“Yeah. I only married her because she said she was pregnant with my kid. I tried to make it a real marriage, but she says she’s not ready for anything yet and felt uncomfortable doing it because she was afraid it would traumatize the baby,” Ryan admitted, rubbing his face in exhaustion.
“Do you two even share the same bed?” Swift asked, shaking her head at what she’d just heard.
“No. I sleep in the guest room so that she can have the main bedroom with the ensuite bathroom.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-EIGHT
Lana and Jayson both looked at each other in shock while the rest of her team murmured explicits at Ryan’s confession. The more they learned, while it answered some questions, it created more.
“So, you’re telling me she’s sleeping in the master bedroom, while you’re sleeping in the guest bedroom, and you two haven’t done the chitty chitty bang bang since that night when she claims you knocked her up?” Rocky summed up everyone’s question for them.
“Are you even sure you two did the deed in the first place?” Swift followed up with her question.
“Do you remember if you saw her hanging around with Ashley any that night or while she was visiting?” Lana asked again, knowing that Ryan had already said he hadn’t known they knew each other.
Lana watched the emotions roll through Ryan’s eyes as he thought about every question that was thrown his way. She knew the moment he caught on to what was being said without the actual words.
“Ashley handed me my beer. She was working as both a bartender and server that night. I saw her and Jayme talkingand having a couple of laughs but thought it was just Jayme being friendly with her since she was handling the drinks for everyone.”
Lana watched as Ryan sighed heavily and plopped down onto the couch next to Jayson. She could see the embarrassment and the despair in his features.
She really wanted to punch the bitch. Then some more questions popped into her head, thinking about her own pregnancy.
“Ryan, have you or your parents gone with Jayme to her prenatal visits?” Lana asked, sitting in front of Ryan on the coffee table.
Lana took his hands into hers and wished she could will him some of her strength. She knew this was all hard for him.
Ryan was trying hard to be a good husband and man to this woman, and she was playing her mind games. She would make sure Jayme paid for the hell she put him through.
“No. I was always on shift, and she would make excuses for my mom not to go. She hasn’t really tried to connect with Mom, Dad, or even Jayson until you got here.”
“Because Jayson didn’t pay attention to other women. He didn’t really come out of his self-induced brain fog until Lana came into town,” Sunny quipped, shrugging her shoulder as everyone turned to look at her.
“She’s right. I think I only really talked to Jayme a handful of times. All of those were when she would show up at Mom and Dad’s family dinner. Outside of that, I think she’s only been to my house maybe once or twice.”
Lana looked over at Jayson at his statement about Jayme. Things started spinning in her head.
She had so many questions and so little information to go off of despite all they were learning right now. What was Jayme and Ashley’s connection?
The bigger question, what did those two have to do with the disappearance of all these girls and why were they trying to frame the Soriano Army for this when they weren’t even really here? They made enough of a stink with their fake Soriano Army brand it got their attention.
She wondered if Jayme and Ashley even knew how dangerous these men really were when they were crossed. It caused a question to blurt out to Angelo that had everyone looking at her like she was nuts.
“Angelo, was Roderic a part of the Sorianos when he and Jayme first hooked up? I’m curious if she even knows how dangers the cartel really is or if she just doesn’t give a shit. But my biggest question is why is she trying to frame you guys for the missing girls when you yourself said none of you were here, nor would you have been here if it wasn’t for word getting back to you about the fake brand? When exactly did you guys learn about that?”
Lana watched as Angelo looked up at the ceiling and murmured information to calculate dates and times. When he looked at her, she knew she would not like the answer.
“We learned about it Wednesday afternoon. We were on the road from Mexico into Texas and then headed to North Carolina the next morning. Took us two days to get here cause of weather and Jesus is a little bitch about getting wet on a ride. I made contact with you as soon as we got into town.”
“How the hell did you know she would be at the store she was?” Rocky asked, getting upset at the news.
“The little birdie told us, well told Janelle and she told Rodric. That’s who was with me when the incident happened at the store. They also requested for you, specifically, to be taken out. If you had your kid with you, then there was a bonus involved.”
“Kid?” Rocky repeated before looking at Lana. “Jayme knows about the twins. Lana, didn’t you say Ashley showed up at the house the other day claiming she’d had Jayson’s first and only son, who was only a month to two months old?”
“Yes. Jayme would have said kids or twins like we do. Ashley nearly shit herself when Jayson said he’d already met his son because Jay was asleep in his bed,” Lana answered, more light bulbs were going off in her head.
