Page 86 of Beyond Question

Paige

When Bronte and I reach the living room, there are a few more people here than there were just an hour ago, and we stop in the junction where the living space meets the hallway.

Three men in black suits are gathered around the kitchen island, and paperwork spreads out on the counter before them.

“She’ll need a new phone number,” Travis says, “Not just her cell, but the office, too. And Bronte, I want a new number for her as well. And Paige’s home, if she has a landline…”

Travis’ voice trails off as he sees us enter the room, then his face lights up, and his gaze flicks from the top of my head to the toes on my feet and back again, as if he’s confirming that I haven’t somehow been harmed while I was just down the hall.

I walk straight to him and allow him to pull me against his body, then he wraps those big arms around me and I sigh into his embrace.

“New phones, actually,” he says, and I hear the words through his chest more than anything. “Not just phone numbers. I want everything untraceable.”

Cabot grunts in agreement and I look up at Travis. “That seems extreme.”

He stares down at me, features tense. “I’ve been informed that paying Archer off is not an option.”

Cabot snorts and I twist to look at him.

He raises his hands like he had nothing to do with it, so I swivel my head to look at Rylan.

“I just told him it probably wasn’t a good way to keep you from running away from him. Again.”

I can’t fight the smile pulling at my lips when I look back up at Travis. “She has a point.”

“She does,” one of the men in black says. When I look at him, he inclines his head. “Ma’am.”

“That’s Mike,” Travis explains, bringing my attention back to him. “He runs the security company Cabot uses.” His eyes narrow. “He doesn’t want me to pay that asshole off either, so you win this time.”

“Good.”

“Don’t be smug, Ms. Matthews, you aren’t going to like what happens next.”

My bros furrow.

“I’ve agreed not to send the money, but I won’t budge on doing what I think needs to be done to protect you.” He looks past me to Bronte. “Both of you.”

She sighs. “Great, my new stepdaddy is a control freak.”

I snort as Travis’ face twists into a grimace of disgust, then I step away from him and stand beside Bronte. Putting her on the shoulder, I whisper, “I think you broke Travis.”

He closes his eyes and scrubs his hands down his face, then gives his head a firm shake. “Right. Okay.” He begins pacing, glancing at Cabot every so often as he works through his thoughts, then begins speaking them aloud. “I want proof that the bastard is in prison. Pictures, blood tests, whatever it takes. Get me his goddamn fingers, if you want.”

“Already working on it,” Mike says.

I swivel my head toward Cabot’s security team, then to the man himself, my eyes wide. Just how much power does this man have? How many resources? How many people jump when he snaps his fingers?

“Once we confirm it’s him—”

I look back at Travis and he gives me a sympathetic smile. “I just want to be sure, Paige.”

Holding his gaze, I consider the idea that Cabot’s people could be wrong, that Archer is, in fact, out there,right now. Looking for me.

“Hey.” Travis closes the distance quickly, then tugs my poor thumbnail away from my mouth. “I’m sure it’s him, okay?” he whispers. “I just want to be doubly sure, that’s all.”

Nodding, I breathe deeply. “Okay. That’s good. We should do that, confirm, I mean.”

Travis holds my gaze for a moment longer, then looks past me at the rest of the people in the room. “I want tabs on him, ‘round the clock. I don’t care if he’s in solitary in the highest security prison, the most impenetrable fortress in the world, I want to know his status at all times.”

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