“You did it,” she said softly. “You sprained Heidi’s wrist.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” he said, bowing his head with his hands at the back of his neck. “She was trying to get to Bella in the playroom. She was out of her head and thinking she was going to grab her up and take her. I couldn’t let her get back there. I knew I’d be able to keep her from leaving with our daughter, but I didn’t want Bella to see her like that. Or be pulled back and forth between us.”

  Which made total and complete sense. But... “So why didn’t you just say so? You were defending a baby!”

  “Because it was her word against mine.”

  And wait... Based on the timeline, wouldn’t Bella have been at preschool? Josh should have been at work.

  What the hell! Was she actually sitting there questioning the integrity of the one man she knew she could trust?

  “So why didn’t you tell me all this on the phone? Why risk... You’re due in court in three days! If anyone finds out that you spent this afternoon and evening with Bella—it’s a violation of orders, Josh. If they see that you can’t be trusted to keep visitation regulations, they aren’t going to trust you or believe your side of things. You’re compromising your integrity. And they could take your rights away, too, you know. If they can’t trust you where she’s concerned...”

  And more. There was so much more. He’d lied to her. He’d gone against direct court orders. He’d made her stay so late...each time she’d wanted to leave, he’d stopped her.

  “I needed you to see for yourself.” His tone had changed from that of loving, needy brother to businessman. He sat up, looking at her.

  “Needed me to see what for myself?”

  He pointed to the folder. “You know who’s behind all of this. Who got Heidi to talk. Who dug all this other stuff up.”

  Greg Johnson. Yeah, she knew. “So?”

  “I wasn’t sure you’d believe me if I told you.”

  That was rich. Considering that she’d always believed him, never, ever considered not believing him, and he’d just lied to her.

  “Why on earth would you even think something like that?” She just wasn’t getting it.

  “You’re falling for him.”

  She couldn’t deny the fact. She wouldn’t desecrate his one trustworthy place. “Whether I am or not, you’re my brother. This case—you, Bella—you always come first. And you have no way of knowing whether I like him or not.”

  “I know you, sis. You mentioned Greg pretty much every night when we talked, in that tone of voice you get when you think highly of someone.”

  “So I think he’s a good detective. I believed he was our best hope at getting the court to see that Heidi was manipulating them.”

  “And you have a pattern,” Josh said, still sounding more impersonal than not. “You gravitate toward cops. You always have. Thinking they’re somehow going to help us. How many times did you insist on calling them when we were growing up? And how many times did Dad make one phone call and have everyone understand that he had a drama queen, a spoiled daughter who was just mad she wasn’t getting her own way?”

  Four.

  She could give a full account of each one.

  “And you fall for people in positions of power,” he said next. She held up her hand. Didn’t need him to continue. She knew these parts of herself only too well.

  She trusted people with abusive qualities.

  Like she trusted her own brother.

  He’d lied to her. But she understood his reasoning. He had good explanations.

  It was all so confusing.

  “Okay, I’ve seen. If you need me to tell you that I know Greg isn’t on our side, and to promise you not to say another word to him about any of this, I’ll do so. You don’t even have to ask. Done. And now I’ve got to get out of here, Josh. It’s past Bella’s bedtime. If anyone did happen to be looking for me, it’s going to be odd that I’m not home.”

  “Oh my God. You think he might be looking for you?”

  “I was referring to Heidi.” And Greg, too, she was ashamed to admit, so she didn’t. “You said you were worried about her looking for dirt on you. And she’s already been to my house once before.” She didn’t touch the ponytail at the back of her head, but she thought about it.

  Josh hadn’t even asked to see the bald spot his ex-wife had left on her.

  But then, he had real problems on his hands. His future was at stake. How could she be sitting there doubting him?

  “I need your help, Jas,” he said now, his elbow on the table, those brown eyes filled with warmth again.

  “You’ve got it,” she told him. “We’re not through here. We’ll get through this. Figure it out. I just need to get on the road first.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out,” he said. “I’ve got it all figured out.”

  Okay. Good. That was more like the Josh she knew.

  “So what do you need from me?” She’d do it. She always did. He knew that.

  “I need you to cover for me long enough to get out of town.”

  “What? Are you nuts?”

  “I’ve got money put away in an offshore account. I’ll change my identity and start a new life. Just me and Bella. I just need you to give us the chance to get out of the state. Go home. Call in sick tomorrow. Say Bella’s got the flu. That’ll give me twenty-four hours, which is all I need to cross the border.”

  She thought he was kidding. Trying to lighten the moment. Almost chuckled. Until she saw the dead-serious look in his eye.

  Shaking her head, she stood up. Reached for her purse and turned toward the bedroom. Josh was there, blocking her way.

  She wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t going to hurt her.

  But Jasmine was so numb, she wasn’t really feeling much of anything. She was going to get that baby girl, who was hopefully sleeping through this moment when her father went mad, bring her out to the car and take her home.

  Whatever Josh did was on him. If he skipped town on them, he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was.

  Someday that might make sense to her.

  “Get out of my way, Josh.”

  “I can’t do that, Jasmine. I can’t let you take her from me.”

  In that second, she saw truth. Josh had a breaking point. And the trigger was his daughter, Bella. Every time he’d hurt Heidi, every story he’d told her that night, every piece of evidence she’d seen, all pointed to times when Heidi was interfering with Bella.

  He’d had excuses every time. Believable ones. Just as their father had.

  Their father! She was that man’s biological child, not him! Through all the years, she’d always been aware that she was more prone to become an abuser than Josh because she had both environment and biology against her. He hadn’t been desperate to save anyone when he’d shoved Heidi outside. He just hadn’t wanted his daughter to see her there. And maybe he’d wanted to spend more time with her. And the rest of them...at no time had Bella’s life been at stake.

  Their whole lives, Jasmine had been expecting that if violence popped up in their family again, it would be from her, and she hadn’t even seen that it was there with them all along.

  That Josh took after their father more than she did.

  That he had a breaking point, and sometime over this thing with Heidi, he’d reached it. Her brother had broken; he’d become violent. He had escalated. And she hadn’t even known.

  * * *

  Being a detective had its advantages. When you needed to find someone, you had avenues to do so. Officers were at Heidi’s place within ten minutes of Greg’s phone call. And in another five he knew that she’d been home all night. Heidi hadn’t heard from either Josh or Jasmine Taylor and didn’t expect to.

  He ran a search on Jasmine’s phone next. It wasn’t pinging to any towers. Meaning she’d turned it off. He took heart from that. Assuming she’d done it herself.

  His next phone call had another cruiser on its way to Josh’s house.

  In his car, racing toward The Lemonade Stand, praying that Jasmine was safely inside its walls, he put in a request to have Jasmine’s phone dumped. He needed to know if she’d talked to anyone that afternoon.

  He could be overreacting. Creating issues where there were none.

  Creating drama.

  He didn’t give a damn if it meant that Jasmine and little Bella were safe.

  He got Lila McDaniels Mantle on the phone before he reached the Stand. It wasn’t like he could just go barging in there, anyway. He’d just wanted to be close, to be able to see Jasmine if she was there. And if not, he wanted to search the parking lot where her car had been.

  See if it was still there.

  Or if anything had been left behind.

  Jasmine was a survivor. She’d taken multiple classes to teach her how to keep herself safe, and she always followed her rules.

  “She left here right on time,” Lila told him after putting him on hold long enough to check in with a few others on site. “She was fine when she picked up Bella. Maddie said she told her that she liked her shirt.”

  “And she didn’t say anything to anyone about having any plans?”

  “She passed Sara on the way out and just said that she’d see her in the morning. Do I need to be concerned, Detective? Are Jasmine and Bella in some kind of trouble?”

  “I hope not,” he told her. And then added, “But you asked me once to be certain that the life I was saving was one I was meant to save, and I can assure you that Jasmine is on me. If she’s in trouble, I’ll find her.”

  “I’m going to call my husband and have him come in, then,” the director said. “I had a session tonight, but was just getting ready to head home. We’ll be here all night if you need anything. If there’s anything we can do, even if you just have a question, you call. Doesn’t matter what time it is.”

  “I’ll call you as soon as I locate her,” he told the woman, understanding that this was one person who wouldn’t want to wait until morning to get news.

  His phone buzzed as he was ringing off. Santa Barbara officers telling him that Josh wasn’t home. Getting the man’s phone number, Greg dialed it himself, praying that he was making a mistake. Making a big deal out of nothing.

  That Josh would answer—even if just to curse him for doing such a thorough job with his investigation.

  Josh Taylor didn’t pick up.

  Chapter 23

  “Get out of my way, Josh,” Jasmine said for the third time, standing up to her brother as he continued to block her way to Bella.

  “I’m going to take Bella home, put her to bed and then call you,” she told him, meaning every word she said. She wasn’t turning her back on him. But she had to get Bella out of there and home.

  “I can’t let you do that.” He repeated words he’d been speaking to her for the past several minutes as they stood there, facing off.

  “Yes, you can,” she told him. “What’s more, you know you have to.” She was trying to find the reasonable man she knew him to be.

  “You aren’t understanding me,” he said, calm, assured. “I’m going to take Bella out of the country. She’s going to grow up happy and loved and as far away from Heidi as we can get.”

  “You’re just going to walk away from your whole life...”

  “Bella’s all I need. We’ll be fine, just the two of us.”

  Jasmine tried not to be hurt by the words. The obvious slam on her. He wasn’t in his right mind. He’d apologize later.

  They always did.

  “Okay, well, I’m going to get her now,” she said, turning toward the wall, giving her back to him, as she made to slide past. She got one step in, lifted her foot again, and the next thing she knew she was flat on the floor, her stomach pressed to the gleaming hardwood, ribs aching, gasping for air.

  “Jasmine!” Josh’s voice sounded above her. Concerned. She felt him lift her. Leaned into his familiar frame.

  And noticed that the bedroom door was closed. He’d probably done it when he’d put Bella down, so she’d go to sleep.

  And not hear them.

  Knowing that she needed a minute to get her air back, she let Josh lead her over to the couch. It wasn’t the first time she’d had the wind knocked out of her. She’d be fine.

  “Are you okay?” Josh asked, taking her hand as he sat down beside her. Rubbing her back. “Does anything hurt?”

  She shook her head. No, she wasn’t okay. And nothing hurt. He could take his pick. One was true. One wasn’t.

  “What happened?” he asked. “One minute I was letting you by, and the next, you just went down. It’s the floors. I had them polished. I knew they were too slick.”

  He knew what had happened. He’d tripped her. She could still feel the slide of his foot up her leg. Probably already had a bruise forming.

  He’d become her father. Only worse. Because he’d hurt her right there in their safe house.

  She was going to puke. For real. She was going to throw up all over those shiny wood floors.

  Lurching, Jasmine made it to the kitchen sink and lost her dinner.

  * * *

  Time passed slowly. When Jasmine was docile, Josh was kind. Telling her again and again what he was going to do, what she was going to do and how the plan would work.

  She tried to remain quiet until she could figure out what to do. Or he came to his senses. Praying that one or the other happened before morning, when Bella woke up.

  When Josh had to go to the bathroom, he made her go ahead of him, tiptoe past the queen bed where the little girl lay all cuddled up in covers and stand, with her back to him, between the toilet and the tub.

  She was his prisoner.

  Josh’s prisoner. Her cell phone was in her bag, which was still hanging off her arm. And if she reached her hand inside that bag, she knew Josh would hurt her again before she managed to do any good.

  She was there. Watching. Feeling.

  And yet she still couldn’t believe it. Kept searching for some explanation. Waiting for something to happen that would make sense.

  By two in morning, she was exhausted. Her ribs hurt. She was afraid at least one of them was cracked. And when she’d gone to the bathroom, a reverse of when he’d gone, with him standing guard with his back to her, she’d noticed a bruise on her chin, too. Probably where she’d hit the floor.

  “You know I’m going to take her home,” she finally said to him, too weary to play his game anymore. “There’s no way I can just let you take her out of the country. This doesn’t have to be a big deal, Josh. Whether you plead guilty or go to trial, the most you’re going to get is mandatory counseling, and maybe supervised visitation for a while. You’ve got Play for the Win. And all of your other business interests. We’ll all still be together. I love you so much, Josh. Please stop this before something really bad happens.”

  It had already happened. She knew it. And feared he did, too.

  He’d exposed himself to her. The mean, angry, violent self. She’d never look at him the same way again.

  Never trust him the same.

  But she loved him the same.

  “This is all your fault,” he said, pacing behind her on the couch. His lack of fatigue worried her. He was on some kind of adrenaline high that could only be dangerous. “You and your need to screw cops!”

  She felt his words as a physical blow to her heart. She couldn’t believe he’d just said them.

  “I notice you aren’t denying it,” he said.

  Completely at a loss for words, she tried to find some truth to give him. Some way to reach him.

  “You slept with him, didn’t you? You bitch!” His hand at the back of her head almost knocked her unconscious. She saw stars. Watched them through the dizziness, determined to hang on. If she fell asleep, he’d take Bella and run.

  It occurred to her then that he still loved her. He’d have just knocked her out and left her for dead if he didn’t.

  Why that should ease her pain, she didn’t know.

  But it did.

  And she let it.

  * * *

  “How long have you been sleeping with him?” It was four in the morning, and Josh was still in a state. Jasmine’s head hurt so bad she wasn’t sure she could stand. But knew that if she saw a chance to get Bella and go, she was going to have to take it.

  She’d slept with Greg Johnson. She wasn’t averse to lying to Josh about it at that point. Didn’t feel there was enough to preserve to worry about upholding trust.

  Wasn’t even sure trust really existed. More like it was a phantom dream, like seeing Santa Claus. Or wishing on stars. None of it really worked.

  And love wasn’t beautiful, either. It tied you to people who hurt you.

  No...she wasn’t going there. Had chosen not to let bitterness take over her life. Right? Bloom’s face showed clearly in her mind’s eye. Her soft words started to slowly spread through her thoughts.

  And Greg was there, too. Telling her he’d find the truth. Promising her.

  He’d been on their side.

  Shaking her head as she realized she’d been nodding off, she sat up. Her last thought still clearly in her mind. He’d promised her he’d find the truth. She’d known she could trust him to protect her.

  He’d done the first.

  And she’d bet her life that he’d die trying to do the second.

  The man had agreed to be her forever friend with monogamous sex because he wanted her. The real her.

  “I only slept with him once,” she heard herself say. Finding strength in the memory. “He wanted to wait. Until after the trial. But...I seduced him.”

  She expected another blow to the head. Daddy style. She’d talked back to the old man, too. Her whole life she’d thought that she asked for the abuse by egging it on. Speaking out like that.