“Yes, it most certainly was.”
Everleigh laid her head back on the cushion and closed her eyes, quietly listening to the sound of the rain against the tin roof. After several moments, she looked up at me with a curious look in her eyes. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“This is probably a bad time to ask, but I was just wondering...” Her eyes drifted to the floor and then slowly back to me. “Have you been with many women? I mean since your wife.”
“Well, I don’t know. I’d have to think about it.” I could feel her entire body grow tense as I looked up at the ceiling and pretended to count in my head. “I guess there’s only been one.”
“One?”
“Yeah, one.”
“I know you said no girlfriends, but I didn’t realize.” Her brows furrowed, and then a slight gasp slipped through her lips. “Wait... You mean me? Am I the one? The only one?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
“But how? It’s been...”
“You don’t go through hell and back without acquiring a few scars. Mine ran deep. They cut right through to the soul, and there were times when I thought I might not survive. But God didn’t want me and the devil was still playing me like a puppet, so I was stuck here living in my own version of hell.” I raked my knuckles across her cheek as I whispered, “And then there was you.”
“Oh, Billy. I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say. Just know I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Not now. Not ever.”
EVERLEIGH
The past coupleof days with Billy had been both amazing and completely nerve-wracking. I enjoyed having the chance to get to know him better, but it had been impossible to forget about the men who’d come looking for me at Billy’s place. I’d tried to hide it, but I’d spent every waking moment worrying that they would find us again.
I went to bed at night with an overwhelming sense of dread. It weighed on me, and I would toss and turn, barely sleeping at all. But one night was worse than the others. I wasn’t sure why I was feeling so on edge, but I knew something was terribly wrong. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with DeLuca and his thirst for revenge.
Billy had assured me that he was going to find a way out of all this, but I’d seen what happened when DeLuca lost his temper. He turned into a monster and would destroy anything that tried to cross him. I couldn’t imagine that kind of anger being directed at Billy—the man who’d put everything on the line to help me and had stolen my heart in the process.
I didn’t want anything to happen to him, but he was so determined to protect me. He’d spent hours in his room talking with Viper and working on his laptop.
I was tempted to wake Billy and warn him but feared it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. So, I spent the entire night looking at the clock, biding my time until I could finally figure out what had me feeling so out of sorts.
I got my answer the next morning when Billy’s cell phone started to ring. It was early. The sun had barely been up for an hour, and he was still sleeping soundly. It took him a minute to wake up and gather himself, but he finally answered. And when he did, both of our worlds were turned upside down.
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Billy shouted.
He jumped out of bed and started to pace back and forth as he listened to the other end of the line. “You’re sure she boarded the plane in Boston?”
After another brief pause, Billy asked, “But how is that possible? She should’ve had plenty of time to make her connecting flight?”
He didn’t wait for an answer before he roared, “How the hell did this happen?”
I could feel the tension radiating off of him as he opened the closet and pulled out his bag. He started packing as he said, “We’ll be there within the hour.”
Billy hung up the phone, then continued shoving things into his bag. “Billy? What’s going on?”
“Kiersten is missing.” He walked back over to the closet and grabbed the rest of his things. “She never boarded her flight in Atlanta.”
“Okay.” I tried to remain calm as I tossed the covers back and jumped out of bed. “Do they have any idea what happened to her?”
“Afraid not.”
As much as I didn’t want to mention his name, I had to ask, “Do you think Antonio had something to do with her disappearance?”