Page 38 of Dangerous Secret

With that said, he returned to his car. At the door, he gave her a grin so sinister that chills snaked down her spine. “And I do please.”

It took every ounce of her strength to remain standing, not to sink down on legs that felt like over cooked noodles.

He backed out of her parking space, then the car stopped and he rolled down the window. “I don’t know where you’ve been all morning dressed like that, but if I find out you’re cheating on me, whoever he is, they’ll never find his body. You can believe me on that.”

Oh, God.Somehow, she managed to stay upright until his car disappeared from sight. The moment she couldn’t see it anymore, her legs decided they were done pretending to be brave. He’d said to believe him, and she did. She had to fire Grayson and The Phoenix Three.

Until she’d met Grayson, kissed him, wanted more with him, nothing had mattered but getting her son back. Butshe knew him now, and she couldn’t be the reason he got hurt or worse. Anthony had a tracker on her car and phone.

What if he knew she’d spent the morning with Grayson? They’d been careful. When she’d left, he’d sent Liam via the road to where she’d parked, to keep an eye out for anyone watching her. Cooper had walked ahead of her along the beach until she’d reached the parking lot. If any of Anthony’s men had been around, they would have noticed.

So what if he’d tracked her to the beach? He couldn’t know where she was or whom she’d been with. Her phone! As she sat on the sidewalk, it hit her that she’d forgotten to record her conversation with Anthony, his most threatening one now. If she’d gone for a spy career, she would have been fired her first day.

Chapter 17

“She doesn’t have a tail on her,” Cooper said after returning from seeing Harlow off. “At least from the beach.”

Grayson put his feet on the deck’s railing and pushed his chair up on its back legs. “Yeah, with the tracker on her car, someone could be waiting along the road for her to head back home.”

Pressley was used to her hiding in her apartment since the divorce, but the more independence she showed, the more he was trying to control her life. “We need to bring things to a close. I don’t trust Pressley not to pull some kind of stunt.”

Liam grabbed a handful of pretzels from the bowl that Grayson set on the table. “Wouldn’t put it past him.”

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted Harlow to know, but I found Veronica Dunbar’s mother,” Cooper said.

“Good. Have you spoken to her?” He’d learned that Veronica’s mother had filed a missing person report with the police, and he very much wanted to talk to her.

“No, I didn’t know if you wanted to be the one to talk to her. Her name’s Madeline Osorio. She lived in Portugal with her second husband until he died last year. She moved back to Fayetteville, where she’s originally from and where Veronica grew up.”

“Let’s take a ride in the morning and go see her.” It was about a two-hour drive to Fayetteville, so the trip would tie up half their day, but talking to her might be important.

“You want me to call and tell her we’d like to talk to her?” Cooper asked.

“No, we don’t know what her relationship with her daughter was or what she thinks of Pressley. I don’t want to give her time to come up with a story if she’s not inclined to talk about Veronica. Let’s plan on getting there around nine.”

“Great, and I’m calling dibs on the Jag tomorrow. It’s my turn to drive it.”

“I was hoping Gray would forget I had it,” Liam said.

“Not likely.” He held up a finger. “Coop gets it for one day, and then I have to get it back to the dealership. It is for sale, you know, and I might know someone who can get you a great deal.”

He’d gotten them both vehicles at his cost on what they drove now; Liam a metallic gray BMW SUV, and Cooper a black badass Ford 150. Even though Liam’s father was worth millions, he’d cut Liam off and disowned him when Liam enlisted in the military instead of joining the family business.

Cooper—unlike him and Liam—grew up dirt-poor. His mother had overdosed and died when he was twelve, and his father couldn’t hold down a job to save his life or keep his son and daughter fed and healthy. Even as young as he’d been, Cooper had done whatever necessary to put food on the table for his baby sister.

Personally, Grayson suspected that was the reason Cooper was always hungry even though life was good for him now. It was a learned behavior from never having enough to eat growing up.

“And give up my truck?” Cooper said. “Not gonna happen.”

“The Jag was fun to drive for a day, but it’s not me,” Liam said. “I do have some news, too. I have three names of women who had an affair with Pressley while he was married to Harlow.”

Cooper frowned. “What a sorry excuse for a man.”

“And even that’s too nice to say about him.” The knowledge that Pressley cheated so blatantly on Harlow made Grayson see red. Pressley had those affairs and who knew how many more while having a mistress on the side for all the years he was married.

“I have a date with one of them tomorrow night, Alisha Austin,” Liam said.

Grayson set the chair back down on all four legs. “Think she can give us any ammo on Pressley?”

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