He scoffed. “Like what?”
She was quiet for a bit.
“What, Sadie?” He was getting angry. “Why didn’t you tell the police what you knew?”
She glared at him. “You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me,” he said in a low growl.
She pinched her eyes shut, then flashed them open. “Because the last time I got involved with the police, my father ended up dead.”
The blunt statement hung in the air between them.
Nash waited, sensing there was more she wanted to say.
“I can’t tell you everything,” she continued after a moment. “But I can tell you that my family was in witness protection in Cross Creek. My father was going to testify against someone dangerous. They found us. We had to leave that night—prom night.” Her voice caught slightly. “The next day, my father was shot at a gas station just across the Utah border.”
Nash felt like he’d been punched in the gut. All these years, he’d imagined scenarios ranging from family emergencies to Amanda simply not feeling the same way about him. He’d never considered something so serious, so tragic. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I had no idea.”
She shrugged, a gesture clearly meant to seem casual but betrayed by the tension in her shoulders. “How could you? Our identities were completely changed after that. My mother and I became Diana and Sadie Blair. We moved to Salt Lake. She died three years ago—cancer.” Her expression softened with grief. “So now it’s just me.” Her eyes fluttered, and she threw a hand through the air. “Trying to figure all of this out.”
Compassion filled him. He tried to process everything she was telling him. Witness protection. Murder. False identities. It sounded like something from a crime thriller, not the life of the girl he’d taken to prom. “What’s so important about this gold?” he finally asked.
The question seemed to catch her off guard. She looked away, her gaze settling on a framed photograph Nash hadn’t noticed before—an older man with her same green eyes, smiling beside a younger version of Sadie at what appeared to be a college graduation.
“Because I think it’s all connected,” she said finally. “To everything. To why my father was killed, to why Bill was murdered. I think whatever Porter Rockwell hid in those mountains is bigger than just gold. I think it will uncover secrets that have been plaguing my family for a long time.”
Nash sucked in a breath. “Dang …”
She shook her head. “Just go, Nash. Don’t get involved in whatever this is. It puts you in danger.”
He sat and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m already in danger. My whole family is.”
She stared at him. “That’s why you’re investigating this?”
He nodded, then turned back to the research wall with its intricate connections.
“Then help me,” she said softly.
He stared into her tortured eyes. Then he sighed. Maybe he was making a mistake, but he could see now that she was too involved to let this all go. “Fine. I recently was given correspondence between my family and the Stone family.”
“The ones in South Carolina,” she said immediately. “The ones initially involved in the conquistador gold.”
He nodded. “I see you’ve done your research.”
She leaned back. “Of course.” Tears suddenly bubbled into her eyes. “Poor Bill. He didn’t tell me all of that, but he was just as frenzied as I was about this research. He had dedicated his life to it, and he said one time that beneath the secrets of the Porter Rockwell gold, there were a lot of other secrets to uncover. Maybe that’s what he meant.”
Nash sent a group text to his brother Porter and Trey Stone.Could you guys find out if Bill Harris served as a SEAL with our fathers? I have a lead, I think.
Instantly, Trey texted back.Give me a sec.
“What?” Sadie asked.
He shook his head. “Not sure. I’m checking to see if Bill Harris served as a Navy SEAL with my father and the Stone family father.”
She looked confused, then nodded. “Okay, I wasn’t sure how your two families were connected, but now I get it. They served together.”
“Maybe.”
