“Today, in Cambridge...” His cheeks rose as a new brighter light came to his gaze.
“Yes?”
He reached for my hands. “You’re so fucking amazing.”
“Well, if that leads you to drinking—”
“No,” he interrupted. “I didn’t want to talk to that minister.”
It was my smile’s turn to bloom. “That was rather obvious, Sterling.”
His head shook. “You don’t get it.”
“What don’t I get?”
“Me.”
I intertwined our fingers. “I thought you said that I do. I get you forever. Have you changed your mind?”
“Hell no. It’s that anyone else would have known I didn’t want to go into that church and would have told her no.”
My shoulder moved up and down. “I’m working on that “Yes, Mr. Sparrow” response.”
“Don’t, sunshine. I mean it’s sexy as hell and makes me instantly hard, but I admire your tenacity. We wouldn’t have found whatever is inside that lockbox without you.”
“You wouldn’t have needed to find it without me. It seems I’ve brought all the baggage the old wives’ tale warned you about, what your mother—”
Sterling’s finger came to my lips. “I don’t believe that.” He inhaled and exhaled. “No matter what, I won’t regret finding you, Araneae. You’re the fucking best thing I’ve ever had in my life.”
Moving his finger from my lips, I brushed mine against his, our kiss soft. “I’m glad you found me. Now, let’s eat and get on the plane.”
Once we were both eating, he said, “I should take a shower.”
“I’ll make you a deal.”
“Oh yeah...?” His tone was returning not only to normal, but with his more calculating, sexy tenor.
“Yeah.”
“What deal would that be?”
“Eat and we’ll get Patrick or Garrett to drive us to the plane. Then once we’re on the plane and on our way to Denver, I’ll shower with you.”
Sterling’s cheeks rose. “When I was a kid, my nannies would try to get me to eat. Never once was there a deal like that."
“Well, good,” I said with a chuckle.
Shaking his head, he continued to eat.
Although only a little over an hour had passed since the time I walked into Sterling’s office and the time Garrett drove the SUV, pulling up at the private airport—where we’d already been this morning and afternoon—the evening sky was beginning to darken. The clouds had cleared, leaving a chill in the early September air.
As the SUV came to a stop, I noticed other cars. Before asking, I looked to Sterling and Patrick. By the keen sense of their gazes, it was clear that whatever had been bothering Sterling earlier was forgotten, at least temporarily, and they had new fires at hand.
“Four Sparrows,” Patrick said.
“I don’t like them riding on the plane with us,” Sterling said, “but it makes sense. Having them with us, we’ll never be without protection.”
Before I could speak, under the lights of the airport’s parking lot, the doors of the other cars opened and four rather large men stepped out, each looking a tad scarier than the one before.
“Do these men work for you?” I asked, hoping the answer was yes.
“Have them gather over there,” Sterling said, motioning toward the rear of the plane, the part painted like a sparrow’s tail. “I’ll get Araneae up and inside to the back cabin. Then have all of them sit in front at the table with you, the partitions closed. Just because they’re protecting her, it doesn’t mean they need to be near her.”
Patrick nodded knowingly. “Give me two minutes.”
“Why don’t you want—?” I started to ask.
“These men wouldn’t be on this flight if we didn’t trust them,” Sterling said. “They’ll protect you with their lives. That doesn’t mean I want them close to you.”
I nodded, knowing I was out of my league with what was happening, totally trusting Sterling and Patrick’s decisions. “Okay.”
The group of men met with Patrick in a small circle as Sterling and I walked up the stairs to the cabin of the plane. Keaton and the new attendant named Millie met us at the door. We’d seen them both this morning.
“Mr. Sparrow,” Keaton said, nodding to Sterling. He turned to me and smiled. “Ms. McCrie.”
“Hello.” I looked to both of them. “I’m so sorry to change your plans again.”
“Not a problem,” Keaton said.
I knew it was. I also knew from Jana that no one would complain to Sterling even if they thought it was an inconvenience. It made me wonder if all these people had pasts that somehow intertwined with Sterling and his crusade to right his father’s wrongs.
“Patrick and the other associates will be and are to stay in the front of the plane,” Sterling instructed. “Help them if they need anything, but they’re not to cross the partitions.”
“Yes, sir,” Keaton answered.
Millie’s eyes were a bit wider. I wasn’t certain she was as accustomed to all of this as Jana had been. While that thought settled in my mind, I hoped that her inexperience was a good thing. A few steps behind, Millie followed us through an archway to the main cabin, stopping to close the partitions on either side.
As Sterling and I sat in the belted seats, she came closer. “Is there anything I can get you, Mr. Sparrow, Ms. McCrie?”
“We have baggage that should be taken to the bedroom. Confirm that it’s there before takeoff. Once we’re in flight, we’re not to be disturbed.”
“Yes, sir,” she said with a nod before disappearing toward the back of the plane.
I leaned closer. “So does that mean...about that shower?”
Sterling’s dark eyes burned with a smoldering light I’d missed earlier in the evening. “You made me a deal.”
“I did.”
“No one backs out of a deal with Sterling Sparrow.”
My lips curled upward. “While that hadn’t been my plan, now I’m suddenly intrigued about what the resulting consequences might entail.”
With a grin, Sterling shook his head. “Have you heard from Louisa?”
I looked down at my phone. “Not recently. The most up to date was a text from Winnie saying that she’s with Louisa’s family in the waiting room and there’s no news.”
Sterling’s hand covered mine on the armrest. “She’s going to be fine and so is the baby.”
“Kennedy.”
“Is that for sure?” he asked.
“Well, it was before she was kidnapped because of me.”
“What do you think about that?” His dark stare bore into me. “The name, not the kidnapping.”
I sighed. “I like that my name will carry on without me.”
He reached for my chin and sighed. “Once this is done, I’m certain we can petition for your identity. With your mother’s assistance and the DNA results, it may take a while, but it should be doable.”
“Can’t Reid just push some buttons?”
“He could, but if he did that, it might be more difficult to prove you really are Araneae and not just someone who changed her name.”
I turned his way. “Why would it matter? I don’t care what anyone else thinks. You believe I’m me. My mother does. I do. No one else matters.”
Sterling inhaled and exhaled.
“What?”
“Sunshine, let’s take one day at a time.”
He was right.
“There may come a day when you want the world to recognize you as Araneae McCrie. I will support whatever you decide.”
I turned my hand until our palms were touching and fingers intertwined. “You keep saying that.”
He nodded.
“It’s not that I doubt my ability to make a decision. This isn’t about which dress to produce or if we should branch out into bed linens—”
“That’s a great idea,” he interrupted with more enthusiasm than I expected.
I smirked.
“I haven’t talked to Louisa about it yet, but I thought of it a few weeks ago. I mean, people spend a third of their lives in bed.”
The tips of his lips quirked upward. “I’d like to increase that percentage.”
“Anyway, as I was saying, these decisions...about what to do with the evidence, depending on what’s there and my name...I feel like they have further-reaching implications.”
“They could.”
“Then I’m asking for your advice.”
His finger touched my nose. “Your decision. I said that. I’m not going back on that no matter what we find. I gave you my word. A man’s word is either—”
“Either his most valuable tool or his most respected weapon,” I said, interrupting and repeating what he’d said numerous times. “I’m asking for your input. That won’t be breaking your word. It will be keeping it.”
“How do you figure?”
“Excuse me.”
We both looked up at Millie.
“Yes,” Sterling said.
“Your bags are in the bedroom. Once we’re in flight, I’ll bring some cheese and fruit and water bottles into the bedroom, and then you won’t need to be disturbed.”
“Thank you, Millie,” I said before Sterling could correct her for what he would consider overstepping. After all, he told her that we needed nothing. “I would love some snacks.”
Her smile beamed. “Marianne said we’re ready to take off and all the gentlemen are seated.”
Sterling nodded. Once she was gone, he turned back to me. “Explain what you just said.”
“I would love some snacks?”
He shook his head as his gaze darkened. “Araneae.”
“You promised me, Sterling Sparrow, that I wouldn’t face any of this alone. You’ve been there with Pauline, with my mother, talking to McFadden.” I took a deep breath. “You were there in Cambridge when I saw my grave. I need you...no, I want you to be with me, guiding me, helping me, and that’s what you’ve done. You may have bulldozed into my life, but you’ve supported me through this crazy maze. Please don’t stop now.”
Our lips met as the speed of the plane increased, the wheels lifting off the ground as we flew higher into the darkening sky.
Josey
Ten years ago~
“Today,” Byron said as he prepared to leave for work.
My chest ached, my head ached, and my heart ached.
I looked around our bedroom, the one we’d shared for the last sixteen years. Beyond was a hallway that led to other bedrooms, one being Renee’s. The living room was quaint and the kitchen cozy. Out in the backyard where we’d had the deck, we’d added a screened porch. It was absolutely lovely in the warmer months. We’d spend time together sitting and eating out there.
It wasn’t warmer now.
The early-morning January winds were blowing a dusting of recent snow in swirls and cyclones under the streetlights as spider webs of frost decorated the corners of our windows.
“Kiss Renee,” I managed to say as tears bubbled in my throat. “It will be the last time.”
“Josey, I’ve never left this house without telling both of my girls how much I loved them.”
His words broke me as I fell into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. “You can do this. We have to do this, for her.”
His friend, the one who made the IDs, had helped, making a connection with someone in the state police. Later tonight he would make a home visit, one for Renee to witness, and inform us of our loss. This evening we’d be informed that Byron Marsh had died in an automobile accident on I-90 on his way home from work. An impaired driver had swerved lanes to reach an exit he’d almost missed. The driver hit Byron, sending him into a concrete lane divider. Byron died upon impact. The policeman will recommend we don’t view the body, especially Renee.
The plan was for me to keep Renee out of school and away from the news and social media. She wouldn’t know that there were no reports of Byron’s death or that the accident hadn’t occurred. For her safety, I needed to be convincing. And then once the airline tickets were accessed, I was to take her to the airport with her new identity.
Byron had secured her spot at St. Mary of the Forest with a generous donation, information on her parents’ death, and certification of her emancipation, so she was set through graduation with them. She would be in Boulder, Colorado, in a new world from Chicago.
At the same time, there was a second scenario playing out, the reason that time was of the essence. Sparrow sent a new scout, someone who could ultimately be the one to take us out. I didn’t know his name, but Byron did. I should say Neal did. The scout had been with the Sparrow outfit for most of his life, along with his friend Joey—the boy Neal befriended, the man whose debt cost Neal and Becky their lives once.
That man from Sparrow gave Neal—aka Byron—a week to disappear, be wiped clean from the world and the grid. There were many bad things about the world where Neal was raised. There was also honor in darkness. This man remembered what Neal had done for Joey. He’d watched as Neal was pulled down time after time yet never gave up on the man he called his brother.
We had no doubt that once we were gone, this man—Neal wouldn’t tell me his name—would take credit for our demise. We didn’t care as long as we were all safe.
Neal received the ultimatum saying that Sparrow wanted us all gone, but he wanted Byron gone first. While there would be no news of the accident, Allister would see Renee’s and my grief and know that his man had removed one of his targets.
Byron promised that Renee and I would also disappear within a week after him. We knew that if we didn’t comply, we would vanish and it wouldn’t be the way we wanted.
That night as I prepared dinner, a knock came to our front door. My hands shook as I laid the large spoon by the stove and went to the door.
I listened, not truly hearing what the man in uniform was saying. After suppressing my tears all day, I fell to the floor with a wail, a cry for the life we were all losing.
Renee came running from behind me. “Mom, what’s the matter?”
Her big brown eyes looked from me to the officer as she laid an arm over my shoulders. “Mom? Mom?”
My heart shattered as I sat up on my knees and pulled my five-foot, six-inch daughter into my embrace, tugging her also to her knees. “It’s your daddy.”
“What?” She looked up at the officer. “No, tell me he’s all right. Maybe you have the wrong person.”
She was fiercer than me, determined to right the wrong this man was claiming, to correct his lie and uncover our secrets.
“Renee,” I whispered, standing and wrapping her in my arms. I turned to the officer. “May we...can we see him?”
“I don’t recommend that, ma’am. We can identify him through possessions. He’s...well, I don’t recommend seeing him.”
Renee and I waited as the officer retrieved a plastic bag containing Byron’s wallet, his ID, and his watch. I held the bag in my shaking hands as I nodded with tears coming down my face. “They’re his.”
“Ma’am, we’ll have a report for your insurance company in twenty-four hours if you can come down to the station....” His words faded away as my head buzzed with emotions.
At some point, he was gone.
I was sitting on the couch, my daughter’s head in my lap as we cried.
Her, for the only father she ever knew.
Me, for a life I’d never again have.
Sometime within the next hours or days, I saw beyond my bubble of despair.
I could go to the grave hating Allister Sparrow, and I most certainly would. Nevertheless, the last sixteen years were more than I’d ever dreamt of having. For over a decade and a half I’d lived more than some people ever experience: a husband and daughter. A home and a life.
I had to walk away, but I could do that, knowing that Renee would be saved; she would be free to continue and find her own slice of life. After all, she was named after a spider, Aranea
e. The daughter I shared with that woman in the hospital, Judge Landers, had grown into a beautiful, strong, resilient, vivacious young woman. The judge had named her and we’d raised her.
We had to believe that together that would carry her through.
Araneae
Touching down in Denver, my thoughts were on Louisa. The mysteries surrounding my life as well as the possible contents of the lockbox were momentarily forgotten. All that mattered was getting to the medical center and seeing my best friend.
Sterling reassuringly reached for my hand resting on my jean-clad legs. After our shower, we’d both changed into casual clothes, me in a t-shirt with jeans and a jean jacket and Sterling in dark blue jeans and a white button-down shirt. With his sleeves rolled up and shirt unbuttoned, he was back to his model status, not the CEO of a worldwide real estate company.
“It’s the middle of the night,” he said. “Aren’t you exhausted?”
I shrugged. “I’m too excited. I can’t believe it’s finally time for Kennedy to be born.”
“Any news?” he asked, tilting his head toward my phone.
“No. I just sent a text to Winnie, to let her know we’re here. From what I’ve heard, labor can last for hours.” I tried to read the thoughts swirling through Sterling’s dark stare. “Are you worried about last week?”
“No, like I said, we’ve been watching them. I’m concerned for everyone’s health, but the doctor we had at Winnie’s checked Louisa out before we sent her to the medical center. And then they released her. It should all be fine.” He took a deep breath. “Winnie has stayed true to our story. Jason and Louisa aren’t fully certain of everything that happened but know they’re being protected. I’m more concerned that they think my motives are more altruistic than they are.”
The tips of my lips moved upward as I cupped his recently shaved cheek with the palm of my free hand and let my fingers skim over the smooth skin. “You’re my knight in shining armor.”
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