“She promised to send it to the family chat when Troy goes to the base later this week and can’t check his phone,” her mother said with more satisfaction than a mother probably should. Especially since her other children were going to use it to pick on Troy for as long as they could.
Somewhere in the middle of the laughter, Noah reached out and took her hand. It wasn’t a big gesture. Just his fingers laced with hers, easy and warm. Her mother saw it because she saw everything. She said nothing, which, from her, was the loudest possible statement. She did smile, though, and Ziggy had to admit that was nice.
All her warm, fuzzy feelings were rudely interrupted when her phone dinged.
She thought about not reaching for it but grabbed it anyway. There was too much going on to ignore anything.
She glanced at her screen. A text message from an unknown number. She opened it, and her heart lurched to the back of her throat.
Be careful. Your boyfriend isn't the person you think he is.
And below the words, an image.
A woman. Her face was…
The phone slipped from her fingertips.
“I’ll get that,” Noah said.
“No. It’s okay.” She bent over, but it was too late.
He glanced at the screen, then at her, then back at the screen.
She watched his face contort, and his eyes widen, as every muscle in his body went rigid.
“What the hell?” He turned the screen toward her. “Who sent this? Who is that?”
She stared at the image for a moment. The woman’s eyes were so swollen Ziggy could barely see the whites of them. Black, blue, and purple bruises were everywhere. Her cheeks were twice their normal size, and one was split open. “You don’t know who she is?”
He set the phone on the table and stood. “I’d need to look at it longer than a few seconds, and right now I can’t. I just know that I didn’t do that.”
He marched off the rooftop. The door clicked closed behind him.
Her father leaned forward and looked at the cell. “You could've handled that differently."
“I'm not sure how," Ziggy said. "While I know Noah would never hurt anyone, the image was shocking.”
“Shock or not, you need to go after him.” Her mother waved a hand. “Now.”
As gracefully as she could, Ziggy rose, snagging her phone, and made her way into the building. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to come and take her up the three flights. She could have taken the stairs, but she wasn’t sure her legs would carry her.
She found Noah in the kitchen, pacing, cell to his ear, his voice low and controlled. “…she just walked in. I'll have her send it to you." He shifted his gaze. “Send the image and a screenshot of the text to Jag.”
“Okay.” She copied the text and the image and sent them. Ten seconds later, Jag replied that he'd received them and that he’d be in touch. She set her phone on the counter, making sure that damn picture was face down.
Noah had thanked her brother, tucked his cell in his back pocket, then leaned against the counter. Running his hand over his face, he released a long breath.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't honestly know."
"I'm sorry if my shock over the seeing that image?—"
“No need to be sorry, Zig." He crossed to her side of the island. "That's how it works. Someone sends something like that, and suddenly...” He pressed both hands flat on the counter. "This is the kind of thing that not only destroys people, but it also buries them. One image. One anonymous text. Doesn't matter if it's true. Doesn't matter if I dated that poor woman, or if I’ve never seen her before. And even if it doesn’t stick, it landed, and people don’t forget. It's why we insist on thorough research. I might want to uncover the truth, but I’m not in the business of destroying people just because I can.” He gestured toward her phone. “Whoever sent that wants to put a wedge between us. Break our professional and personal trust. And then they want to make sure my career is over.”
“And do we believe this could be your father?”
“If it is, I don’t know how he’s doing it from prison.” Noah rubbed his temple. “But this is the game. That’s what I was saying the other night—this is my dad's playbook. He finds pressure points. Somehow, he found out that you’re the biggest one I’ve got, and he’s going to use that.” He pulled her into his arms, and he touched his lips to her temple. "I'm sorry I stormed off. It wasn’t your reaction. It was seeing that woman’s face and knowing my father somehow had a hand in sending you thattext.” He held her tighter. “I sat in that courtroom as a kid and stared at photos of his victims, beaten to death, and… and…”