Truth was, it was the only way she knew to keep herself alive.

  To speak her truth. To be heard.

  “Look, sis.” Josh was there, suddenly, taking her hand, looking at her with the familiar love in those brown eyes. The understanding. “I’m sorry about everything I said. I don’t know...this past year...when Heidi started threatening me. I just... It was like she was never going to go away. Never let us just be happy. But you know this isn’t me.”

  She couldn’t. He wanted her to be who she was with him, and she couldn’t.

  He wasn’t who she’d thought he was.

  She understood. She loved him. But it wasn’t the same.

  “When you spoke just now... God, Jas, it was like the past coming up to hit me upside the head. It was hearing you with Dad. And knowing he was going to pound you for it. I just... This isn’t me. You know it isn’t. You have to believe me. It’s Heidi, Jasmine. She put me up to this. Said that if I got you to bring Bella up here, she’d drop all charges. Leaving the country was her idea. You have to believe me,” he said again. “You know this isn’t me.”

  She didn’t know. Not anymore.

  And when he figured that out, he was going to hurt her.

  Badly.

  * * *

  Greg spent the night looking for her. He was fairly certain she was with Josh. Her brother had called her just before she’d left The Lemonade Stand the night before. And both of them were missing. He wanted to believe she’d left of her own accord. She’d gotten the call and had left the Stand—a place she knew she and Bella would be safe—anyway. She’d taken Bella with her.

  No way would she knowingly put that child in danger. She’d have left the little girl with Lila and died first.

  There’d been no sign of a struggle in the parking lot. No sign of another car by where hers had been parked, either. Sometime before dawn, Lila, who’d been in touch on and off all night, had pulled the security tapes for him. Two people had studied them. Seen Jasmine put Bella in her car seat as she did every afternoon. Watched as she kissed the little girl, gave her a snack pack and kissed her again before climbing into her own seat. She’d been smiling. A woman in danger didn’t smile.

  Not unless she was doing so in the direction of a security camera. Jasmine knew where the cameras at The Lemonade Stand were located. She hadn’t glanced at any of them.

  But he had a bad feeling.

  A really bad feeling.

  Using his clout, he pulled strings and had APBs out on both her and Josh’s cars. And had a missing person’s report and an Amber alert out for Bella, as well. If he was wasting taxpayers’ money, he’d pay back every dime. He didn’t care if it took the rest of his life to do so.

  He had to find her.

  * * *

  He still hadn’t hurt her badly enough to take Bella and run. Forcing herself to find clarity through the pain, Jasmine wondered why Josh was just sitting there with her. Why didn’t he just knock her out and go? Or take her with him, if he loved her so much?

  For that matter, why hadn’t he wanted to take her with them to begin with? Why ask her to cover him while he left the country? Why hadn’t the three of them just gone?

  It wasn’t like either of them had ties in California that couldn’t be broken.

  Especially now that he thought he’d turned her against Greg.

  Whether he had or not, she didn’t know. She was still thinking about that one, too.

  The detective had done what he said he was going to do. He had said he was going to work so hard to find dirt on her brother.

  But then, she wouldn’t have expected any less of him.

  She’d asked him to find the truth.

  The circle just continued. She’d get to that point and start over.

  Same with Josh. Why? Why were they just sitting here?

  “Do you really think, if you keep me here long enough, that I’m going to agree to cover for you while you leave with Bella? You think I won’t call the cops the second I get a chance? Or were you thinking you’d make sure I didn’t have the opportunity?”

  She needed only one thing from at the moment. The thing she’d always counted on. His honesty.

  “I hoped you’d love me enough to just leave Bella here with me,” he said. Shaking his head. Giving her the first glimmer of hope she’d had all night.

  “Then come with me, Josh. We’ll forget this ungodly night ever happened. Go back. Face the charges and move on. You can leave the country later if you want, when you’ve gone through counseling and whatever else you have to do to win back full custody of Bella.”

  He shook his head. “Heidi’s never going to stop.”

  That woman again.

  “She will if you press charges against her for violating the new restraining order,” she pointed out. “She’ll go to jail for sure on a third count.”

  She heard a car then, almost fainted with relief. Somehow Greg must have found her.

  Obviously hearing the car, too, Josh jumped up. Went to look through the blind into the darkness. And then over to the door.

  Taking the key out of his pocket, he opened it and let their visitor inside.

  “What’s she still doing here?”

  Heidi.

  And her former sister-in-law was clearly not happy to see her.

  Chapter 24

  “I thought you were going to get rid of her.” Heidi walked into the room, in jeans and boots and a leather jacket with fur trim, as though she owned the place.

  As far as Jasmine had known, no one but she and Josh had ever known about the cottage. He’d specifically told her he’d never informed Heidi about it. Because they’d made a pact to keep this one place sacred. They knew they could trust each other.

  More of her world crumbled around her.

  Not only did Heidi know about the cottage, she’d known they were there.

  Josh had been expecting her.

  “She’s my sister,” Josh said, as if that explained everything.

  “Is Bella here?”

  “Of course.”

  “I want to see her.”

  Bracing for Heidi’s anger when Josh told his ex that he wasn’t going to disturb the toddler, Jasmine sat, openmouthed, while he moved toward the bedroom door instead. Just like that. He followed her orders.

  And just like that, for the first time all night, he left Jasmine alone.

  And in that second, she not only understood that she had to save her own life—and Bella’s—she had to do it immediately. Shoving her hand into her purse—something she hadn’t been able to do with Josh watching her all night—she quickly pushed and held the cell phone’s power button.

  Making a call was clearly out of the question. But if she knew Greg at all as well as she thought she did, he’d be looking for her.

  And her phone would be on his radar.

  “We’ve got to get going, Josh.”

  Heidi was whispering, but the sound held such fury, Jasmine could hear every word. They were still back at the bedroom door, but she could see half of Josh and knew he was watching her.

  She could make a run for it. Could probably drive far enough to get help. Further if need be. She hurt like hell. She wasn’t incapacitated.

  But that would leave them with Bella, and she was certain that no matter how quickly the police got to the cottage, the baby wouldn’t be there.

  “We’ll have to take her with us.”

  “No. This whole thing. You promised, Joshua. You said you’d put me first.”

  “You said you’d drop the charges if I got her to bring Bella up here.”

  “And then we’d leave the country. You promised. We’re going to live someplace where our little issues aren’t an issue. Where we can raise our daughter together.”

  Their voices were rising. If Bella wasn’t waking, she would be soon.

  “The charges have to be dropped first. You have to refuse to testify. Say you were lying or something.”

  “But you were going to get her to refuse to testify against me for that stupid hair-pulling thing. Who ever heard of going to jail for pulling someone’s hair?”

  As Jasmine listened, she felt sicker. And stronger, too.

  “I can hear you two,” she said. Her father’s daughter again. The one who didn’t just sit and take it without being heard.

  “Yeah, well, you weren’t supposed to still be here,” Heidi said snottily, coming farther into the living space. “We’re going to have to tie her up,” Heidi added. “And leave her here. By the time someone finds her, we’ll be long gone.”

  “Not until I have proof that you’ve said you won’t testify.”

  She flashed her phone at him. “It’s on airplane mode.” She let him read what was there. “Sent an hour ago. My full confession that I was lying about all the things I said you did to me. My agreement to go back to counseling. And to pay all legal fees.”

  Because Josh was going to make certain that she got to live with Bella as her mother. In another country.

  There was no reason for them to stick around then. Whether Josh was present or not, the case would go away.

  “I have to be here until Thursday,” he told Heidi, glancing toward Jasmine. “I have to appear or they’re going to get suspicious. I’m not leaving this undone.”

  “The case will be dropped later today,” Heidi told him.

  Jasmine wasn’t sure the other woman was wrong. It could happen that quickly.

  “You should have waited another day to come up here, love,” Josh said, in a voice Jasmine had never heard before. “Like we planned.”

  “I couldn’t be away from you any longer, sweet man. I waited all night...”

  Heidi hadn’t trusted Josh to turn on Jasmine. More clarity came. So much more. Her brother truly was a victim of his wife. He’d tried to fight it the right way, turning her in the first time. And even standing up to the charges when she came after him this last time.

  Thinking he was going to win because he really was innocent.

  And then he wasn’t.

  Heidi had screwed things up by coming after Jasmine. She’d needed more blame to put on Josh, so she’d brought up other times that Josh had been forced to protect their daughter against her and used them against him.

  Josh really had been protecting Bella every time Heidi had been hurt. Which was why none of the injuries were serious. He wasn’t their father.

  He hadn’t reached his breaking point as she thought.

  Not until that night.

  He’d never purposefully hurt his wife.

  But he’d hurt Jasmine. Just as he’d seen their father do. Not nearly as badly, though. He hadn’t been trying to teach her a lesson, or make her afraid of him so he could control. He’d been desperate to have her leave his daughter at the cabin so that Heidi would set him free.

  “We’re going to have get rid of her,” Heidi said. “Just until Thursday. We can say she took Bella away for a few days. The stress of the case was getting to her.” Heidi had always been good at coming up with scenarios to fit whatever circumstances in which she’d found herself.

  Came from a lifetime of lying to her mother to avoid further beatings, Jasmine guessed.

  Maybe not. Maybe she was just a born liar.

  “Josh,” Jasmine said. “Think about what you’re doing here.”

  Heidi didn’t know Jasmine was hurt. Didn’t know that in those hours alone in their safe place, Josh Taylor had become an abuser. The injuries didn’t ever show, done Taylor style. Should have been a clue to her that Josh hadn’t lost it and gone after Heidi. Her wrist injury was clearly visible.

  “I love her, Jas,” he said, sounding more helpless than she’d ever heard him.

  “And I love you, too, sweet man,” Heidi said, cuddling up to him.

  Jasmine wondered how long it would take Greg to get up there. Didn’t let herself consider the possibility that he wouldn’t find her. When she’d turned the phone on, she’d turned the ringer off. If he was calling, she wouldn’t know. But she pretended to herself that he was. That, right there in her purse, he was reaching out to her.

  While he was on his way to find her.

  And then she didn’t pretend anything anymore as Heidi pulled out a gun and started toward her.

  * * *

  Greg had been up most of the night. He’d gone home, lay down for a couple of hours, waiting for the phone to ring. Until he got more to go on, he had nowhere to go. Officers were stationed outside both Jasmine’s and Josh’s homes. Everyone was on alert. A tip line was active and getting calls. Uniforms were following up on them.

  He didn’t lie down until almost five. Slept restlessly through his workout time. And was in the shower when he heard his line ring.

  Dripping, he grabbed it up. Heard that Jasmine’s phone had pinged and was out the door in jeans and the sweatshirt he’d had on the night before, unshaven and with his hair still wet, still asking questions and giving orders. Officers were already all over the area. Greg was to be called the second there was any sign of any of the three missing persons.

  If they were too late...if Josh had hurt her...either of them...

  Putting his bubble on his dash, he put his foot to the floor and drove toward his future. Whatever it turned out to be.

  * * *

  Their cars had been located. He got the report while he was still twenty minutes from the remote cottage that wasn’t even on any books. The land it sat on was registered as vacant.

  And owned by a company that hadn’t yet been linked to anything pertaining to Josh or Jasmine Taylor. It was close to the vacation home in which they’d spent so much of their time growing up. That couldn’t be good.

  Neither could the fact that there were three vehicles, not two, parked there. The third one being registered to Heidi Taylor.

  Heart pounding, he asked the detective in charge, the one whose jurisdiction they were in, to please tread carefully. He didn’t know about Josh, but he was certain that Heidi Taylor was unstable enough to do serious damage. Possibly even kill if she felt threatened. Detective Meridian told Greg he appreciated any help he could give him and said he’d keep in touch.

  * * *

  Shots had been fired from inside the cottage. He got the call five minutes out. Detective Meridian believed they’d been warnings to him and his men. They’d counted three blasts, and there were three holes in the front window, which was covered by blinds.

  No one knew for certain that little Bella was inside, but it was assumed that she was. Her empty car seat was in Jasmine’s vehicle.

  Jasmine would know what Greg had done by now, for sure. She’d know that he hadn’t protected her brother as she’d assumed he’d been doing. He still didn’t regret having done his job. She’d needed the truth. He’d gone after every piece of it he could find.

  William’s call the night before, Josh’s continued refusal to take a plea deal that was sweeter than he could have hoped for...he didn’t get that.

  Meridian was waiting for him when he pulled up. He not only saw the man’s badge clipped to his hip, but he also recognized the authority with which Meridian viewed the scene.

  He filled Greg in on a few particulars. Movements they’d seen in the house. The fact that no one was answering their phones.

  “Other than Jasmine’s they seem to be turned off,” he said. “They ring twice and go to voice mail.”

  He’d called her phone a couple of times since he’d heard it was back on. He’d had no response, either. “It’s possible that she’s got the volume down. That they don’t know she has it on.”

  Jasmine was a smart woman. A true survivor. She knew what to do.

  He had to believe that would be enough to get her and Bella out of this alive. Couldn’t consider any other option.

  A split second of panic hit as he glanced toward the house. A vision of his father slumped over the steering wheel the other night.

  Same kind of stark, cold, horrifying fear. Like he was losing someone he...

  He loved Jasmine. God in hell, what a time to figure that one out.

  Didn’t matter to him if they lived in separate countries for the rest of their lives, he loved her. Would always love her. She owned his heart, and he had to get her out of there alive.

  “Let me go in,” he said, removing his gun from his hip. “I know all three of them. Have had the trust of two of them at one time or another. It’s a family thing,” he said. Meridian already knew the basics.

  “No way,” the detective said. “I could be sending you into a massacre. I’ve called the negotiators. We’ve got a DV specialist on staff...”

  “I’m a specialist,” Greg said. He’d worked with the High-Risk Team. That made him special enough, as far as he was concerned. “I’m going in, Detective,” he added, walking toward the door. “You can cover me or not.”

  His advance was slow, giving everyone notice that he was coming in. They could shoot him dead. Or they could talk to him. Either way, they weren’t leaving on their own. And they weren’t taking Bella with them.

  As he walked, it occurred to him that Jasmine could have been in on it with her brother. That she and Josh were trying to take Bella and get away and that Heidi somehow found out. He wouldn’t have put it past the other woman to have been having Josh watched.

  They all had cause to hate him. He kept walking. Thinking of Jasmine’s cell phone going live. She had to have turned it on. A cry for help.

  And help was there in the dozens.

  * * *

  “Detective Johnson’s here. He’s walking toward the house.”