Frannie smiled. “I think maybe you should tell him. The next time you see him. Because he needs to know, and right now, he doesn’t.”
Nina inhaled a full breath, finding it impossible to not smile. Zeke loved her. And she loved him. Everything would be okay.
As the day wore on,Nina tried to convince herself everything would be over soon. Lorelei would find Gwendolyn, Zeke would come back, and Nina would be able to move on with her life.
But the longer all of that took, the less she believed it would happen. When Monty showed up just before dinner, the look on his face said none of it had happened yet.
“Any news from Lorelei?” Nina asked when Monty led her outside to his SUV.
Monty hung his head. “They can’t get a team together to check out the house until tomorrow.”
“I thought they were going to go there today.”
Monty nodded. “That’s what she said, but I guess plans changed when she got back to their office. They don’t want to risk tipping Gwendolyn off if they drive by. She could run. So they decided to wait until they had time to plan a full scale operation.”
“And they’re just going to risk her getting away?”
“Unfortunately, yeah.”
“No. They can’t. What if she kills someone else?”
“It’s on them if she does. You did what you needed to do and told them as soon as you remembered the house. None of this is on you.”
“But I didn’t,” Nina admitted. “I thought about the house last night, and I didn’t say anything. Even this morning, I didn’t know if I wanted to tell them.”
“What? Why would you do that? She held you against your will. She used you. She profited from the horrible things you went through.”
“Yeah, and she was there for me at a time when I didn’t feel like anyone else was,” Nina confessed. “I’m not saying that to make you feel bad, Monty, I’m not, but I left because I knew I was stopping you from living your life. You wanted to go. You chose the military. If Dad moved back in with me, you wouldn’t have left. You would have given up your spot and your career would have been over before it started. Gwendolyn was there for me when I knew I had to leave. She was good to me the first few months.”
“And then she sold your body and took all the money and threatened to kill you if you left.” Monty’s growl was low and dangerous. His anger was a living thing in the SUV with them. “I will never forgive myself for not sticking around and finding you. For not seeing how scared you were and what you were willing to do before you left. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that monster make you feel like you owe her something. You were her possession for twelve years. It might not have been as horrible that first year, but if she really cared, she would have let you call me. She would have given you the freedom to leave the house. She would have let you have a connection to me and promised to care for you when I was gone. She hid you. She lied, and she kept you from seeing anyone.”
Shock had Nina sucking in a breath. She hadn’t thought of her first year with Gwendolyn that way, but Monty was right. It could have been better. It could have been normal. But Gwendolyn didn’t allow it. She told Nina to stay inside where noone could see her because it wasn’t safe. She said Nina would be arrested or sent to a foster home if the police found her.
Nina believed all of it. She trusted what Gwendolyn said. She let it happen.
Monty pulled into his driveway and turned off the SUV. Nina realized she’d never been into his side of the townhouse. Zeke’s side was dark, his garage closed. She stared at it for a minute, wishing she could go back to Zeke.
“All my stuff is there,” Nina said, pointing to Zeke’s place.
“Uh, no. I met up with Zeke earlier. He packed everything for you and we put it in my house.” Monty was uncomfortable with the admission.
“Oh.” She swallowed through the pain. Frannie was wrong. Zeke didn’t love her.
Nina followed Monty into the townhouse that was a mirror of Zeke’s. Monty disarmed the alarm and turned on lights. He moved through the space, showing her where things were.
His home was comfortable but masculine. It felt like a bachelor pad, whereas Zeke’s felt like a home. Like her home.
She had to stop. It wasn’t her home. It never was, and it never would be.
Monty made them a quick dinner, then settled on his black couch with the remote. His TV was massive, taking up the entire wall. His furniture was arranged differently from Zeke’s, focusing everything on the TV.
Nina sat next to her brother and wondered what Zeke was doing. She hoped he was safe. She hoped Gwendolyn didn’t find him.
Her breath caught with the fear that the next body would be Zeke’s. Nina couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t sit there and wait it out and hope Gwendolyn didn’t find Zeke. Or Monty. Or anyone she cared about.
“I need to go see her,” she breathed.
“See who?” Monty asked.
