No One to Trust (Hidden Identity Book #1): A Novel (15 page)

Summer decided she’d never take showers for granted ever again. Or soap. Or clean clothes.

She brushed her hair and stared into the foggy mirror. She wasn’t interested in cleaning it. It didn’t matter what she looked like at this point. All that mattered was survival. Marlee came into the bathroom via what amounted to a changing room and stepped up beside her. She swiped the mirror with a towel. She leaned forward and examined her face.

“I look like I’ve aged ten years,” she scowled.

“No you don’t. And at least you’re alive.”

“Barely.”

Summer sighed.

Marlee took the brush from her and led her to the toilet seat. “Sit.”

Summer didn’t have the energy to argue. She sat.

Marlee positioned her so she could have full access to Summer’s hair. With long gentle strokes, she brushed.

Summer felt some of the tension seep from her. “Thank you.”

“You used to let me brush your hair for hours when we were younger.”

“I know. I love it.”

“I figured out that was one way to get you to spend time with me.”

Summer blinked. “What?”

“You were always so busy working or with your friends. I was so much younger. Mom was either at the doctor or one of the bars downtown trying to find her next boyfriend that I felt lost, alone, invisible.”

Summer swung around with a gasp. “I never knew that.”

Marlee shrugged and flushed. “I suppose that’s why I acted the way I did.”

“And still do.” The words were out before Summer could swallow them.

Marlee jerked, then let out a short laugh. “Yes, I suppose so.”

Summer sat in silence while Marlee maneuvered the fingers of her broken arm and worked her hair into a tight french braid.

“Doesn’t that hurt your arm?”

“A little. I’m just using my fingers to hold the hair and doing most of the work with my right hand.”

“That’s amazing you can do that.” She paused. “Why didn’t you go into cosmetology? You’ve always been great with hairdressing and stuff.”

Marlee sighed. “I didn’t figure it was a ‘good enough’ profession for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you’re a lawyer. I figured I needed to do something better than becoming a hairdresser.” The bite to her words crawled up Summer’s spine.

“But I never said—”

“You didn’t have to. Didn’t you listen to your own lectures on making something of my life?”

Summer snapped her lips shut. Was she really that demanding and judgmental?

When she was done with the braid, Marlee stepped back and said, “I know I can be a brat. I’m sorry.”

The admission and apology surprised Summer. She sighed. “I probably made it easy for you to be one. You were so mad at me for marrying David. Why do you dislike him so much?” She’d never voiced the question until now.

It hovered between them and Summer wondered if Marlee was going to respond. With a sigh, her sister laid the brush on the counter. “Because he moved too fast, swept you off your feet.” Her sister looked down. “Took you away from me.”

“Oh, Marlee, he didn’t take me away—”

Marlee looked up, eyes fierce. “Of course he did. Now when you have a day off work, who do you spend it with? Now, on the rare occasions that you actually cook a meal, who do you share it with?”

Summer stared. Speechless. “But he’s my husband. That’s what married couples do.”

“Not to the exclusion of all others,” Marlee argued. “I have to fight tooth and nail to get any time with you.” Her shoulders slumped. “It’s just so different than it used to be. I don’t like it. You were my one constant, the person I knew I could count on. Then you got married and it all changed.”

“No, no. That’s not true.” Was it? Had she excluded Marlee since getting married? She didn’t think so, but if that’s the way Marlee felt—

She gripped her sister’s right hand. “If that’s how you feel, then we need to figure out when we can spend time together. Just you and me. We’ll put it on the calendar.”

Marlee gave her a small smile and nodded. “Sure. Let’s do that.” Then she frowned and looked around. “Assuming we live to see another day.”

A knock on the door made Summer jump. “You two about finished in there?”

Summer opened the door to David’s handsome face. His eyes swept over her and the longing there nearly had her falling into
his arms. She wanted to forget his deception and the fact that everything she knew about him was a lie. But she couldn’t. She had to be strong. To help Marlee through this craziness and make sure they all stayed alive.

“We’re ready.”

Summer and Marlee followed David into the main area. Marlee went to the blanket she’d left on the chair and wrapped it back around her. Summer didn’t think it was that chilly in the building, but Marlee had always been one to freeze no matter the temperature outside.

She watched her sister squirm a bit and get comfortable. Marlee closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cushioned headrest. Summer sighed. Already, she’d tuned everything out around her.

Summer turned to ask what they’d found, but stopped when she saw her necklace laid out on the table in front of Vic. “What’s going on?”

David said, “The tracker was on your necklace.”

She gaped. “What? But how—” The memory of Corbin Hayes reaching out and taking her necklace in his hand flashed across her mind. “When he broke into my house, he admired my necklace.”

Vic nodded. “The tracker is very small. Unless you looked at the back of the cross, you probably wouldn’t even notice it.”

“I usually don’t even take it off.”

David’s lips thinned, parted. Summer wondered if he’d say anything about why she didn’t have it around her neck.

He didn’t.

“So, what do we do now?” he asked.

“Get you guys out of here so we can set a trap for Raimondi’s boys.”

“Does that mean Mike’s back to being my handler?”

Vic and Bennie exchanged a look. “No.”

“Why not?”

“He’s working on something else right now.”

David stared and Summer could tell he was wondering what the true story was, but these guys weren’t going to share it. David must have decided not to waste his breath trying to get it out of them. He shrugged. “Fine. Now what?”

Bennie looked at his phone. “Chase is on his way from the hospital. He wasn’t hurt that bad. He and Adam are going to escort the three of you to your new location.”

Summer rubbed her eyes. “Look, I know this isn’t important to you, but I have a very important trial coming up tomorrow morning. I need to be in court. I
will
be in court.”

“We can’t guarantee your protection if you don’t follow our instructions,” Bennie said.

David looked at her. “Summer, you’re going to have to let one of the other lawyers in the firm take this one. What about Grady?”

Summer straightened her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. “No. Absolutely not. Olivia is counting on me. Her
girls
are counting on me. No one else knows this case like I do.” She paused as she glanced back and forth between the marshals and David. “No one
cares
about this case like I do. I
have
to do this.”

“Not if it means you wind up dead.”

She gave him a hard stare and said in a killer-soft voice, “Then you better make sure your friends don’t let that happen.”

David looked at Bennie. “Well?”

Bennie shrugged. “All I can promise is we’ll do our best. We escort judges to and from the courthouse on a regular basis. We can do the same for Summer.”

“Then will you come up with a plan and let us in on it before nine o’clock in the morning?”

“I’ll come up with a plan, but my best advice to you—” he looked at Summer—“to both of you . . .”

“Is?” David asked.

“Trust no one.”

“Have you found him yet?”

Georgina’s quiet question pulled Raimondi from his computer. She stood in the doorway, tall and regal. And with black circles beneath her dark brown eyes that attested to her sleepless nights. It had been over a year and still she thought of the man who’d betrayed her. Still she grieved her lost love. And now she grieved for Pauli, the cousin she’d adored. A six-year difference between them, he and Georgina had been playmates, with Pauli scrambling after his older cousin and making a nuisance of himself from the time he could walk. Georgina had loved every minute.

He opened his arms to her. She lifted her chin.

Raimondi sighed and dropped his arms. “No. Not yet. But we will.”

“You’re not going to hurt him, are you?”

“I should.”

“Don’t. Please. I asked you to find him for me, but not so you could exact some sort of revenge.”

“Then why do you want me to find him?”

“Because I want to talk to him.”

Raimondi shifted, his impatience hard to keep hidden. “Why would you have anything to say to him?”

Her eyes took on some of the fire that had been missing ever since David Hackett had walked out of her life. “I need him to look me in the eye and tell me he never loved me. I need him to tell me why he just left, walked out and never looked back. I need to hear that from him.”

Raimondi growled his dissatisfaction. Georgina was such an innocent. But there was no way she could not know what her father did for a living. She’d never mentioned it. From the time she was old enough to read the papers, she’d never brought up his job or the family business. She preferred to keep her head buried and
think he was a very successful financial consultant. And Raimondi was happy to let her believe that.

Until now.

“He betrayed you. He betrayed this family.”

“Then he must have had a good reason.” She narrowed her eyes. “I just wonder, what could that reason be, Papi?”

“Do you really want to get into this?”

She stared at him, her frailness touching his heart even as his mind devised ways to cause David Hackett immense amounts of pain.

Tears flooded her eyes and she bit her lip. “It’s been over a year, Papi. And nothing. His partner’s in jail, his company has been sold, and no one knows where he is. It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth.”

“He left you a note.”

Her lips twisted. “That’s not good enough. I want to hear him say it. Tell me why he would walk away from me.” Her eyes issued a challenge. She thought he was the reason David had left. And she wasn’t completely wrong.

But there was no way she was talking to David before Raimondi killed him.

No way at all.

“Trust no one,” Bennie had said.

Good advice and yet he needed Chase and Adam for now. He had no choice but to trust the two men. David’s mind spun. Where was Mike? He’d tried calling and his phone had been cut off. Not a good sign. As the black SUV ate up the miles, he relished the forced proximity to Summer.

He closed his eyes and thought about the one part of the story he’d yet to tell her.
God, I wish I’d known you before I
made a mess of everything.

What was he going to do?

He was going to tell her. Just not yet.

Or did he even need to go there?

No. He needed to come clean. Be honest. No more lies.

Summer’s head tilted against his arm. He looked down to find her eyes shut, nostrils flaring slightly as she breathed.

Was she asleep that fast?

Marlee stared out the other window. Adam drove and Chase rode in silence.

Now that the tracking device had been discovered, there should be no more trouble with Raimondi’s guys. At least until the trial.

His tension could ease for the moment, but David knew Raimondi wasn’t finished. He also knew Summer was determined to show up in court tomorrow morning.

He knew why she was so vehement that she was the only one who could represent her client. Lawyers switched off all the time, covering for one another. But this case was different for Summer. She’d been obsessed with it from the beginning. Olivia and her two girls had come to mean so much to Summer. It was almost as if they represented a test of some kind. A test she was determined to pass.

David leaned his head against the window and shut off his brain. An old trick he’d mastered in the Army. He knew he needed to rest. To sleep while he could. He needed to be ready to fight back when Raimondi struck again.