Forsaken (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #3)(76)

“Does the name Madison Cook mean anything to you?” Tellar asks.

“That’s the man who created the cylinder,” I reply.

“That’s Gia’s father,” he says.

“No,” I say, rejecting that bomb. “That’s impossible. Her last name is Hudson, not Cook, and she told me that her father was a chemist at the university. Cook was a scientist at NASA, who worked on the cylinder there until funding was cut and Sheridan offered him private support.”

“And the files that Jared gave you confirmed that Gia’s father worked at the university?”

“No,” I say, a knot forming in my stomach. “He gave me her employee record from Sheridan’s company records.”

Tellar slides an iPad in front of me, showing me Gia’s birth certificate. “Gia Hudson. Mother: Gia Marie Hudson. Father: Madison Cook.”

Barely believing what I’m seeing, I run my hand over my face. “Her parents were never married,” Tellar says, pointing out the obvious. “And Jared seems too good to miss what I’ve found this easily. Did he know her before you did?”

“No,” I say, praying that answer is right. “She doesn’t trust Jared.”

“Or she was afraid that he’d tell her secrets,” Tellar offers.

“I don’t trust Jared,” Liam says. “I never did, but right now, Gia’s the one we need to focus on. We don’t know what she wants done with her father’s cylinder. If it’s the same as us, we don’t have a problem on that end. We need to know for sure, though, and I’m not sure how we make that happen.”

“She wants the same as us,” I say. “I’m sure of it.”

“You didn’t know her history,” Liam argues. “You can’t know her motivations.”

I scrub my neck. “I was an * to her. I played up being a treasure hunter when I thought she was working for Sheridan. I told her that I would do anything for money, including selling her back to Sheridan, to scare her into helping me.”

“Since she kept her mouth shut about her past,” Tellar says, “I’d say you were convincing, which leads to another problem.”

“What problem?”

“Records show that her father died in a car accident a month before your house burned down,” Tellar explains. “I did some digging and someone was sloppy. Her father was in Alaska the day he was supposed to have been killed in a car accident in Texas.”

My anger rises swiftly, barely contained. “Be careful where you’re going with this, Tellar.”

He holds up his hands. “Hey man, I don’t believe it was you. I’m simply stating facts here. You told her you’d do anything for money and she knows you got the cylinder from somewhere and her father was obviously murdered.”

Liam’s gaze jerks to the right and I follow it to find Gia and Amy standing there. “Gia,” I say, rising to my feet, but she has already taken off.





NINETEEN



“STAY BACK,” I shout as I dart around the table and follow Gia, exiting the kitchen into the living area just in time to catch a glimpse of her disappearing behind the curtains and onto the porch. Running after her, I exit to find her already down the stairs to the right and fading into the darkness of the beach.

“Gia!” I shout, going over the top of the railing and landing hard on the ground, my body jolting with the impact, but I don’t pause, afraid of losing her in the darkness. “Gia, wait!” But she keeps moving and I launch into a run, aware Gia is wearing nothing more than I am; her jeans and T-shirt are no match for this cold even if she wasn’t still weak from being poisoned.

I watch her turn left, stumbling on the sand, and it’s all I need to catch her. She tries to catch herself and before she recovers, I shackle her wrist, pulling her around to face me.

“Yes,” she hisses. “I’m his daughter. You said you’d do anything for money. You said—”

“I didn’t kill him.” She jerks against me and I pull her to me, shackling her leg with mine, holding her wrists between us. “I swear it on everything I love or have ever loved that I didn’t do it. My family. My sister. You, Gia. I’m falling in love with you. I didn’t kill your father.”

“No. No, don’t say that word. Did you know he was murdered?”

“Yes, but I didn’t get the cylinder from your father.”

“Liar!” She jerks and twists and trips us both. She falls backward and I end up on top of her as she squirms wildly.

Pinning her hands by her head, I straddle her. “Stop, Gia. Stop and listen to me. I got the cylinder from Rex Lenard, your father’s former college professor. He retired in Alaska.” She pants several times, breathing deeply, but she isn’t fighting me anymore and I use that opportunity to explain. “I don’t know what made your father feel he had to hide the cylinder, but he was too obvious. I followed him to Alaska.”

“So you were there when he was there.”

“Only to see Rex, and I got to Rex too late. Someone in a ski mask, who I can’t help but think was Rollin, was there when I got there. I fought him, but he’d stabbed Rex and Rex was bleeding out. Rex told me where he had hidden the cylinder and why it had to be protected. With his last breath he begged me to protect it, and I promised I would.”