“At first, I loved it when he showed signs of possessiveness. I loved having someone to belong to. Someone who wanted to belong to me. With me. And when he had an opinion on everything I did, I saw it as him taking an interest. Until his opinion clashed with mine and he expected me to see that his was the right way. I did, at first. Doubting myself...”

  She blinked, seemed to see Greg sitting there. Really see him. Recognize him. And to realize what she was doing. The clarity in her eyes, the unease swarming in her space...she was exposing herself to him, and he wasn’t going to turn his gaze away. She didn’t, either.

  He noted.

  “I’d met a woman, Wynne Anderson—” She broke off abruptly, rather than just fading, leaving him with the distinct impression that she had more to say there. He’d come back to it.

  “Mike didn’t like her. Thought she had too much influence over me. I agreed with her opinions, some of which he strongly opposed, and she became a problem between us.”

  “Wynne Anderson? The state representative?”

  “She is now. She was a city councilwoman when I knew her. The youngest woman ever to have that honor,” she added. “She was speaking at a Lemonade Stand fund-raising dinner and sat at my table.”

  “Didn’t she just get married? To that female golfer, what was her name?”

  “Andrea Long, and yes.”

  While her gaze didn’t drop, Jasmine was definitely less bold in her delivery than she’d been earlier in the evening. Hands clasped, she rolled her thumbs around and around each other—kind of like he’d seen his great-grandmother do when he used to visit her at the home.

  “So you know them. Andrea and Wynne?” He was kind of impressed. Name-dropping wasn’t big on his list of impressionable items, but still...pretty much everyone in California knew about Wynne. Her party had her pegged for Washington and didn’t seem to mind spending the bucks to let everyone who breathed California air know about it.

  “Yes. I know Wynne. I’ve met Andrea, but just briefly.” She nodded. Seemed content to sit there without resuming the point of the conversation.

  He thought about letting it go. He could find the cop she was talking about easily enough. Or not. If William didn’t need more information on the Taylor siblings...

  Jasmine had asked him to get the truth. Something he already required of himself. To see real justice done, not just the law’s version of it.

  “And Mike didn’t like her?” he prompted.

  She shook her head. Straightened her shoulders. Feminine, slim shoulders that seemed to carry a lot of weight.

  And carry it well.

  “Mike made his feelings obvious almost from the start. He didn’t agree with her politics, and if I did, she was brainwashing me. He made it clear he didn’t want her around and didn’t want me hanging with her or her crowd. When he told me he’d handcuff me to the kitchen table if that’s what it took to keep me safe from her, I thought he was exaggerating. Then I woke up one morning with one wrist handcuffed to the bed rail, and I knew. Lying there, chafing my wrist as I tried like hell to get free, I admitted what I’d known for a while. My relationship with Mike wasn’t healthy.

  “That morning I’d been going to meet Wynne and a couple of other women for coffee before I had to be at the Stand to teach. Mike came back from a run shortly after I’d missed any chance of making it to see them. He acted completely surprised and immediately contrite when he saw me chained to the bed. He said he’d put the cuffs on me as a joke. Had thought I’d wake up before he left and call out to him, and then when I hadn’t, he’d forgotten. He took them off immediately. Kissed my wrist. Insisted on putting cream on it. Checked it over. Apologized again and again. That night he brought a diamond bracelet home to me—only I’d already moved my personal stuff and myself out. He did some police work. Found me. Brought me the bracelet and other gifts. Until I threatened to get a restraining order.”

  He could figure the rest. She’d made her deal with the man—she wouldn’t report him, they’d pretend he’d locked her to the bed as a joke, he’d keep their residence and his job, and she’d have her freedom without contact. Lucky for her he’d cared more about his job than he had about her.

  Greg knew without being told that the handcuffs weren’t the only time Mike had abused Jasmine. They’d just been her breaking point. Not going after the bastard was going to be tough. He’d be lifting weights before bed, for sure.

  “You were in three relationships,” he said aloud. “What about the other two?”

  “I’ll give you their names if you need me to, but I’d like to speak to them first.”

  He might need them. In the future. Depending. But not at that point. “I’d appreciate that.” So she was on speaking terms with her other exes, apparently. Having made deals with them, not reporting any wayward behavior, giving up her home each time...

  “You talk to the other two, then?” Why was he pushing this?

  “One of them. The second one. Mike was the first, and absolutely not. Ever. And if he comes near me, I will call the police. The third...under our legal agreement, he cannot contact me or speak of me, but I am able to contact him.”

  He believed her. Everything she was saying, she’d know he could corroborate or not, if he forced the issue. He had her over a barrel with Josh’s hearing on Thursday. She’d do whatever she had to do to help her brother.

  He’d found out what he needed to know for now. Heidi’s new motion wasn’t going to adversely affect William’s case against Josh Taylor. And there didn’t appear to be anything in Jasmine’s life that was going to help William’s case against her brother—not that Greg was going to find easily.

  He had what he needed.

  And he still wanted more.

  He asked her if she planned to be in court on Thursday. It was just an arraignment hearing—a chance for the judge to hear information from Josh’s attorney and rule on the motion to dismiss—and then, if he chose to proceed, to set court dates. There was no major reason for her to be there. There’d be no testimony at that point. But she said she’d already arranged to take off work—while leaving Bella in daycare at the Stand. Said she wouldn’t leave her brother to stand alone.

  Greg, who’d never had a sibling, had an odd sense of missing out on something. Bed, that’s what he was missing. He needed some sleep before dinner with Liv.

  Telling Jasmine he’d see her in court, he left. And stood outside until he’d heard her dead bolt slide securely into place behind him.

  Chapter 11

  The case wasn’t dismissed. Jasmine had trouble sitting still and calm as she heard her brother’s motion denied. His lawyer had prepared them. They’d been assigned a female judge, Beatrice Grand. She tended to side with victims in abuse cases. And legally, if there was any doubt at all in the judge’s mind regarding Josh’s innocence, she had to hear the case. It didn’t mean he was guilty. Or that they’d lose the case if it went to trial. It only meant that the judge found sufficient evidence against Josh to proceed. Josh, through his lawyer, Ryder, entered a not-guilty plea, and a settlement conference was scheduled to take place in two weeks.

  The one unexpected piece of news... Heidi had opted not to go through with a permanent restraining order against Josh. She told the judge that while she wanted him to pay for what he did to her, she didn’t fear that he’d come after her, and she wasn’t out to ruin his life.

  Another ploy on her part to get the court’s sympathy? To show her as the more reasonable, wanting-to-get-along ex-spouse?

  Whatever the reason, it was better for Josh, overall.

  Still, Jasmine knew Josh had to be crumbling inside as he stood with his attorney before the bench. He nodded when asked if suggested court dates were okay with him. Judge Grand told him that she was going to recommend that he maintain visitation rights, but that his visits remain supervised, and Josh thanked her.

  Within two minutes of having the case called, they were through. Jasmine had managed to get through the whole thing without looking to see if Greg was in the courtroom. She hadn’t seen or spoken to him since he’d left her house Monday night. She wished she could say the same about his presence in her thoughts.

  He’d been there constantly. Going through her days with her. At the grocery, when she’d bought noodles to make lasagna because Bella and Josh both loved it, she’d wondered if Greg liked Italian food. While she’d cooked Tuesday night for Josh’s Wednesday dinner visit, she’d pictured Greg in her kitchen opening a bottle of wine to go with the pasta dish.

  He’d shown up in other more intimate spaces as well. But sitting there in court Thursday afternoon, Jasmine was never more aware that Greg worked for the other side. The other side of the case. People working on it were sitting on the other side of the courtroom.

  She knew Heidi was there. Had heard the woman answer when the judge asked if she was present in the courtroom. She just hadn’t looked.

  Was Greg sitting with her brother’s beautiful and manipulative ex-wife?

  Were he, and maybe the prosecutor, too, taken in by her seemingly fragile countenance? Her soft voice?

  She couldn’t blame them. She and Josh had both been fooled, too, for a while. Until they’d heard that kind, tender voice screech with hateful insults...

  “Hey, sis, Ryder’s asked me to hang back for a brief meeting with him.” Josh was there, standing next to her as she picked up her purse and prepared to leave the courtroom. Reaching up, she hugged him, her heart filled with tears and her mind with so many things she wanted to say to him. And she would, later that night when he called.

  Eyes squeezed shut, she poured all of her love and support and encouragement into that hug, felt Josh’s usual, less emotional, pat on her back, and opened her eyes—to find herself staring straight into Greg Johnson’s gaze. The detective, in a brown suit and matching sedate tie, stood alone toward the back of the room.

  “I’ll call you,” Josh said, leaving her there—seemingly unaware of the detective’s gaze on her.

  And why wouldn’t he be? This wasn’t about her. Her brother’s mind needed to be solely on that lawyer meeting and finding out what he needed to do to get his daughter back at home with him.

  Greg left the courtroom as she headed toward the door, not waiting to hold the door open for her. She was simultaneously relieved and disappointed.

  Because her emotions were running high. Josh’s case hadn’t been dismissed, which made her feel vulnerable. Hearing Heidi’s voice behind her, not the words she was speaking, but her voice, she hurried her step. And pushed outside the courtroom to see Greg standing there in the hallway, speaking to another suited man—another attorney from the prosecutor’s office? Another detective, like himself?

  Passing them was the only way to the elevator that would take her to street level and back to The Lemonade Stand to collect Bella. Head turned, Jasmine wrapped her arms around her middle, hooking her fingers into the belt loops on her long-sleeved navy T-shirt dress, and moved quickly. Made it without incident. Pushed the down button and was gratified when the ding signifying an arriving car sounded almost immediately. Placing herself squarely in front of the designated door, she stepped inside the empty car, pushed for the ground floor and... Greg slipped inside with her just as the doors started to close.

  She’d pulled her hair up and back into a bun before court, going for a proper, respectable look. And now couldn’t hide behind the long dark curtain it often afforded her. It would look just too weird and creepy if she were to suddenly yank off the scrunchie holding it in place.

  “I need to speak with you.” Greg’s tone wasn’t all that friendly, adding to the surreal court experience. Her brother on the defendant’s side. Being accused of abuse.

  And Greg no longer on their side?

  “What’s up?” she asked, forcing herself to look at him. Needing to really see him, and yet, not at all sure anybody ever did.

  Or if she ever could, at least. Her issue. And maybe him, too.

  “You’ve been holding out on me.” His chin was firm, his gaze harder than she’d seen it.

  Frowning, she shook her head. Really? Was he kidding? She’d told him about Desmond! “I have not!” she stated, insulted. He could accuse her of wanting to—of liking him too much, thinking about him too much. Then, he’d have her.

  But this?

  Two floors had passed. They had ten more.

  “You didn’t tell me that Heidi was living with your brother.”

  Had he gone mad in the two days since she’d seen him? “You knew they were married. And had a child. One would assume that meant they shared a house.” Her words bore sarcasm without apology.

  And more intonation than the situation warranted.

  How could he doubt her? She’d given him more of her true self, told him more about her relationship with Desmond, than she’d ever told anyone. Including Josh.

  “I’m sorry I failed to point out that while they were married, they also lived in the same home,” she added, jabbing the ground-floor button again, as though the act would make the car reach its destination more rapidly.

  “Not while they were married,” he said. “For the past three months.”

  Four more floors to go. Then, two. She stared at him.

  “Are you kidding? You think my brother had Heidi...” She shook her head. And the door opened to the lobby. Jasmine stepped out. Greg kept in step with her and then, with a light touch to her forearm, stepped in front of her.

  “I know he did,” he said, softly. Convincingly.

  She shook her head. No. This way-too-attractive man of power was not going to convince her of things her own mind knew better than to believe.

  “I’ve got proof.”

  He had proof? Her mind went briefly blank. She was aware of her surroundings. Of people coming and going. A little girl holding the hand of a young woman. Someone in a red dress that just walked past.

  Did they all think the day was normal? Or did they know it wasn’t?

  “What proof?”

  Heidi was staying at Josh’s? Had her brother betrayed her?

  “Neighbor’s testimony, for one.”

  And Bella. It dawned on her. Bella would know if her mommy had been sleeping at Daddy’s house. Was he about to tell her they were planning to compel the child’s testimony?

  She shook her head again. Thought about shaking it so hard her hair fell out of her bun. Hard enough that reality would return, the judge would dismiss Josh’s case and life would go on.

  The world stayed exactly the same. Her in the lobby of the courthouse with a detective she’d somehow fallen for in the space of nine days and she now couldn’t trust. And Josh was upstairs getting ready to fight a case that hadn’t been dismissed. People were swarming around them.

  She wasn’t sure what to say. But knew her brother was the one person in the world she could trust.

  Greg was studying her. Thinking she was his bug under some personal microscope? Had he detected how she was struggling not to think about him every minute of the day?

  He couldn’t involve Bella. Couldn’t use an innocent three-year-old in the fight between her parents. She’d take her niece and run if she had to.

  “You didn’t know.”

  Greg’s tone had noticeably softened. So much so that her entire being yearned to relax into him. She forbade it. Immediately.

  “It’s more of Heidi’s lies,” she said, just a few words away from begging him to believe her. To leave Bella out of it. To help them. “It has to be.”

  He didn’t nod, but the one simple tilt forward of his head felt to her like the same thing. Like a yes. “Just ask him for me, will you?”

  She wasn’t going to ask her brother about the allegations. She was going to tell him about what Greg had said, as soon as she knew he was out of his meeting and they were alone. She nodded like some smitten idiot, letting him hold her gaze captive.

  But... “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

  He tilted his head slightly to the side this time. “His lawyer will be present.”

  Oh. That made sense. He wanted an honest answer. “You think his lawyer will...”

  “...tell him not to say anything.”

  Right. She’d been going to ask if he thought Ryder Michaels would ask Josh to lie. And where that thought came from, she didn’t know. Like they could trust this detective who worked for the other side over her brother’s paid attorney...

  “You asked me to find the real truth,” he reminded her.

  She had. Still needed him to do so. Lord knew they weren’t going to be able to fight Heidi on her own with a judge who leaned toward female victims and a prosecutor falling prey to her manipulative and creative spins on tiny pieces of truth.

  Josh was going to sink under the weight of it all if she couldn’t figure out a way to hold him up. Temporarily losing custody of Bella. Losing his motion. And now hearing that Heidi was claiming to have proof that she’d been living with him. That she’d somehow apparently managed to get his own neighbors to corroborate the story.

  “I’ll talk to him tonight,” she said, before she could think and knowing as soon as the words were out that she shouldn’t have put a time on it. Should have left herself an opening of time before he’d be expecting an answer...

  “Jas? Is that you?”

  With a small lift of her spirits, she swung around when she heard the feminine voice off to her side coming closer. “Wynne!” She reached to return the hug she knew was coming. A hug that was a little longer than either of them hugged others, one that held a love that, while benign now, would always be present between them.

  “What are you doing here?” Wynne’s words asked as her warm, personal gaze asked if Jasmine was okay. She included a sideways glance toward Greg in the silent question.