Gunning for the Groom Read Free Page B

support and drive as they went after their individual and mutual goals together.
    How could Sophia turn on him?
    Frankie blinked back a red haze of fury as she read the cold, sterile statements that tied her father to criminal actions. Fumed over the implications that he’d sabotaged missions for personal gain. The report did nothing to corroborate General Leone’s account of critical operations. Good grief, in light of this statement, no other verdict than guilty had been possible.
    Frankie pulled out the band holding her hair in a bun and worked her fingers over her scalp. At least she understood why her mother had refused to discuss any of this. Frankie wound her hair back up into place as she read the terrible statement again.
    Two dates stood out to her, dates when she knew her father had been at the Bagram Airfield, when her mother stated he’d been in Kabul. She checked her watch, wishing she had time to boot up her computer and check the flash drive here. Now that she had a lead, she was eager to chase it down. With any luck the drive would have more details she could assess and pull into a cohesive case against her mother. No wonder her dad had killed himself. Someone had set him up so well with the treason charge that even his wife had turned on him.
    â€œAnd I was useless,” Frankie whispered to herself. During his trial she’d been stuck in a hospital bed while surgeons debated the best treatment for her spine injury.
    She fisted the papers in her hands as something inside her shattered. John had warned her and he’d been right. Appalling as this was, the answers gave her a target. Sophia owed her more than another weak evasion. Frankie had asked her mother point-blank about the allegations and charges against her dad, and the answer had been to trust the legal process and keep believing in him.
    Frankie had obediently complied and the process had failed her father. Along with a helpful boost from her mother, apparently. Even after the verdict, her mom had insisted things would work out, that her father wasn’t done fighting. Now it was obvious those assurances had merely been more lies and platitudes to cover Sophia’s part in the witch hunt.
    Why? Who gained? Her mother had put the life insurance and other assets into a trust for Frankie, and turned her attention to a new private security business out in Seattle, Washington.
    After stuffing the papers back into the envelope, Frankie secured the tie, suddenly uncertain. Was it safer to leave the evidence here or take it with her?
    John had given her one key. Typically, safe-deposit boxes were issued with two. He’d told her that his visit, brief and cryptic as it was, put her at risk. She hadn’t done anything to hide her travel plans, so if someone were watching, whoever it was could easily conclude she’d been here. She decided to take everything and create a new hiding place.
    John must have gathered the legal and personal items on her dad’s orders. Frank would’ve known his daughter would never buy in to the treason charges. He wanted her to clear his name—Frankie felt it like a flame deep in her heart. If he believed in her to do that, why kill himself?
    Confused and hurt, she couldn’t quite see the next step beyond leaving Arizona. Her gut instinct was to fly out to Seattle and confront her mother. Just the thought had Frankie braced for a battle. Showing up in a fit of anger wouldn’t help. Her mom was far too composed, too deft at sliding around the truth for a direct attack.
    There was no way Frankie could do this until she calmed down, planned it out. She needed to go through the flash drive and it would be smart to get a second opinion on the documents, just in case John was playing her.
    She thought about the dog tags and the West Point ring as she rubbed her knuckles across the scars and tight muscles at her back. If that was the case, she had to give him points for knowing his