Tomi’s stomach rolled, but this time she swallowed it down, her eyes watering with the effort. She couldn’t think about that…she just wanted to understand the why of it. This wasn’t just some attempt to get back at her. Something big was clearly going down. However hurt she felt, she knew Cole and the others were working to end the horror she’d so nearly become a partof.
With newfound determination, she grabbed the stack of papers, shoving her profile to the bottom, and quickly fingered through the rest. There were complete dossiers on Luis, the Frenchman who’d tried so hard to touch her at the auction, and four of the kidnapped women. Parked there on the side of the road in the dark, Tomi read their profiles. They were young and single and had no family. They were all missing. And the reason behind each one wasLuis.
She pressed a hand to her lips and kept on going, her stomach rolling. The file was startlingly empty for such a devastating case, but then, what if each girl missing had no family? No one to care that they weregone?
No one but her and the men at Cole’shouse.
Tomi carefully returned the papers to their original order, knowing someone had worked hard to build this case. After replacing the folder exactly where she’d found it, she turned and stared straight through the windshield into the darkness, her mindrolling.
No matter what part Cole played in this investigation, Tomi couldn’t let all those women disappear for good. She needed to helpthem.
27
“Idon’t believe it,”Clint breathedout.
Cole shoved the duffel bag into the back of their SUV and straightened, following his brother’s line of sight. A pair of bright headlights appeared on the horizon. Headlights that lit a spark insideCole.
“No way it’s her.” Carter threw in his own duffel and turned to stare with the other two Furybrothers.
“It’s her,” Cole said. He couldn’t see her, but he could feelher.
Could she have come back forhim?
A minute later, there wasn’t any doubt that it was Tomi. Stahl’s black four-door sedan, standard government-issue, pulled to a stop a few feet behind them. She left the engine running for a minute, and he knew she was fighting herself. It took all his strength not to run to that driver side door, yank it open and pull her into his arms. She’d have to come to him. It had to be her decision. But damn him if he could breathe until she popped open that door and stepped out onto the graveldriveway.
Her gaze flitted everywhere, it seemed, but her eyes wouldn’t meet his. Was it her submissive nature or was she avoiding him? His brain was too frazzled totell.
“What is she thinking?” Cole asked Carter, who stood right besidehim.
Carter shrugged, lifting his hands in a hopeless gesture. “Damned if I can tell,brother.”
Clint approached the side of the car, coming to stand on Cole’s left side. All three of them formed a tense line behind theSUV.
With her gaze directed at the ground, Tomi approached them, stopping too far away for Cole to reach out and touch her. He watched her struggle for control for a moment before she looked up at Clint. “I want to talk toStahl.”
Cole almost took a step in front of her and demanded she look at him. He needed her to acknowledge his presence, ease this terrible dread eating away at him. But some part of him knew it would be a huge mistake. Instead, he locked down his muscles like steel bands and didn’t move, but he couldn’t help but watch her like a hungrywolf.
“He’s inside,” Clintsaid.
Tomi nodded and made to walk right past him. Cole couldn’t stop himself from reacting. His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. “Tomi?”
The look she gave him could have melted glass. He withdrew his hand oninstinct.
She turned and strode into the house, slamming the front door behindher.
Clint let out a long whistle. “That, my brother, is one pissed-offwoman.”
Carter slapped him on the shoulder, like he was going to congratulate him. “You royally fucked this oneup.”
Cole glared at both of them before turning to stare at the curtained windows in the house, searching for any shadow of Tomi passing in front of them. “I need to fixthis.”
“Why did she come back?” Clint asked, his toneincredulous.
Cole shook his head. He’d hoped for a second that she’d come back for him, but one glimpse at the betrayed fury in her eyes had proven otherwise. Which meant there was only one other reason for her return. She’d read the files in Stahl’sfolder.
If she’d read that folder, she knew everything about him, down to the minute details of the role he’d played in the investigation. His refusal to tell her the truth was a betrayal, especially after what they’d shared. He’d stripped her down, demanding honesty about the most painful parts of her life…and then he’d gone and lied to her in return. There was only one natural human reaction to that kind of betrayal.Hate.
Cole rolled his shoulders, tilting his head to the right and then the left to work out the tension buried deep in his muscles. Hate he could deal with. If she cared enough about him to feel that level of emotion, he would find a way to make her love himagain.
