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Maverick looks at me, a question in his eyes. “I’ll be right over there, okay?” He gestures toward the hallway.

I want to go with him. Want to stay where I feel safe.

But instead of pleading for him to remain at my side, I simply nod.

Maverick follows Zane over toward the hallway while I cross both arms and remain rooted where I am, right next to the counter.

“So how do you know Mav?” Anastasia asks as she takes out two paper cups.

“Uh, our paths just kind of crossed,” I reply. It’s the truth, though a major summary of it.

“You’re not from here, though, right? I grew up here, so that’s why I’m asking.”

“Oh, no. I’m originally from Georgia.” I glance back over at Maverick, my heart hammering. Please come back.

MAVERICK

“You find anything out?” I ask him as soon as we’re out of earshot. I keep my gaze on my mysterious houseguest, though, just in case she starts to panic again. I’d texted him last night, then again this morning, to see if he could help me track down any information about Sadie.

He and his team—Weston, Sawyer, Ryker, and a man named Garrison—were all Navy SEALs who then went on to work as special operators for a shadow agency of the government. I figured if anyone could get information on Sadie and not raise any red flags, it would be these guys.

“Sadie Eaton,” he says. “Seeing her now, the picture matches. You said she’s a nanny?”

“That’s what she told me this morning.”

“Then that lines up, too. She filed a police report about six months ago, claiming she was being stalked. The report didn’t go anywhere, but that’s not unusual when they can’t find a suspect.”

Did he find her? Is that who beat her up? “Where is she from?”

“South Georgia,” he says.

I turn toward her, trying to picture this woman walking from South Georgia to the coast of South Carolina. Did she have a car at some point? Or has she been on foot this entire time? “You said it was filed six months ago?”

He nods.

“Was a missing person’s report filed for her?”

“Not a single one.”

“Any living family?”

“Not that I could find. She lost both of her parents in an accident three years ago, and was an only child.”

And since there has been no missing person’s report filed, she likely isn’t involved in any kind of romantic relationship. Unless, of course, it wasn’t a stalker but him who hurt her. At the thought of someone putting their hands on her, a wave of anger burns through me—hot and fast.

I clench both hands into fists and take a deep breath.

“You good?”

“Yeah, just wish I knew what happened.”

“You said you found her in the alley?”

I nod. “Pretty sure she was trying to sleep there.”

“That’s sad.” As he says it, Sadie smiles softly at something Anastasia said. Seeing her smile, even if it’s only for a moment, has a new emotion bouncing around inside of me. One that I have absolutely no interest in paying attention to.

“Thanks. Let me know if you find anything else,” I tell Zane.