“But it’s been a little bit. I think the last time was…” Sutton’s voice trailed off, and then she turned to me. “That family dinner a month or so ago. When you came out to talk to me by the pasture.”
This time, it wasmyhand that tightened around Sutton’s. “You looked sad. And a little scared.”
Fucking hell.If I’d known what was happening and what she’d been through, I would’ve moved her and Luca in with me right then.
“So, you didn’t hear from him around the time of your attack?” Trace pressed.
“No, I—” Sutton’s eyes widened. “Do you think it was him? Do you think he’s in Sparrow Falls?”
“We don’t have any reason to believe he’s currently here,” Trace said quickly, his voice taking on that soothing tone again. “But the Baltimore Police Department hasn’t been able to locate him at any of his last-known residences. His usual dealers haven’t seen him either.”
Sutton’s knee started bobbing up and down nervously. “I don’t see how that’s even possible. His family cut ties with him after what happened to me. They were never the warmest, but I don’t blame them for needing to close that door. And he burned every friendshipto the ground. Borrowed so much money from people that they just stopped taking his calls.”
A ringtone cut through the air, and Anson shifted, pulling his cell out of his pocket. He silenced the call but stood. “I need to take this.”
Trace’s gaze shifted. “You got something?”
“Not sure yet.” Anson moved deeper into the house to take the call.
It was a minor miracle to see those two working together like this. Trace had not been a fan of the broody ex-profiler when he took up with our sister, Rhodes. But Anson had won him over by how hard he’d fought for her and everything he’d done to keep her safe.
“Do you know if Roman might’ve borrowed money from any other people who might take more drastic measures to get it back?” Trace asked.
Sutton’s bouncing intensified, and I reached over and put my hand on her knee to still it. “You’re safe, remember? Luca’s safe. I’ve got you. Holt Hartley’s team is arriving to install the new security system here and at the bakery tomorrow.”
She stiffened at that. “The bakery. I forgot, there’s a new owner. They may not want?—”
I squeezed Sutton’s knee. “I let the property management company know. They said it was all right.”
Trace arched a brow at me. He knew I’d bought the building. He also knew that Sutton would have my head when she found out I was lying to her. But this wasn’t the time to share that piece of news. We had bigger fish to fry.
“Okay,” she breathed, then turned back to Trace. “I honestly have no idea. He hid everything from me. I didn’t know until he was getting let go from the team. And even then, he played it off as a onetime screwup. I didn’t realize he had addiction issues. It wasn’t until he started disappearing for days and acting erratically that I knew I had to leave. I was so naïve. Stupid.”
“Hey,” I cut her off gently. “Don’t talk about my girl like that.”
Sutton’s turquoise gaze swung to me. “I should’ve seen it.”
“Sometimes, the people closest to us know the best ways to hide things,” Trace said quietly.
My gut churned at his words. I knew he’d been through more than his share of secrets and lies. Trust would never come easily to Trace. Yet he always showed up for the people he cared about and his community.
“I just wish I could go back. Leave so much earlier,” Sutton said.
My fingers tightened around hers in a gentle squeeze. “You were doing the best you could with the information you had. You couldn’t have known things would get as bad as they did.”
“Maybe,” Sutton muttered.
Anson’s footsteps sounded on the hardwood. “Dex found something.”
Something about Anson’s tone had my skin prickling. There was a tightness to it that told me he was trying to keep his anger contained. And when I took in his gray-blue eyes, I knew the rage had a chokehold on him.
“What?” Trace clipped.
Anson shoved his phone into his pocket. “Dex might’ve found a way into Petrov’s computer system.”
Trace pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t hear that.” There was nothing worse for my rule-following brother than coloring outside the lines.
“Then you definitely won’t want to hear that Dex found out why Roman hasn’t popped up on any radar recently.”
