Page 108 of Haven

I excused myself for a moment, walking into my office and opening my safe, pulling out another six thousand dollars. Martha needed to get out of Crestview, I knew it was only a matter of time before Luke would hurt her and her children. I quickly returned to the treatment room and handed Martha the money. She looked at me with teary eyes as her bottom lip trembled.

“I want you to get out of here. Ten thousand should be enough to help you get on your feet, and if you need more, call me and I’ll make sure you are settled.”

She burst into tears. “I-I can go home now. My mom is in Washington state. I can drive the girls there and we can start over.”

“Go. I want to make sure you are safe, so I’ll go with you to your house and watch as you drive. I know it will make the trip longer, but drive through Briarwood and go around Crestview. Let me know when you make it.”

“I can’t thank you enough, Haven. You are changing our lives.”

“This town destroyed it, so the least I can do is give you a chance to leave.”

I went with Martha to her place and helped her pack a few necessary items. With the money I gave her, she could hopefully start fresh and buy some new clothes for the girls and herself. She was a nice woman stuck in a terrible situation, all because of this town. If it was within my power, I would do any and everything to help the women in this town burned by bastards like Luke. Half of that five grand actually came from Luke. I stole it from my father and put it in the safe for this exact purpose. If he was going to do shitty things in my town, I would make sure that someone benefited from the money. Martha could escape now.

When her car was packed with as much stuff as we could fit in, I followed them to the edge of town where Crestview met Briarwood and watched as she drove off. She would be safe now, and her little girls could have a life where they weren’t in constant danger. My father would be meeting with Luke soon and he would be kicking him out of Crestview. I didn’t want Martha to be caught in the crossfire because of it.

When she was on the road, my phone rang. “What is it, Zade?”

“You need to get here, now.”

Ninety

Vesper

HADES

We need to talk.

Before I had the chance to respond back to her she FaceTimed me. “Can you meet?”

“Why?”

“I have information that will help this. Zade found something when looking into Rory’s time in Nevada, and it’s something I don’t want to discuss over FaceTime or via text.”

I nodded, glancing behind me to make sure no one heard us. I couldn’t just waltz into Crestview because of the agreement. “There’s a diner on the edge of Briarwood and Crestview. I will meet you there.”

The drive was intense knowing Hades had information that could shift everything. Cinder went alone back then to get Rory; she could have missed something with everything else going on. No one would blame her, either. I, too, would have been more concerned about saving her than inspecting every inch of the house she was in.

When I pulled up, she was leaning against her cherry-red Camaro like she owned the place. One boot was crossed over the other, and her arms were folded. She wore red leather, matching her car that clung to her sinful body, and her eyes cut into me when I stepped out of my Escalade. I hated that I noticed how she looked, but I couldn’t deny the pulse in my chest. Fucking hell. This was not how I should react to this woman.

“What did you find?” I asked, cutting straight to the chase.

She didn’t say anything for a moment, reaching into the front of her car and pulling out a plain manila file. She handed it to me without a word.

I hesitated for a second before I grabbed it, our fingers brushing. It felt deliberate, like she also felt this growing tension between us, or maybe I was imagining things. Even if it meant something, whatever she had was more important than this chemistry we shared.

I flipped the folder open, my gut twisting at the articles about Rory. As I inspected the papers, I stopped in my tracks at seeing the police report. “What is this? Detective Calloway didn’t tell us anything when Cinder talked to her.”

“Because this wasn’t from Detective Calloway. It’s from the FBI. This file was from a year ago.” The Bureau? Melisa said something about the FBI poking their noses in Briarwood, but I didn’t believe they would keep it a secret from Cinder, let alone the officers. Something wasn’t adding up.

"Why would the FBI have a file on a girl, but we wouldn’t know anything about her? Do you have names on the agents?”

Hades’s eyes hardened. “Caroline Hart and Adam Turnage.”

“That’s not possible, because those are two of three agents that died five years ago.”

“Something isn’t adding up. Zade said it took a lot to find it. He had to bypass a firewall and he is pretty sure someone tracked him, but he scrambled his location so I don’t know if they wanted this to be found. It could be fake.”

“Did he get a name?” Vesper asked.