A door closed on the other end of the line and she whispered, “What kind of game are you playing, Madison?”
“Game?” I blinked with a frown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I called to ask about Ridgemont.”
“We had an agreement.” She mumbled to herself. “She swore she would never…” Mom cleared her throat, as if she’d just remembered I was still on the line. “You need to quit that job and come home. She’s using you.”
“This is my home.” The words surprised me once they were out. Not because I’d said them but because they were true. I’d only arrived in Sedona three weeks ago, I’d only been at my new job for a week, and my boxes weren’t even unpacked. It didn’t make any sense, but that didn’t make it any less true.
“No.” Her tone was firm. “Come home, Madison. She has no right to you. I honored our agreement. Deidra is the one in breach.”
My heart fluttered and I moved closer to Cole, needing the support as my legs wobbled. My mom knew Deidra. This wasn’t the connection I’d been expecting. Underneath the shock, a flicker of betrayal sparked in my belly. There was an edge in my voice. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on.”
My mom’s chair squeaked in the background as she sat down. “Ridgemont wasn’t a place. It was an experiment. You were having some…issues, headaches and…other symptoms, but nothing showed on the scans, no brain tumor or physical explanation. Dr. Harlow was our only hope. And it worked.” Her voice dropped to a venomous whisper. “And she signed a confidentiality agreement that this would never be discussed.”
I sank into Cole as he wrapped his arms around me. “You sent me away for experimental treatments and never told me?”
“You were a little girl, Madison.” Her polish and control were back in full force again. “We just wanted you to have every opportunity.”
“What did you think was wrong with me?” My fingers were trembling now as my vision blurred with tears. “What did they do to me, Mom?”
“Don’t get dramatic,” she tsked. “I don’t know the details, only that the treatment succeeded. You came home cured. That’s all that matters.”
My head throbbed, and I swore I heard her voice but it wasn’t coming through the phone. You stopped hearing voices.
An angry, primal fire ignited inside me as a single tear rolled down my cheek. “I wasn’t the only girl in the experiment. Who else was there?”
“Did Deidra tell you that?” A drawer opened on the other end of the line. “I’m calling my lawyer. She will regret fucking with our family. I gave her so much, but it still wasn’t enough.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” I closed my eyes and struggled to envision my mother’s face. Whatever this “gift” was, it was rusty, and I didn’t know how to turn it on but I was going to try.
“Madison, I have no idea about the identities of anyone else in the study.”
I kept my eyes shut, searching the darkness for a thread to lead me to my mother. The little girl holding my hand in the pool filled my head. “She was young, too. Maybe a couple years older than me with long, red hair.”
“How can you possibly know that? You said you didn’t remember Ridgemont.” Fear broke in her voice, and then I found it, like a strand of consciousness that led directly to my mother through her emotions.
Then I heard it. Her.
Did she see her sister? Impossible.
I opened my eyes and looked up at Cole as I blurted out, “I think the girl might have been my sister.”
“You’re kidding.” My mother choked out a forced laugh. “Chandler is your only sibling.”
“Or maybe the only one I was raised with.”
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “I can’t do this right now. I’ll call you back later.”
And the line went dead.
I set the phone on the desk, my hands still shaking as I met Cole’s concerned eyes. “I heard her think it—the thing about my sister. We were right about me having a gift. Apparently, she thought I was hearing voices and signed me up for some experimental neurological treatment with Deidra Harlow.”
I needed a shower. It may have happened twenty years ago but discovering my mind had been tampered with on a fundamental level as a little girl, violated with my parents’ blessing, made me want to vomit.
And how could they have kept my sister a secret from me?
Cole cupped my cheek, drawing me back to him, out of the tempest of emotions. “I’m right here if you need me.”
I nuzzled into his touch. “I have to find my sister.”
His thumb caressed my skin. “The girl with red hair.”
I nodded and searched his eyes. “I think she’s the voice calling to me. She’s in trouble.” I sighed and pulled away from the comfort of his body. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“All right.”
Cole stayed behind, making another call while I climbed the stairs. I appreciated the space. I had plenty to think about.
Fog billowed in the bathroom as the steam rose from the shower. I stepped underneath the water and closed my eyes, thinking about the girl from my vision. So far, I’d only been able to hear others’ thoughts. The only time anyone heard me mentally reply was Cole. Why only him? Maybe it was the mate-bond thing.
Ugh. This would all be so much easier to manage if I understood how any of it worked.
I sucked in a deep, slow breath and then exhaled, thinking about the woman’s voice. No, not “the woman.” My sister.
Mentally, I stretched, reaching for her hand again.
In the darkness behind my eyelids, a tiny light flickered. I envisioned that I was pushing my thoughts out.
I want to help you. Nothing.
I tried again. I’m coming.
I sighed, opening my eyes. This wasn’t working. I picked up the shampoo bottle and gasped as a light flashed and a single word whispered through my head.
Serenity.
The full bottle clattered on the floor as I pressed my hand on the cool tile to steady myself.
Cole’s heavy footsteps raced up the stairs. He poked his head in the bathroom door. “Are you all right?”
I opened the shower curtain a little. “I think I got a message through to my sister. She heard me.”
A relieved smile curved his lips. “That’s great. Did you find out anything about where she is?”
“All she said was Serenity.”
His smile faded. “She’s got to be at the ranch.”
But where?
CHAPTER 17
Cole
Light filtered through the closed mini blinds as I walked into the empty Wolf Pack Bar. I pulled out a stool as Ryker appeared from the back. He tipped his head my way and chuffed. “We don’t open for an hour.”
“You left the door unlocked so now you’re stuck with me.” I smirked.
We clasped forearms, and he sobered. “You look like hell.”
“I haven’t slept much.” It was a huge understatement.
Ever since Madison had spoken with her mother last Sunday, we’d spent all week planning for Deidra Harlow’s fundraiser, and my apprehension grew with each passing day. There was no way Deidra had invited Madison to bring her brother to the event without having plenty of muscle around her. She knew Chandler was a jaguar shifter. She was setting us up, but I couldn’t figure out why or what she planned to do. She’d also have a house full of rich, possibly political, people at the fundraiser.