Page 107 of Playing With Danger

“I need to give something to Valentine.”

Me?

What the fuck could she want to give to me?

And suddenly everything about Lorelai changed.

“I haven’t seen or talked to her since what happened. But I got a letter in the mail from an attorney about…her father,” she whispered the last part and there was more than a little pain when she said the word “father.”

“What about her father?” I asked and opened my texts. “What’s his name?”

“Milton,” she continued to whisper.

“Huxley?”

“Yes.”

I shot off a text to Brady asking him to run Milton Huxley.

“What’s the letter say?” Hayden inquired.

There was a long stretch of silence.

Too long.

“Lorelai.”

“I’ll bring it to you. It doesn’t say much. Just that Milton’s estate is looking for Sophie.”

Why would an attorney send a letter to a thirty-seven-year-old woman’s mother’s house?

“Why wasn’t it sent here?”

“Apartment’s only in my name?” Hayden guessed. “Soph uses her mom’s address for registration and insurance because the rate is way cheaper. So her license has that address, too.”

Well, fucking hell.

My phone dinged with a text from Brady.

Two words that had my blood turning to ice.

Office. Now.

“Do me a favor, Lorelai. Take a picture of the letter and the envelope and text me the pictures. If I need the original, I’ll come by your house.”

“I’ll—”

“We won’t be here.”

“If you’re going out to search, I want to help.”

And fuck me, I didn’t want to believe it because believing it would mean I had to admit I’d been a total cocksucker to a mother who loved her daughter deeply and just didn’t know how to show it. Sophie had started to come to these conclusions. I, however, was reserving judgement until her mother showed me proof Sophie’s theory was correct. But there it was, proof in a mother’s voice wobbling with fear, wanting to help search for her daughter.

“Lorelai.” I softened my tone. “Let me get to where I’m going. Get briefed on the situation and I’ll call you. I’ll keep you updated as much as I can, but I hope you understand finding Sophie is my priority, reporting to you is secondary.” I glanced at Hayden, lifting my brow in question. He got me and tipped his chin. “Hayden will also be in touch. If you need something, call him not me, just in case I’m busy.”

The last part was throwing Hayden under the bus then backing over him for good measure. But there was only so much Lorelai I could take even if she was showing a side of her that stated plain she loved her daughter.

“Okay. I’ll… okay…I’ll just…”

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