Someone Like Her Read Online Free PDF

them.”
    More senseless words. He waited for her to explain, but she remained silent. Everything he knew about her and the boss passed through his mind. If she was afraid of the police, it had to go back to their mother. Didn’t everything?
    “What did Lovey Dovey do?” Her eyes shot up to his. He’d hit his target. It didn’t please him.
    “I can’t tell you,” she whispered.
    “You can and you will.”
    “Let it go, Jake.”
    He’d be damned if he would. “Why are you afraid of the police? I can be as stubborn as you, so you might as well tell me or we’ll be here forever.” It was hard to know if her sigh was one of surrender or annoyance.
    “If I tell you, you can’t tell Logan. If you do, he’ll hunt the man down and kill him, then I’ll be visiting my brother in prison.” She half smiled. “And then Dani will hate me for it.”
    He matched her half smile with a full one. “I would never do anything to make Dani unhappy. Your secret’s safe with me.” He was digging his own grave by keeping Maria’s confidences, but she seemed satisfied by his answer. She lifted her chin, and her eyes were as dark as the black clouds of a thunderstorm.
    “When I was fifteen, Lovey Dovey was arrested for prostitution. Again.” Her chuckle grated in his ears. “The cop who busted her turned out to be not such an honorable guy. She got him to agree to a trade. Her favors for him looking the other way.”
    Maria lowered her head again as though she could no longer meet Jake’s eyes. “My mistake was to stop by at the wrong time. I was living with Mrs. Jankowski by then, but whenever Logan sent me money, I’d buy a few bags of groceries for my mother.” She shrugged. “Any money Lovey Dovey got her hands on went to booze and cigarettes.”
    Jake didn’t like where this seemed to be headed, but the door had been opened and as much as he wanted to slam it closed, she needed to tell her secret. “Go on.”
    Her fingers were laced together, and her thumbs spun furiously around each other. “He took one look at me and changed his mind about what would get Lovey Dovey out of trouble. Thankfully, Logan had taught me how to fight off a man.”
    “So, he didn’t—”
    “No, but not from lack of trying. My loving mother sat in a corner and watched. I think she might’ve even been turned on by it.” She leaned her body forward and stared down at her feet. “So, that’s why I don’t like cops. I know most of them are good men, I really do, but what if there’s another one like him?”
    Jake came close to putting a dent in his hood with his fist. Well, he’d asked. He suddenly hated her mother with a fierceness he’d never felt before in his life for anyone.
    “Maria.” He gathered her into his arms and let his touch speak the words he couldn’t find. She curled into him and he felt like he was holding a fragile kitten, but even that was deceiving. She’d fooled them all, even her brother. She’d put on a front, a magic act that had them believing she was untouched by the horrors of being Lovey Dovey’s daughter. But the scars were there if one only looked deep enough.
    “You’re not going to tell Logan, are you?” she asked, her voice muffled by the press of his shoulder against her mouth.
    He wanted to, wanted to shout his rage at her mother, the cop, even the boss. “Did you ever tell anyone?”
    She shook her head. “Who was there to tell? The police?”
    “Your brother would have been a good start, but I get why you think you couldn’t. What’s the cop’s name?”
    “Why, so you can kill him?”
    “I won’t, I’ll just beat him to within an inch of his life.” And then maybe kill him.
    “I don’t know his name. Never did, never wanted to.”
    That was just too damn bad. He walked to the passenger side and opened the door. “Let’s go see the police. After that, we’ll talk about why you want to find the girl.”

CHAPTER FOUR

    J ake refused to let Detective Nolan take Maria into