Chapter 373
[ 496 words ]
Chapter 373:
It was a complete and total evasion. He was running away.
Caroline stood alone in the driveway, watching his retreating back. The cold, hard certainty settled in her stomach. Jarrod Romero had a secret. A big one. And it had a name she didn’t know and a face she couldn’t forget.
A uniformed housekeeper met them at the door, taking Caroline’s bag from K.C. with a polite, impersonal nod. The inside of the Romero Estate was just as she remembered: grand, opulent, and as cold as a museum. The air was still and smelled faintly of lemon polish and old money.
“The Colonel had the west wing guest suite prepared for you,” K.C. said, gesturing down a long, portrait-lined hallway. “It’s private and secure. Someone will bring you a meal. Please, get some rest.”
Caroline looked at the polished marble floors, the dark wood paneling, the stern faces of Jarrod’s ancestors staring down at her from their gilded frames. She felt like an intruder, a ghost haunting someone else’s life. Rest was the last thing she could do here. The unanswered questions about Jarrod’s past were buzzing in her head like a swarm of angry bees.
She needed answers. If K.C. wouldn’t give them to her, maybe this house would. Jarrod’s study, perhaps.
N𝗼𝘃еls 𝗶ո 𝘵𝘳e𝗇𝗱 о𝗻 𝘨𝖺𝗹ոo𝘷𝘦𝘭ѕ.c𝘰𝗺
“I think I’ll look around a bit first,” she said, trying to sound casual.
K.C. hesitated, a flicker of unease in his eyes, but he didn’t stop her.
Just as she was about to take a step down the hall, a frantic buzzing sound erupted from the pocket of her jeans. Her phone was vibrating violently.
She pulled it out. The screen read: Brenna.
A cold knot of dread formed in her stomach. She swiped to answer, her thumb suddenly clumsy.
“Caroline?” Brenna’s voice was a choked, panicked sob. “Oh God, Caroline, it’s bad. It’s Donovan… he knows!”
The world dissolved into a roaring sound in Caroline’s ears. The marble floor seemed to drop out from under her. She staggered, her hand flying out to brace herself against the cold, paneled wall.
“What?” she whispered, her voice a strangled rasp. “How? I told you not to let anyone near him.”
“I didn’t! I swear!” Brenna was crying now, her words tumbling out in a frantic, guilty rush. “I was gone for two minutes, Caroline. Just to get him some fresh water. Melanie—or Corbett, whatever that venomous bitch goes by in the department—she must have been watching, waiting. When I got back, she was walking out of the room, smiling. And your father… he was tearing out his IV, screaming that he wanted to go home, that everyone was lying to him.”
The blood drained from Caroline’s face, replaced by a hot, surging wave of pure rage. Melanie Corbett. That venomous snake. And it was her fault. She had left. She had trusted someone else to protect her biological father, and she had failed.
“Where is he now?” Caroline demanded, her voice shaking with a fury that was terrifying even to her. “Is he okay?”
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