Read Online Justice for Sara by Erica Spindler - Free Book Online Page A

And they won’t forgive. Not here.”
    “And what about you? Why don’t you want me here?”
    He narrowed his eyes. “I’m a businessman, Kat. This”—he motioned around them—“is how I make a living. People in small towns talk. They judge. I can’t let you damage my reputation.”
    Her? Damage his reputation? That burned. She was the one who had thrown everything away for him. “You sound like a man who has something to hide. Or one who’s a coward. Are you a coward, Ryan? Funny, back then, I thought you were a hero.”
    “You were very young.”
    She moved farther into the room, crossing to a series of framed certificates on the wall. Several ‘Best of the Northshore’ awards, association memberships, diplomas from the Mercedes training program, a photo of him with a race car driver she didn’t recognize.
    She turned back to him. “You’re still in Liberty, still working on cars. I’m surprised. I remember you telling me that was the last thing you wanted to do.” She couldn’t resist the dig, though it brought nothing to the table.
    “Overseeing work on cars,” he corrected tightly. “What do you want, Kat?”
    “I didn’t kill Sara. But I intend to find out who did.”
    “Good luck with that.” He motioned the door. “If you don’t mind, I need to get back to work.”
    She didn’t move. “I kept our secret, Ryan. But maybe I shouldn’t have.”
    “Big secret. We had a fling. Kids do that.”
    He’d taken advantage of her youth. Her vulnerability and need for love. She’d been a piece of ass to him.
    She’d finally realized that after she’d been cleared of all charges—and he still hadn’t come for her.
    “I sat in jail, day after day, wondering where you were. Why, if you loved me the way you said you did, you didn’t come to see me.”
    He averted his gaze. Yes, she decided, a coward. And weak. What had she ever seen in him?
    “I thought you’d save me, Ryan.”
    She cleared her throat, surprised by the lump of emotion that settled there. She didn’t care anymore. Not about him or how he had hurt her. So why did the memory of that desperate and heartbroken girl still have power over her?
    “I worried something had happened to you,” she went on. “Or that you’d found someone else. Did you even think of me and what I was going through?”
    His silence was her answer and sudden fury rose up in her. “I’d lost my sister, my only family. Then I was charged, arrested and thrown in jail. Where were you? I had no one. I told myself I had to keep us a secret, to protect you. What were you doing to protect me?”
    “I was young, Kat. I—”
    “I don’t want to hear about how you felt!” She curled her hands into fists, wanting to hit him. “I found her body. That morning I got up and—”
    The horror of the memory momentarily choked her. She fought it off. “After a while, I started thinking of the last time we were together. Remember? Two nights before she died. What you said.”
    He remembered. She saw it in his eyes. But she wasn’t surprised when he played dumb. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Kat. I am. I was a selfish prick.”
    His words rang as true as a tin bell. But an apology, heartfelt or not, wasn’t what she was after. “Not good enough. Tell me you remember that last night we were together.”
    “Sorry, none of those days or nights stand out to me. They were all the same.”
    “Lucky you, Ryan. Some are burned on my memory.”
    “What do you want from me, Kat!” The words exploded from him. “I said I’m sorry. If you hadn’t been so young, you would have recognized me for what I was.”
    But was he a murderer? Would she have seen that?
    “You’re right. I was an idiot teenage girl. Such an idiot, I was completely loyal to you. You told me if anyone knew about us, we couldn’t be together. So I told no one. Not even my lawyer. My story kept changing because I had to take such a big piece out of it—you.”
    His expression tightened. “This trip