Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

to believe, but a couple of days pass and sure as shootin’, the girl on the video, Miss Thea Gale, pops up in the Colby Free Press as deceased in the tornado. So I was pretty spooked, but I didn’t know who Michael Maddox was or where in tarnation to find his so-called show.”

Ol’ Mad Dog laughed, as if delightfully amused this plucky field mouse of a woman didn’t know he was only the most popular hardball interviewer on television. “I’m glad you found me.”

“Well, ‘twasn’t hard to find ya, but it’d sure ‘ave been easier to bathe a bobcat than it was to get any of yer people to listen to me. Thank goodness Miss Gale left me her badge or they never would’ve believed me. By the end of it, my feathers were as ruffled as a hen in a hurricane. But here I am and the only reason is because I watched that there video of Miss Gale’s. Poor child runnin’ for her life. Not from the twister, mind you, but a fellow FBI agent who’d she’d discovered was involved in sex trafficking. She wanted the truth out and she knew this man, Clayton Kenyon, was bound and determined to stop her, even kill her. So, Michael, I had no choice but to come find you so she didn’t die in vain.”

Chagrin lighted Maddox’s eyes at her calling him by his first name, making him flash his trademark bemused smirk. “Sounds like you’re her guardian angel.”

“Naw, I’m just an ol’ horse lady from Kansas who wants to put a stop to the same things Thea Gale gave her life to. Even if’n it is our own government employees who’s doin’ it.”

“I’m curious to see this mysterious video which moved you to go to such great lengths,” Maddox said as the camera zoomed up on the cell phone. “How about we take a look?”

Even Sera’s blustering in the background had grown silent as the live show unfolded, revealing Thea. She looked into her phone’s camera with her blonde hair in braids, behind the wheel of her father’s old pickup, spilling her guts as she raced through traffic.

“I’m ditching this phone along with my credentials in the hopes Clay’ll no longer be able to track me, but if not these will probably be my last words and I will not take his secrets to the grave with me.”

Conviction poured from her lips as she relayed how she’d gained Clay’s trust so she could feed him false details about contacting and communicating with potential sex traffickers. Using alternate accounts via a personal computer she’d been able to draw him and his associate out for an in-person meeting. She then gave details of where chat logs and video evidence could be obtained for evidence. Clay had realized the meeting had been a setup and they’d run.

Clay’s heart raced as he waited for Thea to reveal his associate’s identity, sealing his fate for good. It continued to thump hard even when she didn’t.

Maybe Thea hadn’t checked the ID in the wallet Sera had dropped in their escape. By the time she’d gone to her safe-deposit box and had switched cars to her father’s old truck, Clay had already taken Titan to Animal Control. She’d been running hard ever since.

It wasn’t a stretch for Clay to envision how viewers would see Thea, how his colleagues would believe her. No doubt they were already scrambling into position to investigate all her claims. They had no choice, seeing as how the bitch had gone public with everything. Add in that Todd Coleman was already tipped off to God knows what else. Clay’s career with the FBI was fucked. Thoroughly.

When Thea was done blabbing everything she had on him, she stared into the camera and said, “Mandy, my only regret in this life will be dying before I found you.”

It didn’t escape Clay how close she’d come. But he’d make sure she’d never get any closer to the truth. He’d tease her and mislead her the way she had him. So much anger boiled inside of him at Thea’s going public with her accusations. She’d played him for a fool. All of his leverage had now been rendered useless.

“Couldn’t heed my warning, eh?” Sera shrieked into Clay’s cell loud enough Maddox could probably hear her out on set. “Thought you could send her to hell and she wouldn’t drag us all along? I warned you she’d be trouble. Trouble is all she is, even from the grave.”

“Thea’s not dead.” Then Clay quickly added, “I have her here with me.” As if this might appease Sera. Perhaps impress her. Remind her he wasn’t the fuck-up she believed him to be.

“She’s…still…alive?” The words slowly raked across her tongue, her ranting momentarily stalled.

Another coughing fit broke through. Before Clay could swallow down the swig of water he’d taken and respond, she’d gathered her wits and her anger back.

“Exactly who died in the tornado, then?”

“Aimee. Look, I had to say the body was Thea’s. I couldn’t have Aimee’s identity coming out with an autopsy. They’d tie her original disappearance to her tattoo and brand…link it all back to you.”

Sera didn’t respond. Her silence had a sharper spear to it than her tantrums. But it was what she finally said that cut him deepest of all. “You wanted her all to yourself with no rules, didn’t you? You’re obsessed with her. You always have been. Tell me, Clay, how many times have you wished it’d been her that night?”

He had a gut-churning feeling Sera already knew the answer. With a measured breath, he reminded her, “Holding back isn’t in either of our natures, Sera. And I’m tired of living with so many rules.”

“So many,” she taunted. “Don’t be so obsessed with her as to be careless, Clay. You still have my Phoenix with you. I haven’t begun to prepare Savanah for that side of the Ring.”

Clay flicked his eyes to Aimee. Savanah had been her moniker since becoming a Phoenix, and