Silent Run

thing I wanted you to do was get rid of our child."
    â€œYou offered to marry me, didn’t you?"
    â€œMany times. You kept putting me off, telling me you wanted to wait until after Caitlyn was born. I figured eventually we’d get to it."
    An image of a white gown flashed through her brain .
    She was standing in front of a mirror wearing an off-the-shoulder wedding dress. A woman was taking measurements. Two glasses of champagne sat on the table. She could hear a man’s voice in the background. He always knew exactly what he wanted for her, and today was no different. She glanced down at the diamond ring on her finger. It was three carats, huge. It felt heavy on her hand. Her pulse began to race. Sweat broke out along her forehead. Was she making a terrible mistake? She loved him. He loved her. Didn’t he?
    Sarah’s breath was still coming hard and fast when she looked at Jake. “I just saw myself wearing a dress. You were there at the bridal salon. We were drinking champagne. You lied to me. We got married, didn’t we?”

Chapter Eleven

    â€œWhat the hell are you talking about?” Jake couldn’t believe she was accusing him of lying.
    â€œI saw us."
    â€œYou didn’t see me.” Jake’s stomach began to churn.
    â€œI heard a man’s voice,” she said. “Maybe it wasn’t yours."
    â€œI know it wasn’t. If you married someone, it wasn’t me. In fact, you told me you’d never been married, never even come close. Was that another lie, Sarah, another secret? Was it?” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “God! When is it going to end? When are we going to hit rock bottom with the truth?"
    She stared at him with big, wide, confused blue eyes. He’d once thought she’d had the eyes of an angel. Even now he could see a shimmer of tears. Was her pained innocence an act? He’d been a fool before. He couldn’t be a fool again. He couldn’t let her get to him. He couldn’t believe in her.
    â€œMaybe I didn’t go through with it. Maybe I ran away."
    â€œYou probably did run. That’s what you do. I wonder how many other men you’ve left in your wake."
    Sarah turned away from him, staring back at the photographs on the wall. Her shoulders were hunched in defeat, and he had to fight back an urge to put an arm around her and tell her everything would be all right. How could he want to protect her after everything she’d done to him?
    He backed away from her, needing more space between them. Had she been married to someone else? Was that person the one who was trying to kill her, or just another victim of Sarah’s drive-by lifestyle?
    As he gazed around the shabby apartment, he couldn’t understand why Sarah would have willingly traded in her life with him to live alone, raising a child while working as a night janitor. He’d been building her a dream house. She could have had everything she wanted. He would have given her the moon. He’d thought he’d made that clear to her.
    But it hadn’t been enough. She’d left him and come here. It didn’t make sense. He’d told himself a million times that no reason could explain away what she’d done to him. But still he found himself wanting to know what had driven her to turn her back on something so good for something like this.
    â€œI guess we should look through everything in the apartment, see if we can find a clue,” Sarah murmured, turning to face him.
    Her expression was guarded now, as if she were afraid she’d revealed too much and didn’t intend to let that happen again.
    â€œDon’t, Sarah."
    â€œDon’t what?"
    â€œThink about holding out on me."
    â€œWhatever I say makes you angry."
    â€œSo I’ll be angry, but we’ll have the truth between us. And it’s about damn time that happened."
    As he gazed into her worried blue eyes, he felt something inside him weaken. He’d loved this woman, loved her beyond the point of reason. He’d never felt so much passion for anyone. But he’d thought he’d known her, and it was clear now that he hadn’t. He had to remember that. There was no going back.
    Sarah looked away, but not before he saw a spark of desire, and it shook him to know that despite her memory loss she felt something for him. She was attracted to him. On some basic, elemental level her body wanted his. The chemistry between them