Page 13 of Unraveled Love

“Yeah.”

“I want to take you up on it.”

His gaze flitted to Jaxon’s behind my shoulder, and his jaw jutted out before he returned his eyes to me. “We’ll do that when we get back then, and if you want, like Luca also suggested, we can teach you some self-defense.”

I’d never considered needing any of this, but there was no way I was ever going to find myself so helpless, so vulnerable again.

“Good.” I sipped my wine, trying to push through my nerves and my fear and the chaotic life I’d found myself in. “So, what else do I need to know?”

* * *

“Mom?”I breathed my first sigh of relief as her voice came through the phone.

“Oh Addi. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Apparently, even if I didn’t have a close relationship with my mom, I still needed her after getting kidnapped, tied up, and threatened with my life. Tears welled in my eyes and my chin wobbled as I stared out the bedroom window of the hotel.

“Me too.” My voice shook and I cleared my throat. “And you? You’re okay? Because I heard Dad went missing or something, too.”

“He didn’t come home from work, and then cops showed up yesterday. They’re saying all these horrible things about Matthew and I just…I knew your dad was in trouble. I knew he was doing something not right, but the things they’re saying?”

“It’s all true.” I tried to maintain my composure, my voice raspy. Weeks ago, my mom had encouraged me to run from Daniel and then she’d demanded I come home, but Dad had been in the background, sounding panicked and pissed off. I’d had no idea whichMomI’d meet today, but this was what I had hoped for. Her compassion and worry were palpable, coming in thick, heavy waves, along with her confusion.

“It can’t be,” she whispered, and I imagined her hand going to her throat, literally clutching her strand of pearls. “It’s just…it’s so horrible. Those girls…and your dad? I mean, there were men here yesterday, telling me I might be under investigation for everything your father has done. And they said I couldn’t take anything out of the house. It’s just…it’s so hard to believe.”

I could imagine men swarming her home, interrogating her, throwing her into a tailspin.

“I don’t think it’s smart to explain everything or how I know, but it’s true. Dad was involved, not with the girls, but he did things that got him tied up with Matthew’s problems.”

“And Daniel?” she asked.

My throat almost closed as I thought of MaryAnne, the click of her heels and the vile way she spoke to me.

The door to the bedroom opened and Shawn stepped in, looking as handsome as always even though worry wrinkled his forehead, those blue eyes on me.

I’m okay, I mouthed to him then refocused on my mom. “It’s complicated, Mom, but I need you to know that yes, Daniel is involved. You can’t trust them, not any of them, and especially MaryAnne if she tries to reach out to you, okay? Just…promise me you’ll be safe.”

“Me? Why?”

I sank down onto the bed, knees buckling. One elbow went to my knee, and I dropped my forehead into the palm of my hand and sighed. “Mom, Daniel…Daniel was going touseme. His mom said he was going to make me obey him in everything and then loan me out to his friends. Or whoever paid for it.” The exact words she’d said to me were blurry, but as my mom’s gasp came through the phone, I blew out a breath, trying to stave off more tears. I’d done enough of that.

“She saidwhat?”

“Yeah.” I croaked it out and grabbed my glass of wine on the nightstand. “It’s a mess. Just promise me you won’t have anything to do with her?”

“Have nothing to do with her? Why…my goodness…I want tostrangleher. If what you’re saying is true—”

“It is.”

“Then she needs to be in jail right alongside Matthew and the rest of them. You know, I never trusted that woman. She was always too quiet. Too aloof.”

If someone had told me I’d be talking to my mom about this and feeling the need to bite back a laugh, I would have bet my life savings it’d be impossible. But there I was, shoulders shaking while my mom ranted—politely, because she was Southern and proper to the core—and my gaze meeting Shawn’s across the room.

“Mom,” I said finally, to get her to stop. “You haven’t promised me.”

“Well, of course I’ll stay safe. It’s not like I’m going to be welcome anywhere now, not for the foreseeable future anyway. My phone is ringing off the hook with everyone from the clubs wanting to know what’s going on.”

“You can’t tell them,anything. Mom, you can’t,” I stressed.

---