Sandman (Unknown Identities #3) by Regan Black Read Free Book Online Page A

snapped. Worse, she knew what kind of people employed those tools and tactics. Divert, distract, and get away with something no one knows about. She gulped in air. “Who ordered my kidnapping?”
    “ Jeremy Galloway.”
    She stared at Matthew , baffled, unable to come up with a coherent reply. “That makes no sense,” she managed. “We went out a few times. Why on earth would he have me kidnapped?”
    “ More than a few,” Matthew muttered. “I was hoping you’d have some idea why he targeted you.”
    “ No. If Jeremy was behind my kidnapping, he would have made himself known to me. His pride knows no bounds. He gloats. He preens for God’s sake.” The man took longer to dress for a date than she did. “There’s no reason for him to do this. I assure you, if he’d gotten the better of me – for any reason – he would have told me himself.”
    “ I was afraid you’d say that.” Matthew rolled to his feet, gathering up the soup mugs. “Regardless, it’s true.”
    “ Because a kidnapper told you?” She turned to watch him. “Oh, I’m sure he’s a paragon of truth.”
    “ No.” Matthew scowled again as he rinsed the mugs in the sink in the adjoining bathroom. “Galloway admitted arranging the deal.”
    I t was so easy to fall into the old pattern of trust, but somehow Matthew knew things a previously dead Marine shouldn’t know. “Does my family know about Galloway or… or any of this? Do they know about you ?” Finally, she aired the real question nagging her.
    He shook his head. “As far as I can tell, the only person who knows something is off with your holiday plans is your cousin Selena. Galloway showed her pictures of you confined to get her to cooperate with him.”
    Renata ’s stomach dropped as the implications sank in. “Is she okay?” A lump formed in her throat. “What did he force her to do?”
    “ I don’t know for sure, but I got the impression she was to retrieve something from your apartment and exchange that item for you.”
    She paced the length of the small space. How much to reveal to a man she didn ’t know and shouldn’t trust? “No. Selena couldn’t have been the robber,” she protested. But her cousin would do just about anything for the sake of family. “The grenade angle rules her out,” Renata continued. “She owns a gallery not a militia supply store.” She turned on her heel when Matthew cleared his throat. “What?”
    “ Galloway was apprehended at her gallery. He was there expecting to take possession of the item in question.”
    Renata didn ’t want to believe Selena would agree to such an outrageous demand. Surely her cousin would have called in some sort of back up. She sat on the cot once more, rubbing her temples while she tried to make the pieces fit together. “She told you that?” She studied Matthew’s face, the way he moved, and the errant wish that life hadn’t torn them apart drifted through her mind.
    “ No. I haven’t spoken with her.”
    “ Then how do you know any of this?”
    His shuttered gaze closed her out. She’d always been able to read him, or more likely, he’d always allowed her to do so. Time gone and secrets be damned, this change in him made her even more uncomfortable.
    “ If you didn’t, then your boss must have spoken with Selena. It’s time you gave me his name.”
    Matthew ’s gaze went cold. “Tell me what Galloway means to you,” he countered.
    She crossed her arms and stared him down for several interminable seconds, but she flinched first. “I already told you. He’s nothing to me. We went out a few times, that’s it. I didn’t even know he was in the States.”
    “ He never asked you for anything related to your work?”
    “ No.” She pushed to her feet again, but her legs felt like jelly. Wobbling, she found herself caught by Matthew. His light grip at her elbows held her steady.
    Something in his touch made her want to lean against that wide chest and forget the years between then and