Page 9 of Deadly Lies

I groaned. “Nope. Let’s go to Taco Bell. They have vegan options.”

She bit her lip. “Right. We can hit both.”

Ash was uncharacteristically nice to me today. No snarky remarks. No side-eye. Just banal conversation. It was almost if we were friends. Wow, it had been so long since I’d had a close girlfriend. I realized that I really craved that female attention—maybe part of that was because my mom always seemed distant, which now made sense after I’d found out that she wasn’t my biological mom though that wasn’t any excuse.

And I still didn’t know who my birth mother was.

I still seriously had doubts that Ash was my sister, but wouldn’t know for sure until we got the DNA results. But even so, I wanted to bond with her.

Like the time we had on the way up to meet Tiffany’s mom. Where I had seen Julián for the first time since he had been kidnapped from me.

I ordered my vegan Mexican pizza and then went across the street where Ash ordered a Double-Double, Animal Style.

I smiled at her, despite the fact that the scent of animal flesh made me want to gag. “So, do you know what would be fun? We could pretend we were Ksenya and Autumn. Just for old times’ sake.”

“Like omg! This road trip is going to be so epic.”

I laughed. This was the Ash…er, Autumn I liked. “It will be fun to go together with you.” I busted out my best Ukrainian accent.

Ashley broke into a smile. “Did you know that Tiffany was working for NCIS? She was actually pretty cool. I miss her.”

My jaw literally dropped as I almost choked on my Mexican pizza.

“You are fucking with me. You never told me this.”

She rolled her eyes. Well, Ashley was back. “Of course, I didn’t. Why would I? I just thought Grant would’ve told you.”

This time, I literally choked on my food. I grabbed for my water. “Excuse me? Come again? What the fuck are you talking about? Grant knew that Tiffany worked for NCIS? Are you sure?”

Her lips spread into a smug grin. “Positive.”

“Really, how so?” I wanted to slap that expression off her face.

“Because,” she took another bite of her own food, “I told him.”

Heat rushed to my head. What did this mean? If Tiffany worked for NCIS, did she tip Joaquín off about something the night she was murdered? Did Joaquín really kill her? Yes, he confessed, but he also admitted to raping me, so at this point, I didn’t trust anything he said.

Grant knew this and didn’t tell me? Why?

Granted, I kept plenty from him. But I had my reasons. He still rolled his eyes when I talked about Joaquín. For the sake of our marriage, we had agreed to disagree.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Ashley? When did you tell him?”

“I told him the same time I told him that I was Ashley, not Autumn. Right before he married you.”

That bastard. I was going to murder him when I got home. How could he not tell me when he knew that this case has been my life? When I still spent hours searching for clues to the questions that I would never have answers to? And even worse, if he was keeping that from me, what else was he keeping from me?

But I wouldn’t let Ashley get under my skin if that was what she was trying to do. Normally, I would assume that was definitely her purpose, but I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. That she wasn’t telling me this to put a strain on my marriage. But that she had a deeper reason.

I was going to call her out.

“Why, Ash? Why did you just tell me that? To piss me off? Get me upset at my husband?”

Ash shook her head. “No, Mia. Not at all. I’ve been working on the corruption within the Navy SEALs for years. I have looked everywhere for answers but have come up empty-handed. You are smart. You know Grant and Joaquín better than anyone. If anyone can get answers, it’s you.” She exhaled loudly. “And I’m trying to trust you. I thought by now, after all you have been through, that you deserved to know.”

I sat there in the hot car, completely stunned. Furious at my husband for keeping this information from me. Furious at my brother for lying repeatedly. Furious for constantly being blindsided by my loved ones.

“And what did she do for NCIS?”