by A J Storm
Willow took a long breath at this point, staring at her hands folded in her lap. When she looked up at Chaos, tears were shining in her eyes.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love my sister. We were best friends, and I was happy for her, cheering her on. She enjoyed doing all that stuff. But my mother was comparing us, and I always came up with the short stick. My dad’s a sweetheart, but he refuses to stand up to her. She rules the house except for the horses. She knows nothing except they make her money.
“Nova is more like my mom—impressed with attention, glamor, and wealth. My sister has more smarts about it than Mom does, except when it comes to men. I’m more like my dad. I’d rather be out with the horses, fishing, swimming—anything outside in the open spaces. It’s nice to have money to do those things, but you don’t judge people by how much you have compared to how much they don’t. Are you sure you still want to take that bet?”
“Yes, I do. Ready?”
“Ready,” she answered.
Chaos drove along the long road to the crest of the hill, occasionally slowing to look over the horses. Reaching the house, he pulled up and parked right in front.
Bypassing the maid, her parents walked out the door, standing on the porch, staring at the strange truck. Her mother, of course, was dressed in new skinny jeans with a dress shirt and what Chaos thought looked like a cashmere vest over it. Mid-calf black leather, hi-heeled boots literally adorned her feet. And naturally, fashionable jewelry and pristine makeup finished the rest of her.
This woman does not want to grow old.
Her dad was a different animal. Sharp sweater over jeans and high-dollar boots—well worn. Nothing flashy, but still cool, warm, and friendly.
Mrs. Maxy had her arms crossed over her chest, scowling at the truck. It told Chaos she was closed and cold. Mr. Maxy was all smiles, especially when he saw his daughter climb out of the truck—the Mrs. never smiled.
“I told your father I had no idea who was in that truck and here you slide out of it, Willow,” she complained. “I should have known.”
“Yes, Mother. Dad, Mom, I’d like to introduce to you Chaos Jackson. His nickname is Chaos, and that’s what he goes by. He owns the Jackson Investigative Services out of Austin, and I’ve hired them to find Nova. My house was broken into and whoever it was, tore it up looking for something. I brought him with me today to help me search my office, hoping maybe Nova left it behind. Oh, and they broke into her house as well. It’s going to need cleaning up, and you probably ought to have a report made with the police made by your investigator, Dad.”
Chaos noticed her mother open her mouth, ready to comment on what Willow said, and by the looks of her, she was ready to give her an attitude. The way she was glaring at him let him know she wasn’t impressed. He’d seen it all before. His hand reached out for her dad’s because he knew the man would respond positively.
“Mr. and Mrs. Maxy, you have a beautiful ranch, and honestly, I’ve heard nothing but great things about your thoroughbreds from my friends who race. They’re always expressing how your horses are the best in Texas. My brother owns and runs a ranch in Oklahoma that raises Paints. When it’s time to breed them, your thoroughbreds are the genetic stock they want.”
When Chaos turned to Willow’s mom, her face hadn’t softened one bit, and now he was coming in for the kill.
“Mr. Maxy, I hope you don’t take offense, but Mrs. Maxy, I honestly can’t believe you’re Willow’s mother and not her sister. I’m sure you hear it all the time, but you look young and very beautiful.” He turned his body, smiling to a sarcastic-faced Willow.
“Really, Willow, you should have warned me. You know how much I love beautiful women.” He caught Willow rolling her eyes and pulled her close, his mouth up against her ear. “That’ll cost you.”
Her mother continued to stare down her nose at him, but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes as she ushered them both into the home. Mr. Maxy openly winked at Chaos.
“You know, Chaos was it? Your tattoos are out of the ordinary, to say the least, young man,” her mother threw out to the group.
Willow interrupted her mother’s musings. “Mom and Dad, we’re going to look in my office to see if Nova might have left something in there. Will you be in the den, kitchen, or formal living room?”
“We’ll be in the den, Willow. Take your time. Would you like anything to drink?” her dad answered.
“Iced tea, if you have any made,” Chaos suggested.
“Sweet or unsweetened,” Mrs. Maxy asked with a distasteful tone having to serve them drinks.
“Sweet, of course. Is there any other kind?” Chaos chuckled at his own statement.
“Fancy that, Willow, you’ve hired a true Southern gentleman.” A smirk spread across the older woman’s lips.
Willow shook her head and dragged him down the hall to her office.
“God, you’re making me want to hurl. Can you be any more fake?”
“Not fake, darlin’. Just exaggerating a little bit. Your mom is beautiful, and so is this ranch. I’m just adding the molasses for sweetness to my words.”
“You’ve added enough, okay?”
The two spent thirty minutes going through drawers and files but found nothing left by Nova. Willow was disappointed.
“There’s one more place to look. Down at the stable where Midnight’s kept. He’s her horse, and she loves him,” she explained. “First, you’ll have to spend some time drinking tea with my mother.”
“I can do that. It’ll give me more time to schmooze your parents.”
8
Another thirty minutes passed socializing with Willow’s parents. Chaos secretly laughed inside, watching the impatience on Willow’s face as her mother controlled the entire conversation. He finally stood, allowing Willow to escape her nightmare, suggesting they make their way to the stable. Mr. and Mrs. Maxy walked them to the front door with the Mrs. clearing her throat and sharing her thoughts.
“You must get Willow to bring you to one of our Sunday brunches. We can get better acquainted. Maybe you could explain why someone would cover their whole body in colors. Willow, the four-wheeler is in the barn. You’ll need it to get to the stable holding Midnight,” her mother offered.
Willow stood with her mouth hanging open as her mother held her hand out to Chaos. To her, it appeared like a limp noodle hanging in the air. Her father was laughing as he gripped Chaos’ hand and shook it.
“You know you make me sick, don’t you?” she whispered as they walked to the barn. Climbing behind the wheel of the vehicle, she drove with Chaos sitting next to her. She jammed her foot down on the gas pedal, throwing his body to the side of the ATV, forcing him to grab onto the dash.
“You’re trying to kill me, huh?” Chaos died laughing as he asked.
“Pretty much.” She gave him a wink, then explained the stable they needed was on the other end of the ranch and couldn’t be reached easily by truck. The pastures were spread out in all directions, and they used a lot of four wheelers to manage them. Chaos also learned they used a lot of farm tractors to move feed and hay around.
Twenty minutes later, they reached a massive stable where several horses were being housed. Chaos thought the stable was a lot better than some homes. He didn’t know what he thought of it and kept his opinion to himself. Although he expected he already knew what she thought of it all.
The two walked down the concrete aisle between filled stalls. Beautiful horses looked out or hung their majestic heads over the gates, curious about what was going on.
“How many stables this size are on your property?”
“Twenty.”
“And each one holds how many horses when full?”
“Each one holds fifty horses,” she answered, looking as if she was trying to figure where he was going with the questions.
“It’s a big outfit.”
“Yes, it is. Dad hires many ranch hands, plus the hands who haul the feed, hay, and equipment. I bet I know more
about how this place runs than my dad realizes. I do the books, so I know. And here we are,” she announced as she stopped in front of a stall. “This is Midnight.”
Inside the stall was the most breathtaking pure black thoroughbred Chaos had ever seen. “I can see why Nova babies this beauty.”
“We all do. Come on, step inside and help me search through her tack. Nova’s always kept all of it inside the stall, so she could care for the horse herself.”
Chaos and Willow inspected everything inside the stall, including the damn horse’s hooves. She finally threw her hands in the air, declaring she gave up.
“No, we don’t give up. Calm down and think. Have we looked at everything she used on her horse? Is anything missing in here? Obviously, she kept all her tack separate from the rest of the items. Think it through. What would she do, step-by-step?”
“Oh, wait—her show saddle is missing. She kept it separate, not wanting any scuffs or scratches to mar the shine on the black leather.” Chaos followed her as she stomped outside the stall. She made a run for the tack room. “There it is,” she said, pointing to a solid black saddle. “I’m going to need your help when we turn this thing over to look underneath. Look on top first.”
He looked all over the saddle, looking for secret places big enough to hide anything. He had no idea what could be that small because obviously, the saddle wouldn’t hold paper files. Finding zilch, he decided to flip the saddle on the hay and let Willow search.
She felt around at the back of the saddle opposite the horn and used her smaller fingers to dig and prod the leather around the stitching. Watching her, he knew she was tired and ready to call it quits. She ran her finger along the edge once more, then shouted.
“There’s something here—in between the stitches. Help me pull this apart.” It took her several tries until she pulled out a small USB drive on an extremely small stick. She stood in front of him several moments, staring at the small device in her palm, and finally, reached up to grab his neck, holding him close for several seconds. “Thank you, Chaos, we did it. I couldn’t have made it without you.”
He stroked her back, returning her hug and enjoying the feel of her body against him. Then, he pulled away. “Let’s get out of here and head back to the office. We need to look at what this baby contains.”
Chaos drove back to the barn, depositing the ATV and rushed up to the house to his truck. Thank God, her parents had gone in. He gave out a chuckle, thinking he would’ve probably lost the standing with her mother if they ignored them.
Willow was quiet. He periodically shot his eyes over to the side to peer at her and guess at her state of mind. Once when he did, his eyes darted to the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of a vehicle that had been behind them after they left the ranch. He wasn’t sure it was anything to worry about, but he would keep his eyes focused on it and not say anything to her.
Back into Austin, he turned off I-35, onto West 45th Street, and sure enough, the vehicle turned behind him. Rather than go straight to the downtown office, he drove around the backstreets of the city. The car behind began to have trouble keeping up but always managed to catch up.
That is until Chaos broke the speed limit, dodging traffic, and running lights and stop signs. Willow’s face scrunched in wonder as if trying to determine what he was doing. Finally, she gave a huff and spoke.
“Are you trying to kill me, now? You’re driving outrageously.”
“We’ve been followed since we left the ranch, and I’m doing my damn best to lose the asshole,” he defended.
Deciding not to race through the streets of downtown Austin, Chaos drove into an alley. He parked behind a two-story building, sitting between two high-rise glass office structures, one on each corner.
“We’ll sit here and wait. Give them time to discover they lost us, then head for the entrance to our parking garage,” Howler offered.
“What if they’re waiting by the alley entrance?”
“They won’t be, trust me. They weren’t anywhere behind us when I pulled in here. What they’ll do is drive up and down several streets, trying to locate us, then give up. It’s typical.” Smiling at her, he gave a wink. “It’s what I’d do. We’re only two blocks from the office. The building in front of us is our favorite downtown bar where the employees come after work when we’re all here.”
Willow had been staring at her fingers and turning the USB drive over between them while he watched her. Even when her face was scrunched up in worry, he thought she was stunning. His heart told him to surround her with his arms, but the mind, well, it was straight-laced. His mind instructed him to follow proper protocol and say no. At that point, he could have had an out loud conversation with himself, but Willow would have thought he was daft.
So, he started his truck and crept down the alley to the entrance, looking both ways. He didn’t see any sign of the car as he sat there, so he pulled into traffic, driving around the block for security before he proceeded to the penthouse.
Once inside the apartment, Willow sat at the table where Chaos had worked the night before, his computer still in the same spot on the table. She handed him the drive after his computer was up and running and watched his face, wishing she could find a way to get inside of his walls. Most of the time, he was flirty and fine with her, but one mention of his tats, he became guarded and dark. She’d find what made him tick and work her way inside even if it killed her.
“You’re making me nervous,” he grumbled.
“What?”
“You’ve been staring a hole through my face for ten minutes. Is there something hanging out of my nose?”
“Ew, no. Trust me, I’d tell you,” she answered, then laughed at him.
“Okay, it’s loaded, but it’s password protected. Any ideas?”
“Try barrel racer thirteen. That’s how old she was when she got her first horse. She also used it on her social media sites for her password.”
“Right. Here goes—nope. Try another.”
“Um, how about barrel racer twenty? It’s her birthday.”
He tapped in the letters and numbers but got the same beep of rejection. “Try another name. Something only a few would know.”
“Ahh, I know—Midnight twenty.”
“Midnight, yeah, why didn’t I think of that?” he asked, typing it in but getting the same rejection sound.
Frustrated, she stared at his fingers sitting on the computer keys. What could Nova be thinking? She’s just not that computer savvy. At least I didn’t think she was.
“Oh, you trickster sister of mine—try Midnight twenty-eight. That’s my birthday.”
“We’re in. There’re only two files on this stick. One’s short. We’ll start with it first.”
Focused on the screen, Willow’s eyes watched as a short letter opened.
Willow, I’m praying you find this USB drive before anyone else does. But knowing dad’s security, no one can get to Midnight but you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was going to go into hiding. The baby and I are in danger. I stole the other file on this drive. You need to take it to someone who can help us.
Don’t trust any of the normal routes for help. I love you, sis.
Nova
She lifted her eyes from the screen to his face as he punched on a couple of keys. “I printed this you for. The printer is in the office. I need to open the other file. My gut says it’s the key to all of this.”
She stood and walked into his office to retrieve the letter. Chaos was quiet, searching the screen, pulling up rows and columns of information in date order. Willow tilted her head, watching him search the lists.
“All right, give. What have you found in there?”
“Sit and listen to this. Viper is a lawyer here in Austin by the name of Kenneth Williams. That name mean anything to you or your family?”
“No, it isn’t familiar at all. What’s the rest of that stuff?”
“One column is titled date of birth. The second column is titled
mother’s name and the third, well, the third is titled placement family. The fourth column is titled price. I’m not sure, but it looks like Mr. Williams, aka Viper, is dealing in babies.
Her eyes grew wide as she thought about what he’d said. Tears filled them, shining brightly under the lights. Then when her focus centered on what it meant for Nova and the baby, anger overtook her body, her eyes glaring at the columns on the screen.
Her emotions raw and running crazy in her mind, she finally asked Chaos her question. “How do we catch him? Nova won’t make an appearance until Viper is caught, or he finds her first. We have to do something, Chaos,” she demanded.
9
Chaos sat at the table silently staring at the computer screen. At first, she was afraid he hadn’t heard her. But then she realized he was studying her face as if trying to analyze her reactions. It made her angrier the longer he sat there not talking to her. There was no holding her back.
“You know, sometimes you can be such a damn hypocrite. You stormed out of this room the other night and covered your body with a shirt when you caught me studying your tattoos. You act like it’s a pain in your ass when I ask you what some of them mean. Now, you sit and refuse to answer my questions, scrutinizing me, attempting to get inside of my head.”
She stopped long enough to draw in a breath as tears ran down her face, she was so angry. Then she started again.
“I’ve got news for you. If I can’t care enough about you to ask questions to get to know you better, then you have no right to dig inside my mind and understand my thoughts. Now answer my damn questions, or I swear to God, I’m going to call a cab and go home.” She sobbed after her last outburst.
Chaos jumped from his chair and wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “Whoa, whoa, Willow, where is this coming from? Of course, I’ll answer your questions. I just got lost in thought watching your face change through your emotions.” He pulled her against his body, forcing her into a tight embrace.