Page 19 of Montana Memory

“You’re twenty-eight,” Jace started, voice all business now. “Parents are dead. Looks like your father was never in the picture. Mother passed away ten years ago.”

I exhaled slowly, waiting tofeelsomething. Grief. Relief. A memory.

Nothing.

Jace kept going. “Not married. Actually, divorced. Kept your married name. No kids.”

That one hit. A weight I hadn’t realized I was carrying lifted from my chest. No family out there wondering where I was. No child waiting for a mother who wouldn’t remember them. I hadn’t even thought to be scared of that until now.

I let out a breath in a rush. “Okay.”

“You are a PR rep for a hotel. Only living relative I can find is a half brother,” Jace continued. “Caleb Moyer. Five years older. Serving year four of an eight-to-ten-year sentence.”

My stomach clenched. “For what?”

“Drug trafficking.”

I looked over at Hunter. “Before you got me out, a security guy at the hospital asked if the name Banks or Moyer meant anything. I knew Banks from you but not Moyer. Maybe that’s why they were asking about me. Because my brother’s a criminal.”

Hunter was watching me, unreadable as ever. “Maybe.”

I curled my fingers against my thighs. Half brother. Criminal.The only family I have left.

Jace didn’t pause long before continuing, “There’s more.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. But at this point, I didn’t have a choice.

“Alan Ard,” Jace said, the name landing like a hammer on my chest. “Recognize it?”

I rubbed my eyes. “Evidently, he’s my ex-boyfriend.”

Hunter’s gaze sharpened. “He was serving time at the same prison as Caleb?”

“Bingo,” Jace confirmed. “Looks like that’s how Jada met him—visiting her brother. Ard looks like a piece of shit. Was in for assault and battery against a woman named Kenzie Hurst. His ex-girlfriend. Beat her up bad enough to land himself inprison for two years. Just got out on parole a few days ago, and… Well, now it looks like he’s back in.”

“Yeah, we know that part,” Hunter said.

Jace kept going. “After you met Alan, you started visiting him regularly.”

I swallowed. My voice was hoarse when I forced the words out. “Why would I do th?—”

I cut off my own question because the answer was obvious, wasn’t it? Because I’d cared about him. Because I’d beeninvolvedwith him.

I dragged my fingers through my hair, trying to piece together something—anything—that made sense. But all I had were facts. Cold, impersonal facts about a life that belonged to me but didn’t feel like mine.

Hunter didn’t say anything, but when I met his eyes, something flared there. Something tight.

“Jace,” he said, his voice level. “Check for an active warrant on Jada.”

“Nothing,” Jace said, his tone shifting into something surprised. “You’re listed as a person of interest, but no active charges. No warrant.”

I blinked. “That…doesn’t make sense. I helped kidnap Kenzie.”

“No, it doesn’t make sense,” Hunter agreed.

“Yeah, if you were involved in her kidnapping, there should absolutely be a warrant out for you.” Jace typed something else on his end. “And the cops were definitely after you yesterday in downtown Denver, but there’s no warrant.”

My pulse thudded in my ears. Hunter leaned back against the counter, rubbing his jaw, and for the first time since this conversation started, he looked unsettled. I wasn’t sure what was worse—the pieces Iwasgetting, or the ones that were still missing.

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