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

discovered. The nightmares had brought back all the fear and sadness she’d spent years trying to overcome.
    He’d never even noticed that she’d been totally freaked out. Either that or he hadn’t cared enough to ask what was wrong. After weeks of worry and stress, she’d realized that she wasn’t going to be able to do it. To be able to live with the fact that Jack would be under constant threat of danger. Just the thought of him in peril brought too many of her own demons screaming to the forefront of her mind.
    And he may have been shocked when she’d told him they were done. But he’d never tried, not once, to talk it out with her. He’d just packed up his stuff and left. She may have verbally ended their relationship but he’d physically ended it by walking away. By not fighting for them like he’d planned to fight for their country.
    “No.” He fingered the papers in the file. “But I would have thought you’d place her somewhere with at least a decent amount of Spanish speakers.”
    “Her English is better than her Spanish now,” Bliss informed him. “She spent the last eight years alone with a television set that only received three English speaking channels. She hasn’t spoken Spanish in a very long time.”
    Bliss hesitated. She hated to explain herself but since he was here and needed to work with them, needed to work with her...he needed a firmer grasp of the oddities of this situation.
    Maria’s placement was radically different from their usual ‘special’ clients. Normally the client came to them and wanted to disappear. They had already come to terms with the realities of taking on a new life to be safe. They knew if they followed the rules, they could escape the threat that plagued them.
    Maria Torres was a completely unique case.
    She’d been imprisoned below ground, in a dank basement, for eight years. Her only contact with the outside world had come from three television channels and the pigs who checked on her once a week. They shoved bags of food and clothing in through a small cat door and retrieved her garbage bags using a long metal trash grabber. She rarely even saw their faces.
    At twenty-three, she’d basically been in isolation for one third of her lifetime.
    The psychological impact of her imprisonment would likely take years of therapy to eradicate. And as much as it broke Bliss’s heart, she wasn’t sure that Maria would ever be able to integrate back into society. The isolation Maria had endured would haunt her forever. Which had made the discovery of her disappearance a triple shock. Maria went into sensory overload with minor stimulation from outdoor light and sound. How was she going to handle the stress of being out in the world alone? She needed protection from the basic triggers of everyday life.
    The case had been a challenge from start to finish. And now Maria was out there somewhere. Unprotected, alone, and vulnerable. Bliss was worried sick about her.
    “The idea was to place her near farms. The smells, the sounds, even the quiet is more similar to the Watsonville/ Salinas area than say, Texas.” She refused to be defensive about her choices regarding Maria. But since Maria disappeared, Bliss had been second guessing every decision she’d made to keep Maria safe.
    She realized maybe she hadn’t completely lost the defensive in her tone when Jack’s pitch black eyebrows rose. The scar crease created an interesting arch to his right brow.
    “Okay.” Jack shrugged. “Makes sense. But if she was relocated to Iowa, why did you have me fly here first?” Jack continued to skim through the file, looking for something, anything that would give them a lead on where Maria Torres might have gone.
    “Several reasons,” Jillian clipped out. “One, we wanted to makes sure you weren’t followed. All we need is Fernandez getting wind of your involvement and tailing you here.”
    Jack started to protest, but Jill kept going. “He already knows that Maria