Page 48 of Tangled Past
“Your father brought us here and did his best to keep us safe in that farmhouse. He made a promise, and he followed through until . . .” Her throat closed on the worduntil.
“Until someone killed him,” Asa finished for her, no gentleness in that part. “On purpose. To shut him up.”
She nodded, eyes shining again. “I keep thinking about the way she said it,” Maya whispered. “That he told her my mom had seen something. That he brought us here because it was the one place the man hunting us wouldn’t think to look. Only he did look. He found us anyway.”
“I’m guessing that you and your mother didn’t have any connection to Hope Island, which made it a good plan,” Asa said. “My father just didn’t realize he was up against a man who’d already decided the rules didn’t apply to him.”
“Your father knew the risk, and he still brought us anyway.”
Asa’s chest tightened. “Yes.”
“I don’t know what to do with that,” she admitted.
“I get it. Your brain’s been carrying the version where you were abandoned for a long time. It’s going to take it a minute to swap that out for ‘protected’ and ‘fought for.’”
Her fingers traced the edge of the table. “Protected,” she repeated, like she was trying the word on for size.
He watched her profile, the way her jaw tightened, the faint tremor in her hands. He’d spent years thinking about how his father had died. Only now was he beginning to understand all the ways his father had lived. “You were worth it,” Asa said, his voice firm.
Her gaze flicked toward him. “You keep saying that as if it’s obvious,” she murmured. “Like I’m supposed to just . . . believe it.”
“You survived a monster in a barn and still grew up capable of making cinnamon rolls and sarcastic retorts,” he said. “That automatically raises your stock price.”
Despite everything, her lips twitched.
Asa hesitated. Then he lifted his hand, slow enough for her to move if she wanted to, and he tucked a loose curl behind her ear before dropping his hand.
Her breath caught.
“Also,” he added, because the truth wanted out, “I’m more biased than your average juror at this point.”
“Biased?” Her voice came in an unsteady whisper.
“Very. I’m invested in the ‘you surviving’ outcome. I want to see what you do with a life where someone else isn’t writing the rules.”
Something in her eyes shifted. Softened. Lit from within even through the hurt.
“You say things like that,” she murmured, “and then expect me to form coherent sentences?”
“I’m not opposed to wordless communication.”
Her cheeks flushed.
Before the moment could tilt any further, the door banged open.
JT leaned in, a file tucked under his arm. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re heading to the docks.”
Will appeared behind him, already zipping up his jacket. “Malbern has come ashore and is making noise at the bait shop,” he said. “If we’re going to get eyes on him, now’s the time.”
“You want us along?” Asa asked.
“I want you close,” Will said. His gaze flicked to Maya. “That goes for both of you. We’re not poking the hornet’s nest today, just keeping an eye on it.”
Maya straightened. “What do you need me to do?”
“For the moment, watch and listen,” Will told her. “Tell me if anything about his voice or presence hits that part of your memory that hasn’t surfaced yet. We’re not putting you in his path alone.”
Her throat worked. “Okay.”
