“Dishes.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
As I started scrubbing the first pan, he began telling me about the costumes he saw in the window of a shop downtown for toddlers. I figured we would probably wait another year to do the whole Halloween thing – she doesn’t understand it anyway and by this time next year, she’ll have an opinion on what she wants to be.
I drained the sink while he dried the last pan, wishing I had more dishes to wash so I could put off this discussion until later. I almost gave into the temptation to distract him by just taking off my shirt and attacking him…but he’d probably know exactly what I was doing and that would take a lot of the fun out of it. I’m a big girl. Suck it up, buttercup. Time to face the music.
Chapter 12
~Emma~
“So…you want to talk about Dan….” I was not looking forward to this. Jason motioned me to the table and we both sat down.
“I’m still waiting on a lot of his stuff to come back, but the financial records came in yesterday. He was involved in some pretty shady stuff, Em. My first thought is that he has been helping someone launder money, but I would need to dig into where the money was going before I could be sure. He either quit his job or got fired about eight months ago – he stopped getting paid, anyway. Bottom line out of all of that is that he is broke. Completely.”
“Wow. That’s all crazy. He dealt with some shady people in the music business but I never would have thought he’d get involved in anything illegal. But money has always been important to him – probably the most important thing to him, actually.”
“I had a feeling that was the case. What I really wondered about, though, was what happened with your divorce. When I pulled the decree, there wasn’t anything in there about Mia. No custody arrangement, no child support agreement, nothing. How is that even legal? What happened when –“
“You pulled my divorce decree? You went digging through my stuff to check on him? How did you even – don’t you need permission to do that?!”
“Emma, hold up. I’m trying to help here. When he attacked you –“
“When he attacked me, you never asked if you could rifle through my life! You didn’t tell me you were going to go dig through everything I’ve ever done. You didn’t ASK ME if any of that was okay! Why didn’t you ASK me if you had questions? Did you pull MY credit report? Run a background check on ME? Did you??”
His face gave him away. Oh, my gosh. He did. I jumped up and started pacing around the apartment. How in the heck do you trust someone who just digs into your life like that? I don’t even have secrets, but what if I did? They’re MINE. Mine to keep or mine to tell.
“Emma.”
“No! No. Just…give me a minute here. I mean – you invaded my privacy on a level I can’t even comprehend. What did you read? What do you know about me now that I never told you? Why would you even do that?”
He stood up from the table and walked out the front door. I stopped and just stared at the door. He just walked out. What? I was still standing there, perfectly still, when he walked back in and closed the door. He walked over to me and handed me a folder. After a minute, I sat down on the couch and opened it.
My birth certificate, high school diploma, medical records – seriously!? – a list of known associates for each part of my life, my marriage license, credit report, college transcripts, Mia’s birth certificate, divorce decree….
I leaned back and just stared at my life on paper. It was almost impossible to wrap my head around it. He knows where I was born, went to school, when I started birth control, the classes I took in college…. Those are things we should have discussed. Part of getting to know someone is talking about these kinds of things.
Jason was still standing by the door. Waiting. He blurred when I looked at him and I realized I was crying. It’s so unfair. I love him. Oh God. I love him.
He took three steps and pulled me into his arms. I cried into his chest and he rocked me and murmured senseless words into my hair. “We should have talked about it.” I threw out what I could between sobs. “Why couldn’t you just ask?” He whispered ‘I’m sorry’ over and over. “I tru-trusted you.” He stopped rocking me.
“Emma. God. Maybe this is worse. I. Emma. I ran that report on you the first day I met you. I didn’t even know you yet.” He was so still, I think he was holding his breath.
“Why? Why would you do that?” I whispered this against his chest where he was still holding me. For some reason, everything seemed to hinge on this moment.
He let out a huge sigh and rubbed a hand over his face and mouth before wrapping his arm back around me and rubbing me from the back of my neck to my waist. Up and down. Up and down.
“Honestly, it’s a habit. Finding the pitfalls before I hit them is habit. In the military and out. Working for John or not. What comes up in those reports lets me make the right choices – lets me see the risks before I take them. It’s just who I am, I guess.”
I tried to wrap my mind around that idea. At the end of the day, it’s…sad. To never be able to have faith in other people, to never be able to trust someone and just take their word for something…is sad.
“You shouldn’t do that to people, Jason. It…hurts them. And I think it hurts you, too.”
We stood there for a long moment, me sniffling into his shirt and him stroking my back.
“You’re right, Emma. I’m really sorry I did that to you.” He pulled back and his hands cupped my face as he looked into my eyes. “I promise I will never do anything like this again without talking to you first. Unless you’re in danger.” He winced when he added the last part. Like being honest about that actually hurt him.
“I think I’m okay with you doing something like that if I’m in danger. But I hate that you did it without talking to me about it. I hate that you learned all these things about me without hearing it from ME. Because my life is MINE. It wasn’t fair for you to do it, that’s all.”
He hugged me close again. Finally, I stepped back and pushed all the papers back into the folder and handed it to him. He took it gingerly and his expression was nervous.
“I don’t need it Jason – I already know all of that stuff and you do, too. So…keep it if you need to or …burn it or something.” I sat down on the couch, emotionally exhausted.
“Now. Tell me what you need to know about Dan.”
“Why did you change Mia’s birth certificate?”
I flinched.
“Mia was 8 months old when he told me he wanted a divorce. He never wanted kids and was…upset… that I said no to an abortion. After she was born, I think he thought things would go back to how they were before we had her, but I refused to let a nanny raise my daughter. I was waiting tables and taking classes to get my degree when we met and, after we got married, he paid the bills so I could finish school. In hindsight, I think that was more so I would have my evenings free to go to work functions with him….”
Jason’s jaw was clenched and the muscle in his cheek was ticking. I looked away from him and moved on.
“When he walked out on us, he warned me not to expect help from him. When his attorneys sat down with me, they were…convincing. He helped me get into my field. He had enough contacts to be sure I never worked in it again. I didn’t have enough experience to risk that at the time. He wanted nothing to do with Mia – or me – and there was only one way to make it so that he had no legal ties to either of us. His attorneys drew up a fake paternity test that showed Dan wasn’t the father. We both got what we wanted that way: I got sole custody of Mia, he had no financial responsibility toward either of us.”
Jason stood up from his chair and paced around the living room. He ran his hands through his hair several times, clenching his jaw and then shaking out his hands and arms. He almost made me nervous.
“Emma. I don’t even have words for that bullshit. How could he just walk away from his kid? How could he just basically kick you out and leave you to make it on your own?
What an asshole! I’m not going to let him get away with this. I’m not –”
His phone rang, interrupting his rant.
“Bourne.” I guessed it was work related since he answered it that way.
“Son of a bitch! I’ll be in as soon as I can. Do me a favor – call John Winters and ask if he can meet me there. Thanks.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“I’ll be right back.” He turned and rushed out the door but left the door open. A minute later, he came back in.
“I have to go to the office. We’ve got a lead I need to follow up on…on Dan.” He paused and pulled me to my feet and walked me to the door. Before he opened the door, he pulled a gun out of the waistband of his jeans and handed it to me butt first. I shrunk away from it just a little – more out of surprise than fear of the gun itself. I’ve handled a gun before…but I was never completely comfortable with it.
“I’m really worried about what Dan is up to, Emma. I have a really bad feeling in my gut. I have reason to believe he’s been watching you – sitting outside the building and waiting for you to leave.”
“Sitting outside…. Oh, God. The car I saw. It was Dan following me? Watching me? I thought I was crazy!” I felt like I was going to vomit.
“Em – you thought someone was watching you but you didn’t say anything?! What the hell?!”
“I thought I was just being paranoid. Why would anyone watch me?” My hands were shaking when he pushed the gun into them.
“Dammit, Emma. You need to trust me with that kind of thing.” He pulled me close and brushed his lips over mine once, twice. Then he pressed his mouth to my temple for a moment.
“I have to go to the office and see if we can piece this together and get a few more guys on it. I had a GPS tracking unit on that car, but it hasn’t moved in 24 hours, so it’s doubtful he’s still driving it. The building has tight security. You should be safe here. But I will feel better if I know you can protect yourself. Have you shot a gun before?”
“Yes. It’s been a while, but I think it will come back to me if I need it to…”
“Okay. I’ve got my phone, babe. If anything – ANYTHING – feels wrong, trust your gut and call me. Lock up behind me.” And he stepped out the door. I threw the bolts home and pressed my palms against the door.
I stared at the door for a minute before I whisper “I love you.” I should have told him.
~Jason~
I hated leaving her like that. She was still upset with me. It leaves me feeling…unsettled. Sasha – one of the techs at the office who keeps an eye on our supercomputers and sends out alerts when something comes back that needs immediate attention – called to let me know they got a hit off the commonality program I installed last year.
The program looks for data patterns across all the reports being run and data being entered for every case we’re working at any given time. I got John to start using it so we had fewer instances where we discovered that two teams had essentially been working one case – the whole ‘left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing’ thing. This way, if one team is pulling reports on a possible criminal contact and that person has already been flagged by another team working another case, the two teams know they need to start talking.
Today, the program notified her that the car I’d noticed outside our building multiple times belonged to the same mechanic that Emma’s ex-husband had paid for auto services according to the financial records I pulled. Could it be a coincidence? Yes. But the odds were astronomical. In my world, that means no way. No fucking way does this not tie in somehow, some way.
My drive to the office was faster than it probably should have been, but John beat me there. When I saw him getting out of his truck, I parked my SUV and walked toward him. We talked on our way to John’s office where we could pull everything up on our secure servers and put our heads together. After we looked at what had come through on the rest of the reports, we made a list of phone calls we needed to make and split them up.
I went to the office I shared with a few of the other guys who spent time in the office instead of being strictly in the field. My first call was to his previous employer, Entity Recording. It took me talking to three different people before I got someone who had the authority to talk to me. Even that was tricky. But once I told him that Dan had attacked his ex-wife and we were working for her as personal security and attempting to assess the threat, he talked. He talked more than I expected, but what he had to say was enlightening and proved that we were right to worry that Dan had cracked.
Apparently, once Dan left Emma, he started bringing a string of questionable women with him to company functions. The manager I was talking to made sure to let me know how much they had all enjoyed Emma and how she was always the highlight of company gatherings. The management had told him in the past that they value stability in their employees as it tends to overflow into the workplace. Less drama away from the office meant more focus on work and less focus on personal issues. After a few warnings, Dan stopped bringing a date with him. Then he was caught doing a line of coke at a party for an up and coming rap singer. He threatened the employee who saw him do it, but that person turned him in anyway – he was more worried about what would happen if he screwed up something for the company than he was about what Dan would do to him.
He was put on probation for six months. One month into the six months, he was caught taking money out of the petty cash box without going through the proper channels and was fired on the spot. He did not go peacefully and they had to have security forcefully remove him from the building. That was six months ago.
I thanked the manager I spoke with and hung up the phone. One call down, one more to go. Next up: the townhouses where he was living right after the divorce but isn’t paying rent anymore.
This call was a lot quicker and no one had any issues with disclosing what might be considered sensitive information. Four months ago, Dan’s automatic withdrawal was denied. He couldn’t come up with the money before he was in the hole for another month’s rent. Two months later, they evicted him from the apartment. He made threats to the management and had to be physically removed by security. He’d had no contact with them since that date, though. They had no forwarding address and the emergency contact number on his rental agreement was disconnected.
I thanked him and got off the phone. I wrapped my hands around the back of my neck and leaned back in my chair. Well, damn. This was really starting to look like a man with nothing to lose. But where does Emma fit into this? He isn’t paying her – so it’s not like he’s pissed that she’s taking his money. What’s his angle?
John tapped my office door and walked inside.
“His car was repossessed last month. I tracked him to a woman he dated briefly, says he stayed with her for a few weeks about two months ago. She told him to get his shit together or get out. He slapped her around and took her car when he left. Cops found it a few days later, abandoned downtown. She didn’t press charges. No one knows where he’s staying now.”
“He’s been fired, evicted and had his car repossessed in the past six months. I doubt he was caught doing his first and last line of cocaine at that party – so it’s a safe assumption that he’s still using and maybe using other drugs now. Obviously, he’s seeing himself in this spiral where everything has turned to shit. But how does Emma fit in?”
“Well. None of it started until after the divorce…”
“Yeah, but he’s the prick who walked the fuck out on her. He orchestrated that whole thing – even down to disowning his kid and denying her any support whatsoever.”
John’s face shifted at this. Heather may have already known about Emma and Mia’s past, but John didn’t.
“Just because he chose his path doesn’t mean he can’t find some twisted fucking way to blame it on her or something. We’ve seen people find all kind of ways to justify insane stuff. Add drugs to the mix and you’ve got a recipe for everyone else being at fault for the shit stor
m that is his life….”
I sighed. He was right. “This isn’t over. He’s going to try to get to her again. Fuck me.” I covered my face with my hands for a minute. Caring about the person you’re protecting makes everything harder to handle.
John pulled his keys from his pocket and said, “Let’s take a trip to visit with our mechanic friend and see what he can tell us about who’s been driving that car. I’ll buy you lunch on the way.”
Chapter 13
~Emma~
I was starting to go a little stir-crazy by lunch time. When I picked up my phone to call Heather, a text from Jason came through.
J: Hey, babe. How’re you holding up?
E: Starting to go a little crazy over here.
J: I’m sorry. Everything we’re learning is…not good.
E: How bad?
J: John and I think he’ll try to get to you again.
I just sat there and stared at that line for a while. This had all become so surreal. Dan was an asshole, without question. But I gave him everything he wanted while we were married – until I got pregnant with Mia – and then I gave him a divorce when he wanted that, too. We moved out of the house. I supported Mia and myself without his money. I’d had no contact with him since the papers were signed and a judge ordered us divorced and my name returned to Parsons.
So. What the hell?
J: I’m sorry, Emma. I know you’re worried.
E: I am. And confused. Why is he doing this?
J: We’re not sure yet. Going w/ John to check on some things. Will call when we’re done.
E: Ok. Jason, be careful.
J: I will. You and Mia stay inside.
After making lunch for Mia and myself, I called Heather. She hadn’t heard anything new from John – just the same thing that Jason told me: He’s going to come after me again. A few minutes into the conversation, Heather told me that she’s just going to come over to see us. She generally works evenings at the bar, so she had some time to kill before work anyway.
Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) Page 11