“You didn’t tell him?” he echoed.
She could see that none of this was making sense to him, but she couldn’t explain herself fully. Not yet.
“I didn’t.”
“And he didn’t mention it to us.” He swore. “If he’d told Kat, she would have told me.”
“Don’t be mad at him, I begged him to keep my secret.”
He exhaled roughly. “Okay, okay. I’m not happy about it, but at least it’s out in the open.” His dark eyes settled on hers. “Your brother. Does he know you’re here? What about the rest of your family? Or did you leave them to wonder what happened to you?”
She flinched. She’d meant to call her family—really, she had—but she’d had to discard her phone before she ran away, and coming clean seemed impossibly difficult. For God’s sake, she came from a family of lawyers—her mum specialized in family law—and should have recognized the warning signs that Charles was abusive, but she’d still been stupid enough to fall for him. How was she supposed to admit that? Especially when she’d always been the weak link compared to career-driven Mikayla, and good-at-everything Mark. She hadn’t wanted to reinforce her position as the Talbot family screw-up. Better to fix everything on her own.
But now that she thought of it, what was stopping Seeley from questioning them? And as soon as he spoke to them, they’d know something was wrong, and they’d worry. Her vision blurred. She hadn’t thought this through nearly as well as she’d believed she had.
“None of them know,” she whispered. “Can I use your phone to call them? Please?”
“Yeah, okay.” He got up, spilling Pixie from his lap, grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and handed it over. The screen was scratched so badly she could hardly make out the time flashing across it. Despite herself, she smiled. She hadn’t seen a phone like this since her parents gifted her one for her thirteenth birthday. This particular model had been old even then.
“Is this thing from the dark ages?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “It calls. It texts. Nothing else it needs to do.”
Her eyes widened. “Email? Social media? Camera? Internet browsing?”
“Nope.” The ‘p’ popped as he spoke it with relish. “Don’t have email, and don’t need social media. Everyone I care about lives right here in town.”
“Wow.” She hadn’t believed it possible to exist without email anymore. Not for anyone under eighty, anyway. But it was kind of cool. He was off-grid. Living a real life. She could appreciate that. “Do you mind if I have some privacy for my call?”
He nodded. “I’ll be right outside. You want me to leave Pixie with you?”
She eyed the tiny Chihuahua, who growled at her. “I don’t think she likes me.”
“Nah.” He scooped the dog into his arms and dropped a kiss onto the top of her furry head. “She’s just shy.”
“If you say so.”
He took the dog and left, shutting the door behind him. Megan stared at the buttons on the phone and wondered who she should call. Her mum, Rose, would worry, and her soon-to-be stepfather, Joe, wouldn’t keep anything from her. Mark would insist on knowing where she was, then drive over immediately, in typical over-protective big brother fashion. That left Mikayla—her twin sister, and a force of nature.
Her fingers were clumsy as she dialed Mikayla’s number and waited while it rang.
“Mikayla Talbot speaking.”
“Hey, Mik.” Her voice trembled, and she took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s Megan.”
“Meg! Whose phone are you calling from? What’s going on? I haven’t seen you in ages. I dropped by your place on Monday but Charles said you were sick and didn’t want to see anyone.”
“Huh.” It hadn’t occurred to her that Charles would lie about her whereabouts. In hindsight, it should have. Of course he wouldn’t want anyone to know she’d gone. That would only raise questions. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Sounds serious.” Something covered the receiver and there was muffled speech in the background, then she was back. “I need to finish a presentation for a meeting in two hours, but for you, I’ve got a little time.”
Warmth suffused her. As well as being her twin, Mikayla was also her best friend. They were very different people, but sharing a womb—and later a bedroom—had bonded them.
“Thanks.”
“Just give me two minutes to find a quiet spot.”
Megan didn’t bother to reply, knowing her sister wouldn’t be listening. Mikayla was an executive in a big corporation. Megan didn’t know exactly what she actually did, but she always seemed to be both busy and in high demand.