Free Enemy Outside (Unseen Enemy Book 2) by Marysol James Page A

moment. “We can talk openly, right? And if we do, nothing we say has to leave this room. Agreed?”
    She nodded.
    Dallas sighed. “It’s been pretty obvious from the first time we all met up in that hospital waiting room that Jenny was hurt badly in some way. By a man, clearly. We all know this.”
    “You and the guys?”
    “Yeah. We saw lots of assaulted women overseas, and we can recognize the signs pretty fucking fast. She seems best with Chris, so the rest of us have just kept our distance. We let Jenny set the boundaries, and we totally respect them.” He drank some more tea. “I don’t want to dig in to what happened to her, baby, but I do need to know a few things about her attack.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I need to be completely certain that there’s no connection between the man who hurt Jenny and the person stalking you.”
    Olivia looked at him, thinking. Finally, she said, “OK. I’ll tell you a bit. Enough for you to make that decision. Not one word more.”
    “Alright. First, how long ago was she hurt?”
    “Just over six years ago.”
    He blinked, surprised that it had been so long. He’d assumed that whatever had happened to Jenny had occurred maybe two years ago, at most.
    So what happened to her was so bad, so traumatic, she’s still reeling. Goddammit .
    “And the man who did it…”
    “Men.”
    He paused, feeling a bit sick. “Men. How many?”
    Liv swallowed. “Four.”
    “Four.” Dallas stared down at his hands, wanting to strangle someone. An image of Jenny setting a piece of chocolate cake down in front of him came to mind; she’d been smiling and glowing that one night at her restaurant, so happy to be hosting them all at her place. Dallas had never seen her so relaxed, so completely beautiful. Chris had hardly been able to keep his eyes off her that evening, and Dallas hadn’t blamed him at all.
    He took a breath and removed the personal element from all of this. “Where are these men now?”
    Liv shrugged, her eyes cold. “No idea. They served their jail time, such as it was, and are now free men.”
    He looked up sharply. “How long ago were they released?”
    “Oh, years ago.” The anger in her voice was palpable. “The one guy got three years, and he served less than half-that. The others got shorter sentences, and were out even sooner.”
    “They’re in Denver?”
    “Maybe. They – what happened took place in the mountains, just outside the city. They may still be around.”
    “I need their names, Olivia. I need to find them.”
    She nodded. “I’ll write them down for you.” She hesitated. “Can we leave it there for now? See what you find out?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “If they’re gone or dead or whatever, I see no need to take it any farther. I’m just trying to cross them off the suspect list, and as soon as I do that, I’ll let it go.”
    “OK,” she said. “And you’ll look in to Emma and Kat?”
    “Yeah, a bit. Just enough to make sure that they aren’t being followed or surveilled without their knowledge or permission. As soon as I eliminate them as possible unwitting sources of information, I’ll drop the investigation.”
    “One more thing, Dallas.” She spoke quietly.
    “Name it.”
    “I know your team is good and professional, but…”
    “I’ll handle the investigations myself,” he said, knowing what she was going to say even before she said it. “Nobody else, I swear it. Just me.”
    “OK,” she said. “Thank you.”
    He nodded. “You’re welcome, hon.” He looked at her now, saw that she was more relaxed than she had been even a few minutes earlier. “So… tell me about your day tomorrow.”
    “Oh,” she said. “Nothing too exciting, I think. A few meetings with the Hope Perfume people.”
    “A new campaign?”
    “Yeah. The photo shoot is in a couple of weeks.” She smiled. “So this dinner with you now is the last big meal I’ll have for a while… I need to get in to a fancy, skin-tight evening