Archie looked to his colleague for help.“Erica…”
“Mr.and Mrs.Prior, let’s go.I’ll drop you at your hotel.”
“When will we see you again?”George asked his daughter.
“When I’m ready.”
Archie was so fucking proud of her.
Chapter Sixteen
As Erica ushered the Priors out of the room, Archie felt Harlowe’s body go slack with relief.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said.
“I remembered something.Of course it had to be something I’d rather forget.”
“That must’ve been a terrible thing to go through.”
“I’m pretty sure it was awful.”
“It’s over now.In the past.Whatever it was, whatever he was, he’s no one to you now.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“I get now why you wanted to relocate.”
“I had to get out of there after the divorce.I remember feeling smothered and outraged that my own parents weren’t fully supporting me.I came back to the place where I was happy before I made the mistake of marrying my childhood friend.”She glanced at him.“I wish I didn’t remember him.”She shuddered.“He fooled me.He fooled everyone.There was a whole other side to him that no one saw until it was too late for me.”
“Did he hit you?”
She nodded.“Always in places where no one would see the evidence.”Looking up at him with big eyes, she said, “I liked it better when I couldn’t remember that.”
“Is there any chance he followed you here and could’ve done this to you?”
Her shocked expression made him sorry for not asking the question in a gentler way.“I… I don’t think so.He was told to stay away from me when the charges were dropped.”
“That doesn’t always work to stop someone with an agenda.Would he know to look for you here?”
She hesitated before nodding.“I never wanted to move back to Pittsburgh.I fell in love with DC during college and wanted to live here forever, but he had a better job than mine and wouldn’t consider relocating, so I did.But he’d probably guess that I’d come back here as soon as I could.”
“Would you mind if Erica looked into his whereabouts during the time you were missing and asked your parents if they told him where you were?”
“N-no.I don’t mind.But they wouldn’t have done that.Would they?”
Those last two words were full of hurt and bewilderment.His almost primal need to protect her from any more hurt confirmed that he’d probably fallen in love with her the minute he saw her and would do anything he could to keep her safe.“I really hope not.”
“FLOTUS ison the way home, sir,” Nick’s lead agent, John Brantley Jr., said as he accompanied Nick for the walk “home” to the residence.
“Thanks, Brant.Let’s meet her in the foyer.What’re you hearing from the field?”
“Nothing other than that they’re widening the net in their search for the drone that fired the shot.”
“And how is Agent McFarland?”
“Out of surgery and in recovery.His wife is with him, and his parents are on the way.”
“That’s a relief.My wife is quite fond of him and Vernon.”
