Turning to stir the meat sauce, Lindy said, “I think between the four of us everything has been decided for our wedding. So, if you had anything specific you wanted, you need to speak now or forever hold your peace.” Lindy laughed at her own pun.
“I’m sure everything will be wonderful just as you’ve planned it.”
“We decided on a date, too. Three weeks from Saturday. I hope you’re available.” Her eyes were beaming as she spoke about our wedding.
“We need to talk,” I said turning off the meat sauce.
“Sounds serious.”
I took Lindy by the hand, leading her to the sofa, the manila envelope with the pictures and note in my other hand.
“Trace, what’s wrong?”
I took out the pictures and note. “Today, Melissa paid me a visit. She drugged me and when I woke up, I found these on my desk.” I handed the note and pictures to Lindy. She looked at them, anger streaking across her face.
“That. Woman. Is. A. Bitch. She thought this would work to manipulate and control you? Obviously, you’re knocked out in these pictures. Does she think I’m stupid?”
“Well, apparently, she knows I am. I let Melissa into my office and let her give me a drink. Angelina had just vehemently turned down my offer and honestly, I needed a drink. I’m so pissed I allowed myself to be put in this position.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“It sure as hell feels like my fault. It’s like I’ve been invaded by some viral plague and I can’t get rid of it. She’s not going anywhere.”
Lindy cuddled up to me. “You can’t change anything that’s happened. You can only deal with it.”
Thank God she is a wise, intelligent woman. Thank God I had her by my side. I was so lucky she was levelheaded. I had no idea how I would have reacted if I saw pictures of her with another man. “Thank you for believing in me. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“In three weeks we’re going to be hitched, so you’ll never have to find out.”
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. So, you had fun with my mom and sisters?” I really wanted them to all have a close relationship.
“Trace, it was one of the best days ever. Your sisters are going to be my bridesmaids. We found my wedding dress, their dresses, your mom’s dress. David’s Bridal had everything we needed and at one point, we all broke down and cried. They are so loving and welcoming. I feel incredibly blessed to be marrying into your family.” It’s times like these that I am so thankful for my family. They’re cool.
Stroking Lindy’s hair I said, “We’re the lucky ones.”
Lindy reached up and kissed me. “Are you hungry? Should I turn the meat sauce back on? The water is boiling for the spaghetti.”
“Now that I know everything is okay between us, I’m starved. I had lost my appetite for a while.”
“You had nothing to worry about. I would never believe something like this, not about you, Trace. I know this sounds stupid, but what did you ever see in her? Don’t answer that though. I don’t think I want to know.” Thankfully I could see evidence of a smile, so I felt sure she wasn’t feeling vulnerable here. What had I seen in Angelina? Lindy got up and finished making dinner, and I felt so thankful for her.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, sweetie. You just sit there and relax. Can I get you anything?”
“A glass of red would be good.”
Lindy poured each of us a glass of wine after putting the spaghetti in the pot. “Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes or so.” She handed me the glass and sat beside me again.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come back to the office. You being there might be a thorn in Angelina’s side. I really don’t want you to have to deal with her.”
“To tell you the truth, I’m kind of relieved. The tension has been thick.”
“You have enough to do with the wedding. I’d like for us to plan our honeymoon, but we might need to postpone it for a little while. I don’t think taking time off any time soon is going to happen.”
“I totally understand. We can get away when you figure things out. Any idea how this is all going to—”
“Go away?”
“Yeah.”
“No. None at all. I’ve had Jack do background checks. He’s come up empty-handed. Buying her out is the only idea I’ve come up with. But now that she’s done this, I expect more bad things to happen.”
“Are you planning on confronting her about the pictures and note?”
“I was thinking about it driving home, but she could blame it all on Melissa. I have no proof that she’s even involved.”
“Maybe we should contact the police. This is blackmail after all.”
“You know what? I do still have the card for the detective who investigated Derrick’s death.”
“Why don’t you call him and I’ll get dinner on the table.”
“Okay.” Yep, I’m one lucky bastard.
Chapter 44: Lindy
Trace briefly told the detective what had happened. Said a bunch of uh-huh’s and hung up.
He came to the table and said, “He’s coming over in an hour.”
“Good. I hope he can help.”
“At least there will be an open file. They can try to get prints off the pictures, but we’ve both touched them, so it’s unlikely. He did say that even though they had to rule Derrick’s death as an accident, something didn’t sit well with him. There’s just no evidence to prove anyone had anything to do with it.”
“Hopefully, we can get something on her soon and get her out of our lives.” Something had to give. My poor man was being raked over the coals by this vicious woman.
Before I knew it, our doorbell was ringing. “I’ll get it,” Trace said.
He ushered Detective Matthews into the living room. After introducing us, the detective began asking Trace about the events surrounding the pictures. Trace explained everything he could remember. I hated what she was doing to Trace. He didn’t deserve any of this.
The detective put the pictures in a plastic bag and said he would have them dusted for prints, but most likely Angelina had been careful and used gloves. But, it was worth a shot.
“What did you do with the glass?” the detective asked.
Trace thought for a moment. “I left it on the coffee table.” Trace glanced at his watch. “The cleaning crew is there. Maybe they haven’t cleaned my office yet.” Trace took out his phone and called Martha. “Martha, this is Trace. Has my office been cleaned? Okay. There were glasses on the coffee table. Have they been washed? Shit. Okay. Thanks, Martha.” Trace ended the call. “They’ve already washed the glasses.”
“Nothing we can do about that. When I hear back about the prints, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll do a complete background check on Angelina, her family, her lawyer, and Melissa. Anyone else you can think of that might be associated with her?”
“No one else comes to mind,” Trace said shaking his head.
“Okay, well, if anything else comes up, let me know.”
“Will do.” We walked the detective out and I hoped he would come up with something.
“I’m so exhausted from all of this.”
“Why don’t we go upstairs, take a shower, and get into bed. I think I can take your mind off things for a little while.”
Trace looked down at me, pure lust emanating from his face. “I love how you think.”
We no sooner made it upstairs when Trace’s phone began ringing. “I better take this. It’s Jack. Maybe he found out something.”
I stood there hoping it wasn’t bad news when Trace exclaimed, “Oh, my, God. No! I’ll be right there. Have you called the fire department? Okay.” Fuck, this isn’t happening.
“What’s going on?”
“The building’s on fire. Jack said it’s pretty bad. We’ve got to get down there.”
“Let me drive,” I said forcefully. “I don’t think you
’re in the best condition to drive right now.”
Trace nodded.
From the freeway we saw billowing clouds of smoke rising up against the darkening sky. “Shit, I can’t believe this is happening.”
All I could do was hold Trace’s hand as words failed me. Turning down the street that led to the office, my stomach clenched and I thought I was going to throw up. I said a silent prayer. Please don’t let there be anyone inside.
Flames leapt from the building. I had never seen anything like it before, except on TV. Parking across the street, we made our way through the crowd, many of them employees from the R and D department. Heat radiated from the building; the air was thick with ash and smoke. My eyes were stinging and my throat was dry.
“Jack, do you know what happened?” Trace asked as we approached.
“I have no idea. I was just getting home when I got the call about the alarms going off. The fire department arrived like two minutes ago. I have no idea if everyone got out.”
“How many cars are in the lot?”
They both began counting. “It looks like twenty,” Jack said.
“I see Angelina’s car, but where is she?”
“I haven’t seen her. I didn’t think to check the cars to figure out who was here.”
“Was she here when you left?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
That’s when I saw it. A firefighter carrying a limp body from around the back. He laid her out on a gurney. She was so still.
“Is that her?” I asked, pointing to the lifeless body.
Trace ran over, Jack and I following behind. “Is she?” Trace asked to the fireman without continuing.
“I’m afraid so,” he said. “There was nothing we could do. She inhaled too much smoke.”
“Shit. What the hell?” Oh my God. She’s dead. Was this her final stance and she got caught in the fire or was she so out of her mind that she let it take her? This was all too much.
“Has anyone else been found in the building?”
“We’ve cleared the building. No other casualties have been found.”
The building continued to burn and the firemen worked tirelessly to extinguish the flames. They made us move back across the street. Part of me was relieved to not be so close. Leaning against Trace’s chest I said, “Are you okay? This was your life’s work.”
“No. Not really. I don’t get what’s going on.”
“I know you wanted her out of your life, but I’m sure this isn’t the way you imagined it.”
“No. I was angry with her, but I never wished her dead. I can’t believe this.”
Trace wrapped his arms around me. “Her family is going to be devastated. She was so young.”
“Yeah, she was really close with her family. God, I hope everyone else got out.”
The roar of the flames had died down and the aftermath of this terrible event was upon us.
Jack exhaled loudly. I had almost forgotten he was there. “We have a lot to do. Please tell me you have all the files backed up on your hard drive at home.”
“Yes, I do. We can rebuild everything, but we can’t get Angelina’s life back.”
“No, we can’t. Even though she had been terrible to you, I’m sure part of you still cared for her,” Jack said, putting his hand on Trace’s shoulder.
A fireman approached us. “I’m Travis Maddoc. I was told one of you is the owner.”
“Yes, I’m Trace Michaels. I own the company. This is my fiancée, Lindy, and Jack Cawston, my Chief of Operations.
“Any idea what might have caused the fire?”
“I have no clue. Jack?”
“I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure it out, but we didn’t have anything flammable on the premises. I just can’t imagine how this happened.”
“We’ll send Morrison out to investigate the cause of the fire. I need your contact information.
Trace gave his phone number and took Travis’s card.
“I’ll send out a text to everyone letting them know what happened,” Jack said.
“Thanks. I’ll find out in the morning when the investigator is coming out. I’ll be in touch after that.”
“Okay. I’ll put together a list of things I think we should do. Why don’t you do the same and we can meet Morrison here. I would imagine he’s coming out tomorrow.”
Trace gave a heavy sigh. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Just like that, Trace and Jack had a game plan.
“I’m glad you have Jack. He seems like a huge help.”
“He’s the best. I don’t know what I’d do without him.” Trace reclined the passenger’s seat a little. I drove us home in silence. He was exhausted and I knew he needed the quiet. It would be a long road to getting things back to normal.”
Chapter 45: Trace
The week after the fire had almost become a blur. Jack had been instrumental in working with Morrison to determine a cause for the fire. Arson had been ruled out which was a relief. It appeared that some exposed wires rubbed against one another, a spark ensuing, starting an electrical fire. At first, I expected Angelina to have had something to do with it, even though the fire had claimed her life. But, no connection to her involvement was found.
Since I had so much to deal with, Lindy pushed the wedding back a few weeks. A wedding at the beginning of summer would work out. I didn’t want her to be disappointed, but I had no choice. Jack and I worked morning till night to recreate the company. Lindy and Kristie were instrumental in furnishing the new office so everyone had what they needed to do their jobs. Fortunately, a recently vacated building a few blocks away had been available. I was grateful I had reserves in the bank for any unforeseen problems. This was far beyond a problem as I had to be the one to tell Angelina’s parents their daughter had died. It completely sucked, but what else could I do? I didn’t want someone they didn’t know to tell them. I had almost become their son-in-law after all.
Once we received the report from the fire marshall that the fire was an accident, I could collect the insurance money for the company. Derrick and I had decided on full coverage, so we would have the money to start over if we ever needed to. We’d paid a higher premium so we could collect the insurance money within thirty days of an accident. Fire was covered under that premium. It was worth every extra cent now that we needed it.
I had the new printer plans ready. All we needed was the money to be wired into the account to get up and running again. Jack had handled so many of the details for me so I could focus on getting R and D back on course. If we didn’t have the printers, we didn’t have a company. Filling our orders was imperative. Just enough money was in the account to complete the orders we had before the fire and to do payroll.
Looking out my office window, I couldn’t quite accept everything that had happened. The last couple of months had so many blows it was like I had been in a boxing match with a heavy weight champion. Lindy was the silver lining in this whole fucked-up mess. Jack lightly tapped on the door.
“I just got word that the insurance money will be wired into the account tomorrow.”
“That’s great news. Thanks.”
“No problem. Also, I’m going to take off early today. I have some things I need to do, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Of course.” Jack turned to walk out. “Jack.”
“Yes,” he said turning back to face me.
“Thanks for everything. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“That’s what the right hand man is for,” he said, giving one nod. With that, he left.
Around four, Lindy came into my office. “I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday. Please tell me you don’t have to work this weekend.”
“No, honey. Come here,” I said. Lindy came around my desk and sat on my lap. “Have I told you just how amazing you’ve been through all of this?”
Lindy rested her forehead against mine. “Yes, sweetie. You have.”
“I just wan
t to tell you again how much I appreciate you. Thank you for being so understanding and just rolling with the punches.”
“Of course, Trace. Life is full of trials. It’s how we handle them that shows our character.”
“That’s very wise.”
“My mom taught me that when I was a kid. I didn’t quite understand what she meant, but as I got older, it made sense.”
“You had a good mom.”
“She was great. I hope to live up to her example when I become a mom.”
“You will, honey. You’ll be amazing.”
Lindy kissed me. I knew she wanted to be a mom more than anything.
“Let’s go home,” I said. “We can pick up some Greek food on the way. How does that sound?”
“Perfect.”
“Do you want your usual?”
“Yes. I love Moussaka. It’s my favorite.”
I laughed. “I always get my favorite, too.” Taking out my phone, I texted our order. One of the perks of being friends with the owner.
Walking out, we stopped by Fran’s desk. “We’re going to be in late tomorrow. Probably around noon.”
“Sounds good,” Fran replied.
I planned on shutting out everything and spending hours alone with my girl. I didn’t want anything to be rushed.
Once home, setting the bags down on the island, I asked, “Are you starving or can you wait a little while before we eat?”
“I can wait.”
“Good,” I said, scooping Lindy up and throwing her over my shoulder. She squealed with delight. “I’ve been thinking about having you in my bed all day.”
***
Morning came too soon and I woke to Lindy serving me breakfast in bed. She had made omelets and toast. The coffee was the second thing I wanted…after her.
“Good morning,” she said looking at me with need, hunger.
“It has been a good morning. I can’t believe I fell back asleep.”
“Well, I did ride you pretty hard,” she said coyly. “So, you needed your rest.”
“I hope you’re planning on an encore before we go to work.”
The Only One for Her Page 21