Page 12 of Everything We Found

Nadia saw red. “You wouldn’t dare,” she seethed. “Blackmail is beneath you.”

“Nothing is beneath me if it keeps you alive.”

“Aimee was right. You are a monster.”

Thomas withdrew. A fleeting look of pain darkened his features. “If it means keeping you alive then I guess I am.”

She looked at the ground, feeling guilty for lashing out. But the reality of what they’d escaped from and the uncertainty of their future was bearing down on her. She. Was. Terrified.

“I can’t protect you if you don’t come with me,” Thomas said.

“Protecting me isn’t your job or responsibility.”

“I protect anyone who means something to me. Whether you like it or not, that includes you, Nadia Jacobs.”

She looked up at him, his declaration a surprise. She never believed she was that important to him. She never wanted to hope.

He held her gaze.

Uncomfortable, she glanced away first. He’d only said that to her because their emotions were running hot.

Nadia turned around and walked away to think, stopping at the edge of the turnout where it dropped downhill. She wasn’t wired or trained to deal with life-or-death situations. But she also didn’t avoid a challenge when faced with one, preferring to overcome rather than walk away. She refused to feel like a victim.

She hated to admit it, but Thomas was right. They needed to go somewhere safe, find out what was going on and lie low until this blew over. Then she’d make the decision about when she could get her car and go home.

She returned to where Thomas waited, arms at his side, warily watching her. The past crashed over her as they stared atone another, anticipating the other’s next move. Like they had a decade ago in the funeral home.

This time, their next move had to be together. She also intended to have more control over her involvement. Which would be zero if she had any say about it.

“I’ll go with you but give me a second. I have to make a call first.” Aimee and Ian were expecting her to stay with their kids tonight so that they could go out. They’d worry when she didn’t show.

Thomas grabbed her phone just as the call connected and Aimee said, “Hi, Nadia!” He chucked it down the hillside. She saw the phone hit a boulder, shattering the screen.

“You asshole!”

He did the same with his phone and turned to her. “I’m not taking any chances with our location. We’ll pick up a couple burner phones on the way.”

She fumed. “Better throw your Tesla down the hill too.”

He glared at her and swore. “You’re right. We have to ditch the car.”

He blanched when he said it, but they could both agree his car was a giant beacon on wheels. They needed to dispose of anything that could be used to track them.

She fired him a smug look and, crossing her arms, walked back to the car so he wouldn’t notice how badly she was shaking. More than ever she questioned her decision to visit the mortuary the night before James’s funeral. What had she been thinking?

Going there had changed the course of her life.

And it was happening again.

5

NADIA

TEN YEARS AGO

“How long have you been here?”

Nadia met Thomas’s cold glare across the visitation room at the funeral home. “A while.”