Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Maisy felt like she was going to throw up. She was sitting at a table in a conference room at the main lodge of the retreat Jack apparently co-owned. All his friends were there, staring at her expectantly. They wanted information and were waiting for her to give it to them.

She'd slept through the afternoon and night. When she'd woken up this morning to the smell of bacon, her first thought had been pleasure. Paige didn't make bacon or sausages very often because Jason felt they were too fattening.

But when she opened her eyes and found herself in a room she didn't recognize, Maisy remembered. She wasn't in Seattle anymore. Paige wasn't here. And Jack's memory had come back.

She knew the moment it happened. When they'd been in the park and that helicopter had flown over.

Now he hated her, and she had no one to blame but herself.

Traveling to New Mexico was a blur. She didn't remember much of what happened after her brother had forced her to swallow the Valium. She had vague memories of the flight they'd taken, but that was it. She'd met a lot of people the day before, and surprisingly, most had been nice to her. If she'd been in their shoes, she wasn't sure she would've offered as much grace as the men and women of The Refuge had shown her.

Things had been awkward between her and Jack since she woke. She'd showered, they'd eaten, Alaska had come by with some clothes, and as soon as she'd changed, Jack informed her that they'd be going up to the lodge to talk with his friends.

And now here she was.

She still felt a little off…but the fog that had consumed her because of the Valium had cleared. When he'd asked if she was okay this morning, the temptation to tell Jack that she still wasn't feeling like herself had been strong, but it was time she owned up to her part in what had been done to him. The sooner she told these men what she knew, the sooner she could leave.

Because she had no doubt whatsoever that her brother would come for her. He'd hire whoever it took to find her because without Maisy, he wouldn't be able to access her trust. And he wouldn't have any compunction about hurting anyone who stood between him and what he wanted—her money.

She had to leave. As soon as possible. Where, she had no idea, but she'd figure it out. Maybe she'd ask Ry if she could help her change her name and start over somewhere. The other woman had been extremely kind to her the day before, and Maisy vaguely remembered her saying that she was a computer genius and had been able to save all her pictures from her phone, which was probably buried in a landfill somewhere right about now.

"Why did your brother kidnap Stone?" Brick asked.

Maisy mentally shored her shoulders and took a deep breath. The men had been more than patient, making sure she was feeling all right, offering something to drink and asking if she was comfortable. But they had a right to know why their friend had been taken. And Jack needed to know too.

"To answer that, I need to go back in time…" Maisy started.

"My parents were rich. They'd invested well and Dad had a good job in Silicon Valley. They moved to Seattle when I was little, bought a big house where my dad worked remotely. Hired a few people to help around the place, and were very generous with their money in the community. Jason is seven years older than me and he seemed happy, even though he had to leave all his friends behind when we moved.

"When I was around fourteen, Jason started to change. He was about to graduate from college and Mom and Dad were on his case about doing something with his life, but he was content to stay on his friends' couches and stuff. Things seemed tense between him and our parents, but honestly, I was too into my own stuff to pay attention. Typical teen. I wasn't part of the popular crowd or anything, but I had a few good friends I loved to hang out with.

"When I was fifteen, I was at a sleepover at a friend's house when my parents were killed. Jason came to my friend's and got me and brought me home. He told me that Mom and Dad had been out to dinner and when they went back to their car, someone shot them and stole their vehicle. Dad died instantly, but Mom lived long enough to crawl over to his side and was found with her hand on his head. The police think she was trying to stop the bleeding."

Maisy ignored the sympathetic noises coming from the men. They wouldn't last, and she didn't want to feel their concern and then have to give it up once they heard the entire story.

"The cops didn't find their killer or killers. There was no physical evidence at the scene, no bullet casings, no blood other than from my parents, no fingerprints on either of them. There wasn't even any surveillance video because the restaurant's cameras were broken or something. So no one ever answered for their deaths.

"I didn't take it well. I was hysterical at the thought of never seeing them again. Jason moved back into the house and became my legal guardian. He took care of me, making sure I saw doctors for my depression and anxiety. I couldn't go to school…couldn't make myself care about anything . I dropped out, but Jason helped me study for the GED test. I passed, barely, but I wasn't interested in going to college anyway.

"The first twelve years after my parents' deaths are a fuzzy blur because I was taking so many meds. They made it impossible to care about what was going on around me. I didn't have to worry about anything because Jason was there. My parents had life insurance policies, and Jason got his money right away. I assumed he used my portion to pay for my expenses…drugs, medicals bills, that sort of stuff. But honestly, I was too drugged to ask.

"When I was around twenty-two, Jason met a girl. Her name was Martha. I liked her. She was shy and sweet. She helped me get a little stronger, and I was able to stop taking some of the daily meds I'd been on for so long. She and Jason got married down at the courthouse, and she didn't seem to have a lot of friends, so she and I hung out a lot. But around four months after she and Jason got married…she disappeared."

"Disappeared how?" Pipe asked.

"One day she was there, and the next she was gone. All her things were gone too. Her purse, a suitcase of clothes, the jewelry Jason had given her. The police investigated, but with all their other cases, and with no evidence of foul play, eventually I think they simply wrote her off as an adult deciding to leave her husband. She had no family to encourage the police to keep looking into things."

"Your brother didn't do that?" Brick asked.

"At the time, I thought he was too upset and humiliated that she'd left him. He'd hinted at the possibility of her cheating with someone else, and I thought he wasn't willing to stoop to begging for her to come back."

"And now?"

Maisy turned toward Owl. Jack was sitting next to him…on the other side of the table from her. When she'd sat down, and saw Jack pull up the chair next to his friend, as far away from her as he could get, it hurt. A lot. But she wasn't surprised. She'd known this day would come from the first lie that passed her lips.

"As I said in the beginning, my parents had a lot of money. It was split between the two of us upon their deaths. But my parents were…quirky. They believed in soul mates, and they wanted their kids to experience the kind of true love that they had. So in order to try to help us find it , the money they left us had strings attached." She didn't wait for someone to ask what those strings were before continuing.

"In order to access the money in our trusts, we had to be married for at least three months. Only then would we be able to have it released. There's a monthly stipend that we got, whether we were married or not, but the bulk of the money was only accessible after we were married."

"Ah…" Tiny said with a knowing look in his eye.

Maisy felt her cheeks heat. She knew what these men were thinking. That she was a money-grubbing bitch who'd come up with a plan to access her fortune.

They were so far off it wasn't even funny. But why would they believe her? All evidence was pointing toward the fact that she was exactly what they probably thought.

"So your brother got married and after gaining access to his money…his wife disappeared?" Jack asked.

Maisy nodded.

"Convenient," Tonka mused.

"Not for Martha," Maisy couldn't help but say. Then she sighed. "He killed her." The three words felt heavy in the room, but the weight that had settled on her shoulders from the moment she'd realized what her brother had probably done, suddenly lifted. She wasn't sure anyone would believe her, but at least she was sharing her suspicions at last.

"I don't know how the murder actually took place, but one day, very shortly after she went missing, Jason hired someone to put in that basketball court in our backyard. It was weird, my brother isn't exactly the athletic type. But a company came, dug a big hole, then it rained for days and days, as it does in Washington. They came back about a week later and filled it in and put the concrete pad over it, but I think Jason put Martha's body in that hole."

"Why?" Spike asked. "It seems risky to put a body in a hole someone else is going to fill in."

"I know. I never said it was a smart plan. But I woke up one night after a nightmare and went downstairs to the kitchen. He was coming in from the back covered in mud. He yelled at me and told me to get back upstairs. I think he was preparing to move her body to that hole. And her stuff too. Martha wasn't a big woman, only a little over five feet. I think he put her in there, maybe even digging a little deeper so the contractors wouldn't notice, covered her up with some of the dirt the excavators had removed to create the hole, and then when the contractors came back, they helped him by filling in the hole with concrete and putting that stupid basketball court over it. I think he went out like three times after that to shoot hoops, and that was it."

"But you have no proof," Jack said.

Maisy forced herself to meet his eyes and shrugged. She had something that might be proof, but wasn't sure it was enough.

The room was silent, and it felt as if she and Jack were the only ones in the world. She wanted him to believe her. To trust that she wasn't simply lying to cover her own ass. When he averted his gaze, her heart dropped.

"So your brother allegedly killed his wife after he got his money. Where does Stone come in?" Owl asked.

"Right," Maisy said, forcing herself to continue. This was the hard part. "So he was happy for a while. Jason had lots of money and he didn't have to work for it. But just like he made his way through the life insurance payouts, eventually he spent all the money he got from his trust."

"How much?" Brick interrupted.

"Four million."

Brick whistled low. "That's a lot of money."

"Yeah. And he didn't like that he couldn't spend willy-nilly anymore. He had my monthly stipend, but it wasn't enough."

"Wait— your monthly stipend?" Jack asked.

Maisy nodded. "Since I was a minor when our parents died, he arranged for it to be deposited into his account, which was legal at the time because he was my guardian. And when I turned eighteen, I was in no shape mentally to manage it myself. So it continued to go into his account. By the time I started to get better, not taking as many of the drugs and had the presence of mind to ask, years had passed, and he told me he'd been using the money to make sure I had everything I needed. Food, a roof over our heads, medicine, paying Paige's salary…things like that. He insisted I still wasn't ready to take care of that stuff on my own."

"So all these years, he's been stealing your money too," Tiny said.

Maisy looked down at the table and shrugged. "It wasn't as if I needed it. But after Martha disappeared, and he spent all his money…he stopped administering all of my drugs. Started encouraging me to find a boyfriend." She sighed. "I guess he needed me clearheaded if he wanted to marry me off.

"I wasn't interested in any of that. I'd barely left our house in years, I knew nothing about dating. But he signed me up for some dating sites anyway, arranged for me to meet some guys. He had the men come to the house, and it was beyond awkward. I didn't like any of them, they only seemed interested in sex, not a relationship. Jason didn't care, he kept pushing me to stop being such a prude. But I didn't want any of those men."

"So he went out and found you a husband," Brick concluded.

Maisy couldn't read the expression on his face, and she refused to look at Jack. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I don't know how he did it. I mean, he has some really horrible friends, but I never thought he, or they, would do what they did."

"Friends like Don Coffey?" Tiny asked.

"Yes."

"Who?" Owl asked.

"Don Coffey. Ryleigh found texts and emails between him and Maisy's brother. He wasn't the guy he worked with to kidnap Stone. But they did other shit together. Sick stuff, like drugging women in bars and taking them to motels, leaving them there to wake up alone with no memory of the night before."

"Assholes," Spike muttered.

Maisy couldn't agree more. She hadn't known her brother and Don were doing stuff like that. It made her sick and even more ashamed of herself for not going to the police sooner. For letting her brother manipulate her so thoroughly.

"Why didn't this Don guy marry her?" Spike asked. "If Jason wanted to get his hands on her money, why not just have one of his friends do it?"

"Because then someone else would know," Maisy said. "I thought about that too. Don's horrible. He was always saying crude things to me, touching me when Jason wasn't around. But if my brother had to pay Don to marry me, he'd have to tell him why, and then probably have to share some of my inheritance with him as well. And Jason's greedy. He wouldn't want to have to pay any more than necessary."

"So, he arranged to have someone kidnapped. To what? Force him to marry you? That shit doesn't happen today. Maybe back in the old days with shotgun weddings, but today? No way," Owl said with a shake of his head.

"What was he going to do if I didn't have amnesia?" Jack asked.

Maisy forced herself to look at him. He was the wronged party here, not her. He was the one who'd been kidnapped and lied to. She'd had plenty of time to separate herself from her brother, and she hadn't. "Shotgun weddings might not be a thing today, but he wouldn't have hesitated to hold a gun to your head, or mine, to make you go through with it."

Her words were calm, but Maisy's heart was beating a mile a minute, and she felt a little light-headed. But she forced herself to continue.

"All he needed was your signature on that marriage certificate. Once he had that, he would've locked you in the safe room in our basement for three months, until I signed the papers to accept my inheritance, and then he would've killed you."

The room went electric.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Holy shit."

"No fucking way!"

"Jesus. "

Maisy couldn't blame the men for reacting the way they were.

"What about you?" Jack barked.

Maisy couldn't stop herself from flinching. "What about me?" she asked.

"What would've happened to you after the three months were up?"

"He would've killed me too. Can't risk me telling someone what he'd done."

"Did he really think he'd get away with more people in his life just disappearing?" Brick asked.

"I don't think he really thought about it much," Maisy said honestly. "As long as he had access to the money, he didn't seem to care about the details."

"But that didn't happen," Owl said. "Stone woke up and didn't remember who he was. When was the decision made to make him think you were already married?"

Jack had obviously already told his friends the parts of the story he knew.

"Jason came up with it on the fly. As soon as Jack woke, the moment Jason figured out he didn't know who he was, he said something about being his brother-in-law and things spiraled from there."

"And why did you go along with it?" Brick asked in a hard tone, leaning forward.

Maisy knew that question was coming, but she was no closer to knowing how to answer it than she was before.

"You see that bruise on her face?" Jack replied for her.

Maisy's gaze swung back to him.

When everyone nodded, Jack went on. "She's got more on her arms, and a huge one on her hip. She's had others. All over her body. She always told me she was clumsy, but I never saw her so much as stumble when we were together."

Maisy's face flamed with embarrassment, but she didn't interrupt.

"When I first woke up, I heard Jason being nasty to her. I didn't understand what I was listening to, and I figured maybe I'd misheard things because my head hurt so badly. But I'm guessing if the man was willing to put a gun to his sister's head in order to force me to marry her, he wasn't above threatening her to get her to do what he wanted…namely, stay quiet and go along with the story about us being married. Let me guess, it was his idea to tell me I was a bounty hunter?"

Maisy nodded, more relieved than she could say that he'd figured things out on his own. "He said it was a solitary profession and would explain why you had no friends."

"And living in Spokane, the fire at my apartment complex?"

Once again, Maisy nodded.

"The renewal of vows ceremony was actually genius. I didn't suspect a thing."

She had no idea what to say. No, that wasn't true. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Are you?" Jack asked.

Maisy bit her lip. She was sorry for deceiving him. That he'd gotten caught up in her brother's greed. But was she sorry about the last few weeks? About being his wife? About everything that came with the title?

No. She wasn't sorry about that in the least. Even with dread hanging over her, she'd been happier than she'd been since her parents had died. Jack made her feel as if she was worthy. Like it wasn't an obligation to take care of her, but a privilege. She wasn't in the way, she wasn't a pain in his ass. She was his wife, someone he cared about and wanted to protect because she was important, not because he was beholden.

But she didn't think saying all that would be in her best interest at the moment. So she simply said, "Yes."

Jack didn't look happy, but he also didn't look as if he wanted to spring across the table and strangle her either. She was counting that as a win.

"So, now what?" Pipe asked. "You're back. Asshole kidnapper doesn't know where you are. But you're presumably legally married, so that means the clock for Maisy getting her money is still ticking."

"They really aren't married," Owl said. "The name on the license isn't his. Jack Smith doesn't exist. And we all know Ry could make that marriage license disappear in a heartbeat."

Maisy's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't liked deceiving Jack, but she was surprised at the pang of sorrow she felt at the thought of not actually being married to him.

"That's not going to solve any of the issues here," Jack snapped. "You think Jason is going to give up on getting his hands on Maisy's money?"

"You could get divorced, that should stop the clock," Brick volunteered.

"But then what? We send Maisy home so he can kidnap someone else and do the same thing?" Jack asked as he shook his head. "No, not an option."

Maisy's heart swelled. He might hate her and what she'd done, but at least he wasn't willing to make her go back to her brother. Or put anyone else in danger of being kidnapped to satisfy her brother's greed.

"What happens when three months is up, Maisy?" Pipe asked.

She turned to look at the tattooed man. "What do you mean?"

"How do you get your money? Is it automatic?"

"Oh, um, no. There are papers and stuff that need to be signed. I need to appear before the guy at the bank, and the lawyer who's in charge of the trust, to get the money released."

"What was your brother going to do after you signed?" Jack asked.

"As I said before. He told me he'd kill you, because he couldn't risk your memory coming back." She looked away. "And he mentioned something about me having an ‘overdose' because of my grief. After that, I assumed he'd live happily ever after with his millions, plus the proceeds from our life insurance policies."

"Wait—what life insurance policies?" Brick asked.

Maisy sighed. "The one he made me sign for Jack, and the one he apparently took out on me at some point."

"Holy fuck, I do not like this guy," Owl growled.

"I need to talk to Ryleigh," Tiny said.

"I thought you didn't trust her," Brick said.

"I don't. But there's no doubt the woman knows her way around a computer. Maisy, I'm assuming the money from your trust is supposed to go into your brother's account?"

"Probably."

"Right…so, what if it didn't? What if it went into an account set up in your name? "

"But wouldn't that lead Jason right to me?" Maisy shook her head, already panicking. "No! I don't want him anywhere near here."

"Ryleigh's sneaky enough to set something up that no one would ever be able to trace back to you or The Refuge. She could also probably get those life insurance policies canceled. And get the marriage annulled after the three months is up as well."

"She can do that?" Maisy asked with a raised brow.

"She can do anything with that computer. Which is why I don't trust her. I'm thinking we need to get her input on this."

"I agree," Brick said. Everyone else nodded as well.

Everyone but Jack.

"Stone? What are you thinking?" Owl asked.

"I'm thinking it's all well and good to get Ry to work her magic from a keyboard, but that doesn't prevent Maisy from needing to show herself in person to get access to her money. And I don't want her anywhere within a hundred miles of that asshole brother of hers. There's no telling what he'll do when he realizes how royally he's been fucked. He'll be desperate to get his hands on that money."

He was right. Jason would be beyond furious if his plans went down the drain. He was truly unstable, Maisy understood that now, and she didn't know what he'd do if he saw her again.

But if she wanted to start over, she needed that money. Oh, not all of it. She never wanted to put herself into the position of being taken advantage of again, and millions of dollars in her bank account could do just that. Besides, she'd never needed millions to this point in her life, and she didn't need them now. She just needed enough to take care of herself. Maybe she'd see if Ry could help her give most of it away.

She'd keep enough to buy a small home and live comfortably, find a job somewhere, and try to forget the man who'd been tricked into marrying her…and who she'd love for the rest of her life.

But she wouldn't be able to do any of that if she didn't do the right thing. Do what she should've done long before now.

"I need to talk to the police. Tell them what I told you," she blurted.

"We can arrange for you to do that here," Brick told her.

Maisy shook her head. "No. I mean, that would be okay, but there's an officer in Seattle…I think he's always been suspicious of Jason. He checked in on me a few times after Martha died but could never talk to me alone."

"We can get the detectives here to talk to him," Brick reassured her.

But Maisy knew she'd eventually need to go back to Seattle. She needed to face her brother. Let him know that she was done being manipulated by him. But it wasn't just that. "I have evidence," she admitted in a whisper.

She immediately had the attention of everyone in the room.

"What evidence?" Jack barked.

Maisy swallowed hard. "I wrote it all down, just in case something happened to me. Put it in a diary and told Paige where I hid it, and told her to get it to the police."

Jack's shoulders relaxed a fraction. "Okay, but nothing did happen to you, so you can tell the detectives everything that you wrote down."

"I also took pictures," she said in a tone much calmer than she felt.

"What? When? Of what ?" Jack asked.

"That night when he came in covered in mud. I was suspicious about what he was doing. So when I went back upstairs, I snuck into the hall bathroom, which overlooks the backyard. I had an old-fashioned camera. You know, the kind with actual film? Jason went back into the yard, and I took pictures of him doing something in that hole. I don't know if they'll be any good, it might've been too dark, but that roll of film might prove there's something there, under the court. If the cops dig up that stupid basketball court, they'll find Martha. I just know it."

"Holy shit," Owl breathed.

"Where's the film?" Spike asked.

"In the hole in my floor, with the diary. And that's not all."

"What else?" Jack asked.

"I have Martha's wallet. I found it on the floor in Jason's backseat. He was taking me to a doctor's appointment, and he always made me sit in the back when we went because I threw up once and it made him gag. The wallet was on the floor and I picked it up. I didn't understand why it was there, why it would be in Jason's car if she supposedly left town with her purse and a suitcase full of her stuff."

The men all exchanged glances, and Maisy wished she knew what they were thinking.

"We could get this Paige woman to grab that stuff, as Maisy asked her to," Pipe suggested .

"If Jason catches her, she'd be as good as dead," Jack said.

Maisy winced. She hadn't meant to put her friend in danger when she'd told her about the hiding place, but now she realized it probably wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done. There was a chance Paige had already retrieved the diary, as she'd asked. But an even bigger chance that Jason had lied to the staff about where she and Jack had gone, to hide the fact they'd fled the house.

"Right, so we'll tell the detective where the items are hidden and he can go and get them," Jack said.

"Not without a search warrant," Spike said with a shake of his head.

"But after Maisy tells them what she knows, and what she saw in her yard, they should have probable cause," Jack insisted.

"Hearsay," Tiny said.

"Fuck." Jack ran a hand through his hair.

"I can go. I want to go," Maisy blurted. "I never intended to put anyone else in danger. Especially not Paige. And…I need to face Jason. Let him see that he hasn't beaten me. That he didn't win."

"She wouldn't be alone," Brick suggested. "We'd go with her."

"No," Jack said.

"Go to the house, get the evidence, and go the cops."

"I said, no ."

"Yes," Maisy said, straightening in her seat.

Jack glared daggers at her from across the table.

She didn't look away from him as she spoke. "I fucked up. This is my mistake. My fault. I should've gone to the police back when Martha disappeared. But I didn't. I was a coward. And when Jason dragged you into the house and informed me that he'd gotten me a husband, I should've stood up for us both. But instead, I went along with his stupid plan because I was afraid. I knew it was wrong, and yet I did what I've always done—let my brother dictate my every action.

"I don't give a shit about the money. I wish it wasn't there, because then none of this would've happened. My parents might be alive, Martha would definitely be alive, and you wouldn't be married to a woman you never would've chosen in a million years. I need to do this, Jack."

"This isn't your fault," he said after a moment.

He was wrong. This was all her fault. "It's not yours either," she told him. "You didn't ask to be kidnapped, to be so traumatized that your brain shut down in order to cope. I didn't ask to lose years of my life lost in a fog of anxiety and antidepression drugs. You once said you'd never make me beg for anything…but I will. I need to do this. To move on. To have closure."

Jack's jaw ticked as he stared at her. Then he growled, " Fine . But I have conditions. If you're pregnant, you aren't getting anywhere near your brother. I won't endanger my son or daughter."

Maisy heard a few murmurings from the men around them, but she kept eye contact with Jack. It sucked that he felt as if he could endanger her , but not his baby. But she understood it. She did. "Deal. If I'm pregnant, I'll wait until after the baby is born before going to Seattle."

Jack sighed, then nodded. "And you won't go alone."

Maisy nearly sagged in her chair in relief. She didn't want to face Jason alone. There was no telling what he'd do if she showed up on her own. She'd probably end up in a hole in the backyard like Martha or drugged to the gills, at the very least. She was still feeling the effects of the Valium he'd forced her to take. She nodded at Jack.

"And you won't ever lie to me again. I want to know everything. Where you are, where you're going, who you're emailing, who you're calling— everything , Maisy. No more secrets."

She had no problem with that. It wasn't as if she had any friends to email or call anyway. "Okay."

"I mean it. I won't abide any more lies."

"I said okay," Maisy told him a little testily. "When will we leave?"

"When will you know if you're pregnant?" he returned.

She frowned. "I don't know."

"You can make an appointment with Henley's doctor in town," Tonka said.

"I think Cora might have some of those tests you pee on," Pipe added.

"We'll do both."

"It might be too early for either. It depends," Brick suggested.

"How the hell do you know that?" Tiny asked.

Brick grinned. "I just do."

"Anything you want to tell us?" Spike asked his friend.

"Nope. And even if I did, Alaska would kick my ass if she wasn't the one to share any good news we might have."

"You had your period just over a week ago, right?" Jack asked Maisy.

She blushed furiously. Jack was purposely making their business public, and while she didn't like it, she knew she deserved it. And he knew darn well when she had her period. He'd seemed upset that he hadn't already knocked her up, and when she protested his advances, saying she wasn't sure she wanted to have sex while she was bleeding, he'd managed to override all her concerns. He'd protected the bed with towels, made love to her in the shower, and made sure she was cleaned up and good to go before they fell asleep.

But they'd made love plenty of times since then. And while the timing might not be ideal, she wasn't so na?ve to think she couldn't get pregnant right after her period was over.

She nodded at Jack in acknowledgement.

"So we have a few weeks before we'll know," he said in a flat tone.

Maisy swallowed hard. Did she want Jack's baby? Yes…and no. Yes, because she loved him so damn much it almost hurt. And no, because it would make moving on with her life so much less complicated.

"That's probably better anyway. Give the asshole time to stew, and Ryleigh time to do what she needs to do on her end," Tiny said. "Not to mention, it doesn't make sense to go up there twice. You have to go up to see the banker once the three months is up, so we might as well wait and kill two birds with one stone."

"In the meantime, we'll have you see a doctor here regardless, just in case the drugs your brother made you take all those years have done any lasting damage, and you can get your feet under you again," Jack said.

Maisy took heart that he was using the "we" pronoun and not saying "you." She wouldn't blame Jack for washing his hands of her, but realizing that he wasn't made the ball of anxiety in her gut recede a smidge .

"You want to see the progress on the hangar?" Owl asked Jack with a smile.

"Hell yeah! I didn't even ask, what's up with the chopper?"

"We're getting her. She's currently grounded in Washington until all the investigations into Grant are done, but after that, she's ours."

"Awesome," Jack said.

"Yeah, so…you want to walk out there with me?"

"Yes. I'll get Maisy settled in the cabin and meet you back here."

Everyone stood, the meeting obviously done. Maisy felt awkward. Jack was right, it would be a few weeks before she'd know if she was pregnant. What was she supposed to do until then?

Jack didn't give her any time to think about it. He gestured for her to walk in front of him and they left the conference room. Alaska waved at her from the reception desk, but it was obvious Jack was anxious to meet up with Owl. So Maisy gave her a small smile and kept walking.

Before she was ready, Jack was opening the door to his cabin. He stepped inside with her but hovered by the door. "I'll be back later," he told her.

Maisy nodded.

Then he turned and walked back through the door, shutting it firmly behind him.

Maisy was alone—and she wanted to cry. She hadn't expected Jack to take her in his arms and tell her he forgave her and still loved her. But she'd expected… something . Maybe more talking once they were alone. She didn't think he'd dismiss her entirely.

She walked over to the couch and sat, staring through the wall of windows. She wasn't sure she could survive the next month in this cabin if this was how Jack was going to treat her.

Then she shook her head. No, she could. This was her penance. She'd been weak, had deceived the best man she'd ever known. She'd take whatever punishment he wanted to dole out. And whatever happened between them when everything was said and done, she'd accept it with as much grace as she could.

Jack wasn't hers. As much as she wanted to keep him forever, he'd entered her life under false pretenses. It didn't matter if she loved him with every fiber of her being. To him, she would always be the sister of the man who'd kidnapped him. The woman who'd lied to him.

She kicked off her shoes, then brought her knees up. She put her feet on the edge of the couch cushion and clasped her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on her knees and sighed. She wondered what Jason was doing right that moment. Was he pissed? Was he worried at all?

Shaking her head, Maisy knew he wasn't. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to get her money in a few weeks, but that was about it. Her brother cared about himself and only about himself. And soon he'd get what was coming to him. Karma would find him. Maisy had to believe that, otherwise she probably wouldn't be able to find the strength to confront him, to turn him in. To admit to her part in everything he'd done.

She was guilty by association. She hadn't spoken up when she'd had the chance. Instead, she'd hidden evidence first because she didn't want to believe the brother she knew and loved could be a killer…then because she was convinced he was capable of killing her .

But any love she'd had for him was gone. Jack had all her love now, and she'd do whatever it took to keep him safe. Even if that was from herself.

"Find her," Jason snarled at Don.

"What about him?"

"I don't give a shit about him!"

"So when I find them, I can kill him?" Don asked with an evil grin.

"Did you not hear me? He's nothing . I have what I need from him—his signature on a marriage certificate. But I need my sister. Alive. She has to present herself at the bank after three months to get that money transferred."

"And I'll get twenty K, right?" Don asked.

"Yes," Jason said between clenched teeth.

"I'll find them. They couldn't have gone far. I've already checked with a guy I know who works at the airport. He's fucking one of the chicks who works at the front counter. She looked them up, and they didn't get on a plane, so they have to be around here somewhere."

"And if we can't find them soon, my sister needs that money to survive. She'll be back after the three-month mark. She'll go to the bank like the greedy bitch she is," Jason fumed. He hated Maisy. She'd been a pain in his ass for years. He'd resented having to look after her, every fucking penny he'd had to waste on keeping her alive. If she wasn't around, all of his parents' money would have been his .

"Any chance I can have a go at her before you get rid of her?" Don asked .

"You want to fuck her, go for it. But she's no longer the tight bitch she used to be. Her husband has stretched that pussy for sure."

"Don't care. She's looked down on me for as long as I've known her. It'll be a pleasure to put her in her place."

"Then fine, but if you do, you'll have to get rid of her," Jason said.

"Not a problem."

"Good."

"What are you going to do in the meantime?" Don asked.

Jason scowled. "Whatever the hell I want. I've already fired all the hired help. I was only keeping them around for appearance's sake and to babysit my sister."

"Well, shit. I liked the biscuits that cook bitch made."

"Whatever," Jason said, rolling his eyes. Anger rose within him once more. When he woke up and realized that both Maisy and her fucking husband were gone, he'd been shocked to the core. Then he'd panicked. He didn't give a shit about whoever the fuck Jack really was, but he needed Maisy. At least for another month or so.

For the first time since the kidnapping, he wished he'd asked more questions about the man he'd paid to be kidnapped. He hadn't specified anyone in particular, just said he needed someone he could force to marry his sister. The man his buddy's friend hired was a ghost. Jason had no way of contacting him, and the guy probably wouldn't respond even if he did have his number. As soon as he was paid, the man was as good as gone.

As a result, Jason had no idea who Jack was. Not his last name or where he came from. Hell, he had no idea if he had friends in high places who could help him disappear with Maisy as if into thin air—like they seemed to have done.

But it didn't matter. Eventually the bitch would come back. She had to if she wanted to get access to her inheritance. And whenever she returned, Jason would be ready.

He hadn't done what he'd done all these years, only to fail now. No, he had her inheritance, plus the life insurance policies to cash in on. Once he did that, he'd be set. He could sell this fucking house for another couple million and move to Mexico. It was cheap as fuck down there and he could live like a king, getting all the pussy he wanted.

He was too close to his goal to let his sister screw it all up now.

He turned his back on Don and stared out at the backyard. The basketball hoop was looking pathetic and in need of repair. He needed to take care of that before he put the house on the market. Thinking about what lay buried under the concrete made him smile. He was smarter than everyone. The police officers were idiots, he'd outsmarted them all. No one had any suspicions about him, and soon he'd be a millionaire once more and could start his life over, without the ball and chain of his sister around his ankle.

The only wild card was Jack. But ultimately, he didn't matter. Jason would get rid of him as easily as he did his sister. He should've done what he'd planned in the first place and locked him in the safe room in the basement. It was too late now, but Jack would get what was coming to him.

The door to the office closed, and Jason heard Don walking down the hall toward the front door. His old friend would probably need to be taken care of as well. He could join Martha in the backyard. Or maybe he'd call that tip line and give him up to the cops, after the idiot offed his sister. Kill two birds with one stone. Don would be locked up, and he wouldn't have to pay him a dime.

Smiling, Jason decided he liked that plan. He didn't care that the body count was rising exponentially. All that mattered was money in his pocket. He'd do whatever it took to get it. Had done what it took. He only needed a few more weeks, and if he didn't find Maisy before the three-month anniversary of her wedding, she'd come to him .

He knew his sister, knew how she thought. She'd be back, if only to claim her money.

And when she did…she was as good as dead.