She walked through the mud and the rain off Dameon’s fenced-in property and onto the larger part of land he would be developing. It was raining enough to run down the hillsides and into the uncontrolled wash. She kept her distance to avoid being swept away. Unlike other places in the valley where rain funneled into flash-flood danger zones, this particular area wasn’t that dramatic. But that didn’t mean it didn’t come with its own set of challenges. Grace took pictures from every angle she could manage. She used voice-to-text to write notes for herself. Controlling what Mother Nature brings would have to be a high priority for Dameon’s project. More than once she really wished he was there to see firsthand what the property looked like during a storm.
In addition to pictures, she let a video run for quite a while.
It had been a little over an hour before she traversed the route back to the house.
By now the rain was pounding the already soggy roads, and she’d taken on enough water to resemble a duck.
She shook off her rain gear and hung it on a hook by the front door. Her mud boots stayed on the tile.
A message from Dameon was waiting for her on his answering machine.
“Hey, hon. I just spoke with Carson. Why didn’t you tell me about someone following you?”
“Oops.”
“I get it, you’re my fiercely independent, take-no-prisoners woman . . . it’s one of the many things I love about you. But please don’t keep these things from me. I’m leaving the office now. Traffic report says I will be there in an hour and a half. Call me if you leave the canyon and I’ll go straight to your condo. Okay?”
Grace double-checked the time stamp on the message and looked at her watch. He was less than thirty minutes out.
She lifted the receiver and dialed his cell.
“Hello, Wonder Woman” is how he answered.
“I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
She could tell he had her on a speaker through his car. The muffled sound of the rain and swish of the windshield wipers had her straining to hear everything Dameon said. “Yes. You should have. When Carson told me . . . it scared me, Grace.”
She leaned against the kitchen counter. “This sharing of my life isn’t something I’m used to,” she said in her defense.
“I’ve met your family. And the whole lot of you overshare everything.”
Grace laughed. “If I told them about this, they’d have me locked in a room somewhere.”
“Maybe that’s wise.”
She couldn’t argue. “How far out are you?”
“Traffic sucks, but it’s moving. I’ve got another thirty minutes.”
She walked over to the thermostat and turned it up. “It would take me at least twenty minutes to drive to my place, so I’ll just stay here.”
“All right. Lock the doors.”
“I already did.”
He chuckled. “Good. I, ah . . . yeah, I’ll see you soon.”
“Drive carefully.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Using a towel from one of the bathrooms, Grace patted down her soaked pants and attempted to dry her hair. She pulled back the shades on the front window and peered outside. The rain was really coming down and the sky was dark with clouds. But it was still a couple of hours until sunset, so even though she knew Dameon was on his way, it was a relief to know he’d be there before dark.
She made herself busy by rummaging through Dameon’s freezer. She removed two individually wrapped chicken breasts and put them on the counter to thaw. Then to chase the silence away, she turned on the TV and found a music station to listen to. At one point she wanted to toss her wet pants into a dryer, but realized there wasn’t one in the house. Instead, she stacked small pieces of wood in the fireplace and turned on the gas to get it going.
It took a good five minutes while the flames built up enough to push out heat. Once it was hot enough, she tossed on a couple of bigger logs and turned down the gas.
In the time she’d known Dameon, Grace hadn’t spent more than a few hours alone in his house. And even though he’d been working to improve the space, he was adamant that the house would be removed in the future. She had to admit, the place was growing on her. From the awful carpet to the window coverings that had been left behind. Maybe Dameon wouldn’t mind if she spent a little time making the place more livable. And damn if the chill from the single-pane windows wasn’t the worst. Even heavier curtains would help with that.
With nothing left to do but stare at the fire and listen to music, Grace moved into the dining area and rolled out the plans she’d been working on.
No matter who Richard assigned Dameon’s project to, they’d happily take any plans Grace mapped out, which would cut their work hours in half if not more.
She opened up her phone, listened to the notes, and transcribed them to paper.
Whenever she found herself in the zone of work, she lost track of time. In her head she asked herself if she could still work under Richard. If only the man would retire, and she’d be able to go back to her job without the politics. Her thoughts drifted to the office and all the things that had been said about her.
When Dameon got home, she’d talk it out with him. And that was a nice change. Yeah, she could discuss things with her family, but they had so many other concerns in their lives right now.
Three sudden, sharp knocks on the front door made her jump and drop her pencil.
She glanced at her watch. It had been close to thirty minutes.
“Did you forget your key?” she called out as she walked to the door.
Her hand hesitated over the doorknob.
She pushed open the window covering she’d closed to keep the heat in.
Next to her car, in the driveway, was a high-end SUV.
Her smile dropped and she peered through the peephole in the door.
Max? Her heart rate double-timed.
What was Maxwell Banks doing knocking on Dameon’s front door?
He stood far enough away that Grace felt comfortable opening it a crack.
She spoke through a three-inch opening. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi . . . ah, is Dameon here? I tried calling him, but the cell service sucks.”
“He’ll be here any minute.”
Max stayed where he was and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “I really need to talk to him. Any chance I could wait inside?”
Grace shook her head. “No. Last I looked, you and Dameon had a falling-out.”
Max blew out a breath. “I know. I get it. I’ll go into town. Can you tell him I was here? He doesn’t owe me anything, but I’d really like to talk with him.”
“I can do that.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” With that, Max pulled up the collar of his jacket and ran back out in the rain.
Grace closed the door and secured the lock and watched Max through the window as he jumped in his car. What the actual hell?
As he backed out of the driveway, she sighed in relief.
Dameon was halfway up the canyon road to the house when the paved roadway became a mess of mud and rock. He understood what Grace had originally told him about the area and the road conditions after a big rain. She wasn’t kidding when she said it could become impassable.
Driving through the area in the rain brought home his need for an investor. This was going to take twice the amount of roadwork and infrastructure to make it work. Not everyone buying a home in his development was going to want to drive a truck . . . or a massive SUV like the one headed toward him.
Driving slow enough to avoid the larger rocks that were being knocked into the road by the rain, Dameon passed the SUV. He made it less than two yards before he recognized the car and the driver and slammed on his brakes.
In the rearview mirror, he saw Max do the same.
What the hell are you doing out here?
The red backup lights went on, and Max slowly pulled his car alongside Dameon’s truck.
; They both rolled down their windows.
“What are you doing out here?” Dameon asked over the noise of the drumming rain and the vehicle engines.
For a minute it didn’t seem like Max was going to talk. Then he did. “Lena left me.”
Ah, shit. Much as he wanted to pretend Max’s words meant nothing to him, they had too much history to ignore. But he wasn’t about to say he was sorry. Lena was wrong for Max. All wrong. “That’s hard.”
Max looked out his windshield and then leaned out the window and yelled, “I’m sorry, Dameon. I’ve been a shitty friend.”
Damn. What was he supposed to do with that?
“My dad’s sick. Really sick. It had me thinking.”
The girlfriend card Dameon could pass on, but the dad card? No way. He remembered how Max had been there for him when his own dad died.
Max turned his gaze out his windshield. “I feel like my world is falling apart. Lena called it quits right after Christmas, and I thought she hooked back up with you.”
“That isn’t who I am, Max.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I know. I went to the charity dinner thinking maybe she’d be there. And when I saw you and your girlfriend and the team . . . it’s like I reverted back to a cocky high school kid again.” Max turned his gaze to Dameon. “I just want to talk. I know you don’t owe that to me, but I want to make this right.”
Dameon watched the rain running down his windshield and the ticktock of the wipers.
Grace walked back to her drawings and picked up her pencil. She stared at the plans for two solid minutes and knew her concentration was off.
She moved to the fireplace and stoked the logs. There was some serious cold coming from the back bedrooms. After checking the vents in the main room and feeling heat blowing out, she walked through the hallway to make sure all the windows were closed. Sure enough, in an empty room at the very back of the house, a window was open, and the old curtains from the previous owner were blowing in.
Grace walked in the room and attempted to slide the window closed.
She tugged twice and then put some muscle behind it on the third.
The window slid closed with a loud click.
Grace shook off the rain that had blown in on her as she turned.
Her stocking feet then stepped in a soaked carpet. Only when she looked down, it wasn’t rainwater she noticed. It was mud.
Muddy footprints.
“I’m sorry about your dad. Damn, Max.”
Max kept shaking his head. “I fucked up, Dameon. I let my dick get in the way of a solid friendship.”
Dameon motioned out the windshield. “The house I’m using is just up the way.”
“Yeah, I know. I was just there. Your girlfriend wouldn’t let me in.”
That made Dameon smile. “She’s a smart woman.”
Max grinned briefly.
“Follow me up.”
They made eye contact. With a single nod, Max rolled up his window and pulled forward. It took a four-point turn, but he pulled in behind Dameon and they both drove back toward the house.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Grace’s hands shook, her heart rate took off like a racehorse, and her breathing became erratic.
Someone was in the house.
Her first thought was Max. But she’d seen him drive away.
She spun in a circle. There was absolutely nothing in the empty room to grab. Her hand grasped the curtain and she looked up.
Without a second thought, she ripped the cheap rod from the wall and quickly pushed the curtains off and onto the floor.
Her eyes traveled to the closed closet doors.
On the carpet, the footprints stopped in front of them.
The door to the room was in the opposite direction so she ran for it.
She made it down the hall before a man stepped in front of her and pushed her against the wall.
She screamed and swung the cheap metal curtain rod with every ounce of power she had.
The rod made contact and the man spoke.
“Fucking bitch.”
She looked up and kept swinging.
It was Sokolov. He tried to disguise his face with nylons pulled over his head, but she could tell it was him.
The third time she swung the rod, he grabbed it and wrestled it out of her hands.
She turned to run back the way she came when a second man, this one bigger, grabbed her by her shoulders.
“Now where do you think you’re going?”
The man holding her also wore nylons over his face, squishing it in a way that made his features unrecognizable.
He turned her to face Sokolov.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” she yelled.
Sokolov lifted his hands to the room. “Who is going to stop me?”
She tried to wiggle free to no avail. “I know it’s you, Sokolov.”
He took a step closer. Almost in kicking range.
Her mind scrambled.
“Oh yeah?” He pulled the nylons off his face. “That’s too bad. But that look on your face right now is worth it.”
“Dameon will be here any second.”
Sokolov started to laugh.
The man holding her did as well.
“Did you hear that? The cavalry is coming.”
Another step closer.
“I got to thinking. If I’m going to be accused of assault and battery, I might as well do the crime, right?” Sokolov ran his tongue over his lips, his eyes moving slowly from her face to her chest.
Oh shit.
Another step closer . . .
“Besides, you owe me fifteen grand. You didn’t think I’d let that go, did you?” He stopped too far away to kick and looked back at her face. “So this is what we’re going to do. I’m going to give you a little taste of what I’m going to do to your friends. I know where they all live and when they’re alone. So even if you’re stupid enough to call the police, I have friends like my buddy here, who will make sure to take care of them one at a time.”
She thought of Erin and Parker. Her mom and dad. His words were screwing with her head.
“I have a rock-solid alibi as to where I am right now, and it’s not here, little lady.”
She struggled against her hold again.
Nothing.
The music played in the living room with an upbeat song, mocking what was happening at that moment.
“I’ll get your money back,” she told him.
She noticed a lift in his lips.
Her arms started to scream in pain from the man holding her.
“Just don’t hurt me.”
Sokolov liked that. His shoulders relaxed and he looked to the man behind her. “Did you hear that? She’s singing a different tune now.” He took another step, then two.
Grace moved as fast as she could.
She shifted her hips to the side and, with her fist, aimed right for the man’s balls behind her.
He lost his grip while Sokolov lunged for her.
Her knee came up and Sokolov doubled over.
She made it three feet and one of them grabbed at her legs, and she fell to the ground with a scream.
Dameon pulled alongside Grace’s car, and Max pulled in behind him.
He waited until Max joined him before walking up to the house.
Max extended his hand. “Thanks, Dameon.”
He smiled. “Don’t thank me yet,” he said.
They turned to the house, and Max patted him on the back.
Under the cover of the porch, Dameon stomped his feet on the welcome mat Grace had bought him for Christmas.
He was fishing the keys out of his pocket when he heard Grace cry out.
“Grace?” he yelled.
“Dameon! Help!” She was screaming.
He grabbed the doorknob, said the hell with the keys, and kicked the flimsy lock open.
Grace was sprawled on the floor, on her
back, and kicking at the man who was scrambling to get out of the way.
Dameon saw red, and he charged in with a full football-style tackle.
The man over Grace went down under him.
Grace screamed again and yelled, “Watch out.”
Dameon didn’t look up. His fist struck out at the man he’d just shoved to the ground.
His knuckles hit flesh.
The man on the ground swung back.
Dameon’s lip split and he struck out again.
This time the man under him slumped.
Dameon turned his head enough to see that there was a second man in the house. This one was bigger and he’d just slammed his fist into Max’s face.
Grace was scrambling out of the way.
Dameon pushed to his feet and charged the man beating on Max.
He felt a punch to his ribs before landing one himself.
“Help!” Grace yelled to his side.
When he looked, she had the cordless phone in one hand and a fireplace poker in the other. Her yell for help was over the phone.
Her distraction was enough to give the bigger man a clean shot at Dameon’s kidney.
He went to a knee, and Grace screamed as she charged with the swinging fireplace poker she used like a sword.
Dameon heard a yelp and saw the steel make contact. As it caught the nylon-faced man, it ripped the fabric.
Dameon pulled himself up and charged right as Max did the same.
The stranger was on the ground with Max’s booted foot pressed against the back of his head.
A moan came from the other man, who was trying to stand.
Grace stumbled toward him with the poker and swung. “You son of a bitch!” She lifted the poker to hit again.
Dameon grabbed it after the third hit. “He’s down.”
And he was. Face-first.
Grace turned her wild eyes to him.
“It’s okay.” Dameon reached for her.
She stumbled into him and went limp in his arms. “I didn’t see them.”
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”
And she cried.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
By the time the police arrived, Dameon and Max had found zip ties in the garage at Grace’s suggestion and bound the two men together.
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