Chapter 20

Sadie satin Trevor’s truck with the door open and a blanket around her shoulders.

Not that it was cold outside.

But she couldn’t stop shivering.

Firefighters had arrived on the scene and put out the flames before they did too much damage.

But the fact remained that this fire had been set on purpose. She was unable to deny that.

Had someone wanted to distract her? To harm her?

She wasn’t sure.

Detective Bennett had already arrived to question everyone. He started with her.

Trevor had helped to fill in some details Sadie was too shaken to remember.

When they finished, the detective moved on to question other employees, and Trevor turned toward her, concern in his gaze. “I feel like you need to lie down and get some rest. You’ve been through a lot.”

Something about the concern in his tone made her toes curl.

Her toes curl? She had to get a grip.

She shoved the thought aside and reminded him, “I don’t have time. This isn’t going to stop until we find answers.”

“If you don’t get some rest, your memories might not return.” His voice sounded gentle and almost prodding instead of bossy. “You have to look at it that way as well.”

Trevor’s words made sense. But Sadie didn’t want to slow down.

As they turned to climb into his truck, Sadie saw a man headed toward them. She’d seen him earlier.

The delivery driver, she realized.

He stopped in front of her before saying in a jovial voice, “Sadie, good to see you back.”

She opened her mouth, unsure how to respond.

Trevor responded for her. “You may not have heard, but she was in an accident and lost her memory.”

The man’s eyes widened with surprise. “Oh, wow. I’m out for a couple of days, and I really did miss a lot. I’m sorry to hear that. I’m Bart.”

Sadie offered a faint smile and nodded.

“You were making a delivery earlier, weren’t you?” Trevor stepped closer.

“I was.”

“Did you see anyone near the supply room?”

Bart pressed his lips together in hesitation. He paused another moment before glancing around. Then he stepped closer. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I did see Juan go inside as I was leaving.”

“Who exactly is Juan?” Trevor asked. “What’s his job here at the company?”

“He’s the COO,” Bart said. “He started here around the same time as Sadie.”

Trevor’s gaze darkened.

Did Juan have something to do with this?

Before she could say anything else, a car zoomed onto the scene. A black Mercedes that looked expensive—another weird fact she remembered. Why did she instinctively know which cars were pricey?

The door opened and . . . Guy stepped out.

Sadie’s stomach sank.

His gaze went from the building to Sadie.

Then he rushed toward her, stopping entirely too close. At least he didn’t touch her.

Bart scooted away, as if sensing an oncoming tense conversation.

“Are you okay?” Guy stared down at her.

Sadie nodded, wishing she could give him more. Especially if they truly had been dating.

But she couldn’t right now. She didn’t have it in her.

“Thankfully, no one was hurt,” she told him.

“I can’t believe this.” He raked a hand through his hair and turned back toward the building. “What happened?”

Trevor filled him in. But Sadie noticed that as soon as Trevor spoke, some of Guy’s friendliness disappeared.

Guy didn’t like Trevor. Maybe he even felt intimidated by Trevor. Or jealous. She couldn’t be sure.

Guy turned back to her, not hiding the fact he was shutting Trevor out. “Are you doing okay today? You look pale. Any progress?”

The barrage of questions made her chest tighten.

“Nothing really new,” she finally said. “No new memories. I hoped going into the office might trigger something.”

His shoulders seemed to slump. “That’s too bad.”

“Yes, it is disappointing.”

Detective Bennett came to talk to Guy and led him away from Sadie.

She hated to admit it, but she was relieved to have space from him.

“How about this?” Trevor said. “I’ll take you to the hotel. My colleague is already there with an adjoining room. You can take a nap. While you do that, I’ll continue to research and see what I can find out. After you sleep for an hour or two, then we can continue trying to recover your memories.”

A sense of relief swept through her, as it often did when she was with Trevor. His ideas always made sense, and he seemed to know what to suggest to keep her grounded. That confidence was exactly what Sadie needed right now.

“Okay,” she finally said. “That sounds like a good plan.”

* * *

Trevor took one last glance at Guy as he pulled away.

He couldn’t help but notice that the man was wearing black and that the bottom of his dress shoes were muddy.

Could Guy have been the one Trevor saw running toward the woods after the fire started?

It seemed like a good possibility. But Trevor didn’t want to bring it up. He didn’t want to upset Sadie any more than she already was. She’d been through so much.

Instead, he kept the thought to himself—for now. He would share it soon enough. He would tell Kai and see what his colleague might be able to find out about the man. Trevor might even do some research of his own.

He even contemplated telling Detective Bennett. He just wanted to think everything through first.

The timing of Guy being out of the office was suspect. Maybe he’d left when he did on purpose. Had he somehow known Sadie was coming and planned this to either frighten or harm her?

That was the question Trevor had to ask himself.

What about that photo the administrative assistant had given him of the dead man? Why had Sadie been in possession of it?

He would eventually ask her—but not yet. Besides, it wasn’t as if she would remember right now.

For now, Trevor needed to concentrate on getting Sadie away from here.

He didn’t talk to her on the drive. He sensed she needed some time and space.

He sensed that because he knew her well enough to know that about her.

Another flash of guilt swept through him.

He wished he could tell her the truth. Could tell her that they did know each other.

But he remembered Larchmont’s warning. Trevor would listen to his boss—at least until he had more information.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the hotel Kai had booked for them.

It was a nice facility with interior hallways.

Trevor ushered Sadie upstairs, texting Kai on the way. His colleague met them in the hallway with the room keycard and let them inside.

Sadie wasted no time falling onto the bed.

“Can I get you anything before you rest?” Trevor asked.

Sadie shook her head, her eyelids starting to sag with exhaustion. “No, I just need to sleep.”

Trevor would let her do that. When she awoke, he’d get her something to eat. He wanted to look out for her. She needed someone right now, and he wanted to be that person.

“I’ll just be in the next room.” He turned the lights off and walked into the adjoining room.

He and Kai needed to talk. Kai had been looking into some things, and now Trevor wanted to know what his colleague had found out. But they’d need to keep their voices down. For more than one reason.

Trevor sat at the corner table and glanced at Kai. “Anything?”

“I put together a list of about eight people you might have made mad enough to do this for revenge,” Kai started. “I looked into each of them. Checked for alibis. Of course, most of these people have a small army at their disposal, any of which they could have hired to do their dirty work.”

“Anyone stand out or raise any red flags?”

He reached into his pocket and handed Trevor a paper. “Just one. Frederick Moreau. I wrote up everything I could find about him here.”

“Frederick Moreau?” Frederick was the last person Trevor had expected Kai to mention.

The man had been running an intricate human-trafficking organization.

He was deplorable.

But Trevor had managed to collect a thick file of evidence on the man and what he was doing. He’d turned it into the authorities, Frederick had been arrested, and his operation shut down last year.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t have minions willing to get revenge for him.

“There’s been some chatter in the prison that he’d been plotting something,” Kai continued. “And everyone knows he hates you.”

“That he does.” Frederick had made that abundantly clear as he’d been arrested. He’d been on the verge of getting away—and slipping off somewhere he’d probably never be found.

Frederick would have probably had his men start up little “enterprises” whenever he saw fit. His crime reign would have continued.

Trevor had pretended to be one of his guys, and Frederick had let him into his circle.

When Trevor betrayed him, Frederick vowed revenge.

“You think he may have sent someone to the beach to go after me, but this person hit Sadie instead?”

Kai eyed him a moment before shrugging. “I suppose that’s one theory.”

Kai knew there was more going on. That was evident.

But Trevor couldn’t explain everything. Instead, he asked, “Anything else?”

Kai sighed. “Sadie Carrington appears to be a carefully made-up persona. Whoever put together her background is good. I almost didn’t catch several things.”

“Bennett said her fingerprints checked out.”

“Like I said, whoever put this together is good. I’m still trying to find out who she really is.”

Normally, if Trevor was going to break the rules and date someone, he would have looked into her background.

Instead, this time he’d thrown caution to the wind.

Had that been a deadly mistake?