Page 48 of Stolen Vows

"So, here’s everything I know about that place..."

She fills me in on all the details that she has picked up from her regulars over the years with complete clarity. By the time she is done, I’m certain that my men will have no trouble tracking this place down. I thank her, and we turn to leave, but I notice that Cara is shaking slightly as we head to the door.

I place my hand on the small of her back, and she stops.

"You alright?" I ask her. She presses her lips together for a second and closes her eyes, as though bringing herself back down to earth.

"Yeah," she replies. "Yeah, I... I’m fine."

"You did great back there," I murmur to her. She glances at me, clearly not entirely believing it.

"I just talked to her. After what she’s been through?—"

"You have no idea how important talking can be for these women," I cut her off. "They haven’t been spoken to like peoplein a long time. Even besides the information we get from them, it’s important for them to figure themselves out."

That seems to get through to her.

"I guess so," she mutters, and we continue towards the door. "Just hope that your sister is going to be able to forgive me one of these days, too..."

"Don’t pay any attention to her," I reply, waving my hand slightly. "She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She just likes to hold a grudge, trust me."

As we walk, she falls silent again, as though something has just crossed her mind.

"Didn’t you mention having another sister?"

I tense slightly. This is really not the thing that I want to be talking about right now. Everything that happened with Melinda is in the past. It has to be, or I know it’s going to drive us all even more crazy than it already has.

"I’ll tell you about her some other time," I promise her.

She takes my hand, and I can tell that she’s still curious—still wants to get to the bottom of this, whatever is going on inside my head. But she is willing to wait. At least she seems to realize that we have time now. With her father gone, we are not running against the clock. We’re finally able to relax and focus on just being a couple.

Even if I know I’ve got a whole stack of baggage left for my family to unravel yet.

We reach the door, and Maya is still standing there, almost like she’s on lookout. No doubt she just wanted to keep her distancefrom Cara, as she tries to figure out whether she likes her or not. When I say that Maya loves to hold a grudge, I mean I’d list it among her most notable attributes, and Cara is a Leone, even after turning her dad in to us.

Cara makes her way to the car and Maya catches my arm before I can follow her. I glance around to look at my sister, eyebrows raised.

"What is it?”

"What was she talking to Rosie about back there?”

"You saw that?”

She deflates slightly.

"I followed you in," she admits. "I wanted to see what she was doing up there."

"What she was doing?” I hiss back. "You think she’s going to hurt them or something?”

She glares back at me. She doesn’t have to say what is truly on her mind, I can tell, as much as it pisses me off.

"What was she saying?”

"She was helping her," I reply bluntly. "Told her not to blame herself for everything that happened."

Maya’s face softens for a moment. She throws this sharp exterior out there, but the truth is, beneath it all, there is a girl who worries about the people closest to her, and that includes me.

"She’s treating you well?”

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