking up the photo, my brain raced to comprehend her choice, but I couldn’t make sense of it. I placed the picture in the top drawer of my desk and rubbed my knuckles along my jaw.
What in the love of God had motivated her to join the Canadian Armed Forces infantry?
* * *
The string of muttered curses leaving Jolyn’s mouth distracted me from the desire to strangle her—but only for a moment.
What the hell had she gotten herself into? Those people in that SUV hadshotat us. I wiped my free hand over my face as she reversed the car out of our temporary hiding place. We bumped and rolled over the uneven ground of the backyard, tall weeds brushing the undercarriage to make swooshing sounds. Then we were on the pavement in front of the house, accelerating down the street at a zippy pace.
Only days ago, I sat in my office blissfully unaware I’d get myself in a car chase with the lost love of my life, who acted cryptic and slightly unhinged as she continued to have conversations with herself. And everything that had happened since Kane and Brooke had shown up was all strangely connected to her: two sisters abducted and Walker’s disappearance.
When I’d started searching for Jolyn after Brooke and Kane’s visit, I had no idea bullets were going to fly.
Sitting here, staring at her as she drove us out of the shabby neighborhood…a surreal sensation overcame me. The last night we’d spent together in Vancouver, where I’d asked her to move in with me, where I’d believed we were on the same page and taking our relationship to the next level—I’d thought I had everything I required in life at that moment.
Then it all came crashing down when she didn’t show up for work in the morning and her condo had been cleared out.
Gone. Everything torn down in moments.
Not everything.That was what she’d said about our year-long relationship. I wanted to believe those words, but every time I thought of us together, I couldn’t trust the memories. My burgeoning resentment at being used and tossed aside made it hard to remember what we’d shared.
She kept her gaze on the road and I took the time to scan her features—as beautiful and striking as the last time I’d seen her. She’d covered her freckles well, but a hint of them peeked out from the top of her blouse. I knew those freckles swathed her entire body. Though her hair was pulled back under a net and pinned, tendrils of orange were already escaping, framing her face.
I remembered what her lips felt like against mine, how every touch soothed not only me, but also my bear.
Furious at myself for those sorts of futile thoughts, I turned to stare out the window. “I could have you arrested,” I said quietly, thinking about the crimes she’d committed against me and my company.
She’d signed an NDA the day she started working for me, and I hadn’t understood the theft angle until Kane and Brooke’s visit. Jolyn should go to prison. But from the guys chasing her, unafraid to shoot at us in broad daylight, it looked like she had bigger things to worry about than my legal right to prosecute.
When she didn’t respond to my statement, I glanced her way. Lips pressed together, she white-knuckled the steering wheel, her eyes focused on the road.
Tearing my gaze from her, I took in the Fiat around me. Leather seats, shiny finishes, touchscreen, automated sunroof—this wasn’t some starter model. Neither was the top-of-the-line Urick Enterprises communication device I’d pulled from her ear earlier, one so well designed I couldn’t hear who spoke on the other end. I’d never thought my own technology would be used against me.
Who was she working for? And what did it have to do with her brother? She’d been trying to get inside the MBI building in disguise.
Fucking hell, Landon, you have the worst timing on the planet.What had I interrupted?
“We need somewhere to lay low for a while,” she said, jerking me from my thoughts.
I narrowed my eyes. If we needed to lay low, then we would have time for answers. “I have a hotel room—”
“No.” She cut me off before I could finish the thought. “Nothing under your name. They saw you. They probably know who you are now and will have your cards and phone monitored.”
“They.Yes, of course.” If I hadn’t experienced the encounter with the two armed dudes myself, or been fired upon in broad daylight, I might have called her paranoid. It was obvious now I’d sent Walker into something dangerous. I’d only wanted him to track her down, see what she was up to.
The moment I’d found her, we’d been shot at.What happened to him?Shit, I hoped he was okay. If he got hurt because of me, and after all he’d been through, I didn’t think I’d be able to forgive myself. “You’re going to have to explain whotheyall are and how it’s even possible forthemto monitor my cards.”
