“It’s less stress with everyone around,” Caylee replied, eyeing me carefully.“You know, for everyone.”
She’s treating me with kid gloves, trying to work out what my familyissueis.God, if only she knew.
Those pretty eyes smiling up at me could almost get me to kill for her.
But I wouldn’t betray my family secret.
My family shame.
There was no way I was inviting them.My mother would lose her fucking mind at the thought, and if by some chance they did come, my dad would be shitfaced by the time he arrived.Or within the hour if, by some miracle, he wasn’t.
There is no way on god’s green earth I’m exposing my parents to my friends and new colleagues.
It’s not happening.Ever.
Between Caylee’s party, fucking Thanksgiving, then Christmas, the time of year couldn’t be worse to reunite.Why couldn’t it have been February or goddamn May?
I sigh inwardly.
I don’t want to let her down.
I’ll invite some friends and old colleagues.That’s it.Keeping Caylee hidden is not my goal.Hell, I’d stand on the highest mountain peak in the world and scream how much I liked this woman.
More than liked.
But her opinion of me would change in an instant if she knew about my past.
“Then again,” Liam continues.“Other organizations around the area here haven’t had all of these missing kids through their clinics.That’s not a coincidence.”
“No.It isn’t.”
There was something about Brad I couldn’t put my finger on.I certainly didn’t trust him.
He didn’t like me touching Caylee, which was one of two reasons I did it in front of him.
Testing him.
Caylee isn’t a target for trafficking, but these mentally unstable sociopaths have interesting relationships with those in their inner circle.
I want her away from him.
Something I don’t have control over, which doesn’t sit well with me.If he suspects she knows something, he might be a danger to her.
If he’s a pimp, this could just be a game to him.
Sociopaths usually have no emotion one way or another, but they know right from wrong.
Unlike pedophiles or sex offenders, who end up hurting or killing their victims because they try to hide their crimes.Whether from immediate guilt or shame, they rarely set out to kill.
They know if they’re caught it would mean prison.Or in some states, the death penalty.
Caylee is too old to be of interest to child traffickers.Grown, independent women are threatening and terrifying to them.
But is she completely safe?
No.
And that makes all my protective tendencies rise to the surface.Which is probably why I saw her back up in the elevator, watched her walk through the door to the clinic, studied Brad, who was speaking to the mother of a child, and gave him a sharp nod when he glanced in my direction.
