She gave him a quick, condensed rundown of the morning’s events, starting with when she walked into Donovan’s house and found Eve pointing a gun at her. But when she got to the last, she paused and grabbed Sean’s arm.
“She thinks he betrayed her, Sean. I have no idea how in the hell she got that idea, but you didn’t see her. You didn’t hear her. And she kept apologizing, for fuck’s sake. For taking my Jeep. For stealing money from a man she hadn’t even met.”
“Whoa, wait. Back up a minute. Eve thinks Donovan was going to turn her in to her stepfather?”
He sounded as aghast as Rusty had felt when she’d listened to Eve’s accusations.
“She believes it,” Rusty said quietly. “God, Sean. I hurt for her. She was devastated. Completely defeated. She loves him and yet she thinks—she knows—he betrayed her.”
“That’s crazy,” Sean refuted.
“To you and me, yes. But Sean, she absolutely believes it. I don’t know what happened to make her think it, but I saw the conviction in her eyes. I heard it in her voice. She was destroyed, and even more destroyed that she was leaving Travis and Cammie behind. And yet she trusted that Donovan would protect them. She thinks that she was just the means of Donovan getting what he really wanted. Kids. A family. One that didn’t include her. I’m telling you, Sean. If you could have seen and heard her, you wouldn’t be pissed over what she did. I knew she had no intention of shooting me. I was more worried that she would do it accidentally. I offered to help her. I wanted to help her. Because I couldn’t stand to look into her eyes and see so much pain that it took my breath away. And you know what she said?”
“What?” Sean asked gently.
Rusty hadn’t even been aware that he’d pulled her closer to him and that even now his hand was stroking up and down her back in a gesture of comfort. She had the ridiculous thought that she’d like it if he pulled her into his arms. But she shook off that moment of insanity and refocused on the matter at hand.
“She said that she couldn’t, that she wouldn’t involve me because it was too dangerous and she didn’t want anything to happen to me. When I asked her why she was leaving her brother and sister, she said that of the two, her stepfather or Donovan, whom would I prefer they be with? That she knew her stepfather would hurt them, but she didn’t believe for a moment that Donovan would do anything but love and protect them even if she wasn’t included in the picture. Damn it, Sean. She walked away because she thought Donovan was going to work a trade. Eve for the kids, and she was just collateral damage. She believes that with all her heart. And it breaks mine.”
This time Sean did pull her into his arms and hugged her gently. She could feel his breath against her hair and she closed her eyes, savoring the warmth—and comfort—of his body.
“This is going to destroy Donovan,” Sean said in a grim voice. “How long ago did she leave, Rusty? How much of a head start does she have?”
“I hit the alarm the minute she left. You got here in about five minutes, I’d say, so she hasn’t had that much of a head start.”
“Okay, then here’s what I want you to do. You get in touch with Donovan. Figure out how to tell him. I’ll put a BOLO out for your Jeep and Eve and get everyone I can on the case so we locate her as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Sean,” she said softly.
His brow wrinkled in confusion as she pulled away.
“What for? For doing my job?”
She shook her head. “For not jumping to conclusions when you learned what Eve had done and for looking for her instead of swearing out a warrant for her arrest.”