A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(10)

Her face crumpled as if she knew she’d revealed her secret.

It cracked something inside him to think someone had abused this woman. Her icy exterior wasn’t superiority the way he’d always supposed. It was a means of keeping the world at bay. Of keeping her pain hidden and her body safe.

“Sorry,” she gasped in a deep, shuddering breath and then whispered, “most of the time I can pretend it never happened.” She crossed her arms over her chest and met his gaze. “You always scare me to my bones. I guess you brought it all back.”

It was his turn to flinch. He knew she thought he was a monster. That’s why she’d come to him for help in the first place.

“What business was Masook in?” Alex asked.

Blue eyes were confused as she frowned at him. She was so brittle and composed he wondered she didn’t break. But she held his gaze so they were making progress.

“When I met him he said his family was in construction.” Her mouth pinched. “I never actually saw him do any work.”

“One of the idle rich?” Alex mused. He didn’t think Masook was idle, though. He’d bet money the man was just furtive about conducting business that was both lucrative and highly illegal.

Jane moved away from him and picked up a bottle of wine and poured out a large glass. She held up the bottle. “Would you like one?”

Alex shook his head. “Tell me about him. How did you two meet?”

“In Florida at some charity function.” She took a big gulp of wine and put the glass down on the coffee table. She sat abruptly. Condensation gathered on the outside of the glass, and she stroked her finger along the stem. “I can’t lie. His being rich was one of the main things that first attracted me to him. So, it’s my own fault. Don’t they say people who marry for money earn every penny?”

She gave another cynical laugh, and Alex felt his mouth go dry. He’d only ever guessed at half of her source of pain.

“I come from a family with deep roots in the south. We knew how to spend money, we just didn’t know how to work for it.” Something changed in her eyes. “At first Ahmed was kind and attentive and showered me in diamonds. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. I fell in love. We got married and I became pregnant straight away, which hadn’t been part of the plan for either of us.” Her lips wobbled. “Then I had Taylor and I fell madly in love with my little girl. My mom and I were never close, so it was unexpected.” She wiped beneath her eyes, pretending she wasn’t crying. “Wait until your child arrives.”

“I already know.” The love he felt for his and Mallory’s unborn baby was equaled only by the love he felt for Mallory.

She shook her head. “No. You think you know. You’ve had a glimpse of it, but it’s the tip of the iceberg compared to what’s coming. When you hold them, when you smell the scent of their skin and look into their trusting eyes. They smile at you, and it’s like another universe opens up.” Her eyes met his. Tragic. Anguished. “They own you.”

He wasn’t sure he’d survive feeling even more for the woman he loved or the child she carried.

“Ahmed didn’t like me spending more time with Taylor than with him. He became jealous of his own daughter.” She picked up her wine again with a shaking hand and took another big gulp. It was a dangerous way to numb reality but there were worse methods. “That’s why he stole her when I left him. Because he knew that would cause me the most pain.”

Alex forced the pity from his heart. Pity wasn’t what she wanted from him. “Come with me. I want you to look at a photograph of a man.” He went to his bedroom, and she followed cautiously as he unlocked his suitcase. Alex removed his laptop and started it up.

He searched the internet for a photograph of Vladimir Ranich without any accompanying details. It wasn’t easy to find, but Alex knew where to look.

He turned the screen toward Jane. “Did Masook ever do business with this man?”

She had her hands crossed over her chest and leaned forward from the waist rather than stepping closer to him. Her mouth prepared to form the word “no” until she actually looked at the image.

“Oh. Yes. I remember him coming to Ahmed’s house in Saudi Arabia once.” She shook her head. “I didn’t actually meet him, and I don’t know if he was there for business or pleasure. I was chasing Taylor around the foyer when he arrived.” Her gaze drifted as she lost herself in memories. “We weren’t introduced. It was just before Ahmed let me take Taylor back to the States to visit my parents. I was busy pretending to be crazy in love with him even though he liked to beat me unconscious at least once a month.” She touched her rib as if a ghost pain still lingered. Alex had that, too. Phantom symptoms of times he’d rather forget.

“Taylor was two. I knew I had to make him believe I’d never leave him. I told him I didn’t want to go back to the US, that I needed stay with him. He slapped me and ordered the servants to pack.” She smiled a cold, brittle smile of triumph that immediately slid into despair. “He got his revenge when he stole Taylor and ran.” She huddled into herself. “The only positive thing was I got away from him. He would have killed me if I’d stayed. He’ll still kill me if he catches me now.”

Not on Alex’s watch.

Masook hadn’t been on the CIA’s radar. Maybe that had changed since Alex had left the agency. Maybe Masook was the real reason The Gateway Project had targeted Jane Sanders in the first place.