Mitch felt like he’d been sucker punched all over again. She hadn’t just lied to him about her feelings, she’d lied about her entire life.
Stunned, he leaned back against the counter, thankful it was there to hold him upright. Part of him wanted to run and not listen to any more. Another part needed to hear the truth.
“I honestly don’t know much about the case,” Simone went on. “Steve and I had just started dating when it was all happening, and he told me the less I knew, the better off I’d be. All I know is that the managing partner of his firm was some bigwig in the northeast, and somehow Steve had come across evidence proving the firm was laundering money.”
She ran a hand through her hair, sending the already disheveled dark locks to fall against her pale cheeks. “It was a big case, with far-reaching implications that went beyond the firm, though Steve would never tell me where. And when his life was threatened before the trial, prosecutors offered him protection via WITSEC.”
Ryan braced his forearms against his thighs and clasped his hands together in front of him. “But you weren’t involved?”
Simone shook her head. “I didn’t know anything about it until much later. Steve had been acting funny, and we’d only been together a few months, so I didn’t know what to make of it. I went to talk to him one night and found him frantically throwing things in a backpack, getting ready to leave. That’s when he gave me a brief explanation of what was going on. And offered to take me with him.”
Mitch could barely believe what he was hearing. The calm, composed, totally reserved attorney he’d fallen for would never leap without looking. At least she never had with him. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m surprised you went.”
Simone finally looked his way, and he saw a mix of emotions in her eyes—hurt, regret, anger—he just couldn’t tell which one was meant for him. “I wouldn’t have. Not normally. But I’d just found out I was pregnant with Shannon. That’s why I went to talk to him that night. And I was already freaking out a little. When I found out what was going on, the marshals gave me five minutes to make a decision. Go with him or never see him again.”
Disbelief pulsed through Mitch’s veins. This woman he thought he’d known had given up her life for a man she barely knew, whereas all these months they’d been together, he’d had to fight tooth and nail to get her to do something as impulsive as blow off work for the day and hang out at the beach.
Ryan rested his hand on Simone’s arm. “Tell us what happened after the trial.”
Simone looked back down at her hands. “The three main managing partners were sentenced to fifteen years. But when Steve tried to step back into his old life, those far-reaching arms I was telling you about tried to have him killed. So they relocated us to Atlanta. I had Shannon, Steve got a job in financial planning, and when things settled down, I decided I wanted to go to law school. By the time I graduated, everything seemed…normal, so when I was offered a job in the Baltimore area, WITSEC gave us the go ahead to relocate. They got Steve another position, and everything seemed fine…until he got sick.”
She closed her eyes briefly, gave her head a swift shake, then opened them again. Her hands tightened around the seat cushion once more. “He wasn’t sick long. It came out of nowhere, and at first we didn’t know what was wrong. Test after test. When he finally got the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, things went fast. Three weeks later, he was gone.”
She blinked several times and released her grip. “Since I was never involved in the case, WITSEC gave me the choice of remaining in the program or leaving. I had never been mentioned in any of the threats against Steve, nor was there ever any indication anyone from his old firm knew about me or Shannon. It had been nearly eight years with no incidents, so I opted to leave. We kept our new identities, moved out here, and started over. And I thought we were safe but”—she lifted her shoulders and dropped them in defeat— “now I know I was wrong.”
“Why do you think what happened tonight has anything to do with Steve’s case?” Ryan asked.
Simone slanted Ryan a look. “What else would it have to do with?”
“I know.” He smirked. “Dumb question. But humor me. You, yourself, said you weren’t a witness and that no one even knew about you.”
“Because I got a call a few days ago. The day I came back from DC. William Holdt was the US marshal assigned to my case. He sounded frantic. And he was apologizing for the fact they’d found out where I was.”
The day she’d come back from DC. Mitch thought back to the night she’d flown home. That was also the day she’d stomped all over his heart.
“What else did he say?” Ryan asked.
“Not a lot. But I freaked out. All I could think about was keeping Shannon safe. That’s why we were leaving. But then Shannon ran off, and a few days passed without anything happening, and I thought… stupidly…that maybe I’d overreacted. So I went over to your house tonight”—she motioned toward Mitch but didn’t look his way again—“to explain, when all hell broke loose.”
Something inside Mitch’s chest drew tight. Lies weren’t something he could usually forgive, but even he could see why Simone hadn’t been totally honest about her past. And when he thought back to the way she’d abruptly broken things off, her excuse about leaving town because her father was sick, and how frantic she’d been to get Shannon back, that anger inside started to crack.
“So you think the same people who were after Steve are now after you,” Ryan said.
Simone closed her eyes again. “I don’t know. All I know is if they were trying to flush me out, they did a damn good job, don’t you think?”
Ryan looked Mitch’s way, and Mitch caught the serious look in his brother-in-law’s blue gaze. Ryan believed her. And if the buzz growing in the pit of Mitch’s belly was any indication, he believed her too.
Which he wasn’t particularly thrilled about. Because as his brain spun, trying to find a solution to this, only one thought latched on and wouldn’t let go.
Whoever was after her now knew about him. They’d blown his property to pieces, not hers. He’d seen the face of one of the attackers, a face he was never going to be able to forget. Whether they’d targeted him because of his relationship with Simone or were simply following her and she’d inadvertently led them to him, he was now as embroiled in all of this as was she.
“Why can’t you call WITSEC and tell them what happened?” Ryan asked.
“I could,” Simone answered. “But…it gets complicated.”
“Complicated, how?” Ryan asked.
Simone flicked a wary look Mitch’s direction. And all that resentment reignited an anger he only barely held back.
“Because of me,” Mitch said. “Because as soon as you contact them, they’re going to put you and Shannon into protective custody again and recommend I go as well.”
“They know who you are now,” Simone said quietly. “These aren’t the kind of people who just…forget a name.”
Mitch crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not giving up my life for this.”
“What are we talking here?” Ryan asked. “Mafia?”
“Sort of,” Simone answered. “Steve told me they were like the Mafia, but he never explained.”
“Like the mafia?” There was a whole lot more she wasn’t saying. And the fact she was holding back now only spurred Mitch’s growing frustration. “You’re a fucking lawyer. You should have asked a few key questions.”
Simone pushed to her feet, and for the first time since he’d awoken and found her kissing him, he saw anger instead of doubt. “I did ask questions, but Steve always evaded them. The less I knew, the better. That was his standard answer every time. Do you think I wanted any of this? I’ve been working my ass off to make the best of things since the moment I met him. And I tried to keep you out of all this. I told you I wasn’t looking for a relationship, remember? But you wouldn’t take no for an answer. You’re the one who pushed your way into this mess when I tried to keep you out of it.”