Entangled Heart (Ashby Crime Family)

“Fine.”

Just like that, his demeanor changed. Instead of frustrated and angry, he was resigned. Resolute.

“It’s about Mueller. Turns out he wasn’t a piece of shit. He was undercover FBI.”

“Bullshit.” I spat out, feeling the sting of betrayal all over my skin like the strap of Mom’s leather belt when it landed. “It hasn’t even been two months, and you’re already siding with the Feds?”

“That’s really what you think?”

I shrugged. “What else can I think when you suddenly do a fucking one-eighty on a child trafficker?”

“First of all, this isn’t some fucking job for me, Maddie. It’s my career. I have to think long and hard about what I share, but here I am, telling you information that only six people in the world know about. I don’t know if you’ll run back and share this info with Sadie and Jasper, who I have no loyalty to, but I’m trusting you with it, Maddie. You.”

When I didn’t say anything, he got in my face. “I’m trying to do the right thing here.”

I let out an angry snort. “That’s what everyone always says. You know why? Because it makes them feel better, that’s why.” I poked his chest. “That’s why Kat lied to me about my sister. That’s why Molly is keeping me away. She’s terrified of Mueller.”

He walked away, his bare feet smacking on the floor as he disappeared down the hall and reappeared a minute later.

“You know everything right, Maddie? So goddamn tough and knowledgeable about the world. Well, take this file and read it. Look through every fucking detail and then tell me I’m not trying to do the right thing.”

I hesitated, but Jamie held the file with a steady hand, daring me to walk away from the details contained within. Daring me to find out the truth.

“Fine. Whatever.”

I snatched the thick folder out of his hand and scanned the papers as he wanted me too, looking at name after name of women who’d gone through horrible shit and would never recover, no matter the good deeds done by one Richie Mueller. I gasped when I saw what Jamie wanted me to see, a report written by Richie Muller about Mueller, requesting new identification for Molly.

“Polly Bennett.” It was the same name Cal had given me. “What is this?”

“What does it look like?”

“How long have you known?”

I didn’t even know why I was so angry, in general or at Jamie, but it roared through my veins like a wildfire, making my skin itch and my heart burn. “Well?”

“A few days. Calvin went through hell and highwater to get it to me. Still, I had to vet the information first before deciding if I could trust you with it.”

Calvin gave this to him? Was this why he was so desperate to have me come back from searching out Molly to take care of Ava Rose? So Cal told me but Jamie didn’t?

“A few days? You knew how desperate I was to find her and you sat on this for a few fucking days?”

“Jesus Christ, Madison.” He stared back at me, completely unapologetic. “Like I said, if Molly told you the truth about Mueller you might have tried to warn Sadie and Jasper. You might feel something for them, but I don’t, and I can’t risk that, not until I know the full story.”

“Fuck you, Jamie.”

“Yeah, we’ll get to that. For now, tell me you wouldn’t have run to Sadie or Kat, who took you in and gave you a job, and told them, no warned them, that Mueller was undercover FBI. Go on, tell me.”

I opened my mouth. Once. Twice. Three fucking times to deny it, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t say with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t have let word slip because despite the lies and the secrecy, I did feel a certain loyalty to the Ashby family.

“Maybe I would have, but you know I’ve been trying to find my sister.”

“Bullshit. You say that you want to find her, but you’ve had that name for a week and you didn’t do shit with it until recently.” He huffed out a bitter laugh and went to the kitchen for a beer. “Yeah, Calvin Ashby told me he’d found her new ID and gave it to you.”

“What?”

Jamie shoved a beer in my hand and took a long pull from his bottle. “You’re afraid, that’s why you didn’t reach out to her. Maybe the dysfunction of the Ashbys is finally rubbing off on you. Maybe it’s what you want or maybe it’s all you fucking know so you gravitate to that dysfunction, Maddie. I don’t know, I really don’t know anymore.”

I stood too fast and knocked over the beer bottle. “You’re kidding, right? Of course, I want to find Molly. That’s the whole damn reason I’m still here.”

“Good to know.”

Jamie’s words contained a world of hurt, and I instantly felt sorry.