“Get some rest, Olivia.” Jada nodded.
“Okay.” I got up and gave her a quick hug.
My legs wobbled as I walked away, and wobbled more when a gust of wind blew by as I stepped outside. It was tiredness. Tiredness from not sleeping. Sunday night I didn’t sleep at all. Then it was just broken sleep for the nights that followed.
I got to my car and set off to Dad’s. He still left late on Wednesdays so I was hoping to catch him before he left. If he’d left already, I’d still go in. Right up to my old room.
I needed him because I knew he’d feel as torn as me.
Jada was Jada, and she could tell me to dig deeper until the cows came home, but I’d still feel like this.
I usually took her advice and took her guidance on board. This time felt different. I didn’t think Jada had been lied to the way Sam lied to me.
Admittedly, though, I did want to know the whole story. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know what it was he wanted to tell me. I’d had suspicions right from when I was looking over the documents from Stephens.
Dad told me everything was being kept quiet from the media, that included the aspect of Sam not working for Stephens. Marcus had told me Stephens hadn’t given any response to anything concerning Bradley. I expected that because realistically we weren’t anything to do with them.
It all looked like there were secrets and lies mingled into one. I liked neither.
I pulled up on Dad’s driveway, feeling relieved when I saw his car still parked in the garage.
Good, he was here. Maybe we could talk for a little bit before he left.
I went inside the house and heard movement in the kitchen.
I opened the door and my jaw dropped when I saw Sam picking up a stack of boxes.
He stopped when he saw me and froze midstride to the counter. We looked at each other.
My voice was stuck somewhere in my throat.
He crooked his head to the side and his blond locks drifted over his eye in the casual way I loved. It was the flutter of my heart that snapped me out of the shock of seeing him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Heat burned my cheeks and I frowned, waiting for his answer. At the same time I hoped he’d been set free and cleared of the murder charge.
“Your dad. I’ve been released into his custody.” His eyes held mine.
Released into his custody. So that was just bail. He was still in trouble.
Sam was still in trouble, just like the past.
And Dad, again, had rescued him. I loved his Good Samaritan routine. It just would have been nice if he shared his plans with me every once in a while.
This would have been a time when he should have definitely shared.
Chapter 4
Olivia
* * *
The emotions that clashed within me were comparable to a volcano seconds from eruption. Brimming and rising close to the edge, bubbling from steam and infernal heat.
The clash of everything brewed within me, and as I stared at Sam I actually found that I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t talk even though I had so many things to say.
“Custody…” I breathed, eventually, and pulled in a steady breath to clear my head. “So…you aren’t out of the woods yet?”
“Not by a long shot.” His eyes never left mine.
His eyes that gave me that look that always spoke his feelings for me.
I couldn’t do this. I just couldn’t. Dad really should have given me a heads up that Sam was going to be here. Then again, Dad wouldn’t have known that I was going to be here. It had been so long since I’d just dropped by at this time of morning that I couldn’t remember when it was.
Me, always and ever the workaholic.
I stepped back to go but Sam called me.
“Please, Olivia… Please don’t just go.”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, Sam.” My defense mechanisms were up. Add that to my exhaustion and that equaled not a good time to speak to me.
“Why? Why wouldn’t you?” He actually looked mad at me.
“That is so ridiculous to ask. Are you kidding me? How can you ask me that? You’re suspected of murdering my client. Jesus.” It sounded so bizarre.
“Do you think I did it?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think.”
“It matters to me. Do you think I killed Bradley? Look at me, Olivia, you know when I’m telling the truth.”
“I used to know. I don’t know you anymore.”
“That’s bullshit. It’s still me.” His voice shook. “It’s me, and you know when I’m telling the truth.”
“You lied to me and I couldn’t tell that. You made me believe you were this changed person who’d taken a new direction in life, but really you were here to steal Bradley’s research.”
“That’s different, and what I presented was the lie. I never actually confirmed anything.”
“That’s bullshit. How can you tell me that? So because I believed something you neither confirmed nor denied, you’re off the hook? No, Sam.” I shook my head at him. There was no justification in that.
“Fine, yes. Look, I know it’s complete bullshit. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t tell you the truth because I had my reasons.”
“What? You couldn’t let me find out you were back to your old self?” It really was the old him all over again. “This is bad on a different level. A man is dead, Sam. Bradley Henderson. It’s all over the news. It’s everywhere.”
There was so much media coverage that I couldn’t even turn on the TV or the radio. The news was all over the story. They left out Sam’s name, though, for protection and he hadn’t been charged yet. That had to be Dad’s doing. But if he was charged at the arraignment, his name would be out well before. Well, well before. Bradley was too much of an important person for the media to keep quiet for too long. I was sure they’d risk being sued over sacrificing the type of sales they could make on a piece revealing the prime suspect.
God, I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Olivia, there’s more to what’s happened than you know.”
“Yes, I’m sure there are worse things to find out. That’s your style all over. Whatever I know, or whatever I think I know, is just the tip of the iceberg.”
He tensed because he knew I was right.
“You can save it. Save it for someone else. I’m done with you. I’m done.” Tears stung the back of my eyes as those words fell from my lips.
“Done?”
“Yes.” So that was it.
I turned to go again.
“I work for the government and someone framed me. Someone killed Bradley and set it up so it looked like I did it.”
I stopped and stared at the door.
Government. There was no mention of that.
I twisted back around to face him.
“Who framed you?” I asked.
“My team, the unit I worked for. They did that to steal a chip Bradley invented. The people I work for are supposed to be secret. That’s why I couldn’t say anything. Not till now, not to anyone.”
Of course that pushed my damn buttons even more. “You asked me to trust you. The other day you asked me to trust you and I did it effortlessly. This is something you could have given me some information on. It’s serious stuff.”
“I know Olivia. Look, I came back to L.A. to steal Bradley’s chip, but I was made to believe that it was he who stole it. I was being used. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was going to tell you more about what I do, then this happened. I really didn’t mean to make this all look like I lied.” He looked like he was trying his best to give his best explanation, but he would fail because the whole damn thing was just unacceptable.
In my worked up state everything he said would have been unacceptable to me. No matter how much sense it made, or if it was good or bad. It was that thing again where I selfishly felt I should have been given some element of special treatment because
we were supposed to be trying to repair us. Damned the reasons and whatever protocol he was following.
“It never looked like you lied.” My voice took on a fragile edge. “You did lie. You actually did. You lied to me. Whether you say the words or just allow someone to believe it, it’s a lie. Considering what we’ve been through, I would have thought that nothing would have been worth that.” I might not have been able to speak my heart when I was with Jada, but I was doing it now.
Yes, all she advised was great, and Sam might have had his valid reasons. However, our situation was so delicate, as it was. Why make it worse?
“I forgave you for leaving me,” I added. “There was nothing to forgive about Coop’s death, just you and me. I forgave you for abandoning me, and you did this.” Damn it, a tear ran down my cheek.
He pressed his lips together and released a sigh. “I can’t take back the past, Olivia. I wish I could. I absolutely wish I damn well could. I can’t though, and as for now, there are some things I can’t just tell you.”
“Well, how come you just told me now? That seemed pretty easy. You said it with such ease,” I countered.
“Because…the minute I was arrested on Sunday, my contract got terminated. I got terminated. They know I know that if I try to contact them to verify my dealings here it won’t happen. They know that I know if I tell the wrong people they’ll just kill me. They also know that I know I have to find my own way out of this shit. For me, that means telling the people who I need to.”
I didn’t know what to think, and I was too tired to try.
“You could have still found a way to say something, before now. Anything.”
“I was too damn absorbed with being with you that I couldn’t think straight. I had this mission, but all I wanted was you.”
My cheeks burned and my head felt even lighter. His words reached that part of my heart that wanted him too.
At that moment, Dad came up behind me. The look on his face was one I rarely saw, and it was more associated with Coop. Stern and formidable, he glowered at Sam, not acknowledging me.
“Sam, do I have to remind you of our conversation?” Dad’s brows furrowed and he straightened, standing taller.
I looked from him to Sam and noticed the way the spark in Sam’s eyes went out.
“No, Sir.” Sam gave Dad a curt nod, looked to me with sadness in his eyes, then walked out through the back.
What was that about?
I turned to face Dad, finding he was already looking at me.
“What were you guys talking about?” I couldn’t imagine what they could have discussed to make Sam just ease off the way he did, and he didn’t even say goodbye to me. He didn’t say anything.
“I told him to stay away from you,” Dad replied.
My mouth fell open, and the buzzing that had started in my brain from the oncoming migraine flurried down the rest of my body.
“You did what?”
“This is not up for discussion.” Dad held up his hand and that just infuriated me.
“Dad, you can’t just do something like that and tell me it’s not up for discussion. This is my life.”
“I’m aware of that. Very aware, and I know the time has long past since you needed me to step in like this, because you aren’t a child anymore. None of that, however, changes the fact that you are my daughter.”
“Dad—”
“No. For years you saw that guy behind my back, Olivia. You never even told me you were engaged to him. You must have had your reasons for that.”
God, I didn’t know he knew. “How did you find out?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is this: I’ve watched him hurt you. And you have been through too much. I won’t stand by and allow this to happen when I can stop it. Look at Coop. I will never blame Sam for what happened to Coop, but I do blame my laid-back parenting for what happened to him. I was too cool and laid back with you guys. Too trusting when I shouldn’t have been. Far too trusting. I’m not doing that now.”
I brought my hands together and looked away from him. When I looked back the sternness softened.
“Why’d you bail him out? Why do you keep saving him?”
Dad looked out to the back door, as if he could see Sam.
“Someone has to.”
“But you told him to stay away from me?” It was all contradictory. He was here, so I’d have to see him.
“Olivia, I don’t know what he told you, but he has no alibi. There’s no witnesses, no cameras, nothing. And when we have a prime suspect like him, there’s no need to look elsewhere. He looks guilty, and this time if he goes away, it will be for a very long time. Life in prison. I don’t want you to have to deal with that.”
I swallowed past the lump that formed in my throat, biting against my back teeth.
Life in prison.
Sam would go to prison for life, if found guilty for murdering Bradley.
Dad was right, I couldn’t deal with that.
Not knowing where he was for those eight years was awful, but the possibility of him going to prison for life was worse.
There was no hope.
“I…have to go.” I couldn’t stay here either. I already knew I couldn’t from the minute I saw Sam.
With the bomb that Dad just dropped on me, I felt like hiding away from the world. Never seeing anyone ever again.
Not just Sam, everyone.
The worse thing ever for me was feeling helpless.
I hated it.
Chapter 5
Sam
I pressed the phone to my ear and spoke clearly. “Red Dragon 911.”
That was the code we gave out in the field when we were in trouble. We were supposed to call 4509, wait for the hollow sound, then speak the code. That’s what I did. It was supposed to go straight to the officer in charge at the Department of Defense. Knowing who that was, was above my pay grade.
The Red Dragon code was protocol for someone who needed backup. Not me, who’d clearly been abandoned. I was just going out on the limb, hoping that there was someone somewhere in that office who’d seen what happened.
Who’d seen that it was clear as fuck that my team had gone rogue and I was suffering for it.
Pointless as it seemed, I still did it. I still tried. It was my two hundredth time giving that damn code, but I wouldn’t stop. It was all I could do because today was proving to be another wasted day. And worse, another where I looked like I’d just pulled my story out of a hat.
We were at Patrick’s place. This was the first time I’d come here. He’d given the address when we first got to L.A.
Neither Xavier nor Oz told me where they’d be staying. They never usually did.
If we didn’t get stationed somewhere where we could all stay together then the unwritten rules were we could stay wherever the hell we wanted. For the guys it meant they could go a little wild and pick up loose women. For me, I just picked places that gave me a break from the guys. Places like the beach house.
Patrick’s apartment surprised me. It was more classy than the usual dives he’d gone for in the past. Seemed like the real bachelor’s pad with a great view of the sea front. It was somewhere I would have gone for if I hadn’t managed to get my house right on the beach.
What was even more surprising was, unlike the warehouse we’d been stationed in, Patrick’s place looked like he was still here. Like he could come back any minute. Except the landlady told us he hadn’t been back since Sunday. As he’d paid for the place for the month as contracted, it wasn’t her concern.
The warehouse, on the other hand, was cleaned out. Cleaned right out and looked like no one had been there in months. Just Sunday we’d had a big set up of equipment, flip charts, computers. Everything we’d need to carry out a mission.
It was the first place we went to investigate and the first place that made me look like my story was all a load of bullshit. While the cleanup of the place confirmed everything to me that I really did get left behind, it l
ooked to Joe and everyone else like I’d just made it up.
I moved from the window and walked into Patrick’s living room.
Joe and one of his forensics guys were in the garage, looking around out back.
There was a little shuffling sound that caught my attention. It came from the passage. When I diverted there, I found a woman standing dressed in a pair of tight shorts and a tank top. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun and she wore a pair of Oakley’s, which she removed when she saw me.
“I’m here for Patrick, is he around?” she asked.
“Haven’t seen him.” I thought I might use this meeting to my advantage. Clearly she must have been friendly with Patrick to think it was okay for her to just come in here. “I’m his cousin,” I lied.
“Oh, cool. Do you know when he’ll be back? We were supposed to be seeing each other last night.”
“No, he’s doing a job. Sometimes that can take forever.”
“Sure.” She looked disappointed. “He did kind of look stressed. I just wish he’d said something when I saw him yesterday.”
Yesterday… Good, there was a lead of sorts.
“You saw him yesterday?”
“Briefly. I work at the crab shack near the harbor. He was passing through. He just said ‘see you later.’ Anyway, I better go. Could you tell him I stopped by?”
“I most certainly will.” I nodded. She smiled and left.
I sighed and leaned back against the wall. Patrick was around this area yesterday. Was he still here?
That didn’t give me much, but it was something to work with.
Joe came through the long French doors with a frown on his face. He looked pissed.
When he saw me his brows snapped together.
“You got some real unsavory friends, you know that?” Joe’s frown deepened.
“He’s not a friend,” I corrected. “What happened?”
“That garage was filled with women’s underwear and boxes of condoms.”
I didn’t even want to think about what the hell it was Patrick got up to in his spare time.
Yours Truly Page 3