“Calm down, honey. I’m sure Nate wouldn’t do that.” Chase sighed when he didn’t immediately respond. “I was wrong. He did.”
“I didn’t say she was crazy. I just said that I have a hard time buying into all that woo-woo crap. Come on, Chase. How often have any leads you’ve had from a so-called psychic ever panned out?”
“Never,” he admitted with some obvious reluctance. “Sorry, honey. But it’s true. Not that I don’t believe Ellie is psychic. It’s just that—”
Sadie interrupted her husband, “I don’t know about the people you guys have dealt with in the past, but Ellie is the real deal. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have known your grandfather was trying to break us up, Chase.”
The judge hadn’t been happy when Chase announced he was leaving Washington and giving up a career-making promotion to live in Highland Falls with Sadie and the baby. But he’d eventually come around.
“So whatever my cousin told you, Nate, you can trust that she’s not imagining things.”
“What did she tell you?” Chase asked.
Nate shared with them what Ellie had told him about the man she believed was her sister’s father.
“Wait a sec. Miranda had an affair with this guy? Bri’s not Bryan’s daughter?”
Nate grimaced. “Forget you heard that. I promised Ellie I wouldn’t tell anyone. So that goes no further than us. Okay?”
“She told me too. I’m just a little surprised she told you, Nate.”
“And I’m surprised you didn’t tell me. We said no secrets, remember?” Chase said to his wife.
“It wasn’t mine to tell. And Ellie just told me ten days ago,” Sadie said. Then she shared with Chase how Ellie had found out and how her mother had been punishing her ever since. “My heart breaks thinking of what my aunt put Ellie through. And no one ever knew. She kept it to herself all these years.”
“If you ask me, it’s about time Ellie stops trying to protect everyone else. After everything her mother’s done to her, Miranda deserves for her secret to come out.” She deserved a lot worse than that, and Nate would be happy to make her pay.
“I agree with you, but that’s just not who Ellie is. She’d protect her family with her life.”
Sadie was right. Ellie didn’t have a vindictive bone in her body. She was warm and kind and loving. The sweetest woman he’d ever met.
“So I guess we can all agree that Miranda deserves a special place in hell and that Ellie is the real deal,” Chase said.
“Agreed,” Nate said, even though he was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that Ellie was psychic. “And now I have to sell it to the task force.”
“I don’t envy you that, buddy. But you’re right, you do. Don’t worry though. If you get pushback and you can’t get them on board, we’ll work the case together. I’m sure Gabe will want in too. Same goes for Elijah. My wife too, right, honey?”
Elijah and Sadie were the offspring of a world-class hacker and had inherited his mad skills. Only they used theirs for the greater good.
“Honey?” Chase said when his wife didn’t respond. “What is it?”
“I just got a text from Ellie.”
There was a brief pause. Then Chase groaned. “What were you thinking, Nate?”
“What did I do now?”
“According to Ellie, you told Spencer that you weren’t interested in her and told him to go for it,” Sadie said.
“I didn’t tell him I wasn’t interested in her, and I sure as hell didn’t tell him to go for it.”
“What did you tell him?” Sadie asked in a silky voice that he didn’t trust.
“I might have said he deserved her more than I did.” Or maybe he’d just thought it.
“He cheated on her!”
“I know, but you didn’t hear him talk about her. The guy loves her. He knows he was an idiot, and he regrets it.”
“He’s not the only idiot,” Sadie muttered.
Nate didn’t need anyone reminding him that he was an idiot for letting the best thing that had ever happened to him slip away. He’d spent the entire day kicking himself in the ass. He’d also called himself a lot worse than an idiot.
“So how did things end up with Spencer and Ellie?” Nate asked, playing it cool, acting like his heart wasn’t practically pounding out of his chest.
“Why do you want to know, Nate?” There was that silky voice again. “I thought you weren’t interested. It’s okay, baby. Mommy and Daddy are finished talking to the idiot.”
“Daddy wouldn’t mind talking a little longer to the idiot,” Chase said, and the line clicked off speaker. “Spencer left town.”
Nate sagged in his chair. He’d been afraid Chase was going to tell him that Ellie had forgiven Spencer and was giving him a second chance. “Good. He doesn’t deserve her.”
“He doesn’t, but you do. And don’t even think about telling me you’re not good enough for her. You’re one of the best men I know. No one gives a crap about your past, Nate. You did what you had to do to survive.”
“You don’t think I blew my chance with her? Chase?” he said when the seconds ticked by without a response from his best friend.
“If her text is anything to go by, you blew it big-time, buddy. But don’t worry, we’re all pulling for you. We’ll help you find a way to win her back.” Sadie said something in the background, and Chase sighed. “Agnes and I will.”
Nate texted Ellie as soon as he’d disconnected from Chase. The text bounced back. She’d blocked him. He tried calling her. Nothing. No voice mail, no nothing. Chase was right. He’d blown it. But he didn’t plan on giving up without a fight. He didn’t care how long it took. Somehow he’d win her back.
Nate called a meeting of the task force. A few of the members grumbled at the short notice, but an hour later, they were gathered in the conference room.
“We have a new person of interest,” he said, taping the photo of Dimitri Ivanov on the whiteboard. Nate hadn’t had time to do a deep dive on the man, but he laid out what he had so far to the team.
“You said our guy would be playing close to home. Looks like you were right, bro,” one of the DEA agents said.
Now came the hard part. “He’s not our guy, but someone close to him is.”
“What makes you think it’s not him? He fits the profile. Midfifties, filthy rich, connected, and his development company provides cover for moving the product and laundering the money.”
He repeated what Ellie had told him.
Several of the agents groaned. “A psychic? Come on, Black. You don’t believe that crap any more than we do.”
“You’re right. I’m as skeptical as the rest of you. We’ve been burned too many times. But not by her. She’s legit. I’d stake my career on it.”
“And so would I,” Chase said as he walked into the conference room. He winked at Nate. “Your brother-in-law pulled some strings. Let’s finish what we started.”
Chapter Twenty-Three