Page 31 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity
Reece walked into the room with two plates in his hands. “Sadie brought dinner. Selina suggested you stay put for the night, so she made us some to-go plates.”
“That was so kind of her,” Skylar said, setting the laptop aside so she could take the plate he held out. “Everyone here truly goes above and beyond.”
Reece sat on the couch beside her chair and handed her silverware and a napkin. “It’s that military mentality of leaving no man behind. They carried it over into their civilian work, and it’s served them well so far. What Cal has built in this little town since he first moved here is nothing short of brilliant. He started as a mercenary and ended up running one of the most sought-after security companies in the nation.”
“What’s funny is that he doesn’t act like he knows that.”
“He knows, but he also knows that we got to where we are as a team. You’ll never see him resting on his laurels. He’s not wired that way.”
“I can tell,” she said with a chuckle. “Cal didn’t have to be in that meeting today, but he wanted to keep his thumb on the pulse of what was developing, even if he left it in Mina’s capable hands.”
“You picked up on that, did you?” he asked with a wink.
“Does Sadie do freelance chef work? I could get behind homemade Swedish meatballs like these on a regular basis.”
“I wish!” His laughter was easy for the first time all day. “It’s always sad when I’m here for a week and then go home to my TV dinners and takeout.”
“You’ve been single a long time and still don’t cook?”
“I do, sometimes,” he said with a shrug. “Honestly, it’s more depressing to cook for one than to heat something up and eat it in front of the computer. It makes you feel less alone.”
“I hear that,” she agreed, not making eye contact. “Your computer is my easel, but it’s the same concept. Since Mom and Dad moved to Florida, it’s been difficult. I have friends and people I hang out with, but there are a lot of empty hours to fill.”
“You didn’t want to move to Florida?”
Dropping her fork, she set the plate aside on the end table. Sadie’s meatballs were filling, and she didn’t want to get sick after the day she’d had. “We talked about it, but it would have meant finding an accessible place there to accommodate my needs, which wasn’t impossible, but it would have limited my parents when this was their time to make a new life. They had gone through enough and deserved the freedom to enjoy the life they’d worked hard for all those years. I didn’t want to hold them back by wheeling around after them.”
“I know your parents don’t feel that way about it, Sky.”
It was easier to stare at the opposite wall than to make eye contact with him when she talked about her family. “We went through a lot with my brother, Land. Stuff thatyou don’t even know about. There were things I never told you because I knew you’d kill him if you knew.”
He tipped his head to the side. “You’re not wrong. Especially if it involved him touching you.”
“That time you caught him? It wasn’t the first,” she admitted, shame filling her voice. She glanced at him and noticed the light go out in that gray eye while fire filled the blue one. They always said people with two different-colored eyes could see heaven and earth simultaneously. She was starting to wonder if that was true.
“So help me God, if I find that man alive, he won’t be for long,” Reece ground out, his plate clattering on the table as he tossed it aside to take her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me? And don’t say it’s because I’d hurt Silas. You weren’t bothered in the least when I beat him senseless in the seventh grade.”
“I was ashamed, okay?” she asked, defense clear in her tone as she tried to pull away.
He held tight to her hand and breathed deeply through his nose. “How long, Sky?”
“A couple of years,” she whispered, staring at their joined hands. “It wasn’t all the time, and sometimes I wondered if I dreamed it.”
“Sounds like something a victim would say.” She could tell he was trying to be gentle but wanted to pound on something. Probably her brother’s face. Reece wasn’t a violent man except when it came to Silas. It was like he could see under her brother’s skin to the monster he was when no one else could.
“I’m still mad they didn’t kick him out the moment he turned eighteen,” Reece said, holding her hand and leaning in as though he couldn’t stand the distance betweenthem. She knew that wasn’t true. Not after what happened today, but having someone to talk to who cared about her felt nice. “I suppose by then it was clear that something was very wrong with Silas.”
“My parents knew something was wrong, but Silas refused to go to therapy. After you beat him and I told them why, they insisted on getting him help. We were all scared out of our minds, and the worst part was I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. After many years of therapy, I know it wasn’t my fault. My parents did their best with the hand they’d been dealt. When my accident happened, everything fell apart with Silas.”
“Why did your parents work so hard to find him after he left? If everything you said is true, weren’t they happy he was out of their lives? He was twenty-three by then and could more than go it on his own.”
“You’re forgetting that he was their child. We don’t have children, so it’s easy for us to judge what they did or didn’t do.”
“Fair,” Reece agreed. “I’m not judging them. I’m trying to understand their thinking.”
He was more likely digging for an angle to help him find Silas, but she wouldn’t bring that up. He could look all he wanted. Silas was dead.
“I asked my dad about it after the third private investigator couldn’t find him. If I’m honest, his explanation gutted me.”
