Chapter 12
While she was being taken away, Valerie passed Cole and, after some struggling, caught hold of his
sleeve.
She raised her head and met a pair of bloodshot eyes filled with hatred. She froze, and he shook her off
so hard she stumbled,
The lawn went quiet. Only Cole and Carter were left standing there, looking hollowed out.
Matthew jogged back from the hospital. “Mr. Hale, Ms. Reed wasn’t there. The nurses said her grandmother passed away a week ago.”
“What?” Cole and Carter stared at Matthew in disbelief. “That’s impossible! Why wouldn’t she tell me?”
“The time of death was last Friday at 11:00 pm. I double-checked it,” Matthew quickly explained.
Last Friday was the night they had been in that private room.
Could Maya have overheard their conversation? Was that the reason she kept Belinda’s death from him?
Cole’s stomach dropped. He remembered Valerie taking his phone at the airport.
He pulled his phone out and found dozens of missed calls wiped from the log and a string of deleted
texts.
“Damn it!”
Cole bolted for the car, and Carter ran after him. They sped to the villa.
The place was empty. A thumb drive sat on the coffee table with a note beneath it. “Cole, the thing I
regret most is how easily I trusted you.”
Cole’s fingers shook around the paper, his eyes burning hot.
Carter had already jammed the drive into a laptop. He opened a folder containing evidence that Maya
had been bullied for three years.
Just then, both of their phones buzzed. It was a message from Maya.
“I’m gone, just like you wanted.”
Silence enveloped the room.
Maya had left them.
Their hands shook so badly that they could barely hold the phone.
Grief tore through them, leaving their eyes reddened.
Carter thought back to Maya’s expression when she walked out of the bathroom that night.
Cole suddenly hit Carter, landing a solid blow to his jaw. “Why didn’t you notice that she wanted to leave?”
Carter hit back just as hard. “You’re the one who started all of this!”
They went at each other with everything they had, trading blows until they were both bleeding and too exhausted to stand. Only then did they collapse, gasping on the floor.
A minute later, Cole lurched upright. “I’m going to find her!”
Carter staggered after him. They drove straight to the hospital and headed for the department where Maya worked.
Everyone there had seen the news.
Quinn looked at them in disgust. “Maya signed on with Doctors Without Borders. She left today-I don’t know where she’s been assigned.”
