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When he opened the door to Ava’s apart was dark and quiet He knew if Ava was there, her scent would still linger in the air as it did whenever she was near He made a quick search of her home anyway but wasn’t surprised to find no one there and nothing disturbed By the ti him to check in with their sources at the local hospitals and police departround, Gage had coet back to hi only his voice mail At that moment he’d wished he had Emma’s number, but there had never been a need to contact her directly before He vowed to get the numbers of everyone that Ava knew toave hih time to call Gray on the outside chance that Ava had decided to do soht surf He was both relieved and disappointed that Ava wasn’t there, nor had they spoken with her since earlier at Declan’s However, Suzy did have E her
He’d breathed a sigh of relief when she answered after a couple of rings "Emma, it’s Mac Have you seen or talked to Ava since we left Declan’s earlier?"
"Hey, Mac, yeah, she’s here now"
Fully expecting another no, he stuttered in surprise, "Wh-what? She is?"
"Yes, she’s talking to Brant in the other room Do you need to speak to her?"
"Well, since I’ve been afraid she was abducted or dead in a ditch somewhere, I’d say yeah, I’d love to talk to her No need to put her on the phone, though I’ll be there in a few minutes, thanks"
He could tell by the tone of Eer in his voice He had been so pissed off that she was so thoughtless in not letting hie the relief he felt in knowing that she was okay Why in the world would she take off to see her brother at this ti him earlier? Emma had sounded fine, so obviously they hadn’t called her with an eency He’d never known the Stones to be the kind of close family who dropped in on each other on a whi unharmed next to Brant and E her into his arainst his He’d had the crazy urge to sob like a baby as he felt her heart race against his She was okay; nothing had happened to her He wasn’t too late to save her this time When he pulled back, to tell her hoorried he had been, and she made some flippant reply, he’d lost it She had darave, and it was all some kind of joke to her? Did she not realize how traumatized he was still after all these years? He had told her how badly it had messed him up to find her that way, but surely, if she had really been listening, she would have understood that soer that could break him
He had been completely floored when she held up that envelope in his face Then he’d been just plain sick when he realized what it was How in the hell had she gotten her hands on the letter froht trip to see her brother had made more sense Fuck! He had known that it would come back to haunt hionized over whether to show it to Ava for years She had see it all back to her However, since they had gotten together the last feeeks, it had been on his mind constantly He no that she had been far from okay and it pained him to wonder if maybe the letter would have helped her in so to discuss it with Declan, who also knew, and Brant, but noas too late She knew, and by the expression on her face, she wasn’t happy with any of the the worst earlier, he found it hard for hiht, but he could tell by the deter in for a fight, and he refused to give it to her in front of Brant and Eood-byes and Mac clapped Brant on the back, reassuring him without words that he had himself in complete control where Ava was concerned
When they arrived home, Ava waited for hie He made quick work of the lock and followed her into his house She stopped at the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water, lifting an eyebrow in question to hi toward the living roo on one end of his sofa He dropped heavily next to her but resisted the urge to pull her into his arms He needed to see her face when they talked He took a couple of sips of cold water, waiting for her to speak first Truthfully, he was so happy that she was here, but beyond scared that she would leave hiive hi that da to face hie to study his hands and avoid her stare but forced himself tohi, damn it "Why didn’t you telldumb as to what she meant, but the time for lies and half-truths between theether, it needed to start tonight "When Brant brought that letter to er I wanted to rip it to pieces and then set thee, sorrow, and helplessness that I’d felt when I found you Honestly, I don’t even knohy I kept it Just my anal need to always have some kind of paper trail I tossed it into a file with your naot it existeduntil recently"
Ava asked with obvious curiosity, "What ht When you askedno scared you’ve been all these years, I wondered ifthe letter to you We were both just ot to know, Avie, that thehurt again"
Clasping his hand, she whispered, "I know that, Mac And the rest of the file? Why did you keep all those reports from your men? I was surprised to find them"