“I just saw the face of Anna Fielding. She’s here. She’s here at The Homestead Inn.”
With the images attached to the memo, Sloane selected not the backup server for her own future reference, but the big one. The one that could lead to Wren Brandler himself if his assistant saw fit. If said assistant was working this close to the holiday, Wren would get an early Christmas gift. If not, the intel would make it to him by no later than the day after.
An onslaught of fear lingered somewhere near the surface. Once she hit send, there would be no undoing what was done.
Do not wimp out, Sloane.Dozens of agents had attempted to find Anna,Gabeincluded, and failed.
This would put the other leads to rest.
This would put the whole case to bed.
This would change life for the Duran family as they knew it.
With that fact threatening to haunt her forever, Sloane lowered her thumb and hit send.
* * *
Emmitt tapped the steering wheel to the upbeat tempo of the Christmas song blasting throughout his car. Boy, was he in the Christmas spirit.
A unanimous yes. Count them—one, two, three, four, five, six,sevenyeses. Emmitt had the family’s support—along with Richard and Ava’s permission—to tell Sloane about Ava’s past.
Emmitt had agreed to reserve the details of their own history for further down the line. The consensus, in the end, was that the chances of Sloane using Ava’s story—her incredible journey to freedom—against her were slim to none. Sure, they’d have to fudge a few of the details since her story was weaved into the twins’ trip to Haven Hills, but it would do for now.
Thank heavens they’d come to an agreement in time for the family’s Christmas Eve dinner at Trenton and Andie’s. The whole family would be there, and Sloane would too. They were getting an early start—four o’clock, to be precise—which should leave plenty of time for games and good conversation after dinner. Betty was bringing a Christmas craft of some sort, something the women would likely enjoy. And Lucas too, for that matter. He was glad the family had Betty. What were the odds that a woman who never had any children of her own would inherit—in a way—a family of orphaned siblings? All to become an important part of their family.
He sighed as Cabin Twelve came into view. Here was another woman he hoped would become a permanent part of their family.
Once his jeep was parked in the driveway, Emmitt cracked open the door. The plan was to take the long route to Andie and Trenton’s. On the way, he’d tell Sloane that Richard wasn’t a loner after all. He was recently married, and his wife, who now went by Ava, had escaped her physically violent ex and was hiding from him even still.
She’d forgive him for lying, there was no doubt of that. And then Sloane would meet the couple for herself. Emmitt could hardly wait for Richard and Ava to see how incredible she was. They might have had their doubts in the beginning, but that’s because they hadn’t met her for themselves. If their reservations weren’t already dissolved prior to giving their favored vote, they would be after today.
Chapter 18
Sloane may have wrestled with herself for the last several hours—wondering if she could ever look Emmitt in the face again—but as she sat in the passenger side of his jeep, she breathed out a sigh of relief. Emmitt had just come clean with his side of Anna’s story. A story that took any and all blame off the Duran family.
“So you are saying,” she started, ready to brief the details he’d shared, “that Richard is recently married.”
“Yes.”
“And the reason you did not tell me is because his wife has some crazy man after her.”
“A crazy man who happens to be her ex-boyfriend,” he amended. “Not only was he physically violent with her while they were together, he made it nearly impossible for her to escape.”
Sloane had to admit, it was a good cover. In fact, it wassogood that Anna had managed to fool the entire Duran family. Heck, she’d married the oldest brother under this pretense.
“That’s terrible,” she said in a whisper. But inwardly, Sloane keyed into her own, internal reaction to the new information. As racked as she’d been about discovering Anna Fielding, each muscle and tendon tense with worried anticipation of what might come, she was surprised to find that this story brought her peace.
Already, the rigid set of her body was starting to loosen. The grating cycle of fear, guilt, and misgivings were melting away. Since sending the images and data, Sloane had felt like the betrayer. But that wasn’t the case at all. Anna Fielding had betrayed them. The Duran family had been hiding a fugitive, and they hadn’t even known it.
They will thank me for this,she assured herself, wondering how it would all go down. Would the intel get passed on right away or would it sit dormant someplace until the holiday passed? Sloane hoped for the second. As much as this needed to be done—a criminal was a criminal, after all—she hoped the authorities wouldn’t come so soon.
The Durans deserved to have a peaceful Christmas as a family. One they’d been kind enough to let Sloane be a part of. On that note, a different misgiving threatened to surface—timing. Perhaps she should have waited until after Christmas to send what she had.
Too late for that,she reminded herself. Besides, as soon as she came face-to-face with Anna Fielding today, she would get the confirmation she knew would come—that her story about escaping an abusive ex was just a cover.
Sloane continued to replay that narrative as they walked up the porch steps. A Christmas song blasted from inside the home while the wide window up front, covered only by a sheer curtain, showed Lucas jamming out to the tune with an air guitar. Taller figures swayed nearby while laughter drifted up and over the tunes.
“Hey, Sloane?” Emmitt said, removing his hand from the front doorknob and facing her.
