Laughter fills the room and I look over at Maisey who has tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, “God Keely, I fucking love you.” As she looks around the room she says, “About time someone told you alpha assholes where to shove your righteousness. Hailey has dealt with a lot, she’s not asked for much other than to help find Nicole, which by the way, was a piece of cake. Henry and Dwayne had that done in less than 24 hours. So, Scott, why don’t you turn your cute butt around and go home and apologize for being an asshole.”
“How do you know I was an asshole?” I narrow my eyes at her, she’s coming out of her shell more now. I think the girls have opened their arms to her she finally feels part of the family.
“You’re breathing, aren’t you?” Keely says and although the comment was directed at me her eyes are on Asher.
Maisey laughs, “You came in here demanding a meeting.” She looks at me, “Actually, stay here and wait for her to cool down.”
“Yeah, I agree, start tracking that asshole. He’s not that good that he’s managed to stay hidden.” Keely says, “Hailey says she has that feeling constantly?”
“Yeah, she said it was whenever she left the house but now it’s even when she’s dropping Nicole off at school.” I tell her, curious as to where she’s going with this line of questioning.
“So that means he’s been around your house.” She looks at Henry, Dwayne, and Oscar, “Guys has any houses been bought recently near Scott and Hailey’s?”
Henry starts to nod, a proud smile on his face; “I’m on it,” He starts typing away. “If he’s hiding anywhere in the vicinity I’m going to find him.”
“Shit, I should have thought of this. We’re on it Keely.” Oscar winks at her and she starts to blush.
“Good job Keely.” Ryder praises her and she blushes harder, “It’s time to find this asshole, he’s been a free man for way too long.”
Everyone starts to file out of the room, including Ryder and Oscar, they’re planning something because as they leave their heads are together whispering about something. Looking at the table I see Nathan, Dwayne, and Asher still here.
“What do you need from us?” Nathan asks, “Are Hailey and Nicole safe? Do you need us to get them?”
“They’re safe, Nicole’s at school until three. Hailey’s going to get her, they’re fine as they have Markus watching them today.” He’s one of the better recruits, he knows that when he’s on the job it means to stay focused so he waits outside and guards the perimeter.
“Right, we’ll focus on finding this fucker. Keely is right, there’s something we’re missing. He can’t be fucking invisible, he’s doing something and we’re going to have to find out what it is. We’ll find him Scott.”
“I won’t stop until I find him. There’s no other choice.” When I find him I’m going to kill him. He’s like one of those rabid animals, the ones that won’t stop unless they’re dead.
We’re all in the war room; it’s the room that Dwayne, Henry, and Oscar spend most of their days. It’s full of computers, gadgets and a huge fucking projector. Each of us are on a computer trying to run down as many leads as possible. Looking up at the clock I see that it’s 4:30, Nicole's home from school and probably playing in the backyard. Once she finishes her homework Hailey lets her play outside until dinner is ready.
I hear the door opening and watch as Keely comes rushing in. “Guys, I have just got off the phone to a Lesley Vernman, she says that she’s renting a house across the street to a guy called Harrison Marks. She’s faxing over the ID he gave her when renting. She said it’s the only house that has been for sale or for lease since Hailey’s house.” Keely says coming to a halt as she reaches us.
“I’m on it.” Dwayne says and instantly starts up a search.
I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, who is this Harrison guy? “Did she say anything else?”
Keely shakes her head, her breathing labored as though she’s just ran a marathon, “No, she only said that he was cocky and arrogant. She doesn’t like him but he’s paying her on time and that’s all that matters.”
“Fuck, whoever this guy is, he’s a ghost.” Dwayne tells me and it’s not what I want to hear. “Nothing predating 06, and you can’t be twelve and renting a damn house.”
I turn back to my computer and start bringing up searches of Harrison Marks. Sometimes Google can be your friend, other times it just shows you shit you don’t need. Nothing other than a photographer who takes pictures of people while they’re naked.
“We need to find out who the hell that is.” Oscar demands, right now everyone is on edge, if this is who we think it is, he’s been under our noses the whole time.
“I’m going to call Markus, he needs to be updated that Eric may be in the area.” Ryder says as he stands up and walks out of the war room.
“Thanks Keely, I’m going to call Hailey and see if everything's okay.” I’m on edge, until we get a clear identification I can’t do anything, I don’t want Hailey to panic. I’m going to call Morgan first and see if there’s anything she can do on her end.
“Scott, everything okay?” She’s on alert already.
“Morgan, Hailey’s been feeling as though someone’s watching her. We’ve been trying to see if we can locate Eric, so far, the fucker’s nowhere to be seen. Keely spoke to a realtor who is renting a house across the street from us. His name is Harrison Marks.”
“You want me to see what I can find on this guy?” She asks straight away, no hesitation whatsoever.
“Yes, please, we’re coming up empty.”
“I’m on it,” I can hear her typing away, “Okay, so Harrison Marks was given a speeding ticket a week ago, he drives a 1986 Pontiac firebird.”
“Damn, that’s a nice car, which makes no sense, I would have seen that car before.” I love my older muscle cars, there’s no way this fucker is living across the street.
“His address is different, this Harrison lives on the upper East side.” Morgan informs me and I let out a low whistle that dude has some class, he’s living in a fancy ass part of Manhattan and he drives a classic car.
“Yeah, so whoever this Harrison guy that’s living across the street isn’t Harrison Marks. Want me to send a squad car over and make sure everything's okay?” She asks, worry in her tone.
“No, she has Markus there with her and I’m going to call her now.”
“Okay, call me if you need me.” She demands, no doubt going to call Luke right now too.
“I will. Thanks Morgan.” I hang up and see that everyone’s eyes are on me, “Morgan did a back ground check, there is a Harrison Marks but he lives on the Upper East Side. It’s not him, Keely, did you get that fax yet?”
“Not yet, I’ll call her back and ask her to hurry.” She doesn’t even wait for me to respond, she rushes out of the war room and out into the reception.
“We need to find out who’s living there and Morgan gave me an idea, we have CCTV outside, Dwayne, check over it and find out what car this Harrison has.” I ask and a smile forms on Dwayne’s face. Yeah, if we can find the car, we can find the registration or Morgan can at least. “I’ll be back, I want to call Hailey.”
“If you want we can send Soph and Maisey over there. Both of them armed at least until you go home.” Nathan asks and it’s a good idea.
“Let me talk to Hailey and see what she says.” I don’t want too many people there and if it is Eric, to fuck things up.
I walk into my office and call her, she answers after it rings a few times. “Hey you, how’s work?” She sounds happy and I’m going to change that.
“Okay, so I firstly want to apologize about how I spoke to you this morning.” I feel like an ass, Keely and Maisey were right, Hailey’s been through a lot and she always puts other people first.
“Scott, it’s okay. I get why you were upset and angry and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before.”
“Hailey, it’s fine. Look there’s something that I have to talk to you abou
t.” God, I sound like a dick, one minute I’m apologizing and the next I’m going to scare her. “So, we think Eric may be close.” I can’t, I can’t tell her he may be across the street.
“Will you be able to find him?” I can hear the fear in her voice as she asks.
“I’m going to find him, he’s not going to hurt you. Do you have your gun?” I need to make sure that if he somehow manages to get to her she can protect herself.
“I have it, it’s in the shoulder holster you got me. Is everything okay Scott? You seem a little preoccupied?”
“I am, I just want to find him. Keep it on you at all times okay?” This feeling I’ve had in the pit of my stomach since Keely told us about the guy across the street is getting stronger.
“Okay, I had better leave you to it, I’ve to make the princess dinner.” She’s smiling again now.
“How is the princess? How was school?” We moved Nicole to a new school and Carrie helped us with sorting everything out as Hailey and I were a bit overwhelmed.
“She’s good, she told me that she wants to invite Taylor over for a sleepover.”
“Nope, not happening.” I bite out, “I’ve told you Hailey, that little fucker isn’t getting anywhere near her.” She’s laughing at me as she always does when it comes to conversations about Taylor. “Hailey, it’s not funny.”
“Scott, it’s so funny! As Nic and I have tried to tell you before, Taylor is a girl.”
“Wait, what? How come you never said this to me before. You’ve let me think that it was a boy!” I’m going to kill the two of them when I get home, they didn’t try hard enough to tell me that he was a she.
“I’m sorry, it’s too funny.” She laughs and I can hear Nicole laughing in the background and it’s times like these that I love, both of my girls happy and carefree. “The Princess wants burgers so I’m making her burgers.”
“Save some for me.” I tell her as my office door opens and Ryder’s standing there, his face like thunder. “I’ve got to go, I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, love you.” She tells me and hangs up as I stare at Ryder.
“Everything is okay at your house. I have Damien going over to scope out across the street and Clive is going to join Markus in keeping your family safe. We’re still waiting on Keely to get the ID from the realtor and Dwayne is searching the footage. Are you okay?” Damn, Ryder’s been busy.
“I need him out of our lives, I need my girls safe. What would you do if this was you and your family?”
“I’d kill him. Scott, this isn’t your fault.” I look at him in question, “You think you could have stopped this?”
“Yes, If I had just manned up and claimed her, this wouldn’t have happened.” God, if I wasn’t a dick when she was seventeen, she wouldn’t have had so much heartache.
“Funny, from what I gathered, she was seventeen and you were a man whore. You weren’t ready for her and you really think that this fucker wouldn’t have come for her even if you two were together?”
My cell starts to ring and I look down, why is Hailey calling me? I hold my finger up at Ryder and answer the call. “Baby, is eve….”
“Scott, Hailey said to call you, someone’s here.” Nicole cries and I hear a gunshot, my stomach drops as fear hits me like a vice grip. “Hurry.” She cries and the line goes dead.
I’m up and out of my seat, reaching for my gun, “Talk to me.” Ryder demands.
“That was Nicole, she said someone was there. Then there was a gunshot and the line went dead.” Tears fall from my eyes as my knees go weak. Thankfully Ryder is there to catch me.
“Deep breath, we’re going to go there now. Everyone is coming, I’ll call Markus and you call Morgan, Nathan’s driving.” We walk out of my office, I honestly don’t know how I’m even managing it. “Everyone, gear up we’re leaving.”
“What’s going on?” Nathan demands, he takes one look at me and he’s over beside me, “Scott, what’s happened?”
I honestly can’t speak right now. “We don’t know for sure, Scott received a call from Nicole, she said there was someone there that was followed by a gunshot and the line going dead. Nathan you’re driving.” Ryder informs them all as we start to gear up, everyone in bullet proof vests, guns and, bullets.
“Let’s go.” Ryder shouts and we run out of the building. I just pray that my girls are okay.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Hailey
Something's happening and I know that Scott’s trying to act as though everything's fine. There isn’t much I can do without knowing the full facts, right now I have a hungry eight-year-old that’s staring at me as I make her hamburgers.
“So, what do you want on these burgers?” I ask Nicole as I start to chop onions.
“Cheese,” She has a grin on her face, I should have known that she’d say that, it’s all she ever wants to eat.
“Anything else? What about onions, tomato, lettuce?” She turns her nose up at it and I guess that means it’s just meat and cheese. “Okay, sit down and I’ll get it ready for you.” She jumps up onto the stool and watches as I finish cooking the burgers. “So, when are you thinking of having this sleepover?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never really had any friends.” My heart breaks for her, “Will Scott be okay with Taylor coming to sleepover?”
“Yes, now that he knows that Taylor is a girl he’s fine.” I reassure her, I make up her burger and hand her the plate. “Enjoy, there’s more if you want some.” I put the bowl of fries in front of her and she starts to eat. I sit down opposite her and dig in.
“When you go back to work, what’s going to happen to me?” I look at her, she’s staring at her food, “Where will I go?”
“Well, either Scott or I will bring you to school and one of us will pick you up. Ryder said that you can spend a few hours in Smithy’s so you can do your homework there.” Relief fills those beautiful brown eyes of hers and I realize that she thought we would be getting rid of her.
A knock on the back door has me on alert, who the hell is that? I walk towards it and see Markus, I open it and he starts talking quickly and quietly. “Hailey, there’s someone coming and I need you and Nicole to hide.” He tells me, urgency in his voice.
“Okay, what about you?” I can’t stop the tremors from coming, my whole body starts to shake.
“I’ll be fine, now go.” He closes the door in my face and disappears.
I rush for Nicole, “Come on honey,” She takes my hand and we run towards Maddie’s room, there’s a huge closet in this room that I can hide her in. I open the closet and position her right at the back. I give her my cell, “Call Scott, you know how to call him right?” She nods, her eyes wide and filled with tears, “Call him and tell him someone’s here. I’ll be back okay?” I kiss her forehead. “Do not move until either Scott or me come and get you. Do you understand?”
She nods, “Be safe.” She tells me and I blow her a kiss before closing the closet door.
I take out my gun and move quickly towards the front of the house, I hear a gunshot as I reach the front door. I swallow hard as I open the door, my gun raised as I walk outside. God if Scott was here he’d kill me, he’d tell me to hide but I need to make sure that Nicole’s safe. Another gunshot sounds, this time as though it’s coming from the back of the house. I rush around the side of the house and see Clive lying on the ground. A bullet wound to the head, blood on the floor.
God, he’s dead. I cover my mouth with my hand trying not to scream, my gun falling to the ground as I do so. I stare at him, I didn’t know he was working today, it was meant to be only Markus. There’s only ever one of them working. I’m glued to the spot, I can’t stop staring at him.
“Get back inside,” I hear Markus shout at me and I look at him and see that he’s bleeding, he’s been shot in the arm. “Hailey, run.” He shouts and I barely hear him as I stare at my very own monster.
“Miss me?” Eric asks, that sadistic smile ever so present
on his face.
“You, you shot them?” I whisper.
He hears me though, “They were standing in the way of what is mine.” He walks towards me and I take a step back. I don’t want him to come near me. He makes a tutting sound, “Scared of me, are we?” He sounds as though he’s gone crazy.
“What do you want?” My voice is a bit louder this time, I know that Scott’s on his way, Nicole was calling him.
“What I have wanted for a while now. You.” He advances toward me again and I take another step backward. “Don’t even think about it.” he shouts and I’m wondering what he’s talking about when I see Markus move, he lifts his good arm up, gun in hand but it’s futile. Eric turns, his gun pointed at Markus, he doesn’t even hesitate to pull the trigger.
I cover my mouth so that I don’t scream, I don’t want Nicole to hear me. I know she’d rush out if she thought I was hurt and I can’t have her doing that, I can’t have this monster near her. “Why are you doing this?”
“You should know why.” I shake my head, I have no idea why he’s acting like this. “You are mine Hailey, you have been from the moment I laid eyes on you. You ran away from me and all these fucking assholes are standing between us.” He advances on me again and again I walk backward, my feet hitting off something and the next thing I know I’m falling.
My head hits the ground with a jarring thud, I scramble backward as Eric is still advancing towards me. “Stop running away from me Hailey, you’re only going to piss me off.” He reaches me and his hand reaches for my head, I’m too slow to do anything as he lifts me by my hair.
Tears fall and I hate that he’s making me cry, I can’t let him hurt me, I need to be strong. If he’s been watching me that means he knows about Nicole and I can’t let him get to her. I lift my foot and kick at him, I connect with his knee cap and he falls down to the ground, laughing as he does so. “You grew a backbone huh?”
“No, I’ve always had one.” I bite back, I may have stayed with him to make sure Maddie and Jake were okay but now he has no hold over me.
Deadly Mistake (Deadly Series Book 5) Page 21