I wasn’t much younger than Brooke herself, and I remembered her posters well, specifically one of her in a blue bathing suit. It had been one of the best-selling posters of all time. I had spent many hours staring at that poster in the local Kmart, wishing I had a body like hers.

She was still a very pretty woman. Her blond hair was short now, and one of her eyes was slightly squinty—from the accident, Jonah had told me. She had light silvery-blue eyes much like Jade’s. And although she was wrapped in a terrycloth robe, I figured her body was still way above average.

For a moment, self-doubt crept into me. I was no Brooke Bailey.

But Jonah loved me. Hadn’t I just promised myself to stop thinking of myself as average?

First step. Do not let Brooke Bailey intimidate you.

So I laughed nonchalantly. “I’m sure he did. I’m sure most adolescent males worshiped you from afar.”

“Oh, yes. You should’ve seen the fan mail I got. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a letter from Jonah himself.”

I smiled. No reason in the world existed for me to envy this woman. She was living in the past, unable to accept that her modeling days were over. Clearly, she was lusting after Jonah. Could I blame her? The man was magnificent.

But he loved me. I didn’t need to throw that in her face. It was enough that I knew.

She returned my smile, pulling a smartphone out of the pocket of her robe. “Would you excuse me? I need to send a quick text.”

Chapter Twenty–Five

Jonah

Felicia had arrived, and Talon was bringing her to the kitchen when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Another text from the strange number. I would have to have words with Brooke at some point, but obviously not now.

I stood when Felicia entered the kitchen. “Thank you for coming over on a Sunday,” I said.

“Mr. Jonah, I’m confused. I thought I was meeting with Mr. Talon and Miss Jade.”

“Jade and Marjorie had some plans,” Talon said. “So I asked Joe to come over.”

“Is something wrong? Are you not happy with my work?”

I cleared my throat and looked to Talon. It was up to him to take the lead here. Felicia worked here, at his house, although technically the house belonged to all of us.

“Your work is fine,” Talon said. “We’ve always been very pleased with you. You know that.”

“Oh, good.” Felicia rubbed her hands together nervously. “Is there any coffee?”

I stood. “Of course. I’ll get it.”

Felicia stopped me. “No, I’ll get it. I know my way around this kitchen better than any of you.” She smiled.

She came back with a mug of coffee and sat down.

I looked at Talon again.

This time he cleared his throat. “Felicia, this isn’t easy.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you letting me go?”

“I don’t want to, but something has come to our attention that we need to discuss.”

“Oh, no…” Tears formed in her eyes.

“What is it?”

“It’s my parents… They’re so sick and old… And I…”

“Felicia, don’t worry about your parents. We will make sure they’re taken care of.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been feeling so guilty.”

“About what?”

“I…” Tears misted in her eyes. “I’m afraid.”

“Look, there’s no reason to be afraid,” I said. “Let us tell you why we called you here, and we’ll go from there.”

She nodded, trembling.

Talon cleared his throat. “We found a business card in Jade’s old room. It has three sets of fingerprints on it. One of them is yours.”

“I’m so sorry,” Felicia said.

“You don’t seem surprised,” I said.

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she said again.

“Time to come clean, Felicia.” Talon rubbed at his temple, the muscles in his forearms strained. “This family has been through a lot, and we need the truth from you. Now.”

Felicia swallowed audibly and nodded. “A couple months ago, a man came to my house. He was dressed all in black, even a black mask.”

At the words “black mask,” my brother visibly stiffened.

“He said if I didn’t do what he said, he would kill my parents. They are old and weak, and they could never fight back. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Felicia,” Talon said through gritted teeth. “What did he ask you to do?”

“He gave me a red rose and told me to put it on Miss Jade’s pillow. And then he gave me a business card that belonged to her old boyfriend, Colin Morse. He told me to drop it somewhere in Miss Jade’s bedroom.”

“And did you?”

“Yes. I put the rose on her pillow one morning while she was in the shower. The business card, I didn’t just drop it. I…put it under the carpeting. When those private investigators came to the house and pulled everything out of Miss Jade’s room, and then no one said anything to me, I figured they just threw the business card away.”

“No, we didn’t throw it away. We had it analyzed for fingerprints. That’s how we found yours.”

“I suppose I should’ve worn gloves. But I wasn’t thinking straight, Mr. Talon. I was so scared.”

“Felicia, we’re glad you didn’t wear gloves,” I said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t know what happened.”

“You do believe me, don’t you? You know I would never hurt any of you. I love your family. You’ve given me so much.”

“Why didn’t you come to us?” I asked. “We trust you to come into our home. We trust you with our security codes. Why would you not trust us with this?”

She trembled, clenching her coffee cup. “I was scared. I was so afraid he would hurt my parents.”

“Felicia,” Talon said. “I want you to think hard. Can you tell us anything else about the man?”

“Just he was all in black.”

“How tall was he?”

“I don’t know. Average I guess.”