“It’s okay. It’s been five years now. What about you? Married? Divorced?”
“Neither. I was engaged but broke it off.” Her own expression was sad but also filled with something that resembled fear. That stuck with Jonas as he looked down at her.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, lying to himself and to her.
“He did something unforgivable, and the truth is, I think I made a mistake by accepting his proposal.”
“Did he cheat on you?” he asked. “Sorry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“No. It’s fine. For me, it was worse. He had a drinking problem. A big one, and no matter what I said or did, he refused to quit. One night, he checked himself into my emergency room. He was involved in a hit-and-run accident, killing a mother and her unborn twins.”
Jonas froze, swallowing the bile building in his throat. It was as if his feet were in concrete, weighing a thousand pounds. He couldn’t move.
“Wh-where? Where did that happen?” he asked.
“He was on business in Virginia. I was finishing my residency in the Baltimore, D.C. area. The woman was killed in Virginia. He showed up with a head injury, and one of the nurses took care of him before I could get to him. He wouldn’t tell me how it happened other than he hit the woman, but I put two and two together.”
“Did you report him?” he whispered.
“I did. I called the police, but he ran before they could get there. It’s one of the reasons I decided to come here. I needed to be away from him and somewhere that he couldn’t find me.”
Jonas had completely stopped dancing, staring off across the dance floor.
“Jonas? Jonas, are you alright?” she asked. He stared at her beautiful face and nodded.
“I’m sorry. I think I’m exhausted. I’ll take a rain check on the other half of the tour and dance.” He stepped back from her, giving a strange smile. “Goodnight, Khloe.”
“Goodnight,” she whispered. Ajei and Kate stood beside her, linking their hands with hers. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Come with us, honey. I think you need to hear this story.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “He must hate me.”
“He doesn’t hate you, honey. He was taken aback by that bit of news. Jonas is a smart man. He won’t blame you, but he does have to come to grips with how you’re connected.”
“I-I can’t imagine the pain, the horrible pain he went through. Archie. Stupid, immature, selfish Archie! That man should be behind bars.”
“What’s kept the police from finding him?” asked Ajei.
“If I had to guess, his father. I don’t know how he thinks he’s ever going to be able to hold public office. It was all over the news what he did, and he’s been gone now for almost five years. No one seems to be able to find him, and I think that’s suspicious. I’d bet that his father has someone to keep him out of the public eye.”
“He murdered three people,” said Kate.
“Yes, he did. And he tried to kill me,” whispered Khloe. The two women stared at her, waiting for more of an explanation. “I should have told you all. I know what you do and how amazing you all are. He was leaving threatening notes, voicemails, all kinds of threats. I’ve had to change my number three times.”
“Did you have the team check your phone for trackers?” asked Ajei.
“I did,” she grinned. “I’m more than aware of all the tricks. Hiro said it was clean, but he added some safety precautions to the phone and gave me the new injectable tracker.”
“Good, that’s good.”
“What do I do about him?” she asked, staring off toward the dark opening of the tent. “I really like him, and I feel like I should say something.”
“Just let it work itself out, honey. You can’t rush anything with this. That’s a lot to unravel for a man who only just met you and now discovers that the woman he has a crush on is linked to the death of his wife and children. He’ll come to grips with it sooner or later.” Khloe stared at the women, her eyes filling with tears.
“I agree,” said Kate. “Give him some time to find his place here and figure all this out. It might take him a while, but he’ll get there. Like Ajei said, he’ll come to grips with it all sooner or later.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
