He nodded and backed out, shutting the door behind him.
“Hold on, Wyatt, I’m gonna put you on speaker phone.” Campbell pushed a button and added, “Okay, can you repeat that last part for Natalie to hear?”
“Hey, Natalie.”
“Hey, Wyatt. Tell me you have some good news for me.”
“I think I might actually.”
She looked at Campbell and then back at the phone. “Really?”
“I met with Braden yesterday.”
Natalie’s stomach dropped into her shoes. “And?”
“And I don’t think he’s our guy. I’d really like to explain in person, plus I need to get out of the precinct for a bit. It’s been a madhouse around here the past few days. Full moon or something. Can you guys meet me at a coffee shop downtown?”
“When?” Campbell asked as he looked at his watch. “The door guys are gonna take at least another hour and a half to get finished. We’ve got a bit more cleanup to go and then we could be out of here. Four or so would be the earliest we could get there.”
“Works for me. Meet you there.”
“Hey,” Natalie called out. “Have you done what you need to with Wren’s apartment yet? I keep forgetting to ask you with everything else going on.”
“Uh, not exactly.”
“What does that mean?” Campbell asked.
“We found evidence someone had been staying there. Recently.”
“Uhh. What do you mean, recently?” Natalie added on.
“As in, there was someone in the apartment and I think they ran out when my guys got there to sweep the place a couple days ago.”
Natalie shook her head and stared at her phone as if it were going to start popping out answers like Pez candy from a cartoon dispenser. “But there is no more family. The hospital did a search and so did I just to make sure there wasn’t someone else who should have taken Starling.”
Campbell rubbed Starling’s back as he stared at the phone on his knee. “Could it have been someone from the apartment complex that realized no one was staying there?”
“Checking on it. Doesn’t look likely though. Really strange. And we found some pretty hardcore computer equipment there but the main unit was taken when whoever it was left.”
“How odd,” Natalie added completely unhelpfully.
“We’re watching the place. See if they come back. We have another week on the rent ’til you have to do something with it so I hope to have answers before then. Okay, gotta get off if I have any hope of meeting you guys at four. I’ll text you the address. Gonna try to be there early. Might bring someone else with me to discuss things, but I’ll let you know if that works out.”
“All right. See you there.” Campbell pushed the off button on his phone and they both sat there for a minute.
Natalie glanced at her hand. “I forgot to tell him about the letter. I almost feel like we’re in some episode of Scooby-Doo. I’m damn ready to get to the last thirty seconds of the episode so the kids can pull off the masks and reveal the bad guy.”
“Me too,” Campbell agreed. “Or bad guys,” he mumbled as an afterthought. “And just bring the letter. We can take a picture of it and give him the original.”
“Okay.” She folded the piece of paper and slipped it back into the envelope.
“Hey.”
Natalie looked over at Campbell and he moved Starling to his lap. He then wrapped an arm around Natalie’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Let’s look on the bright side.”
“Which is?”
“At least no one’s tried to run you over in a few weeks.”
Natalie chuckled, which she figured was the goal.
“Good girl.” He kissed the top of her head and then handed Starling back over to her.
“I love it when you call me that,” Natalie whispered.
“I know.” He gave her another kiss on the mouth, then stood and went toward the door. “Okay, let me go get these things taken care of so we can get to the coffee place on time. Oh, yeah, and talk to Jay about the settings.”
“Right. Sorry. Would have forgotten to tell you that.” She shook her head in frustration. What next? she wanted to know. What next?
* * * * *
At three forty-five they walked into the coffee shop, Campbell in front to look it over as he did in every place they entered.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” Natalie looked around. They were definitely in the money district, which was odd. “Doesn’t seem like Wyatt’s kind of place, does it?”
“Not even a little bit, but the address matches and the GPS took us right here.”
“Yeah but the phone message he left earlier was super odd,” Natalie commented.
“He probably just butt dialed me. I wouldn’t worry about it. The place looks fine and you’re easily defendable here. I’m gonna get coffee. What would you like?”
“A muffin, I think. No coffee for me.”
“Why, so you can drink half of mine instead?”
She smiled. “Works for me.”
He rolled his eyes and kissed her lips then Starling’s head, which was peeking over the top of the baby carrier Natalie had wrapped around her.
Campbell brought back coffee and muffins and they ate and chitchatted.
“It’s about time for Wyatt to show up.” Natalie stood and rubbed Starling’s back as she slept in the carrier. “I’m done with my muffin. Want me to take your trash?”
“Sure.” He handed over his muffin paper and she walked it over to the trash.
She turned around and almost walked into someone, who steadied her by holding her elbow. “I’m so sorry…” Her words faded away as she looked up into the eyes of the man before her.
Braden.
She panicked and opened her mouth to scream.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Natalie
Just as she sucked in a huge lungful of air to scream, “Hi, Natalie. Can we talk for a minute?” came out of Braden’s mouth. Normal. Rational. A bit sad.
She panted and tried to control the urge to run. “Umm…huh?”
Campbell grabbed him by the lapel of his coat and got in his face. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Braden stammered for a minute, glancing back and forth between both of them. “I’ve been trying to run into Natalie for several weeks.”
“So,” Natalie started and then had to wrap her head around the fact that wasn’t a lie. “You admit you’ve been pseudo stalking the clinic?”
“Not stalking. Oh my heavens, no. I’ve been working ridiculously late hours and haven’t been able to get to the clinic to see you until ungodly late. I tried in the middle of the day on Sunday last weekend and then remembered you weren’t there on Sundays.”
“Campbell…uhh…do you think you could let him go?”
“I’m not certain,” Campbell answered with a fair amount of reserve in his voice.
For a few more moments things were tense in the coffee shop. Thankfully it wasn’t peak coffee drinking time and they were off to one side, and Natalie hadn’t pulled the trigger on the complete flip-the-fuck-out she was about to rock when he stepped up.
Braden adjusted his collar and addressed Campbell. “I’m very sorry for catching you both unaware. I met with Detective Wyatt yesterday and earlier today.”
“You did?” Natalie asked him.
Braden nodded and faced her. “He contacted me after he spoke with you, setting up this meeting so that I could speak with you. It seems to me the message of my presence might not have properly transmitted to you. My deepest apologies for showing up unexpected and quite unwelcome.”
Campbell crossed his arms over his chest and eyed him. “You want us to believe that you showing up off and on outside the clinic for more than two weeks is nothing but a case of too
late at the office? Plus you spoke to Wyatt and he cleared you and he was going to what? Intercede on your behalf so you could talk to Natalie? Which you absolutely could have done on the phone at any time, even from your high and mighty office?”
“Well…yes. I could have called, but what I need to speak with you about is sensitive in nature and I don’t fully trust the phones at the office. You can understand that portion of it, can’t you?” he asked Natalie.
“I’m sure every conversation has been recorded for decades there. With trigger words being fed into some kind of secondary database to be listened to by a person as soon as possible.”
“Rightly so.”
Natalie rubbed Starling’s back to give her something to do with the nervous jitters running through her system. She was super thankful she hadn’t scared the sleeping infant. She was freaked out enough for both of them.
“I hated hearing from the detective that you suspected I would try to hurt you. That’s why he decided to help me meet with you. After what I heard I didn’t think you’d give me the time of day to even tell you what I wanted to discuss with you, much less actually meet. So I suggested this place. I’m always here around this time so it wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary at work.” He shook his head slowly. “I’ve hurt you so much in the past I would never ever hurt you again. Not ever.” He reached for her arm but Campbell got to him first.
“Keep your mitts to yourself and that means off my girl.”
“Your girl?”
“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?” The attitude coming off Campbell wasn’t really helping though she couldn’t blame him for the macho display of territory.
Before things escalated out of control Natalie rubbed Campbell’s shoulder. “Will you contact Wyatt and verify this is right? I almost want to give him the benefit of the doubt and talk to him but—”
“Not gonna happen ’til we verify everything.” Campbell pulled out his phone and it actually started ringing in his hand. “Campbell,” he barked into the phone. “Just the man I needed to talk to. Yes, we’re here. Yes. He is too. Thanks for the heads-up. I almost had to send him back to work in a doggie bag. Good thing he’s a quick talker.” He glanced at his watch. “Can he tell us what’s going on or do you need to be here?” Campbell eyed Braden again. “I’ll do my best.” He ended the call and pocketed his cell.
“Did the detective verify my story?”
Campbell gave one brisk nod. “He said he thought you were harmless but apparently his definition of the word and mine are quite different. You can hurt her in more ways than just physical. You feel me?”
Braden nodded once and exhaled. He put his hands in his pockets and seemed to droop a bit. “Hurting you,” he said to Natalie and then to Campbell, “is not my intention.” He glanced back at Natalie and then down to Starling. His smile was sad as he looked up at Natalie again. “Never was, though I’m sure that’s going to take some convincing.”
Natalie wanted to run, she wanted to hide Starling from his gaze and slink back inside the walls she’d erected so many years ago after they made a very serious mistake.
But then she looked down at Starling and she never wanted her to feel as if she needed to hide. She wanted her to be brave. Not for other people but for herself. “What exactly do you want?” she enquired.
“A few minutes alone with you. That’s it. I’d like to explain a few things. Apologize for a lot, and try to make things right, something I should have done a long time ago.”
Campbell was already staring at her when she faced him. “I will not leave the coffee shop. You guys can sit on one side and I’ll sit on the other, but don’t ask me to leave you because I’m not physically capable of doing that.”
Natalie smiled and moved closer to him. “I wouldn’t want you to leave. I’d never ask that.”
“Good.” He cupped her face and then looked at Braden. “How long do you need?”
“Ten, fifteen minutes tops. I’m sure you have things to do and I promise not to take up too much of her time.”
“If you harm a hair on her head, you know who you’ll be answering to.” His words were most definitely not in the form of a question.
“On my honor.” Braden nodded at him and that seemed to be enough for Campbell. Barely.
Then Campbell kissed her. It was possessive and curled her toes before he let her go. “You okay if I take Starling with me? She can distract me.”
Natalie grinned. “She’s asleep.”
“Close enough.” His eyes.
He needed to have Starling with him. Needed something to focus on while he gave her the time she needed to deal with a few skeletons in her distant past. As if she needed another reason to love him.
Love.
Oh fuck.
Her voice shook as she spoke. “Just help me get her unhooked and you can take her.”
Campbell took off his jacket and helped her with hers. Then just a few buckles and straps later they’d transferred the baby to his chest. She wiggled a few times, rubbed her face but quickly settled down against him.
They put their coats back on and he gave her one more kiss before glaring at Braden and then moved back to where they’d been sitting on the far side of the coffee shop.
“Shall we?” Braden asked and gestured in the other direction.
Natalie moved around a couple tables and then took a seat. Quite a few extra people had come inside while they stood in the middle of the shop exchanging pleasantries.
She didn’t think it was really all that nice so far but it was totally different than the evil eye Campbell was throwing from across the room or the good old-fashioned fistfight she was sure he’d wanted to start before.
Braden sat across from her, which was good or she would have moved, and thankfully the tables were all pretty small so she could still hear what he had to say.
“I know this is awkward,” he started out with.
“Understatement of the year. Nope. Let’s go with decade since it’s been a bit more than that since I’ve seen or spoken to you.”
He didn’t laugh it off or make excuses for the distance. With a simple nod he spoke to her but looked at the table. “Apologizing in this case will never make right what happened. Saying I’m sorry cannot right the wrongs I’ve caused you. What I’ve put you through. Alone. I’ve tried my best, even without the ability to make things right, to put myself in your shoes. What you had to deal with, what you had to suffer. I have always been completely unable to accomplish that task. I do not know how you are so amazing and give of yourself so completely at the clinic with what you have gone through and what you’ve had to give up.”
“Our son.”
He looked up at her as if she’d zapped him with a cattle prod. “What? Say it again.”
“Our son. That’s what I gave up. What I was forced to give up because I was too weak and dependent to do it on my own.”
“Our son,” he murmured. Folding his hands on the table he twisted his wedding ring. “That’s the first time I’ve said it out loud since I stormed out of your father’s office so long ago.”
“That’s sad.”
“I completely agree.”
Natalie glanced at his wedding ring again. “You got married?”
“I did. A few years back.”
“Happy?” No clue why she asked it, but she was glad she did because genuine curiosity kept her from apologizing for being nosy.
“It wasn’t a love match if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What other kind is there?”
“Convenience, political gain, tradition. Lots of things call people to the altar even if there is no love involved.”
Count her out of any of those. She’d be damned if she’d ever say “I do” without the man she was standing with thinking she hung the moon and all the stars right along with it. �
�Children?” she asked.
“No. Never lucky enough.”
Natalie glanced in Campbell’s direction, and she smiled when she saw his gaze was still locked on her. A frission of awareness raced up her spine.
“Can I ask you a question? And if you don’t want to answer it I’ll completely understand.”
She thought about it, not certain if she were truly prepared to have the conversation she knew they were about to jump into. “Ask what you want. I’m honestly not certain what I’m comfortable discussing. I have some questions too if you don’t mind filling in a few blanks.”
“I’d be more than happy to. I’ve wanted to talk to you for a very long time.”
“So what’s your question since you obviously have something on your mind?”
“Do you hate me?”
It was the question she thought he would ask. The question she honestly didn’t know how to answer so she went with the truth. “Hate is a very strong word. Back then when it all happened? Yeah. I did. But now?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t understand why you abandoned me back then. I would hate to think my love was so misplaced, and you still don’t seem like a bad guy now, but back then you just left me to deal with everything on my own. I was young, scared, pregnant, and you kicked me to the curb, took a payoff to sign your rights away and then kept working your way up the corporate ladder at my family’s business, which I’ve been disavowed of. Talk about unfair.”
His face went white. “I never took a payoff. I loved you and our son. So much.”
Natalie opened her mouth. Closed it. Tried again. “What do you mean you never took money?”
“God. How could you think that?”
“The last time I saw you it was outside my father’s office. You were yelling at him about money.”
“Your parents threatened me with rape charges if I didn’t keep quiet. I wanted to be with you. Desperately. And our son. I wanted a family. I wanted it all.”
Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 Page 27