by D L Lane
“Agree, Chief. Anything else?”
“No. That’s all for now, Davis.”
The man nodded, got up, and strode out of his office.
Gage waited for a beat, then snagged his phone, thumb tapping across the too-small keyboard on his screen. I know V-Day isn’t until next week, but I’m asking early before anyone else does. You know the early bird gets the worm and all that. So, what do you say? Feel like being my Valentine?
~
Danica grinned as she gave Gage a response, giggling as she pressed SEND.
~
Danny-D: Worms are disgusting. What’s in it for me if I say, yes?
Gage chuckled. I remember you telling me that every time I baited your hook for you when we were kids. As to what’s in it for you? I think that’s a loaded question.
Keeping his eye on those little bouncing dots, made him giddier than a schoolgirl. It was ridiculous, he got that, but he didn’t care.
Danny-D: Eww… I still can’t bait a hook. But as to your loaded question comment, your point is?
“Oh, Danny, Danny, Danny,” he said as he typed, You’re such a naughty girl. Do you know what happens to naughty girls?
A second later, his cell phone rang, and he grinned. While they’d done nothing more physical than hold hands and make out like they were teenagers a few times, they did flirt. A lot. So maybe she wanted to move from flirtexting? Is that a word? Ah, well, he didn’t know, but if she wanted to tease him with her sexy voice, then Gage was into that.
After tapping the icon and bringing his phone to his ear, he said, “Hello, beautiful.”
“Gage, you need to come!”
He jumped up out of his chair, had his coat on, and was out his office door. “What’s happened.”
“I got something in the mail at the chamber.”
“I’m on my way.”
~
Pacing in her office, Danica wrung her hands. She’d absently opened the mail, more focused on Gage’s texts than on anything else until a photograph slipped out of one of the envelopes and slid across her oak desk. When she glanced at it, terror struck her very bones. It was a picture of her and Gage, both of them walking side-by-side, each of them holding one of her twins as they left a park in Seattle on Saturday. It had been a super sunny day, a fun day, and now…
With shaking fingers, she’d turned the picture over and read one single sentence that chilled her to her soul.
“Danny?”
She spun around at the sound of his voice, not quite the absence of worry, but a sense of relief settling over her when she saw Gage. “It’s on my desk.”
Without any further discussion, he went, picked up the photo, scowled, then turned the picture over. That’s when the muscle in his jaw started ticking.
“The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” Gage read.
“You hummed that song while walking your fingers up Ari’s arm, making her giggle that day,” Danica said.
Going to her, Gage wrapped her in his strong arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, while Danica put her arms around his waist and held on for dear life. “From this point on, you and the babies won’t ever be alone, not even for short periods.”
“Okay,” she readily agreed.
“I want Mrs. Beil to come here while you’re at work. You have additional offices in this building that are empty most of the time. Set one up for the twins. I don’t want her to be alone with them either. She may be at risk, too.”
Danica nodded.
“I’ll find whoever is doing this, Danny.”
“I thought it was over, that those photos of Marcus were the end of it. It’s been so peaceful since then.”
Chapter Seventy-One
“Hey, brother,” Gage greeted when Mase answered the phone. “I know you’re at work, and I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to ask a favor.”
“Shoot.”
“I want to take Danny out tonight. She’s always cooking dinner when she gets home, and I want to give her a break. The last we went somewhere was for Valentine’s. Do you think you and Breck could watch the twins for us tonight?”
“Sure. No problem.”
“I need to double-check with Danny first, make sure she doesn’t have something scheduled. Then I’ll call you back with a time.”
“You bringing my niece and nephew over to the B and B?”
“Yeah. If that’s okay?”
“Totally.”
Gage smiled. “Great. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Later, G.”
Gage should be working, not on the phone making dinner plans, but another minute of non-grind to send a quick text wouldn’t kill him.
Plucking up his cell, he typed, Danny. I want to take you out for dinner tonight. Breck and Mase will watch the twins. Do you have anything going on, or can I make a reservation in Seattle and call Mase back with a time to expect the babies?
~
After plugging in her dead cell phone, Danica went to wake up the twins. They had a late nap. Really late. Mrs. Beil went home early due to a bad cold, so without her, all their timelines were off, and she’d brought them on home. It was too hard to work in her office without someone to occupy her busy babies.
“Hey, cuties,” Danica said, grinning at her smiling children as she stepped into their room. “You guys are wide awake.”
“Go!” Ari insisted.
“All right, all right.” She lifted her little girl out of the crib, kissed her neck until she giggled, then plucked up her son, placing a kiss on his forehead.
“Mama.”
“Yep, Aaron,” she said. “I’m your mama.”
Leaving their room behind, Danica took the twins into the kitchen, put Aaron in the playpen then Ari next to her brother. Straightening, she asked, “Are you guys hungry?”
Ari nodded as Aaron rolled a ball around, making vroom sounds.
“You guys play nice while Mommy gets your dinner ready, okay?”
“’Kay,” said Aaron, then tossed his ball over the top of the enclosure.
Going to grab it and toss it back, she paused, feeling a draft—there and gone. Weird, she thought as she placed the red and white ball into the pen instead of tossing it, then went to grab some mac-n-cheese from the pantry.
Box in hand, Danica snagged a pan from the overhead rack, put in the desired amount of water, and then placed it on the burner of the stove before she turned the heat on.
Humming to herself, she tore the top of the box open, then sat it on the marble counter. “Need butter,” she told the twins.
“Butt,” Ari said.
“Bu-tter,” Danica enunciated, trying not to chuckle.
“Butt, butt.”
“Bu-tter.”
“But-rrr.”
“Close, baby mine. Keep working on it, and you’ll get it. Bu-tter.”
Listening to her daughter chatter, she spun around, opened the stainless-steel refrigerator door, made a mental note that she needed to clean all the fingermarks and smudges off it, then plucked up the tub—
“Hello, Danny.”
The eerie feminine voice came from behind her, making her jump, dropping the butter.
“Ouch!” Danica’s hand automatically went to the side of her neck, where the biting sting came from.
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” the stranger said, as fear spiked Danica with the realization, not only was someone in her home, but they’d drugged her.
“Do-don’t hurt my babi...”
Danica was slurring her words, a fog overtaking her as she tried to turn, but an arm came around her chest—a steel bar.
Then everything shifted into nothingness
~
“Danica?” Gage called, striding into the foyer, then stopped.
The twins! They were screaming at the top of their lungs.
Gage had been worried before when she didn’t answer his text about going out for dinner, then found out Danny wasn’t at the office. But now, as he strode into the kitche
n and saw Arianna and Aaron's red faces, bawling like little banshees, his worry transformed into panic.
Heading to them, he noticed something was still on the stovetop, and a box of macaroni and cheese was on the counter.
Going to turn the burner off before the pan scorched, he tripped over a tub of butter discarded on the floor. Picking it up, he put it on the counter, then made quick work of shutting the stove off before he went to the playpen. “Shh…I’m here. Gage is here, so quiet down.”
“Dadda, Dadda.” Ari tossed her arm in the air, squeezing her fingers together, making a fist then loosening, making a fist…
“Aw…sweet baby,” he tried to soothe as he picked her up and patted her back. “I’m not your Daddy, but I sure wish I was.”
With his free hand, Gage rubbed his sternum since it felt like something punched through his chest and was squeezing his lungs.
“Me, me, me,” Aaron said through his sniffles.
“Okay, little guy.” Gage plucked him up too, holding a baby in each arm, unsure of how to calm them when he wasn’t himself.
“Where’s Mommy?” he asked, attempting to modulate his voice.
“Bad,” Ari said.
“Who’s bad? Is Mommy bad?”
She shook her head, and if his arms weren’t full, he’d wipe her glistening tear-streaked face.
“Danny?” he called again, listening, but hearing nothing.
No choice but to take the twins with him, Aaron glanced around while Ari rested her cheek on the top of his shoulder, nose pressing into the side of his neck.
Gage needed to get a grip; if for no other reason than to give the babies his assurance everything was all right. But who was going to assure him?
With giant strides, Gage went through the house, looking and calling, “Danica?” But she wasn’t answering him.
“Do you know where Mommy is?”
“Bad,” Ari said again.
Ready to head for the master suite, something skittered along the floor, then blew across his feet, making him glance down. It was a dead leaf, but…
He made his way to where the fresh April air was coming in, finding the French doors in the dining room that led out onto the back patio and over to the pool, wide open.
His miserable attempts at composure vanished.
Gage ran out into the waning light, yelling, “Danica!”
The babies started to cry again, clearly reading the fear in both his tense body and raised voice.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Her head pounded. Hard. Surly the bass drum section at Cedar Point High was over enthusiastically using Danica’s brain for practice—shaking her.
“Wake up!”
“Hmm?”
Raddle, raddle.
“I said, wake up!”
“Hurt,” she managed past what felt like numb lips.
Splash!
“Hu-u-uh!” An intake of air whooshed past Danica’s parted lips, down her parched throat, and made her sit up in a quick burst of disorientating speed as water dripped from her eyelashes, trickled down her nose, and fell off her chin.
“Finally.”
“What?” Head still hurting, and a crick in her neck, Danica swiped at her face.
Slowly, she glanced around, catching someone dressed in black, not too far away from her, putting a bucket on an old, dirty, hardwood floor with…dead weeds sprouting from it?
“Who are you? Where am I?” Then it hit her. “My babies! Where are my babies?”
“The little brats are where I left them.”
Terror swelled her vocal cords, causing her to squeak, “Where did you leave them?”
“Where they were.”
“In their playpen? You didn’t hurt them?”
“Yes, in their playpen,” she said, sounding exasperated. “No, I didn’t touch them. I imagine someone will show up at some point and find the tiny monsters.”
While being left alone at home wasn’t optimal, at least this insane person hadn’t harmed them.
Some of her panic subsided. “Who are you?”
“Well,” said the lilting voice, “you sure do ask a lot of questions, but since I’m in such a generous mood, I’ll answer them.” Turning around, the woman shoved the hoodie from her head and smiled. “How are you, Mrs. Harding?”
It took her a second. The face seemed familiar, but, but… “Rosland?” she uttered astonished. “You’re the nurse who worked with my husband. The one I met months and months ago at Canlis with Marcus.”
“Ding, ding, ding,” the woman said, sarcasm present as she clapped. “You win a gold star.”
Attempting to stand, Danica was yanked back by the arm. Frowning, she glanced over to see her wrist cuffed to some kind of pipe. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I hate you!”
“I don’t even know you.”
“Oh, but you do.”
“I’d never met you until—”
“Miranda Burrell.”
Danica frowned. “What?”
Rosland opened her mouth, tipped her head back, and yelled, “Miranda Burrell!”
“Miranda?” She knew the name, recognized it, but didn’t recognize the woman at all.
Miranda dropped her head—burnt umber eyes slipping to her. “What’s wrong, Danny? Don’t you recognize me?”
“No. You look different.”
“That’s what a whole lot of cosmetic surgery does for a gal.” She slid a fingertip down her face. “Nose job. Cheek implants. Collagen.” Miranda tapped her lips. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
The woman ripped her hoodie off, her long strands of auburn hair going with the material, then tumbling around her shoulders before she grabbed her own breasts over the skin-tight t-shirt she wore. “These puppies were worth every single dime.”
Blinking, Danica tried to keep herself calm.
Miranda smirked. “I know they’re not the real deal like yours, but most men are too dumb to figure it out, or just don’t care when it comes right down to it.”
“Are you wearing my earrings?”
“These?” She grinned, posing, hand cupping her ear. “They are lovely, aren’t they?”
“Rosland, I—”
The crazy woman kicked Danica’s sock-covered foot with the toe of her chunky boot, making her wince in pain, jerking her leg away. “Miranda, you stupid cow!”
“Sor-sorry, Miranda.”
“You’re not yet, but you’re going to be.”
“I don’t—” Pressing her lips together, Danica shook her head. “I don’t understand. You were only here a couple of years, and we barely spoke to each other while you were in school.”
“I know you don’t understand. You never did, Princess.”
~
“Mase,” Gage said into his phone.
“You coming over to drop off the twins?”
“No. Listen. Danny never answered any of my texts, and when I went over to the chamber to find out what was going on, I was told she left early, took the babies home because Mrs. Beil got sick. I came home, and she’s not here. The twins were screaming in their playpen, stuff was boiling on the stove, the French doors were open to the back patio, and she’s gone. Something is wrong here. I need you guys to come take care of Ari and Aaron for me. Then I’m calling it in and heading out as soon as you get here.”
“On our way now!”
That was it. Mase disconnected the call.
~
“Tell me what this is all about, Miranda.” Danica wiggled her hand. The cuff was too tight.
“Everyone loved you. All the boys wanted to get in your pants. But you never let them, did you, Ms. Goody-Goody?”
Danica remained silent.
“I didn’t care about most of them, but Gage? Now, Gage, I cared about.” Miranda’s face twisted into a mask of ugly. “But he was always too occupied with you to notice me. Even when I offered myself up to him, he turned me down.”
That statement made Danica’s eyes g
o wide.
“That’s right, Danny”—she said her name like it tasted bad—“I went to his house one night, and shimmied out of my clothes. I mean, what hot-blooded male is going to turn that down, right? Oh, but he did. The guy didn’t even cop a free feel.”
Rosland/Miranda/Cray-cray shook her head. “It was always you. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you!”
“He wasn’t with me. He was with Jenny.”
She scoffed. “He only wasted his time with her until he could have you. I would have given him everything she did, but no. Something about the older chicks did it for him, I guess.”
Danica closed her eyes, not wanting to think about that.
“Aw…What’s wrong, Princess? Don’t like to hear about your boy toy getting on with someone else?”
“He wasn’t my boy toy!”
“Yes, he was, but you played with him differently. Teasing, driving him mad with lust, but you never, ever put out.” She clicked her tongue. “Such a shame, really. To drive the guy you loved into the arms of another girl.”
“Stop it!”
“Ooo, I seemed to have hit a nerve with that one.” Miranda grinned like a demented cat. “Let’s see what other buttons I can press to make you twitch.”
~
Gage was in his SUV, not sure where he was going; he just had to look for Danny. Do something. He’d called it in and had all his men out. Except for Stanley, who was going over Danica’s house with a fine-tooth comb. He had instructions to call if he found anything to suggest where she might be, or who was involved with her going. No way would she have voluntarily left her babies behind, though. No way!
Driving toward the lake, for no other reason than once-upon-a-time he came upon her out there, he tapped anxious fingers on his steering wheel.
“God,” he said. “I surrender. I know I’ve been a major screw up, and a huge disappointment to You. I blamed You for my mistakes, and for not fixing them for me. I’ve been mad at You for years, and I’m sorry. Leaving You out of my life hasn’t helped me. I get it. I’m coming to You now because I need your help, and I hope You can forgive me for my past. But, no matter how much of an idiot I’ve been, you have always been there, waiting. You knew when and why I’d be coming to You. So please. I’m asking in your name, keep Danica safe, and show me how to find her. I love her. I always have. And there’s no doubt in my mind she loves You. But unlike me, I’m sure she hasn’t been a disappointment. Help her. Help me.”