Page 54 of Forsaken Vows

She let out a laugh with no humor in it.

“And when she does,” I continued, stepping down from the porch, “I’ll make sure she never speaks to you again.”

Her smile didn’t fade—and that worried me.

I turned and walked off, ignoring the door as it slammed behind me, louder than it needed to be.

I crossed the street and got into my car, eyes fixed on the house as I drove away.

They thought they won.

But I wasn’t done.

Not even close.

I would find Zane.

Chapter 26- Zane

I had my feet on the dash, Anderson .Paak was spilling out of the speakers as the road stretched ahead of us in long, lazy lines. My phone buzzed for the third time in twenty minutes, and I didn’t even have to look to know who it was. My momma had been calling me for two days, but I already knew she was only going to tell me Mark had visited her. Sam’s investigator had already informed us. I found it funny—Mark was running around looking for me but still fucking Sam’s wife every night.

“Your mama and daddy?” Sam asked, one hand on the wheel, the other drawing circles on my thigh, making my nipple ache. This man had a way of turning me on with just a simple touch.

We were on the way to the resale warehouse I’d told him about. It was a four-hour drive, but we planned to make a day out of it.

I nodded, chewing my lip.

“You tell them about me yet?”

“I told them you’re my boss.”

He grunted, not hiding the smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “That what we’re calling me? Your boss?”

I cut my eyes at him and laughed. “You want me to tell them I’m sleeping with a married man who’s paying me—and I’m also married?”

“Damn,” he muttered. “When you say it like that, this sounds like a scandal.”

“It is. And you are scandalous.”

He glanced over and gave me that lazy, cocky grin. “Yeah. But you like me this way.”

I nodded, because I did.

The silence that followed was comfortable. Easy. Like breathing. I’d forgotten what this kind of quiet felt like. It wasn’t the same kind that came with the loneliness I’d been experiencing in my marriage.

Around noon, we stopped at a roadside farmer’s market thirty minutes in. I grabbed two jars of honey and a bag of kettle corn. Sam paid without asking, then snuck off to buy a jar of something that looked suspiciously like moonshine. He winked like he had plans for it. I winked back because Sam fucked like a madman when he was drunk.

“I should probably call my momma back,” I said before we got in the car.

Sam raised a brow. “You want space?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t care if you hear. I’m just calling her to let her know I’m safe. She knows where I’m staying. I just don’t want her to show up at your house with her pistol thinking I’ve been kidnapped because I’m not answering the phone.”

He laughed.

I hit redial standing in the open door. My daddy answered. I could hear my momma coaching him in the background.

“Baby girl, you alright?”

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