“Cassidy was with Jeff in high school. From what I understand, she was dating Jeff when Clay had his accident.”
“You think he’s going after Cassidy?” Michael asked.
“Listen, if he’s really that pissed that he would go after Bailey, what puts anyone else off limits?”
He nodded slowly, thinking it over. “Mav wondered about the same thing.”
“With Cassidy?”
He shook his head, keeping his voice low. “About Ellie.”
“The—” Horror washed over me at the thought that anyone could be sick enough to attack a woman and have her raped just for revenge. “You think he’s the one who took Ellie?”
“No, but he could have hired someone. That fucker had a whole stalker board of her,” he hissed. “That’s fucking personal. And Jeff said he didn’t recognize the guy. Now, tell me how the fuck it’s possible that someone in town has a vendetta so bad for Ellie that they’d go to the extremes of not only ruining her Jeep, but then her shop? Only someone who really wanted to fuck with her would do that shit, and then kidnap her.”
My stomach sank at the thought of Austin being behind all that. If he was willing to go that far, what else would he do?
“But Ellie…how is she?—”
“Liam,” he whispered. “Liam asked Ellie to help him make it look like he was cheating on Bailey.”
“So, he went after her because of a fake relationship with Liam?”
“Like I said, he fucking hates anyone in the family or associated with us.”
I did not like the sound of that, and with this new information, it made it even harder to make the move away from Cassidy. I just couldn’t walk away, not when I knew she could be in danger.
“We’re getting close. We know she was poisoned by stuff from Josie’s shop. If we can just get some video footage or fingerprints?—”
“And in the meantime, you’ve royally fucked over Josie.”
“That wasn’t without its merits. As long as Austin assumes we think Josie was involved, he doesn’t know we suspect him.”
“That seems pretty fucking thin considering how twisted this guy is.”
“Maybe, but if it helps even a little, we’ll take it.”
I didn’t like it. I hated that Josie was thrown in the middle of all this, especially when she was innocent. But I hated even more how worried I was about Cassidy. I needed to get her out of my head, and none of this was helping.
“You seem way too stressed about this. Is something else going on?”
I didn’t want to admit it, but Parker might just be able to help me. “I need your help with something else, and I need you to keep it to yourself.”
“Uh-oh. Woman problems?” he grinned.
“It’s not about a woman,” I lied. Well, partially lied. “I can’t get back in the ring.”
“Your shoulder?” he asked, the grin sliding off his face.
I shook my head, hating to admit any of this to him. “It’s in my head. Deke brought in this fighter to train with me today, and the moment he stepped out…I don’t know. It was like…”
“Fear,” he finished for me.
I snorted in derision. “Fucking stupid, right?”
“Not when everything you’ve worked for is on the line.”
“My shoulder is fine. It’s better than I could ever have hoped for,” I admitted. “But I haven’t fought anyone since the night I injured it, and when I thought of getting back in the ring…I don’t know. I just felt this phantom pain in my shoulder.”