Page 20 of Lone Star Wanted
“I had to do whatever it took,” Marlene said under her breath. “I had to get my mother back.”
Kincade’s feeling for this woman didn’t soften one bit. Because there were holes in her story. Big ones.
“Then tell me this, how did the person who took your mom know about the safe house?” Kincade demanded. “And why would they think you could get Travis there without a fight?”
Marlene hesitated. And that hesitation said more than any denial. “Travis and I… we had a thing. It wasn’t serious. Just friends with benefits. Off and on.”
Kincade’s stomach turned. Travis’s relationship with this woman, casual or not, had been twisted into a weapon. Used against him by someone who knew exactly how to exploit it.
Well, maybe. He didn’t know if everything Marlene had just said was a lie.
“And the safe house?” Cassidy pressed. “How did your mom’s kidnapper know the location? Why take him there?”
Marlene looked down at her hands, then back at them. “I don’t know how they found out. But some of the locations… they’re not exactly secrets. Sheriff Moran, he knows about a few of them. Ruby lets the department use them now and then for witness protection or temp holds.”
Her voice broke again, and this time she didn’t try to hide it. “I have to find my mother,” she whispered. “I have to get her back.”
Kincade watched her closely, piecing it all together. “Travis told me to meet him at the safe house,” he said. “Said it had to be face-to-face.”
Marlene gave a small, bitter nod. “I made him say that. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You forced him to lure Kincade there?” Cassidy snapped.
That caused Marlene to dodge eye contact. “The abductor told me exactly what to say. That if I didn’t follow through, my mother would die.”
Kincade’s jaw tightened. “But Travis could’ve overpowered you.”
“I think he knew that,” Marlene answered after a long pause. “He didn’t fight me. Not really. It was like he was… watching. Waiting.”
“For what?” Cassidy asked.
Marlene shook her head slowly. “To see how far it would go. Maybe to figure out who was behind it. Maybe he was hoping someone would slip up. I don’t know. But he didn’t run. He didn’t resist.”
Kincade felt a weight settle in his chest. That sounded like Travis. Calculating. Controlled.
And walking straight into something that could kill him.
Kincade stepped in a little closer, keeping his voice level. “What happened when you got to the safe house?”
Marlene blinked, clearly thrown. “You… don’t remember?”
His pulse ticked up, but he kept his expression neutral. “I want your version of it.”
She studied him for a moment, probably trying to figure out if he was bluffing. He didn’t give her anything.
Eventually, she exhaled and looked away, her voice softening. “It was late. Travis drove us out there.”
“And me?” Kincade asked. “Was I already there?”
Marlene nodded slowly. “Yeah. When we got to the safe house, I saw you. You stepped out onto the porch.” She paused, her hands fidgeting at her sides. “Just like they told me, I made Travis get out. He didn’t argue. But then—”
Her voice hitched.
“All hell broke loose,” she blurted. “Someone started shooting at us. Not warning shots. They were trying to kill us.”
Kincade’s pulse kicked up. The edges of it—gunfire, adrenaline—started to stir at the back of his mind.
“Travis dove behind a tree,” Marlene went on. “You ducked back into the house. That part I remember clearly. You moved fast.”
