“I’ve seen this before. Shareholders demand meetings when big changes are coming. I have to know . . . Did you sell out?”
“Sell what? My company? Are you mad?”
“Hey, I had to ask. Someone is forcing this meeting, and if you’re not here to represent, there’s no telling what can happen.”
“This is pissing me off.”
“It’s scaring the senior staff. Some are whispering takeover, and others are looking for new jobs.”
“There’s no damn takeover. I own fifty-one percent of Vertex. It’s business as usual. Tell Al to get back in the office and puke in his private bathroom. I’ll be back by Friday to remind everyone that I own Vertex and if they want to keep their jobs they’d do well to remember that.” He hung up the line. “Fucking hell.”
Austin walked up to the massive dining room table that sat in the front of the house with windows that overlooked the entire property. In his hands was one of the shotguns the Sinclairs owned. He set the gun down and looked up. “I really don’t see the problem. I may only be eighteen, but I do have balls. Parker could outshoot anyone and Erin’s not going quietly. And if that’s not enough, Colin will be home before dark, right?”
Colin nodded. “He’s right, brother. We’ve got you covered.”
“It’s been quiet,” Erin told him. “Go to work. I really want you there on Friday, and if you take off now, someone is going to start bitching.”
They’d made the decision together. Something Erin was adamant about. He tried to explain that this was all her. And that he’d support whatever she wanted to do. But it wasn’t until they’d debated for hours that they concluded the best thing to do was take her father’s offer and get Desmond out of her life once and for all.
He didn’t like the thought of leaving her until Desmond was accounted for.
“I hate this.”
“Wait until you’re standing with me in front of the media when we make our announcement. Then you’ll really know what hate is.”
He’d been warned.
“Fine. I’ll call in. Let them know I’m available.” Otherwise he had to report first thing in the morning. With the winds blowing with gusts upwards of fifty miles per hour, he really hoped they could ward off any sparks until it all died down.
As they walked out of the main house and down to the guesthouse, Matt took a shotgun with them. Austin stopped him and handed him a box of shotgun shells. “Change it out. It has snake shot in there.”
Matt thanked them and said good night.
Outside, ash from the previous year’s fire blew everywhere. The familiar smell actually put a smile on his face. He would always be a firefighter. It was truly in his blood.
Inside Erin’s house, he closed the door behind them and set the alarm. He dropped the gun on her kitchen counter along with the box of ammo as Erin walked behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
He paused in that moment and smiled. “You feel so good.”
“I’m going to be all right.”
“You’re going to be better than all right. It’s me who’s a mess.”
“Well, don’t let me distract you from your job. You need to be focused out there to come home to me.”
He twisted around and settled his arms on her shoulders. “I can say the same to you.”
“What do you mean? I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re going to be a rich woman again really soon. It’s me who wants you to come home to me.”
“Oh, Matt. Are you actually worried about that?”
“It’s crossed my mind. I clicked through those society pages. That isn’t the kind of life I can offer you here.”
She pressed both her palms into his chest and flexed her fingers. “I walked away from that life willingly.”
“But you’re stepping back into it.”
“Only to get Desmond out of it. I’m not going back to overpriced salads at the country club and dinners with pretentious people who smile to your face and lie about their wives’ black eyes.”
“I’m sure they weren’t all like that.”
“No. But they happily looked the other way when it was me. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money. Helen and I have a lot to talk about. But Vertex doesn’t need its shareholders present to run. My dad is an expert shareholder but he doesn’t know squat about running every company he has stock in.”
“When did you get so smart?” he asked as he brushed hair that had fallen in her eyes.
“When I stopped being too scared to live,” she told him.
“I’m never going to be able to compete with that life, Erin.”
She placed the palm of her hand on his cheek. “I fell in love with you as a poor woman and I’ll still love you as a rich one. Money didn’t create us and it won’t destroy us. And if at any time it is trying to do that, I’ll walk away from all of it a second time.”
Did she just say what . . . “Say that again.”
“The poor woman bit?” she asked, smiling.
He lowered his hands to her hips, lifted her up, and set her on his favorite spot on her kitchen counter. “Again . . . this time with meaning.”
She giggled. “I love you, Matthew Hudson.”
He closed his eyes and soaked in her words. “Damn, that’s sexy.”
“Well, don’t leave me hanging.”
He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her until she was pliant in his arms. Only then did he whisper what she had to already know. “Come home to me and I’ll tell you how much I love you every day and show you every night.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and scooted to the edge of the counter. “Let’s start the showing part now, shall we?”
Matt lifted her off the counter and carried her into the bedroom.
At two in the morning his phone rang, waking him up.
It was his captain. “We need you. It’s blowing up off the five in Castaic.” Arwin told him where the command station had been set up and where to report.
Matt looked over at Erin, concern for her safety caught in his throat. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Erin rolled over and flung her hand out across his chest. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a wildfire. I have to go.”
She leaned up on her elbow and blinked several times. “I can make coffee.”
Matt leaned over and kissed her. “No time. Go back to sleep. I’ll call you as soon as I can, which might be a while. Don’t worry.”
She was already blinking heavy lids. “Please be careful. You have someone to come home to.”
That was never going to get old.
“I’ll set the alarm behind me. Go back to sleep.”
He didn’t need to tell her twice.
He fumbled around with minimal light and wished he’d insisted that Scout sleep down in the guesthouse with them. First thing Matt was going to do once this fire was out . . . go to the shelter and pick out a dog for Erin.
Everything in the main house was dark. The motion lights outside would pop on with every gust of wind, giving way too much light to the property. Using night scope binoculars he bought online, he watched lights go on and off inside Maci’s house.
When her boy toy slipped out the front door and started up his truck, Desmond knew his plan was going to work. Simple people were so easy to manipulate. He just needed to take his time and not rush anything. Give time for Maci to fall back asleep and Fire Boy to make it to work, and he wouldn’t be an issue for hours if not days.
Desmond patted himself on the back. He was actually pretty good at this. The only risk was the boyfriend not reporting to work. But if the fire was big enough, they’d all come in.
Thirty minutes slipped by in painstaking seconds. It took another ten to cut the power and the landlines that worked the alarm system to the house. The lack of emergency lights flickering on and off shot adrenaline down his spine.
Still he waited. No sign of activity in the main hou
se . . . and everything was dark at Maci’s. It was after three in the morning. It was time to end this.
He had a plane to catch.
A tree limb slapped against the side of the house with a continual beat. The minute Matt had closed the door behind him, Erin had dozed in and out of wakefulness. She managed about thirty solid minutes but the tree kept thudding. Finally things calmed down and the lights outside stopped flickering.
The next time she opened her eyes she realized her alarm clock had gone dark.
The tree outside stopped making noise, and the rush of wind died. Beside her bed, her phone lit up and vibrated. She glanced at the alert on the screen.
System offline.
She shook her head and sat up in bed. The power was out and the alarm was shooting a bad reading. Erin didn’t need more than that. Even though she figured she was overreacting, she’d rather be safe than sorry.
She swung her feet off her bed and used the flashlight from her cell phone to locate her slippers and bathrobe with the intent of walking up to the main house.
Matt’s discarded shirt from the night before lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Picking it up, she brought it to her nose and sucked in a deep breath. “Be safe,” she whispered to herself.
Not wanting to be mistaken for an intruder, Erin walked into her living room with her phone in her hand to call Parker and let her know she was walking in.
“Put the phone down.”
The air swished from Erin’s lungs and she backed up into the wall. Her heart jumped so fast and so hard she didn’t think she would survive it.
There, in the shadows of a waxing crescent of moonlight flowing through the windows, was Desmond.
For one nightmarish moment she froze. Just like she always did.
He took a step toward her and his features came into focus.
“Get out!”
He laughed.
“Look who’s standing up for herself.”
She reached around the door where she thought she left the shotgun.
Nothing.
He took another step in her direction and she found her voice.
Her scream filled the small space of her home, and she tried to put distance between the two of them.
Desmond jumped across the room and slammed his hand over her mouth.
She didn’t stop. Opening her mouth even wider, his finger slipped in and she bit down as hard as she could.
Outside the wind howled, and Desmond cussed and pulled his hand away.
Erin tasted blood. His.
And then it came. The blow she couldn’t avoid since the wall was on her back.
So many memories surfaced as his hand reached for her throat. She stopped struggling when his words registered. “If they come down here, I will kill them.”
Breathing hard, she tried to find her exit. The door was too far away.
Desmond held her tight, but wasn’t putting enough pressure to crush her windpipe. He wanted something and whatever it was, it didn’t include killing her with his fists . . . at least not yet.
“What do you want?”
“Now . . . that’s what I like to hear.” With his hand on her throat, he pushed her into her bedroom.
She battled panic. Not this . . . not again.
Desmond picked up her phone that had fallen on the floor. “You’re going to call that lawyer of yours and leave a very convincing message.”
Her eyes stuck to his. What she saw staring back was a man she hardly recognized. There was wildness there. The kind she once saw right before he would strike her and then flee. Only now it hovered just behind the iris and was highlighted by the way he didn’t seem to blink.
Stay calm. “What do you want me to say?”
“Isn’t this better? A nice conversation. You’re going to tell her that I was right. That you’re a liar and can’t live with it anymore.”
She jerked and he lost his sick smile.
He shoved her on the bed hard and covered her body with his. “We can do this easy, or we can do this hard.” He pulled a bottle of pills from a pocket and rattled them in front of her eyes. “You’re going to leave the message and then take a little nap. Or we’re going to have a psychotic break and play murder-suicide with your new friends.”
Did he really think he was going to get away with this?
The crazed depths of his eyes said he did.
Erin found her voice . . . Maci’s voice. “Don’t hurt them. Please.”
“That’s better.”
He pressed the phone into her hand, and she dialed Renee’s number. All the while she willed the woman to pick up, even though it was past three in the morning.
The phone rang once . . .
Twice . . .
On the third ring it went to voice mail.
Desmond kept a tight grip on her neck. “Make it good.”
“Renee . . . it’s me. I can’t do this. Desmond was right. I’m sick. I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore.”
Desmond pulled the phone away and ended the call.
“Perfect. Now let’s go find that wine you love to drink.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Matt turned onto the street that would take him to the command post. Up ahead he could see emergency vehicles of all shapes and sizes.
The moment he put his car in park his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number and assumed it was someone at the post checking on his ETA.
He answered the phone with action. “I’m pulling in now.”
“Matt?”
A woman. A frantic woman.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Renee. I just woke up to a voice mail from Maci. Is she with you?”
He slammed on the brakes.
“No. What is it?”
“She said she was a liar and Desmond was right and that she couldn’t live with herself. Matt, she didn’t sound good.”
Matt turned the wheel hard and hit the gas. “God damn it. Did you call the police?”
“I don’t have an address, Matt.”
He rattled off the address.
“Did you call her back?”
“And tip off Desmond? Doesn’t she live with your family?”
“Son of a bitch. Call the police. I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone, pressed Colin’s number.
It rang.
And rang.
Matt slammed his hands on the steering wheel.
The call went to voice mail.
Thank God the road was deserted at this time in the morning. With one hand on the wheel, and the other on his phone, he shifted through the numbers until he found Parker’s landline.
The call instantly said the line was out of service.
He pressed down on the gas and tried his brother’s number again.
Desmond pulled her into the kitchen.
He blinked several times when he saw a shotgun lying on a table. How had he missed that?
Grabbing it, he tested the weight with one hand while shoving Maci into a chair with the other. “Well, this is convenient.”
He dropped to his knees beside her and put the barrel to her chin and at the same time attempted to pull her hand down to reach the trigger.
Much as he pulled her arm, it just wouldn’t stretch.
But the fear in her eyes was worth the exercise. “Looks like a nap it is.”
He jumped to his feet and kept her in place by aiming the gun her way.
An open bottle sat in the door of her fridge. He grabbed it and then removed a wineglass from a cupboard. “No reason to go out like the lower class. My Maci always drank out of a proper glass. Isn’t that right?”
He glanced back to see her looking around the room. He laughed and flopped into a chair opposite her. Placing the gun in his lap, he poured her a glass of wine and set it in front of her. “This will make these work a little bit faster.”
“You don’t have to do this, Desmond.”
He pushed down on the cap and twisted it
off. “When did you get so chatty?” He sat the bottle on the table and stared at her. “I really hate the short hair. Did you know that most women commit suicide with pills? I looked that up.” Because he was a smart man. He handed her two pills.
She didn’t take them from him.
“Open your mouth.”
“What is it?”
He smiled now, shoved the bottle in front of her eyes to see. Not that she could in the moonlight. “One of the many you left behind. Look. It even has your name on it. Now open your mouth and stick out your tongue.”
She did and he dropped two pills. No use getting bit twice.
He pushed the wineglass toward her. “C’mon.”
Without argument, she brought the wine to her lips and swallowed.
He reached for her cell phone and turned on the flashlight. “Let me see.”
Maci opened her mouth and lifted her tongue.
“Good girl. Now . . . two more.” He watched her closely as she swallowed.
On the third go her eyes shifted to the gun in his lap and he dropped one hand on it. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”
“How are you going to get rid of me?” she asked.
He blinked a few times until her question registered. “You’re just going to die.”
“But you hit me. And my neck. There are bruises on my neck.”
He lifted the phone and pointed the flashlight at her face.
Well, damn.
“Take two more.”
With one hand, he poured the pills onto the table, then picked up two and placed them in her mouth. Slim fingers wrapped around the wineglass, and with only the light of the cell phone he noticed her fingerprints on the glass.
Desmond looked at his hands, then back to her neck.
Well, damn.
Several seconds ticked by.
“How are you going to do it? Is it too much to ask to know what you’re going to do with my body?”
“Shut up and take the pills.”
She reached for the wine and her hand slipped.
That’s when he noticed her eyes losing focus. “Speed this up, Maci. I don’t need you passing out before they’re all in.”
“You should have one of these. They feel pretty good,” her voice slurred.
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