Page 74 of Getting Down to Business

“And how would I know I wouldn’t fall for it again with someone else?”

Gray let out a sigh. It was clear he didn’t have an answer.

“I wrote to him after he was convicted, asking him why he did it. I thought if I knew maybe I could figure out how I’d missed it. Maybe I would know what to look for the next time, but he couldn’t even give me that. He still denied everything. He swore they had the wrong person and he was going to be released soon so we could be married. If he could have just told me the truth…” She hung her head. “Maybe if I hadn’t been so giddy every time he called me his almost-wife I would have seen some clue. I was so stupid.”

“You weren’t stupid. Who would ever suspect such a thing? Especially from someone who was so nice to you? No one would, Liss. No one.”

She liked the way his fingers felt as they brushed though her hair, but she had no idea what he really did when he went to the gym or stayed late at work.

She didn’t really know him.

No one really knew anyone.

* * * *

This was horrible. Worse than horrible. There wasn’t a word for it.

Gray knew she had been hurt. It was obvious by the way she avoided relationships, but he had no idea it was this severe. He pulled her closer, wanting to take all of it away.

“I swear I don’t have anything heinous like that in my past. The worst thing I’m guilty of is occasionally taking a long lunch break. I’m safe, Liss. I promise, you can count on me.”

She nodded in a noncommittal way. She wasn’t ready, but he’d gotten through. She’d told him her story. It was huge, and now that he was on the inside of her wall he was terrified.

He really wanted to help Alyssa because he cared, but he knew he wasn’t qualified. He didn’t have the ability to be what she needed in order to heal.

He held her as she fell asleep, his mind still racing to find a way to help. Then at about three in the morning, he had an idea. He wasn’t qualified, but he knew someone who was.

The next morning, he snuck out into the hallway with his phone before Alyssa woke up.

“What, brat?” his older sister, Izabelle, answered.

“I need a favor.”

“Like an I need you to lie to mom and dad favor, or an I need bail money kind of favor?”

“I need you to see if a psych eval was done on a prisoner and see if you can take a look at it and give me your thoughts.”

“I so did not see that coming,” she said flatly.

“I know. It’s for a friend.”

“Who is it and where are they being detained?”

“Donald Rice. Onondaga.” He’d gotten the details out of Alyssa before she fell asleep the night before.

“Let me see what I can do. I’ll get back to you after I take a look.”

“Thanks, Iz. I really appreciate this.”

It was two days before Izabelle got back to him with her results.

“How in the hell did you get mixed up with this sick son of a bitch?” his sister asked when he answered the phone. Since he was watching a movie with Alyssa, he excused himself and went to talk in his room.

“My friend was engaged to him, she had no idea he was a rapist.”

“I can believe that. He doesn’t seem to know he’s a rapist either.”

“What does that mean? Like multi-personality disorder?”