My eyes slowly scanned the next line, but I didn’t understand my father’s notes. All it seemed to be was an address with a bunch of numbers after it.
99 Garden Street NJ #0002675-2006
I looked up at Kim, confused as to what I was supposed to know from these notes. “What is this? I don’t understand.”
“Daddy’s notes are at the top. He found out about a girl’s death in 2006—a girl’s death your future husband was responsible for. The notes below are Jeff’s. I had him check into this when I realized who Tristan really was.”
I read my father’s notes about Tristan again, still not understanding them, and then moved on to Jeff’s. As my eyes slid over each word, the horrifying truth became clear.
Arrest record #0002675-2006 Tristan Stone arrested for the murder of Melissa Raynard on August 13, 2006. Case dismissed after death ruled an accident.
As I stared at the words swimming before me over the lined notebook paper, I heard Kim speak. “He killed a girl, Nina. He gave her the drugs. She was only twenty-one years old and he killed her. Oh, his father’s money kept him out of jail and from what Jeff says the coroner said the death looked like an accident, but if he didn’t kill her, he sure as hell was responsible for her death. He was a coke addict and that girl paid the price for knowing him. I couldn’t let you go on thinking he was the person he claims he is. He’s bad, Nina, and you’re going to get hurt or worse if you stay with him.”
Opening my hands, I let the paper drop to the table and shook my head in disbelief. “No, this can’t be. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Did you know he used cocaine back then? Did he tell you that?”
I wanted to scream, to run away from every word she uttered. Instead, I continued to shake my head, not wanting to believe Tristan could hurt anyone like that. I couldn’t think of him like that person described in my father’s notes.
But I couldn’t help it. Maybe if I hadn’t seen him sitting in front of the coke with my own eyes that night at Top, I could believe it was all a mistake or some awful, cruel ploy of Kim’s to hurt me, but I had and now those notes of my father’s and Jeff’s seemed entirely possible.
“Nina, you’ve seen him do coke, haven’t you? I can tell by the look on your face that you know what Daddy and Jeff found out is the truth.”
My head pounded and it felt like someone was strangling the air out of me. I stood up, still shaking my head, and croaked out, “I can’t do this. I can’t stay here.”
I ran out of Malone’s into the street desperate to find Jensen. Frantically, I searched up and down the sidewalk for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was Varo? Why wasn’t Jensen nearby like he always was? God, I just wanted to see a familiar face, someone to get me out of there and take me home.
Home where I lived with Tristan.
My feet were moving, but I didn’t know where I was going. My mind spun like a top, making me dizzy and lightheaded. Nausea choked me, making me want to throw up, and I reached out to steady myself on a pole. I couldn’t breathe. All I could think of were those words on that paper describing a man I thought I knew. Did I even know him at all if he could keep this from me, even after promising to tell me the truth?
“Miss, are you okay?”
I turned to see Jensen standing next to me. “I’m fine. I need to go home, though. Please take me home.”
“Of course, miss. The car is just over here.”
He helped me to the car, and as we drove away toward the house, I asked, “Where was Varo? He’s supposed to be nearby at all times.”
“He’s stuck in traffic, miss. I’m sure he’ll be home right after we arrive. I’ll let him know we’re on our way now.”
“No, that’s okay, Jensen. He has enough to deal with right now. Just get me home as fast as possible.”
As Jensen did his best to conquer the very beginning of rush hour traffic, I called Tristan. I had no idea what I’d say, but I needed to speak to him. I needed to hear his side of the story. I tried three times, but his phone went to voicemail every time and I never left a message. There was too much to say.
By the time we reached the house, I’d made up my mind. Of all the secrets surrounding Tristan and the rest of the Stone family, this was the one I couldn’t live with.
Chapter Nineteen
Tristan
Hours of questions by Federal investigators had left me exhausted, but just the thought of Nina waiting for me with a surprise was enough to make me top a hundred miles an hour as I drove up the Taconic. Tapping my phone’s screen, I saw she’d called three times but left no voicemail. That was nothing new. She never liked leaving voicemails.
Now that Karl was out of the picture, there was no reason to worry. Varo and West made sure she was safe, so she’d probably called just to tell me she loved me. I loved those calls and hated that I missed them, but stopping the Feds to answer a phone call wasn’t an option.
Fifteen minutes away from the house, I called her to let her know I was almost home. Two rings and then to voicemail. That was odd. Maybe she was in the shower. A sense of anxiousness settled into my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. The investigators had assured me that Karl would be in custody within the hour, so there was no reason to be uneasy.
I turned onto the driveway and punched in the security code on the keypad. The gates opened, and I raced up to the house, dying to see the woman I loved. The garage door was up, but I could park the Jag later. I didn’t want to waste another minute on anything but Nina.
The sun was just setting as I walked to the front door, wondering what my surprise would be. A nice dinner and the rest of the night in bed together would have been good enough for me, but if she preferred something a little wilder, I was up for that too. After all those months without her next to me, I didn’t care if we simply laid in each other’s arms and watched movies all night, stuffing our faces with Jiffy Pop.
As long as she was by my side, everything was better.
I threw my keys on the table in the center of the entryway and listened for any sign of what she’d planned. The house seemed strangely quiet. As I walked down the hallway to our bedroom, I peeked into the kitchen and sitting room, but both were empty. Convinced she was waiting for me in the bedroom, I prepared myself to act surprised when I opened the door and saw her lying there in her sexy lingerie, or even better, naked and ready for me.
But she wasn’t there.
Taking out my phone, I typed out a text telling her I was home and pressed Send. I slid my tie from around my neck and unbuttoned my shirt, relaxing for the first time since leaving the house. My phone remained silent, so I checked it for Nina’s text back to me, but there was nothing.