Marriage of Convenience (The Raven Brothers 1)

I whirled on them. “Not long ago her ex was stalking her. I can’t believe you’re not going with that first, Hunter. And the professor thing … that’s on him, not her.”

“How can you be sure?” Jones asked.

“She was a virgin until me.” I was certain that was the type of information a woman didn’t want shared with a stranger, but I needed them to understand. Sara wasn’t a gold-digger. I remembered all the times she’d been annoyed and angry because people just saw a beautiful woman with a hot body, and not the person she was. I finally understood that as I tried to convince my brother and the FBI guy of her true character.

Hunter looked surprised while Jones just took the news in.

“She could have led him on—” Jones started.

“Or she could be hurt or kidnapped or lost… Jesus fucking Christ, both her ex and the professor hunted her down. What if one of them took her?” I let out a frustrated growl. “Can someone please find my wife?”

Hunter put his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find her, Chase.” He put his other hand on my other shoulder. “But I don’t think you can rule out that maybe she set this up.”

I broke away, not wanting to believe it. I couldn’t go there. I couldn’t doubt her. I’d done that before and ended up looking like a fucking asshole.

“Just find her, would you?” I said. Were they going to make me beg?

“I’ll arrange to ping her phone. In the meantime, perhaps we can call her parents and that ex you talked about to see if they know anything,” Jones said.

“I can do that,” Hunter said.

“What can I do?” I felt so helpless.

“Wait here. She might come back or call. You need to be around if she does.”

I didn’t know how I was going to do that. Standing around and waiting seemed like a waste of time. Too much time to wonder what happened. Time that would let that niggle of doubt I was adamant I wouldn’t let in to fester.

She’d been happy on our trip. Happy about the baby. Was it act? She could have heard about my father’s plans from Alex that first week at her internship. She and her ex and or the professor could have set this up. With a baby on the way, she’d know that I’d pay the money even if I found out she was scamming me.

No. Just fucking no! I inwardly yelled at myself. That’s not Sara.

It seemed like forever when Jones and Hunter got off their phones and found me on the terrace going out of my mind.

“There’s no ping on the phone. It’s either dead or someone took the battery out,” Jones said.

“Her parents don’t know where she is either,” Hunter said, but there was an odd tone to how he said it.

“What?” I asked.

“They say they’ve disowned her because she’s living in sin.”

“What? She’s married.” I didn’t remember Sara ever talking about her parents. Had she not told them?

“They say her ex has been trying to find her and save her?” Hunter’s expression suggested he thought Sara was pulling a fast one on me.

“Living in sin?” Jones asked. “Are they ultra-religious?”

“I think so,” Hunter said. “They seemed to believe the story in the paper suggesting she’d seduced her professor.”

“Fuck!” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I don’t like that.”

Hunter shook his head. “I’m sorry man. I thought she was nice too—”

I whirled on him. “You met the ex, Hunter, what would he do if he found her?”

“What if they played us all?” Hunter said.

“And what if he’s not playing? You met him, Hunter. Is he capable of hurting her?”

Hunter blew out a breath. “Maybe. If what I saw was legit.”

“Find her!” I stalked off to splash water on my face. Whether Sara had run off and duped me, or had somehow been taken from me, I had to find her. I’d figure out whether she was a con or a victim later.

28

Sara

I woke feeling disoriented. What happened? Why was I sleeping? Hadn’t I just been at the park? Where was I? What time was it? I started to turn over in the lumpy bed but my hand caught. I looked and discovered it was handcuffed to the headboard. Immediately a flood of memories came back.

I’d gone for a walk in the park, watching all the mothers with their children and feeling so happy that I’d be joining them. I was in love with Chase and was trying to figure out how to tell him how I felt. There was something different between us, but I couldn’t be sure he loved me, so I was afraid to tell him. Maybe he still saw our marriage as a business deal. But with a baby on the way, and the change in his behavior, I had to tell him I love him. That I wanted to be a good wife and mother, and hopefully, he’d love me and want a real marriage.