Her sister-in-law raised both brows as she leaned against the door and crossed her arms. She looked like the exact kind of female bouncer Monica preferred to have on hand for her businesses: large, in charge, but decadent enough to blend into the scenery. The actual Eva Warren didn’t have the strength to take down a drunken mess of a man who got too handsy for his good, but she had perfect aim with that foot of hers.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Eva said. “I can deploy my wife whenever I want to get this information. Why don’t we save some time and spare Jasmine the embarrassment of having her best friend harass her and just let me hear it now?”
If there was one thing Monica had not counted on as much as she should, it was Eva’s resilience and her vested interest in finding Abigail.I know she loves her, of course, but…Eva was Abigail’s aunt. A very involved aunt, but not her mother. Not even a mother of anyone else yet. How could Monica not anticipate that Eva would want to fight for the youngest Warren as well? Regardless of how personal it was with Isabella…
Jasmine accepted a hot cup of tea but did not put her usual cream and sugar in. She merely stared at the steam rising from the porcelain cup.Abigail loves these cups.She had to be supervised by them because she still hadn’t mastered being careful around such fragile items, but nothing delighted Abigail more during teatime than tracing her finger around the swirling vines wrapping around the ivory teacups.
“Ethan said that there are eyes and ears everywhere. Even ones you don’t know about.” Jasmine cleared her throat. “It would look suspicious if he came by during business hours. Since I’m friends with most of you, he sent me the information. Alone.” She put her cup back down without indulging. “Monica,I amsosorry for what’s happened. When Nadia told me, then Ethan gave me details… I’m still in shock. That horrid witchkidnappedAbigail?”
“We believe so.” Monica sat on the edge of her sofa. “Tell me what Ethan knows.”
“It’s not a whole lot,” she said, “but he thought it pertinent.”
Eva unfolded her arms as if she were about to wring Jasmine’s neck for information.
“He has reason to believe that Isabella stopped in Nice but then kept going. With Abigail. They’re…” Jasmine inhaled a deep breath. “You have to understand, Monica, there are reasons Ethan is still in contact with him. He tries to stay one step ahead of anythinghedoes, and…”
The world froze around Monica when she asked with a reverberating shudder, “Who?”
Jasmine’s breath was reinvigorated as she stared back at Monica, their mutual trauma from an event ten years ago embedded within their souls.
“Jackson.”
The whispering undercurrent in her blood; the seething agony haunting her dreams.
Jackson Lyle.The man who broke Monica and threatened to leave her in pieces on his waxed floor. Her ex-Dom. Her abuser. The ghost that always peered around the corner somewhere behind her.
“What has he done?”
Monica could hardly contain the rising anger born from her marrow.Of course it was him. Of course he did this.She didn’t know how, but she knew why – to destroy her yet again.
“I don’t think Jackson’sdoneanything,” Jasmine said, “but he definitely knows something. Ethan says that Jackson has been friends with Jean-Pierre Beaumont since they were kids. They even attended the same summer camps in Switzerland together.Apparently… well, Ethan thinks that part of the reason Jean-Pierre liked going to the Château was to report on what he saw to Jackson. Ethan just never said anything because he didn’t have proof.”
Monica was going to vomit.
“Ethan’s going to try to contact Jackson about this. I told him that was probably a terrible idea, but he’s been worried sick on your behalf.I’mworried sick. What if…”
“Hold up.” When Monica found herself too shocked to speak, Eva stepped in. “This bastard might know where Abby is? Is that what you’re saying? Because if the Beaumonts aren’t involved, I’ll eat my fucking shirt.”
“The Beaumonts are involved. Ethan couldn’t tell me how he knew. Just that the detail about Nice makes sense, and he thinks that’s where Isabella traveled first. Monica, please, you have to understand that I’m just relaying what my husband said. He still withheld some information from me. But I don’t think Henry is going to find them when he gets there!”
Monica pushed her tightened fists into the sofa cushions.I knew it.The flitter of hope she had over finding Abigail in France and bringing her back home was just that: a gutless illusion.What am I supposed to do?How did she get to the Beaumonts before Isabella disappeared with Abigail… forever?
That was the fear, wasn’t it? A fate worse than death for her daughter.
“Where are they?” Monica asked.
Jasmine shook her head. “I didn’t hear. Maybe Ethan doesn’t know.”
“But Jackson Lyle knows,” Eva said from behind Jasmine.
“I’m calling Ethan.” Monica rushed to her phone on the dining table. She was halfway there when Jasmine spoke up again.
“He said not to call him at work! He’s questioning if his line is secure right now. God, I can’t believe I said that. There’s so much going on in every sense of those words right now…”
Monica held her phone to her chest.
“He said he’ll call you when he gets home later.”
