“Sir?” Reyes asked as the barrier began to lower.
“Home.” His throat felt tight as he tried to control the rage of his wolf. His fingers gripped the seats, and though he heard the sound of claws ripping into the leather, he ignored it.
As they drove back to his townhouse, he vowed to forget about Sofia Selinofoto. He’d acted on impulse tonight, and no matter how sweet her taste or soft her body, he wasn’t going to go near her. But he only hoped she wouldn’t cross him again, because if she insisted on digging up the past, he wouldn’t be able to control his actions or his wolf next time.
Chapter Eleven
No matter what Sofia did, she couldn’t keep her mind off what had transpired Saturday night. When she trudged up to her apartment, it felt like she was in a dream—or nightmare. The full force of what happened didn’t hit her until she was inside her apartment. Her lips burned at the memory of his mouth on hers.
What had possessed her to do that? To confess to him what had been in the back of her mind all this time? Lucas acted so differently that night, and she had to begrudgingly admit that a small part of her admired him for literally getting his hands dirty to help out her dad and grandfather at the restaurant. He didn’t complain or think any job was beneath him—a far cry from the rich boy she thought he was.
She didn’t want to ride home with him, but at the same time, she did. To be alone with him, in that small space, breathing in his aftershave that reminded her of summers spent at the shore. And God, his kisses and his hands—they were like a drug. Strong enough to make her forget reality—that even though he wasn’t a suspect in Dixon’s murder, there was still the question of what happened to Kevin Hall.
Sure, it would have been easy to just forget it. But she couldn’t. Her mother’s words came back to her. A year before her tragic death, she told her mother that she wanted to be a cop like her. Sergeant Nadia Selinofoto had beamed at her and told her to remember one thing: Always do what’s right. Even if the whole world is against you.
And she was doing the right thing. That’s why she helped arrest Derek, and that’s why she wasn’t going to get involved with Lucas.
By the time Monday rolled around, she was exhausted and miserable from lack of sleep. She was so distracted, she didn’t even notice her phone ringing and completely missed the call. When she picked up her cell, she glanced at the number and frowned, then dialed it. “Hello? I missed a call from this number. This is Detective Sofia Selinofoto.”
“Detective, this is Morales from the Tech Division,” the voice on the other line replied.
“What can I do for you?”
“I have that contact you were looking for. A Miss Caroline Devereaux.”
It took her a second before she recognized the name. The girl Kevin Hall and Lucas fought over. “You did?”
“Yep. It took a while because she moved to France when she was eighteen. Then she got married a few years ago and changed her name, but I have her number and address for you in Nice.”
“Can you email it to me?” She rattled off her email address, then thanked Morales for his help.
Caroline Devereaux. It felt like it had been ages since she started this case, but really it had only been over a week. With everything that was happening, she had even forgotten to check the other information she dug up on Devereaux.
Swiveling her chair around, she faced her computer screen and clicked her mouse cursor on the bookmark she saved. She had found an old social media profile for Caroline, but the last update was years ago.
The profile photo showed a gorgeous, blonde, and green-eyed teenager. Her smile was wide and her face shone with the vibrance of youth. Caroline Devereaux was stunning. It was no wonder two boys fought over her.
Lucas fought Kevin Hall over her.
A twinge of jealousy made her stomach clench. That was a long time ago. Did Lucas still hold any feelings for her?
Not liking the direction of her thoughts, she clicked through the rest of her photos. It was the usual stuff a teenage girl might post—selfies with her friends, studying in the library, vacations with her family. After a few clicks, she stumbled upon a selfie of her and a boy about her age, their faces pressed together, and a cartoon heart drawn around them. “KH + CD 4EVER” proclaimed the caption. Kevin Hall. She clicked again. More photos. Them at the school cafeteria. At a diner sharing a milkshake. Wearing formal clothes at prom.
Something she didn’t find, however, was Lucas Anderson. In fact, he didn’t have any social media profiles. He was maybe only a few years older than her, so she knew he wasn’t some old fuddy-duddy who didn’t like technology; in fact, Sofia had a profile herself, though she didn’t really post anything. It was strange, really. He didn’t have a social media presence and there weren’t a lot of articles about him or his family. He did say they were private. And she thought back to the kidnapping—if she or any of her future kids had been kidnapped, she’d be afraid of what info was out there on the Internet.
Aside from having no recent postings, there was nothing odd about Caroline Devereaux’s profile. There really was nothing odd about it, except that there had been nothing posted in years. The last post was a picture of a cabin surrounded by pine trees and the caption, “Grad weekend! Woohoo!”
She had been so engrossed in her research that she almost forgot the contact details Morales was sending over. Sure enough, her married name,
