Blindsided by Katy Lee Page A

looks less covered. Why did you get off the secluded roads?” Ethan asked.
    “There’s a town up ahead. Towns mean people and people mean phones.”
    “Who are you calling?”
    “Cora. I need to tell her I’m all right. We have a safe room in the house and she needs to get in it. Something tells me your man Pace will use whatever or whomever to get to me.”
    “Why would he use your maid? Don’t you think he would use your uncle first? He’s family.”
    “Shows what you know. Your FBI file on me may list the facts of my life, but not the truth. Cora is more than a maid. She’s the only mother I’ve had since I was three. Cora and my brother Wade are the only family I care about. My uncle is nothing to me. And he feels pretty much the same way about me.”
    “Enough to have you killed?”
    Roni held her tongue for a moment. She had secrets about her family that most likely never graced Ethan’s FBI files. But people’s lives were at stake— her life was at stake. And if her uncle was the cause, she wouldn’t be held responsible for breaking her vow of silence.
    “This is between you and me only. This doesn’t go back to your leader. Got it?”
    Ethan gave a tight nod.
    “When I said I had family in the CIA, I meant it. Twenty-eight years ago when the car my father was driving went over the cliff outside our home, it sent us all either to our deaths or...wishing we were dead,” she swallowed hard as she spoke, “but it was no accident.”
    “I know, I read the reports. Including the latest ones.”
    “But you haven’t read the real ones. The ones on file were altered to protect those of us who survived.”
    “Your brother and you.”
    She peered his way and pushed out the rest. “And possibly my younger brother.”
    Ethan squinted in confusion. “Your younger brother was reported dead.”
    “Fabricated. His remains were not found in the car with my parents. They weren’t found anywhere near the car or the surrounding area.”
    “Why would they be altered?”
    “Because someone wanted us watched over and protected, and with Luke missing, he couldn’t be. If word got out that he wasn’t dead, he might be hunted down. The files stated he was dead to protect anyone from going after him.”
    “So what does your uncle have to do with this?”
    “He was friends with the killer.”
    “Did Clay know his friend planned to have you all killed?”
    “He says no.”
    “But you don’t believe him.” It wasn’t a question, so Roni didn’t bother to answer.
    “It doesn’t matter if I do or not. Wade does. He looks to Uncle Clay like I look to Cora. As a parent. And now that Wade has found Lacey and married her, he can come home and begin to heal. That’s all I ever wanted for him. To be whole again. He has post-traumatic stress disorder.”
    “What about you? Have you allowed yourself to heal?”
    “All I’ve done is heal. Over and over again. Every surgery would start the process all over again. And as you saw, the scars will never really go away.”
    “I don’t mean physically. I mean emotionally.”
    “Nothing to worry about there. I was only three. I don’t even remember the accident, and I don’t want to. I’ve seen how Wade struggles with his memories. He was eight and had to pull me out while I was covered in flames. That’s a memory I don’t want to remember. Besides, a memory only makes you disengage from the present. It makes you lose focus on what’s in front of you.”
    She nodded for Ethan to look at what was far ahead of them on the open road.
    Her Porsche had reappeared.
    The car faced her from the other lane, cruising toward her at the same high speed she traveled. A game of chicken. Who would turn off first?
    “Really, Jared?” she mumbled.
    “How can you be sure it’s him? The car’s still too far away. You can’t see anything behind the reflection of the windshield.”
    “We’ll know in a moment.”
    “Before or after you crash into him?”
    “When I see how