He collapsed on me, his weight substantial and welcome. For a moment, there was only the sound of our heavy breathing. He rolled, pulling me onto his chest. The sheets were wet from the bathwater, our skin sticky from our exertions, and my hair a tangled mess from his hands. A trail of water led from the bathroom to the bed, and the comforter was on the floor, getting wetter by the second. Neither of us cared.
He pressed a kiss to my head. “Welcome home, Livvy.”
I nestled closer. He was right. With him, I was home.
Van
The next ten days were a juxtaposition of emotions. We were both tense at work, the hours dragging by. I struggled to keep my temper in place, and Liv worried constantly. I kept in touch all day, and I missed having her around the site, even though I knew it was for the best.
The evenings were the exact opposite. Since the band was still taking a break, my entire focus became Liv and Mouse. I loved having them with me.
Sammy’s laughter and endless chatter filled the rooms, and I realized how lonely my house had been before she was here. Aside from music, I lived a solitary life. I began to long for the end of the day, knowing what waited for me when I walked in the door. There was no longer only silence and hours to fill with my own company.
Instead, there was a little girl who could hardly wait to be hugged and tell me about her day, and her beautiful mother who greeted me with a kiss and filled the house with the delicious scent of dinner. My parents often joined us. So did Elly. There were lazy evenings filled with games and movies. Quiet moments of reading to Mouse and watching her fall asleep. Having Liv beside me at night. Playing my guitar to help her relax. Making love to her every chance I got. It would have been perfect except for the toll the situation was taking on Liv.
She tried to hide it, but she couldn’t. She barely slept, and her appetite was minimal. She was pale and wan-looking, her cheeks sunken from the weight she was losing. She tried so hard to keep things normal for Sammy and only broke down when we were alone. I often found her in the bathroom, weeping into a towel, trying to hide her fears even from me. I would gather her into my arms and carry her to our bed and love her until she forgot everything, lost to the passion we had between us. But it only lasted briefly, and I knew she would slip from our bed and watch Mouse sleep, pace the house endlessly, and worry while I lay alone, unable to relax and sleep until she crawled back into our bed in the early hours of the morning, her body curling around mine for warmth. Only then did we doze fitfully until Sammy would bound in a short time later, wanting her morning cuddles.
For the first time ever, I found myself short-tempered at work, easy to rile, and fast to criticize. More than once, I had to walk away from things when I realized how fast I was losing control. The lack of sleep and worry were eating at me, and I felt helpless. Watching Liv fall apart was killing me slowly.
Things came to a head when Hal informed Liv that Nolan had filed the paperwork to have his rights reinstated and was asking for immediate visitation. Luckily, Hal had the visitation request struck down until the judge could review all the paperwork and meet with both sides. It bought us some time, but I had a feeling it was running out.
I sighed, my head falling back as I waited for Reid, Hal, and Liv to arrive. We were having another meeting, so that we could all get on the same page, and I had arrived at the office early, waiting in the boardroom. I startled as I felt the touch on my arm, my eyes flying open. Sandy was there, holding a cup of coffee.
“You look as if you could use this.”
“Thanks.”
She offered me a smile. “You are going to get through this and be stronger, Van.”
“At what cost?” I asked. “Liv is about ready to collapse and I’m losing ground every day.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Dealing with Nolan daily is a strain.” Even with our limited contact, he managed to get under my skin with his offhand comments and snide remarks.
“Worrying over Liv is killing me. Thinking of Nolan spending time with Mouse makes me ill.” I shook my head. “I wish I knew the why behind it. Then we could figure out how to stop it.”
Reid walked in, laptop in hand. “I may have the answer to that question.”
Sandy bent close, patting my cheek in her motherly fashion. “This is going to work out, Van. You have too many people working on it for it not to happen.”
She left, holding the door for Hal and Liv. I held out my hand, pulling Liv into the chair beside me. She looked like the walking dead today, the circles evident under her eyes, their golden color dim and clouded.
“What do you have, Reid?” Hal asked, getting underway fast. I had seen the worried look on his face as he observed Liv, and I was grateful for him not wasting time. I was also grateful Reid knew how serious the situation was. He didn’t joke around, instead opened up his laptop and began to talk.
“I’m not going to get into how I found this, but I did some digging. What Nolan told you was right, Liv. He inherited money from his father. Quite a bit. But he also spent it fast. He bought a big house and paid cash. Same with two fast cars. And a bunch of other things. He makes a good living, but aside from the house and cars, he isn’t really solvent.”
“What does that have to do with Sammy?” she asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Obviously, he isn’t after you for money—” he lifted one eyebrow “—no offense.”
“None taken.”
“But interestingly enough, his fiancée, Breanna, is a very wealthy woman in her own right. Far more affluent than Nolan. And she is a spoiled only child, who will inherit a great deal when her father dies. From everything I have gathered, she is, ah, well, a handful. Beautiful to look at but demanding, exacting, and selfish.”
“A perfect match for Nolan,” I murmured, internally shuddering. A nightmare for Sammy and Liv.
Reid nodded, looking at his keyboard. He glanced toward the closed door, then at Liv and Hal and finally met my gaze.
“I know you asked me to find out what I could about Nolan and his life and keep it legal, Hal. I did that. But I couldn’t find enough.”
Hal held up his hand. “I’m not sure I want to hear this.”
Reid leaned forward, his voice serious. “Yes, you do. I did some hacking. Nothing big and nothing that can be traced to me or any of you. I did it all off site too—nothing will come back to BAM.”
I was both grateful and horrified. We all knew Reid’s story. If he was caught hacking, he could go back to jail. “Reid,” I protested. “You can’t do that.”
He held up his hand, a frown marring his usually happy face.
“I am not going to sit by and let this happen. I know Sammy. I know what a great life she has and now that you’re together, she has a chance at a family. I am not going to sit by while the system steps in and fucks it up because some conceited asshole decides he wants to play daddy and they let him. My childhood screwed up my life and I’ll be damned if I let it happen to someone I care about. I won’t let her life be destroyed by the system that should protect her.” He jabbed his finger rapidly on the wooden table. “I know how badly the system can fail.”
For a moment, the room was silent.
“What did you find?” Hal asked, his voice calm.
“I looked through their texts and emails. He wants to get married. She wants a child. ‘Someone to play with,’ as she calls it. She’s been at him about it for months.” Reid paused before he spoke again. “Given what I know of Nolan, he wants her money. So in order to keep her and get her to marry him, he needs to give her that.”
“So why not knock her up?” I snarled. “Leave Sammy out of this.”
“He can’t,” Reid stated.
“Why not?” Liv asked, confused.
“I did more digging. He was sick a couple of years ago. Late-onset adult mumps.” Reid sat back. “It left him infertile.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered.
“I kept wondering how this tied back to Sammy. I did more
checking and cross-referencing. Unlike you, Liv, Breanna likes to call attention to herself. I found an email to a friend where she refers to an argument she and Nolan had where she informed him she wanted a baby with him now—or else. The next week, your design and you were featured in Toronto Life. I think he saw it, thought of Sammy, and figured out a way to solve his problem. I have no idea what story he spun to Breanna, but I’m sure he came across as the injured party.” He drew in a breath. “I even found an email where he suggested to his boss they go after the BAM contract. It was to get to you. To get close to Sammy.”
“I knew he had this planned,” I said.
“So you’re saying since he can’t give her a child, he wants to take mine—the one he never wanted—so the two of them can play house?” Liv asked, horrified. “He’s not even doing this because he changed his mind? It’s all for money?”
“Yes. As I said, she is spoiled. I don’t know if he told her about his infertility and suggested Sammy, or how it happened, but there is no doubt he planned it.”
I looked at Hal. “Can we stop him?”
“This is all theory,” Hal mused. “It’s still a long shot for him, but he is determined to fight. I can’t do a lot with it since you obtained so much of this illegally. I need something concrete to shut him down and make the judge see the reasons behind this sudden interest.”
He turned to Liv. “You haven’t come up with anyone else you confided in?”
“No.”
“No taped arguments or texts?”
She shook her head. “I hate texting—I always have. I don’t think I ever texted him anything personal. I never taped any of our phone conversations. I never thought I would ever need it.” Tears filled her eyes. “It’s his word against mine.”
Hal looked grim. “Don’t give up, Liv. We’ve got a good judge. He already put aside the visitation and refuses to rush this. We have a week before our next appointment.” He ran a hand over his face. “Long shot here, but did you ever have an argument in public about you being pregnant someone that might have overheard? A colleague or friend?”
“No. He was so ashamed of my ‘situation,’ he refused to see me except in private. And he was cold and distant. He lost it badly once…” Her voice drifted away, and her eyes grew wide.
I took her hand. “What is it, Liv?”
“I forgot.” She stuttered. “I forgot—an-an email.” She covered her mouth. “How could I forget that?”
“Tell me,” I urged, ignoring everyone else but her.
“He was drunk one night and wrote me an email.”
Hal leaned forward. “What did it say?”
“It was vile. He kept referring to Sammy as an it. He told me to kill it. Get rid of it. He wanted nothing to do with the bastard child I had tried to trap him with.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “He told me what a sorry excuse for a woman I was—he listed all my faults and said knowing it was a girl, she would be as weak and useless as I was. He wanted no part of her life or mine, and I was never to contact him again.” She shuddered. “I changed my email the next day and had my lawyer send him the papers. I never heard from him again.”
She wiped the tears off her cheeks. “I forgot about the email. It was so awful, I pushed it from my mind.”
“Do you have a copy?” Hal asked eagerly.
“No. I deleted it.” She slumped back in her chair.
“What device did you get it on, Liv?” Reid asked, his voice anxious.
“My cell phone. My emails went there. I couldn’t afford a laptop while I was at school, so I used theirs, and I had a cell phone.”
“Do you have the cell phone?”
Liv’s brow furrowed. “I think so. I tend to keep that sort of stuff. I think the cell phone is in a box in my apartment. But I don’t have the same provider anymore, and I deleted the email.”
Reid leaned forward, eager. “Did you delete the provider from your phone?”
She thought about it then shook her head. “No. But when I changed providers, I got a new phone. I threw the other one in a box. I don’t think I touched it.”
“Can you trace the email, Reid?” I asked. “Even if the phone is dead?”
Reid’s eyes were bright. “Yeah, if it was on the phone, I can find it.” He paused. “Do you remember what his email was at the time?”
“Um, it was a Hotmail account. He refused to pay for email.” She looked upset again. “I can’t remember what my email was, Reid.”
Reid grinned. “It’s fine, Liv. I don’t need it. I need you to find me the cell phone.”
“Okay.”
I glanced at Hal. “If she finds them, and you can recover it, what happens?”
Hal leaned back in his chair. “I nail that bastard to the wall with his own words. Then I take back my words. This will be open-and-shut—by the asshole himself.”
I stood, holding out my hand. “Come on, Liv. We need to find that phone.”
Van
“Think, baby,” I encouraged her.
Liv ran a hand through her hair, the strands tangled from her constant worrying. “I can’t remember,” she cried, tears pooling in her eyes. She had been crying constantly for over an hour, her panic clouding her memory.
I tugged her onto my lap in the middle of the chaos surrounding us. We’d gone through every drawer and shelf in her closet, the kitchen, even the bathroom. No cell phone.
“Okay,” I soothed, stroking her hair. “You threw it in a box.”
“Yes.”
“Did you live here then?”
“N-no.” She hiccupped. “We moved here when Sammy was two.”
My heart sank. Had she thrown it out when she moved?
“But I saw it after we moved. I added another phone to the box. I thought I should chuck them both, but I put the box on the shelf and forgot.”
“Okay, good. Good job remembering that, Livvy.” I pressed a kiss to her head. “Have you seen it since then?”
She sighed, and I let her think, rubbing her back in long passes.
“Sammy,” she breathed.
“My parents and Elly have her. She’s fine.”
She pushed away. “No! Sammy…she loved to play with my phone when she was little. She loved to push the numbers. I gave her a phone to play with.” Her eyes grew round with the memory. “I gave her the phone!”
I stood, pulling her with me. In Sammy’s room, we split up, going through shelves and drawers. I had no idea how much stuff a little girl could have. I discovered lace, ribbons, hair things, doll clothes, little bits and pieces everywhere I looked, but no cell phone. In desperation, I shoved my hand under her old bookcase, encountering something soft. I pulled it out, staring at the little cat purse. It was thick and I opened it, pulling out the small cell phone.
“Liv?” I held it up. “Is this it?”
Her hands covered her mouth, but she nodded. I tried to open the case, frowning as it stuck.
Liv swallowed. “She dropped it,” she said, her voice raspy. “In the tub. I remember now. She dropped it, and I threw it in some rice to dry it out. She must have dug it out and brought it in here. I gave her the other one to play with instead, but she lost it.” She met my eyes. “It’s probably unusable now. All this is for nothing.” Her shoulders drooped.
“Hey,” I called.
She lifted her head.
“Don’t forget who we’re talking about here. It’s Reid. If anyone can get something out of this phone, it’s him. Don’t give up hope yet.” I stood, digging my cell phone out of my pocket and dialing Reid’s number.
He answered on the first ring. “Find it?”
“Yep. But there’s a problem. It took a bath. I don’t know…”
His chuckle interrupted me. “Bring it to me. Let me work on it.”
“On my way.”
“I’ll be at the office.”
“Okay.”
I looked at Liv, huddled on the floor, pulling at her hair, unable to cope with more stress. S
he was breaking. I could see it happening right before my eyes. If this didn’t work, and the bastard got his rights back, I didn’t know how she was going to handle it. And I didn’t know how I was going to handle watching her snap.
I crouched in front of her. “Don’t give in, Livvy. I know how strong you are. Find your strength for Mouse. For me. Don’t give in to the fear. If you do, he wins regardless, because he is destroying you. Don’t let him.” I held up the phone. “I’m taking this to Reid. He’ll do everything he can, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll fight. Together, we’ll fight. But I need you to fight with me.”
She drew in a long breath. Then another. Her shoulders straightened, and she held up her head. She slid her hand into mine and squeezed. “We fight.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her, praying it wouldn’t come to that.
For two days, we waited. I knew not to bother Reid. Aiden had informed me he was locked in the server room, BAM on the back burner as he worked to help Liv. When I offered my thanks, Aiden shook his head.
“Family, Van. This is about family.”
I stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Liv was dozing, only finding a little rest because I had made love to her again, tiring her out physically so her body would force her to sleep—even if it was only for a short time.
It was just past three a.m. when my phone buzzed on the nightstand. I grabbed it, anxious when I saw Reid’s number flash across the screen. Liv sat up, instantly awake. I hit speaker.
“Tell us,” I said.
“Bang, bang, Hal’s big ole silver hammer is gonna come down on his head,” Reid sang. “Bang, bang, Hal’s big ole silver hammer is gonna make sure that claim is dead.”
It was corny, badly sung, and off-key. And the best rewrite of an old Beatles song I had ever heard.
I began to laugh. Big guffaws of relief. Liv giggle-snorted, tears falling down her cheeks.
Van: Vested Interest #5 Page 23