Still The One (Family Stone #4 Jack) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense) Read Free Page A

Bliss left—rankled. Maria hadn’t given any indication that she was skittish or worried about her safety. Maria had listened and absorbed everything that they had told her. Promises to keep her safe. Assurances that José Fernandez would not find her. A guard close by in town if she needed anything.
    Maria had seemed to accept their reassurances. But then she’d left.
    Bliss understood the fear. Better than most. But Maria was less safe wandering around the country without the protection of Adams-Larsen than she had been tucked in that little Iowa farm town, and Bliss still couldn’t understand why Maria had felt the need to bolt. But Bliss had to put aside her ego and find Maria damn quick before José Fernandez did.
    They knew that her prison guards would have learned of Maria’s escape from her confinement in Salinas a few days ago. They visited once a week to drop off food and pick up garbage. Maria had left the moment they had departed her prison last week. But they would have been back this week and discovered that she was gone.
    Adams-Larsen and the U.S. Marshals were confident that Fernandez was now looking for Maria based on a cryptic phone conversation between Fernandez and two unknown accomplices. Adams-Larsen was pretty sure that Fernandez had panicked and was trying to tie up loose ends.
    They still had no proof, besides Maria’s officially documented and audio-taped testimony, that Fernandez was guilty of kidnapping and false imprisonment. And they couldn’t bring those facts to light until they had their only eyewitness in hand.
    No court of law would convict or even allow the taped evidence without the actual witness live and in person. Or without some other authority to validate the credibility of the witness. Otherwise everything was just hearsay and could be thrown out of court and Adams-Larsen left themselves open to a slander charge.
    As far as Fernandez’s reputation, there might be a blip on the political meter, but without any proof, without Maria, they were screwed. He’d get off scot free.
    José Fernandez was the scum of the earth and Bliss wanted to nail him to the wall and watch him bleed. Watch his life be crushed, just like he’d crushed Maria’s spirit for the last eight years. Bastard.
    “This is her last known location.” Bliss pointed to the small farming town on the map as Jack seated himself in the delicate chair. His shoulders were nearly as broad as the chair back and his large frame dwarfed the feminine lines of the chair, causing a tingle deep inside at his sheer size and dominating presence. Until he opened his mouth.
    “Iowa?” Jack frowned. “What the hell was she doing in Iowa?”
    Bliss stiffened. She’d worked tirelessly to get Maria to a place where she’d be at ease and could try to reintegrate into the world. To a place where she would feel comfortable enough to actually have a life and not just hole up in a new, different prison.
    “Are you an expert in witness relocation, Mr. Stone?” Jillian asked graciously, a pleasant and almost vacuous smile on her classically beautiful face. Thank God for Jill.
    Jack was zipping through the contents of the file Bliss had handed him, absorbing information. Even while he responded and questioned the contents, he was assimilating. She’d forgotten about his innate ability to multi-task. Jack had a brilliant mind. Which had made his decision to go into the military and use his brawn an even odder choice to her. A more heartbreaking choice. He could have been anything. Done anything. And he’d chosen to put his life on the line. And while his intentions were honorable, Bliss had not been able to handle even the potential for any more violence and loss in her life.
    But she couldn’t tell Jack that. She hadn’t told him that the thought of him in danger left her with nightmares. She’d started waking up in the middle of the night sweating, her fight or flight instinct triggered, her heart tripping like she’d been