He opened a new browser tab and logged into his student loan account. A click of the Payoff Quote button got him the total, and he clicked Pay This Amount. It made him confirm the payment since it was over a thousand dollars. It was over a hundred thousand dollars, in fact. A few more clicks and that noose vanished. He logged into his SUV financing account and paid that off, and then he logged into his credit cards one at a time and cleared them all. Next, he opened his credit union account that had given him the loan for silver bars. He paid off that loan too, leaving him with just over sixty thousand dollars for a down payment on a home and no debt except the clinic's mortgage. He exhaled and smiled, feeling like he won the lottery. He had been drowning, but with a bit of luck or magic maybe, he was now free to live.
Still, he wasn't satisfied.
Mathew finished the day's cases: a puppy with diarrhea, a Corgi with an allergy he had struggled to pinpoint, a German Shepard in need of vaccines and a flea and tick treatment. The women at the desk did well, and he dismissed Becca as soon as the last client left.
Mathew leaned against the counter, facing Kiko. "Do you want to go out for dinner?" He was antsy and didn't want to go to an empty home yet.
She smiled. "No. But there's something I want to show you. Meet me at my place in an hour."
"Sure," Mathew said, confused and intrigued. He locked up and grabbed a bag of fast food on his way over to Kiko's house. The food was bland and lukewarm. The fries were that gritty texture after they had cooled too long, where one fry was one too many. Mathew set the bag in the passenger seat, downed his drink, and climbed out of the SUV. He lifted a hand to knock, but the door opened for him.
"What did you want to show me?"
She waved him inside and he sat on the couch—his sister's couch. He missed her so much, and that reminded him. "Are you coming with me to the police station to file the report?"
"That depends," she said.
Mathew's anger flared with her reneging on their deal. "But you—"
"Read this." Kiko handed him a folded piece of paper.
Hey big brother,
You were right. Thanks for the kick in the pants. My ass is still sore though. I'm going away to find the man I love. Wish me luck. Oh, and I quit if you hadn't figured that out. Maybe Kiko will fill in until you can find a temp. Thank you for all your help and support over the years. You are my only family and I love you. I hope you find your own happiness as well.
Forever your sis,
Meatball
Mathew jumped to his feet. "Where did she go? What did she tell you?"
"She is here—"
"Where?" Mathew craned his neck around and ran to her bedroom. It was just as she'd left it.
"In a different time," Kiko finished.
He froze and pivoted on his heels. "You mean she went back in time?"
Kiko nodded.
Mathew ran his hands through his hair. His anger flared again. "I've been waiting weeks to hear from her. You knew this. You promised to go with me to the police station to file a missing person's report, but you knew all along where she was. Why didn't you just tell me?"
She waited for him to stop pacing the floor. He grabbed a beer from her fridge without asking and slammed it down. Then a second. Finally, he sat still. He dropped into a seat next to her and stared into her dark eyes.
"I needed you to save Verity," she explained. "Then I needed you to care about her enough."
"Enough for what?"
"Enough to go back and save her again."
"What?"
"You need to find Verity. Jaime Perez still seeks her. And now you know that April is married, safe, and happy."
She was married? April McCall was...Mathew's thoughts trailed off as the pieces clicked together. The truth of Jaime Perez's target, of Verity's praise…"Is she April Hartley now?"
Kiko nodded.
Mathew remembered what Verity had said about April Hartley: She saved the town of Bridgeport, saved Sam's life, saved Lloyd's life, and the townspeople revered her. I want shoes like hers. He crashed back against the couch. His sister was a celebrity and a hero.
He remembered the scars on Verity's delicate flesh were from a whipping. April had showed up a couple weeks ago with the same wounding, and he'd driven her to the emergency room. He remembered his sister resembled Verity. He knew them both well enough not to see it, but to a stranger, sure. Jaime Perez was responsible for them both.
A fire erupted inside Mathew, a mind-shifting, life-altering rage. It consumed him, despite the alcohol coursing through his veins. Jaime Perez was just like Dad—whipping innocent girls for his own sadistic enjoyment. Dad had claimed it was punishment, but that was bullshit. Dad had enjoyed every second, especially when Mathew stood up to him and landed his own ass in the hospital for it.
Twice.
Dad hadn't visited him at the hospital, because he had enjoyed it. After that, April begged Mathew to stop helping because the wounding on her was much less than Mathew's punishment for interfering.
Mathew's mind overlaid his father's face over that sinister curly-haired short man with the pistols threatening him and Verity. He would kill the asshole for harming his sister and Verity if he ever crossed paths with him again.
Mathew considered all the information and had one more question. "Why did you send me to her in the first place if she was destined to leave me, anyway?"
"I sent you to save her life. At that moment, Jaime Perez would've captured her. And now you realize, he has every intention of exacting his revenge against her."
"Greenleaf?"
"Yes, and I'm afraid she won't survive it again."
Mathew stalked up to her. "I need to prepare, and I'll be right back."
Kiko nodded and Mathew stormed out of his sister's house and drove perhaps a little more recklessly than he should've back home.
In his bedroom, he filled a small bag with the remaining silver bars. He slammed one more beer and paused at a kitchen drawer. Could he carry a knife on him? Could he use it against a person? Mathew didn't need a weapon. He only needed to find Verity, apologize, and see if she'd come back with him, after making a pit stop at a bank.
What if he did run into Jaime? Mathew wouldn't get that lucky. He tore off back to Kiko's house mere minutes later. She stood in the kitchen expectantly.
With sweet Verity's face on his mind, he marched up to Kiko, full of determination and impenetrable against any doubts that lingered in his mind. He'd protect her again, and he hoped for the chance to protect her forever.
"Send me back," he said.
Chapter Seventeen
Astor, Wisconsin
1853
GRAHAM DROPPED HER off at the front door, and Verity held a ragged blanket around her shoulders and her heels in the crook of a finger. Her little brother brought the horse to the stable around back, leaving her to enter alone. Verity didn't want to, but the snowy winter night threatened to turn her into an ice cube, so the phrase she'd learned applied here—beggars can't be choosers and all that.
Inside, Verity hovered by the fireplace, its warmth crackling and flickering light across the room. An odd hollowness seeped into her bones from disappearing in July and returning in December, as if a chunk of her life vanished in a blink. But Verity had only been gone a little more than a week. She wondered what life was like for that lady who sent her back—if she was a lady at all. Likely an angel.