Burn (Steel Brothers Saga 5)

“It’s probably a long shot, baby.”

“It could be. Probably no one thought to look at her wrists or ankles for signs that she might have been bound, that she could’ve been killed the same way my attacker tried to kill me. And if my theory is correct, when the killer went back later, he simply unbound her, put her in her car, and made it look like she had committed suicide. The letter to me served as further proof.”

“No one knows about that letter.”

“Precisely. It only serves as further proof to me. If her parents found her unbound in the garage with the car running, they wouldn’t have thought twice about suicide. It was apparent. But as a therapist, I would require more proof because nothing in my sessions with her indicated that she was suicidal.”

“So you think the letter is a forgery.”

“Yes, I think it might be. She may well have written it, but what if she was forced to do so? And the killer added the part about her being in love with me to further throw me off track?”

He furrowed his brow. “Wow.”

“It’s funny. I’ve been thinking more clearly since I was attacked. It’s like I stepped outside the box and started looking at the situation from a different angle. It made me question Gina’s suicide. So then I started thinking about the letter. I’ve had patients develop feelings for me before. It’s very common in therapy. Granted, they were all men, but I saw the signs right away and nipped them in the bud before they could go too far. It seems I would’ve seen the signs if Gina had been in love with me. And I’ve had suicidal patients before. I’m well-versed in suicide. I know the signs, Jonah. I’ve spent the last several months going over and over her sessions in my mind, and I can’t find any indication that she was suicidal, other than a remark she made when she was flashing back to the first time her uncle raped her. She said ‘I’d rather die.’ But she was talking to her uncle at that specific time, not saying it in real time. In fact, she had told me earlier that her uncle wasn’t worth her life.

“It finally dawned on me, after I was attacked, after I was left to die the way Gina died… Maybe I missed those signs because they weren’t there.” I took the letter from him. “And something else never dawned on me either. Why would she send me a letter? I haven’t gotten a handwritten letter in ages. Why wouldn’t she have sent me an e-mail?”

“Maybe because an e-mail is delivered instantaneously, and she didn’t want you to try to stop the suicide.”

“But she could have put the e-mail in her out-box and programmed it to be sent later.”

He nodded. “That’s true.”

“I realize I could be wrong, but I have to know for sure. She always said the uncle who had abused her was dead, but she could never tell me how he died. I asked her several times to ask her parents about it, but she kept saying she forgot, or that she didn’t want to talk to them about the situation. Even though I stressed to her how important it was that she understand how he died and that he was gone, she wouldn’t take that step.”

“Do you think maybe the uncle isn’t dead?”

I nodded. “It’s a leap, yes. But it rings true for me. Maybe, Jonah, just maybe, I didn’t make a mistake here. Maybe I didn’t miss the sign that she was suicidal. Maybe she wasn’t, and maybe that uncle, whoever he may be, found out she was in therapy and thought she might go to the police, so he took care of her.”

“But why would he do the same to you?”

“Because I knew the truth about him. She could have told me his name, for all he knows.”

Jonah rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “Like I said, we’ll put some private investigators on this. And we’ll need to talk to her parents. As far as I’m concerned, they are still prime suspects in your attack.”

“Yes, I understand that they are. I haven’t heard from the police. I’m going to give Officer Lee a call tomorrow.”

“You’ve raised some good points, sweetheart, but why didn’t any of this occur to you before?”

“I think I just didn’t believe in myself enough. I didn’t…” I sighed. “I was programmed from a young age to think of myself as average, no matter my successes. Average body, average mind. In fact, when I first awoke after being taken, I decided to let the chips fall where they may because maybe I deserved it for letting Gina die. But now… I don’t know. Once I was actually in that garage with that running car, things changed. I changed. For the first time, I truly understood the human instinct for survival. I got out of that horrible, frightening mess, Jonah. I got out of it alive by using my wits. Granted, a little bit of luck helped too, but I was determined, and do you know why I was so determined?”

He smiled. “Because you realized you’re brilliant, and you knew you had a good

life?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No. I was determined to get back to you. I had fallen in love with you, and it killed me that I might not ever be able to tell you.”

“Oh, baby.” He pulled me to him and kissed my forehead. “You have no idea how glad I am that you got out of that situation alive. If anything had happened to you…”

I edged back a little. “Nothing happened to me. I’m here, safe, with the man I love. Sure, I have a few scars, and it’s taken a toll on my mental health, but I’ll recover. I know I will now.”

“You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.” He kissed me on the forehead again. “Every day you amaze me more.”

“I never thought of myself as strong. I never thought of myself as anything other than average in every way.”

“Baby, you are so much more than average.”

I smiled. “I see a little of that now. Don’t worry. I’m not going to get a big head or anything. I won’t be turning into Brooke Bailey anytime soon.”