Her Shadows, His Secrets

The door opens then, and Theo appears.

“Theo,” Detective Ares says in a not-so-surprised tone, as if he’s not shocked he’s here.

I look at him and he looks like me—like shit. Good, I hope he hurts. His eyes are sunken in just like mine, he now has a beard coming in, and he looks like he hasn’t slept either.

“Hanna, I don’t want you talking to them without me here.”

“I don’t need you. I have Jack as my lawyer, and Detective Ares has been very kind, given the matter of why he’s here, so you can see yourself out,” I tell him, but if I were to say what my heart was really thinking, it would have been more like, I love you still. I miss you and hate you all at once. I want you here, because I’m so scared of what is happening. I want to feel you again. I want to be yours once more.

No. I can’t and won’t. Not after his bed of lies. I can never be with someone who would betray me so thoroughly.

“I don’t care. I want to make sure my messages and reports got back and that they know you aren’t up to this and have nothing to do with the girl,” he bites out, but it’s toward Ares and not me.

“We know she isn’t. She was cleared. There is video evidence of Hanna at work at the time and date Banks went missing, and we found fingerprints belonging to someone else. There was also some hair that was jet-black. Did you know anyone with that color hair?”

I think about it, trying to ignore Theo next to me with his arms crossed, looking down on me. His smell hits me, and it makes me want to cry. No matter the hurt, I can’t deny the sense of home his scent brings. The safety it encompasses and just how much it makes me miss him. I close my eyes and redirect my focus.

“Yes.” It dawns on me then. The only person I knew with black hair was my coworker. “Dax. He was a coworker. He asked me out multiple times, and I turned him down, but his hair was his main characteristic. It was as black as night.”

Theo growls. It’s the jealousy type, and I ignore it. He lost the right to be jealous over me.

“Was he ever aggressive when you turned down his advances?”

I shake my head. He was always pretty nice about it. “No, he just kept asking but never seemed upset with me saying no.”

“Good to know. I will have my team look into him and find out more about him.”

I wouldn’t think Dax would be the type. But I’m not a detective, so what do I know?

“Can I show you some pictures?” Ares asks, pulling out a manilla folder.

“May I see them first?” Jack inserts, and the detective nods.

“Of course. Here you go.”

Jack takes it, and Theo keeps his eyes on me. I feel them, but I can’t look at him. If I do, I will break down, lose it in front of all three of them.

“Oh my word,” Jack says.

I expect Theo to jump to see what the images show, but he doesn’t. Nope. He stays in place. Arms crossed over his chest. Feet crossed at the ankles. His eyes glued on me.

“What is it?” I ask and Jack looks up to Ares, then to me. Closing the folder, he stands, leans forward, and hands me the folder. I take it and open it. When I do, my jaw almost unhinges.

The woman in the picture looks similar to me. Blonde hair, thicker build, and green eyes. I would even say we could be sisters.

Is that possible?

I can’t go down that rabbit hole. No. Not a chance.

“Who is this?” I ask.

“That is the missing women, Angelic Banks. We believe the person who is responsible for her disappearance may be the person after you. Jack let us know you’ve had a few instances that resemble the ones you had back in New York, is that correct?”

“Yes, I had the same truck appear at my house twice. Once, it just parked for a minute or two with their lights on, and then another time, they actually broke the window and nearly got in. Theo, my—” I stop, almost calling him boyfriend. I have to close my eyes and rein myself back in.

“Her boyfriend,” Theo growls. “I came by, and he was gone before I came. Then he tried to run her off the road two weeks ago.” He finishes what I was going to say, but I want so badly to stand up and slap him across the face. To come here like a knight in shining armor, even though he broke me and did the opposite of what a knight would do—protect the one he loves without secrets so painful they are unforgiveable.