by Honor James
Chapter Four
Sadie didn’t sleep the night before. She pulled out the letters that she had sent to the men and sure enough, none of them had ever made it out of the United States. She shook her head and put everything back in the trunk where she kept all of the baby clothes she had bought as well. Lovingly, she touched the little pink and blue outfits, traced her fingers over the silk of the collars, and sighed. So much loss, all because of a man that she had thought loved her. A father should always love a daughter, right? But he hadn’t, that much was clear. Now it made sense, the men that he had tried to have her take interest in, the men he always brought around. He wanted her to be the good little daughter and marry rich or into a political dynasty so that he could, well, she didn’t know.
Closing the trunk lid, she pushed it back into the closet and walked to her studio. Wearing a tank top and shorts, she walked around the room, touching paintings here and there, all of them with the haunting images of Bryce and Keagan in them. “Time to let the past go,” she whispered sadly. She had been trying. She couldn’t say she hadn’t, because she had wanted to let it go, but she hadn’t been able to. Now she could. Now it was time to move on, she just didn’t know what she was moving on to. Maybe she should just give up, give in, and allow herself to die. Maybe she should take a bottle of pills and get it over with, but that wasn’t her. Not anymore. She was no longer so grief stricken that she couldn’t breathe. Yes, the loss was still there and still hurt, but it no longer controlled her as it had.
“Now what do I do?” Now that she had the knowledge that her father was the one that kept her from the men she loved and not them, now what? She didn’t know. How did she go on now? How did she keep on keeping on when her heart still belonged to those two men? And she knew it did. Just seeing Keagan was enough to tell her that much. She was still in love with them, so much so it hurt her. Deeply.
The doorbell ringing jolted her out of her depressive funk. She wasn’t expecting anyone, at least she didn’t think she was. It had better not be her father. Taking a look out the peephole, she had to wonder if maybe the person out there wasn’t worse than her father. Obviously Keagan hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he’d be sending someone over. But to send this person, this one person…
She leaned her head to the door and let out a breath of air. She didn’t know if she could do this. To see him so shortly after seeing Keagan. She breathed in and out, her hand on the door and her eyes closed. Christ, to see Bryce so soon after seeing Keagan? She pasted the facade of indifference onto her face and opened the door for Bryce. “I’m a little surprised that Keagan sent you.” No hello, no how are you. She couldn’t do that because if she did then she would likely break down and give in to the desire to throw herself into his arms and beg for another chance at a life with him and with Keagan. That was over and done with and she knew it.
“Yeah, well, you know as well as I do there are very few people that Bradley actually trusts. And when it comes to you, that number is one.” He looked her up and down, and then he cocked a dark, sandy brown brow. “So, you going to let me in so I can see the inside, or should I just use one of nine points of entry I’ve already marked as easy access and let myself in? ‘Cause either works for me, I don’t mind breaking into your place, especially since you’ll be here while I’m doing it.”
She moved over to the side and said, “No, come in.” She looked down at her arms and saw the scars there so when his back was turned she grabbed a long sweater coat she kept in the front closet and wrapped herself up in it, buttoning it to hide herself from view. “Thank you for taking this job. Obviously my security isn’t working very well, so it’s time that I pulled in someone that hopefully will do a good job.” Which was odd because the firm she had hired had come highly recommended. “Do whatever it is that you need to do in order to ensure that the house is secure, please?”
“Do you happen to know where any points of entry were?” he asked. He set the large silver case down, flipped it open, and pulled out a camera. Tugging out a pad of paper and pen, he tucked them into a pocket. Lastly he dragged out a tape measure and a couple other things she didn’t recognize. “If not, where did this person go while in here?”
Oh, hell no. She couldn’t tell him that. She just looked at him and said, “He went into one of the rooms.” The nursery that she still hadn’t taken apart, the place that held the furniture for the babies that she lost, even if it didn’t hold the clothes. “And I don’t know where he entered. The day before I came into your offices I was on the back porch and was shot at. They must have used a dart gun instead of a bullet because there was a note that fluttered down from the skies. It was in the files that I gave to Keagan.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “You do know that I’ll be going top to bottom, room by room, through your entire house before I even set foot outside, right?” The look he leveled at her said he knew something. What he knew she couldn’t say for sure, but he definitely knew something that she likely didn’t want him to know. Someone had talked. Or worse, dug up her past!
Shit. “Okay. I will be in the kitchen making tea. Do you want anything to drink?” She had to remain detached, needed to stay distant, or she would never survive this. She knew she should just fire the firm and hire another one, but the bad thing was that no one else was nearly as good as these men were. Dammit. “If you need anything, just yell,” she said and walked away from him. She had to get away, needed to, or she would blurt out every single truth of the past that she had bottled up inside of herself.
“Oh, I will,” he called after her. Then there was nothing but silence from him.
* * * *
“All right, I’m in,” Harker said into the Bluetooth device. “Naw, she’s in the kitchen making tea. You’re right, she’s hiding something. Any luck getting anything out of Michael?”
“No, the fucker’s clammed up tight. And I can’t find dick all on Sadie in the system. He must have had Timmons block my access any time I put her name in.”
“He would,” Harker muttered. Looking around, he moved to the big windows of the living room, and took a shot of the glass break detection, as well as the windows and frames. Turning, he took a few shots of the space and the motion detectors on the wall. “She lied to my face about the last intrusion.”
“I told you, she’s hiding something big from us. The fact she wouldn’t even discuss the fact I thought she was ignoring us.” Bradley let out a lengthy sigh.
“She’s covered in old scar tissue,” Harker said softly. “Her arms and her legs. She’s got some burns, but also what look like old suicide attempts, too.” Wincing, he let Bradley curse a blue streak as he moved into the dining room. He was feeling the same. Something horrible had happened to Sadie, and they hadn’t been there for her. She thought they’d abandoned her, which they hadn’t, but then with an interfering father like she had, it wasn’t exactly surprising she didn’t trust them anymore.
A few more shots in the dining room, and then he began to measure the living room and dining spaces, jotting down numbers as he went. “There’s something off about all this,” he commented once his friend had fallen silent.
“You don’t have to fucking tell me that. I know it. Why the hell do you think I dragged your ass in to go over there?”
“Because you don’t trust anyone else around her?” he said.
“Well, yeah, there is that. But you and I knew her, we’d likely notice things the others wouldn’t because of that knowledge.”
“Good point,” he muttered. He went past the kitchen, didn’t even glance in, but he was aware she watched him as he walked by. Laundry room was next. He did a quick couple of pictures, and then the measurements. A small bathroom, and what looked like it might have been planned as a home office, but had become a catchall.
Heading up the stairs, he took a few shots up the stairwell, then down it when he got up to the second floor. The first room he went into looked like it was a guest room. A bed, small dresser,
and a lamp. Other than that, pretty average. The room after, though, nearly had him bent over from the blow to his gut.
“Mother of God,” he breathed out.
“What?” Bradley demanded in his ear.
“A nursery,” he whispered. Clutching at the doorjamb, he looked around. “Two cribs, pink and blue items, and a bunch of stuff still in boxes. It was never completed,” he said.
Silence reigned on the other end of the line. “I’ll fucking kill that bastard,” Bradley ground out.
“Dibs on helping you,” Harker said. Forcing his shaking hands to work, he snapped multiple images of the space before making himself do the measurements. Before leaving, though, he paused to gently touch one of the stuffed bears. Sucking in a breath, he blinked rapidly to hold the sorrow at bay.
Stepping out of the room, he gently closed the door.
* * * *
She knew the moment he stepped back into the kitchen he had found the nursery. “I just couldn’t force myself to box it all up and donate it.” She spoke quietly, her back to him and pouring the tea into a mug. “Do you want a cup of tea?” She couldn’t talk about it. It was all too real, too raw. She was hurting, desperately aching inside and didn’t know how much longer she could keep herself together.
“So now you know,” she whispered and turned. “They would have been seven years old the day that the shot was fired at me,” she said quietly. “Twins. A boy and a girl, and I would have given them everything they would ever hope for.” Except the fathers that they deserved.
His jaw was working, but his lips were pressed tightly together as he nodded slowly. Setting the camera aside, he took a step toward her then stopped. Looking away, he swallowed hard, and she watched him take a breath. “I’ll do the outside, and then get out of your hair,” he said softly. Picking up the camera again, he played with it in his hands. The look he gave her before he started for the door was filled with pain, sorrow, and so much more, including what looked like tears welling up that he was forcing himself to hold onto.
She hurt, she knew the look that he wore because she wore it far more often than not. She poured the tea out that she had made and cleaned the cup. Putting it back onto the rack, she left the kitchen and walked into the living room. She pulled a blanket up and around her legs and flipped on the television. She didn’t even notice what was playing, just listened to the sound so that she could help combat the extreme loneliness she felt. The hurt inside a festering wound that would never heal.
When he re-entered, she looked back and said, “If you feel that I should hire another company, please tell me?”
“No, they wouldn’t do whatever was necessary to keep you safe like we will,” he said. He put everything away in the case and set it down by the front door. Coming back, he had his hands in his pockets, and was looking down at his feet. “We didn’t know, Sadie,” he said quietly. “If we had, we’d have moved heaven and earth to be here for you. I know it’s way too late, and I’m sorry for that. If you need anything before tomorrow, give us a call. Twenty-four hours a day, we’ll be here. Otherwise you’ll see us back here in the morning. I have a list of things we’ll be installing, and we’ll be tearing out the other system, too.” Digging into his jacket, he pulled out a card and set it on the table in front of her. Giving her a nod, he headed for the door, pausing to pick up the case before opening it. He paused, looked like he wanted to say something else, but just shook his head slightly and left her home. The door shut softly behind him, yet it seemed so much louder than if he’d slammed it.
When she was alone she began to cry. She couldn’t have stopped the tears if she had wanted to. She sobbed for all that had been lost and all that was lost. Her heart breaking all over again.
Chapter Five
Sadie was awakened the next morning by a pounding on the door. She was still lying on the couch in the clothes she had on the previous morning. She frowned and wrapped herself up in the long coat and walked to the front door. Looking through the peephole, she sighed and put her forehead to the door. God, she didn’t know if she could do this again. She was empty, she had no defenses when it came to these men and there they stood. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and said, “Bryce, Keagan.” She nodded and frowned as she looked around and saw the other men from their team, all pulling stuff from trucks and cases. “Did you bring an entire store with you?” she asked quietly and moved off to the side to allow them entrance to her home.
“Not hardly,” Bryce told her.
Keagan worked the crutches into the house and headed for the armchair in the living room. Easing down, he stuck the leg out with the serious piece of hardware in the form of a brace with a sigh. He wiggled around a little, and then laid the crutches down next to him.
Blue Eyes was the first through the door. He nodded to her, and carried a case right over to Keagan. Once it was open, Keagan began to pull bits and pieces out, and looked to be snapping them together.
“That’s Michael Burnett, our former CO and biggest-piece-of-the-pie owner of our business. This is Slater Markham and Holden Connor,” he introduced the next two through the door. One had cold eyes, and the other gave her a grin and a wink. “Elliott Timmons is our resident hacker and computer guru. He’ll be the one ensuring that your system can’t be hacked, and if anyone should try it, we’re alerted along with the local authorities. The ones still hauling shit out are Craig Yoshi and Ulysses Jacobs. Aeron Cutter will be along shortly, but he was on a coffee and food run for us all. I told him to get you a tea, so why don’t you go and get into something comfortable and cover up anything you don’t want getting dust on it while we finish the layout of all the parts?”
Sadie nodded and looked to the men. She remembered them. Most of them had trained under her father at one time or another. She looked at Blue Eyes, Michael Burnett, and nodded. She hoped that he would keep her secrets that he obviously knew. She could see it in his eyes that he knew she held secrets. “Thank you, for the tea that is.” She didn’t drink coffee, and for him to remember that, well, it sent her sideways.
She walked away from the men before she couldn’t, moving up the stairs and to the nursery first. She took out spare bedding and covered the cribs and changing table. Items she really should get rid of, but things she couldn’t get rid of or it would make her hurt all the more. Touching one of the bears lightly, she sniffed and left the room, leaving the door open instead of closing it as she typically would.
Going into her bedroom, she pulled on jeans, low boots, and a long-sleeve shirt. She brushed her hair out and left it loose around her shoulders, hiding the scars along the back of her neck that way. Once she was fully covered she walked down stairs and accepted the tea from a man that had to have been Aeron Cutter. She gave a small thank you to him and then settled onto one of the chairs. “So what now?” she asked Keagan.
He shot her a quick look and shrugged. “Now they start to dismantle the other system with as little damage to your house as possible. After we have the old system out entirely, we put in the new one.” He pulled a box out of the crate before him, and with great care slid a large panel out. “This is the brains of your new system. It pretty much does everything except for brewing a proper English cup of tea. Sorry, but it does have limitations on the culinary side of things. We’re working on that, but for the moment you’ll have to keep brewing your own.”
Several of the guys took large gulps of the coffee, set their cups down, grabbed up utility belts with an assortment of tools on them, and headed off to different parts of the house.
“We’ll also be putting in motion-sensitive lights, shatter-resistant protective glass, and low-profile bulbs. It will ensure that for most folks they can’t take one of them out. Pretty much a gunshot will be the only way, and I doubt this person will want that sort of attention. There will also be laser trip wires set at a height that the average animal of the neighborhood can’t set them off outside, but a human won’t be able to get under or over them without some
serious acrobatic skills.”
He’d popped the front of the panel off and passed the main part of it over to Timmons, the only other one of the guys still in her living room. Timmons hooked it up to his laptop and set to work on the keyboard.
“Thank you for doing all of this. Seems as if the firm that I hired was seriously lacking in their skills.” She had paid a large price to the firm she had hired, a firm her father had recommended. She leaned her head back against the side of the couch. She watched Keagan as he moved and asked, “What happened?” She wanted to know about his leg, but she wanted to know about more than that. What happened was such an open-ended question. She wanted to know what happened between all of them, wanted to know. No, she couldn’t go there. She had to distance herself. “Your leg. I think you might have said yesterday, but if so I honestly don’t recall, I’m sorry.” She had been reeling from the fact that they were there in her space to worry about anything but trying to keep her own sanity.
“I didn’t, actually,” he told her. Reaching forward for his coffee, he stopped and groaned. “Timmons, lend a brother a hand, will you?” he asked.
The other man didn’t even look up. Reaching over, he picked up the cup and passed it off, all without pausing in his typing.
“Thanks,” Keagan said with a sigh. Taking a drink, he set it down on the floor next to the chair he was in. “I was in a Humvee on patrol, Harker was off in the hills doing something else, and we were hit with a mortar. Blew up the front of the vehicle, flipping us end over end, and my leg was underneath a lot of the truck. Pure luck had it at the right angle that the other guys were able to lift it enough to get me free, otherwise I’d be hopalong Bradley for a lifetime,” he said. “We ended up taking some more fire from the bad guys, got a couple new gunshot wounds to add to my tally, as well as a bunch of the Humvee that they had to dig out of various parts of my rear end and back. Like I said, wrong place, wrong time.”