“You know how the old saying goes. Be careful what you ask for.”
Coop rolled his eyes at his teammate’s cryptic words. “That’s very helpful.”
“Always glad to be of assistance.” With a smartass smirk, the other man added, “I’ll text you the hotel information. My room’s across the hall from hers. The plan is for me to stay in the shadows unless she needs me.” He reached for the doorknob but stopped. “To be honest, I’m glad you’re an impulsive asshole.”
“Yeah?” One corner of Coop’s lips curved.
Concern filtered through Trevor’s gaze as he nodded. “She refuses to see it, but Mac needs someone staying close to her right now. Someone who’s on her side.”
I’ll always be on her side.
With that, Trevor tipped his chin and left him alone to read the file. Wasting no time, Coop opened the folder and began to read.
Inside was a newspaper article about Anthony Moretti and his family. It felt like a huge waste of his time, since he’d already read up on the guy, but Trevor had seemed pretty damned adamant he read it. So he did.
According to the paper, Anthony Moretti wasn’t just a successful real estate investor. He was also the head of the Moretti crime family. One of the largest organized crime groups in New Jersey’s history.
Information Coop already knew.
Highlighted in the article was a story about how Moretti’s brother and sister-in-law had been killed in a freak automobile accident. After their deaths, the couple’s teenage daughter—Abigail—was sent to live with Moretti until she vanished into thin air shortly after her sixteenth birthday.
She was never seen or heard from again.
Rumors had circulated quickly. Theories included everything from Abigail having gone overseas to finish school, to her being a statistical runaway. Some even believed Moretti had killed his niece for the extra insurance money.
The whole thing read like a fucking Greek tragedy, but it still didn’t give the answers Trevor had promised.
Coop was about to call the guy back to ask what the hell he was missing when he noticed a picture tucked between two of the papers. It had been cut from a separate newspaper story.
At first glance, he saw what appeared to be a normal, happy family. Mom, dad, and daughter. Frustration rising, he blew out a breath and glanced down at the photo’s caption.
Happier times: Salvador and Vanessa Moretti with their daughter, Abigail.
It was Tony’s brother and his family.
“Why the hell did you give me this?” Coop mumbled to himself. It wouldn’t be included with the other contents if it wasn’t important, so he worked to determine its value.
He already knew about the tragic death of Moretti’s brother and sister-in-law. The infamous niece who’d disappeared. All that was in the article he’d just finished reading.
Was that it? Did this have something to do with the girl’s disappearance? Coop looked at the picture again.
Petite with brown hair, Abigail Moretti had been a very pretty young lady. Coop absentmindedly ran his thumb over the girl’s image.
What happened to you, Abigail?
In the captured moment, her big, round eyes were filled with joy as she smiled for the camera. Coop studied her face even closer, the answer hitting him with the force of a fucking nuclear bomb.
I’ve seen that smile before.
His heart nearly stopped when he realized exactly where he’d seen it. And those eyes…
Fumbling for the binoculars, Coop looked across the well-trimmed grass to the woman still standing next to Moretti’s grave. Though part of him fought against the idea, there was no mistaking what he knew to be true.
He’d spent the last seven years working side-by-side with this woman. He’d gotten to know her.Trustedher.
Not once in all that time had Coop ever doubted a single thing she’d told him.
They were partners. Friends. And even though she didn’t know it, Mac was the woman he’d fallen in love with. Except now he realized…
