Harlequin Romantic Suspense July 2021 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  Nor did it feel right calling into work the next day. Letting her kids down.

  When she heard him in the bedroom, she grabbed Bella’s sweater, put their bags on her shoulders and had her keys in hand, ready to take Bella on her free hip. It would just be easier to load her in the car herself, rather than have her hanging on her daddy, not wanting to let go to get buckled into her car seat.

  * * *

  Leaving Josh up at the cottage alone wasn’t easy.

  He was alone when he joined her in the living area. “Where’s Bella?” She stood there, watching him as he moved toward the front door.

  Locking the keyed dead bolt from the inside, he stood in front of the only door, facing her. The doors on his home were locked the same way. Something he’d done in his house when Heidi had been pregnant. Part of baby-proofing the house, he’d said. She and Heidi had thought it overkill. But survivors all had their little quirks.

  “What are you doing, Josh?” she asked. The poor man. This had to be killing him. “You know we have to go.”

  “Not yet,” he said. “I just laid Bella down. She can fall asleep here, and I’ll carry her out when you leave. I need to be able to show you the things that Ryder showed me today, the discovery materials.” He grabbed a file out of a drawer in the bookcase along one wall. “He made a copy for me,” he said. “I couldn’t do it with Bella awake.”

  She didn’t relish the hourlong drive back in the dark, but for Josh, it was a small price to pay. She’d thought they could talk while she drove home and Bella slept. But if he had things to show her, she definitely had to see them.

  Nodding, she dropped her bags on the couch and went over to the kitchen table to look at the paperwork.

  * * *

  Greg tried Jasmine again after his shower. In his room, pulling on basketball shorts and nothing else, he listened as her voice mail picked up again after the second ring.

  Either she was deliberately refusing his calls or her phone was off.

  Jasmine wasn’t the type to avoid him, no matter how pissed she got. She’d pick up the phone and tell him to go to hell. In the nicest way possible, of course.

  Or demand that he admit he lied to her—also without raising her voice. Just like she’d immediately called him out both times she’d thought he might be using her.

  She had a way about her—some things that were consequences of having grown up a victim—and one of them was that she didn’t take a lack of truthfulness lightly.

  She’d fought hard to be a survivor and was going to make damned certain that she didn’t become a victim again. And, as evidence of that last thought, he offered himself the fact that she was never going to live with a partner again. She’d learned that doing so made her vulnerable.

  He needed to drive by her house. He didn’t have to stop. If her lights were on, he’d know she was there and okay.

  Maybe he’d stop. He could figure that out when he got there. See how he felt.

  Already out of his shorts and into jeans, Greg grabbed a sweatshirt, his wallet, phone and keys, and was out the door.

  * * *

  Jasmine stared at the pages of documentation, a partial transcript from a conversation between Greg Johnson and Heidi Taylor that had taken place the previous week. Pages of corroborating evidence. Grainy photos of time-stamped security-tape footage. Copies of text messages from two phone numbers she recognized well. Josh’s and Heidi’s.

  Dizzy, she sat down. Her chest was so tight she worried about breathing for a second. All last week, while she’d been on a new relationship high, hopeful, Greg had been making sure her brother hanged.

  And Josh...

  “You... These texts... You threw Heidi out and hurt her foot so bad so couldn’t walk?”

  She didn’t get it. Truly just couldn’t comprehend. There must be a way to right this. She knew it. But where was it? Why couldn’t she see it?

  “I didn’t throw her out,” Josh said, pulling out a chair to sit next to her, moving it close enough that their arms were touching as they looked at the pages together. “I told her multiple times to leave. She said if I wanted her gone, I’d have to make her go. I couldn’t call the police on her. Not again. She was trying so hard. And when she’s in a good place, she’s great with Bella. But Bella was coming down the hall and I couldn’t let her see Heidi in that state, so I pushed her out the door. The foot thing was completely unintentional. I was watching for Bella, not looking at Heidi, and shut the door before she was completely out. It caught her foot.”

  She nodded. Able to see it all happening. Because she’d been witness to enough similar situations in the past to know exactly what Josh was talking about.

  They went through all of the pages together. He had explanations for every situation. Believable ones.

  And yet he’d had to plead guilty.

  Sick to her stomach, she kept looking it all over, as though there was some answer there she was missing.

  Some piece of clarity.

  God knew she needed it. Desperately.

  “Ryder says there’s no way to beat all this in court. With this evidence...the judge is going to know that the things happened and then it’s going to be Heidi’s interpretation, her word, against mine. And with our judge, my chances are pretty much nil.”

  “So we file to have her removed. Petition for a new judge.”

  She was just spitballing. He’d already pleaded guilty.

  “I have no legal grounds to do so. She’s a sitting judge with a stellar record. The most I could do is file for appeal. She’s been up on appeal a few times. Has only been overturned once, and it wasn’t on a DV case.”

  She got to the bottom of the pile. The picture that had started it all. Only there was a second one there, this time. Of the proper wrist. Also taken from Heidi’s phone with the same time stamp.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  Shaking his head, he said. “Apparently she had two photos on her phone.”

  “But...this one matches her testimony,” she said, looking closely at it. And then the following paperwork, mentioning a doctor’s report and neighborhood security coverage. “Did you look at this, Josh?”

  He grabbed up the photo. Studied it like he’d never seen it before, and she was scared for him. She knew how trapped this was all going to make him feel. How hopeless and hurt.

  But when he looked at her, he didn’t look hurt. He looked...determined.

  “I didn’t take the plea.”

  * * *

  There were no lights on at Jasmine’s place. She’d have just put Bella to bed. Could be in the back part of the house. Greg got out of his car and circled the place, noting, with comfort, the security cameras. She’d given him her code to the gate, so he’d gotten in without a hitch.

  Which meant any number of other people could do so as well.

  Her bedroom light wasn’t on. The blinds were still open. She never left them open at night.

  Jumping up onto the deck, he sat there for a minute, on the wicker couch he’d occupied the first night he’d met her. Hard to believe that had just been three weeks ago. Seemed like years of his life had passed in that space.

  In the three weeks he’d known her, she’d been adamant about getting Bella to bed on schedule. Believing that a regular routine built a sense of security. And she had to be at work in the morning. Something else she was a stickler about.

  Funny, how he knew her so well in such a little bit of time.

  So...where was she?

  She wouldn’t be with Josh. The brother and sister pair were committed to following Bella’s visitation rules, and with his court case coming up on Thursday—with his determination to win—no way that either of them would jeopardize things now.

  She could be at The Lemonade Stand. Helping with some emergency situation there. Maddie would watch Bella.

>   But what emergency would require an elementary school teacher to be on hand at nine o’clock at night?

  It hit him then... Heidi. The woman knew better than to go after Jasmine again. She knew she was treading a fine line between freedom and jail.

  But she also wasn’t stable.

  On his phone immediately Greg made one call—and then hit the road himself. If Heidi Taylor thought she was going to hurt Jasmine or that little girl, she had another think coming.

  This one, he was going to fix.

  CHAPTER 22

  “You lied to me?” Josh hadn’t taken the plea? There was no order to remove visitation restrictions? She couldn’t be there. Not with Bella. She shook her head. “You lied to me?”

  “I had to get you here, Jas. I had to be able to show you all this, and I’m not allowed at your place with Bella there. Look at all these things. It’s like there are eyes everywhere. And Heidi’s opening them. For all I know, she’s sitting on my place. Following me. Taking pictures...”

  It was a bit extreme. And yet...somewhat believable, too. Knowing Heidi. And seeing all of the evidence that had been collected on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.

  She couldn’t even think about the finder of that evidence. The collector. Sleeping with that man...she just couldn’t go there. Not yet.

  “All you had to do was tell me the truth, Josh,” she said. It was their golden rule. They would never, ever lie to each other. Because they both had issues and had to know that there was always someplace they could go where they didn’t have to worry about misplaced trust.

  “I know.” He put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. I just...after seeing all this, I wasn’t thinking straight. But tonight...being here, a family, playing with Bella...”

  She felt his hand on her wrist and saw, in her mind’s eye, the photo that was right in front of her. Another wrist he’d had his hand on.

  “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.
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br />   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.