“No. I’m just being hypervigilant, I suppose.”
“I understand the instinct.” Her phone buzzed, and Rowan froze.
Wes saw the tension in her shoulders. Her fingers tightened around the phone before she even looked at the screen.
“What is it?” he asked.
She hesitated before turning the phone toward him. “It’s an email. FromThe Entertainment Report.”
We’re preparing a story regarding Thayer Holt’s death and your disappearance from production. We’d appreciate a statement. Sources connected to the production claim tensions existed between you and Thayer shortly before his death. Would you like to comment?
Something tightened in Wes’s chest. “How did they get your email address?”
“My agent probably.” Rowan swallowed. “Or someone from production.”
Wes took the phone from her hand and read the message again.
This fiasco had tracked her somewhere gunfire hadn’t reached: her reputation, her career, her future.
Wes suddenly understood something he hadn’t fully grasped before.
Vince didn’t have to find Rowan to destroy her.
He could do it from three thousand miles away.
CHAPTER 25
Wes watchedRowan disappear from the office.
Tonight had changed the shape of things.
Someone had known where he and Rowan were tonight. This person had shot at them. That thought kept circling back. None of this was coincidence or random.
It was deliberate.
Wes stared at the security feed again.
Rowan had told him the truth. Every instinct he had said so. The part he couldn’t shake wasn’t Thayer Holt’s death.
It was Vince’s reaction.
From the sound of it, he hadn’t panicked. He hadn’t appeared confused or hesitant.
Instead, he’d calculated how to handle things. He’d acted as if covering up a body was a problem he already knew how to solve.
Wes grabbed his phone. He had a former colleague in California who worked for the US Marshals. The two of them hadn’t spoken in a while, but his friend owed him one.
Need a favor. Call when you can.
He sent the text then shoved the phone back into his pocket. Maybe his friend could help him find some of the answers they so desperately needed.
Wes awoke early the next morning.
Caleb had offered to let him stay the night at Refuge Cove. Since he didn’t have his truck, he’d agreed. Plus, he felt better being closer to Rowan.
By the time he emerged from his room, the house was already awake.
He heard movement in the kitchen—coffee brewing, cabinet doors opening and shutting.
