Page 83 of Fracture

“What do you think it could be? What are you worried about?”

Vinnie shrugged, but the answer was right there.

Marcus waited him out, letting the silence drag on until Vinnie had to fill it.

“She’s too good for me.”

“What makes you say that?”

Vinnie snorted. “You and I both know she’s meant for so much more than me. I saved her life, but that doesn’t mean she’ll stick around forever.”

Marcus chuckled softly. “You’re the only one who thinks that. If you look around this room, you’ll find a lot of these couples who started out in a similar way, but it was more than that. You’re selling yourself short, Vinnie.”

“Am I, though? She didn’t know me before, and after she refused to stay with her family and close friends. She’s leaning on me. As soon as that cast comes off and she can be independent again, she can drive herself around and work and do all the things she wants and needs to do, I am no longer necessary.”

“There’s a big difference between her needing you and her wanting you. Which would you prefer?”

Vinnie rolled his eyes. “Of course I’d rather she wants me, but that’s my point. She’s needed me, so she’s never had to consider if she wants me.”

Marcus shook his head, a smile on his face. “And again, you’re the only one who thinks that woman doesn’t want you. Look at her.”

Vinnie looked at Lorelei, laughing at something one of the women said. She leaned in closer to Karli, then jerked upright. She turned, her gaze colliding with Vinnie’s. She smiled, and every inch of him responded to the look in her eyes.

“That’s what I’m talking about. That feeling right there. The one that has your breath rushing out of you, your body responding to the woman you love, and everything in you aching to go across the room to her.”

“It’s so not fair that you can read me so easily. No one else can do that.”

Marcus laughed. “I’ve known you long enough that I should be able to. The only thing I haven’t figured out is why you went after her.”

“What do you mean?”

Marcus shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you did. I’m relieved you found her alive. She’s an amazing person, and she’s a valuable asset. But you didn’t know her. You risked everything to try to find her. Why?”

Vinnie hadn’t been asked directly. He wasn’t sure he could explain it, not even to Marcus. But he owed the man the best answer he could give. “As soon as I heard she was missing, I had this feeling inside that she was dead. That she wouldn’t be found alive, maybe is a better way to say it. She was too close to all of this. Trevor Davis and Damon Street and all the others. She was the one piecing it together. She was leading the charge, from what I could tell. Nothing against Adam, or anyone else, but Lorelei wasn’t distracted by anything else. She wanted to solve this. To put away the people responsible for all this hell.”

Marcus nodded, following and not disagreeing.

“We’ve been on some of the calls. Some of the houses that were used for these women. Not a lot, but a couple of them, and the conditions these women are in would turn your stomach. But more than that, the things they do to these women…”

“I know,” Marcus said. He nodded, staring at the floor as though seeing his own horrors.

“When I heard Lorelei was gone, I worried we’d find her in one of those houses. Every life is important, but I knew if they went after her, she was getting closer than they wanted.”

“I agree. And I’m sure that’s exactly what it was.”

Vinnie nodded, hoping that would be the end of it.

Marcus was too perceptive. “There were a lot of people looking for her.”

“Yeah.”

“Why you? And how did you know she’d be at her apartment?”

Vinnie shook his head. “That’s the part I can’t explain. I just had this feeling that’s where she would be. This pull inside me to go there. To check. To see for myself if she was there.”

“Intuition.”

Vinnie nodded. “Yeah. After you see enough of this, you almost know their thoughts. Someone checked her apartment the day after she disappeared, but no one was sitting on it. It was too far from where she was taken. They were sitting on her hotel room, but not her apartment. It was a good place to hide her body.”

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