by Apryl Baker
“He’s not entitled to every dime of it.” Viktor signaled to the waitress to refill their drinks.
“Tell that to Roger.” She thanked the waitress and asked for two orders of duck fries to go.
“Hungry much?” Viktor asked.
“It’s for Mom and Delia.”
“Speaking of your mom, do your parents have a security system?”
“No. It’s something I’ve been trying to convince them of for years, but my dad refuses. He’s old school with his dogs and his shotgun. You come on his property uninvited, and he’ll make sure you meet the business end of a barrel.”
Viktor laughed, seeing some of the life come back into Sara. Her cheeks flushed and eyes brightened. “Your dad do any hunting?”
“Good Lord, yes. He’s as redneck as you can get and still be considered civilized. He had a deer head mounted over the fireplace in his office until we came to live there. It scared Delia, and he took it down. It now holds a place of honor lording over the Christmas ornaments in the attic.”
Her father reminded Viktor of his Uncle Luke. He’d shown all his nephews how to shoot, how to hunt, and how to track in the woods. He loved his uncle and valued the lessons he learned from him. Not just the skills, but the life lessons he’d imparted to them. Some of them Viktor hadn’t understood until much later, but his redneck uncle was wiser than anyone he’d ever met, including his babushka.
“I’d feel better if there was a security system, especially when I’m not there. I’ll talk to your father. Maybe I can convince him to let me have one installed.”
“Good luck.”
“We need to talk about tomorrow. I can’t fly with you because I have Dimitri’s car. Usually, I’d insist you drive with me, but it’s a long drive, and I don’t want to make Delia suffer through that. I’ve called in one of my men to fly with you and then escort you home. He has instructions to stay until I get there.”
Sara frowned. “He doesn’t need to stay. Once we’re home, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“Remember me telling you there were certain things you were going to have to do?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
“This would be one of those things. Your protection is my only priority. Gabriel is one of my best men. He’ll make sure you get home and that Roger doesn’t come near you until I can get there. He has strict orders.”
Viktor waited for her to explode, but much to his surprise, she only nodded.
“Given Roger’s many voicemails, I’m sure he’ll show up when we get home. Having someone there will ease my mind.”
“That was easier than I thought.”
“You expected me to throw a fit?”
“Yes.”
“When it comes to Delia, I won’t ever pitch a fit. Try to tell me what to do when it has nothing to do with my own protection or Delia’s, and you’ll get an entirely different Sara Jane. You won’t like her.”
“I don’t know. I think I might like the feisty Sara Jane quite a bit.”
Her eyes widened at his obvious flirtation, and he wanted to kick himself. Flirting with this woman was easy. He needed to rein it in.
“I’ll take you to the airport. A friend of mine put me on the list to be able to get in without a plane ticket so I can stay with you until you board.”
“Is that necessary?”
“Yes. We can’t guarantee your husband isn’t here, and I’d rather be with you in case he is.” Viktor called for the check. “If you’re ready, we’ll get you back to the hotel. We’ll both get some much-needed rest.”
The drive back to the hotel was quiet. Viktor walked her to her room before going to his own hotel for the night, his mind buzzing with everything he needed to do to ensure their safety.
It was going to be a long couple of weeks.
The plane and the subsequent ride from the airport was uneventful. Delia was subdued. Sara attributed that to Gabe, Viktor’s man who came to escort them to Virginia. The child wasn’t good with strangers. Except for Viktor and Dimitri. She’d taken to the brothers like a duck to water. It still boggled her mind.
Gabe was not what she expected. He was tall, blond, and built. But none of that was what she noticed first. It was his glasses. A man with glasses was not someone you’d think would be in private security. She knew she was stereotyping, but she couldn’t help it. The tattoo sleeve along his arms mocked the glasses, though. She hadn’t gotten a good glimpse at it yet, but she was determined to. It was the writer in her. She wrote about tattooed men, and Gabe’s called to her curiosity like candy to a child.
Quiet. That was how she’d describe him. Once Viktor introduced him, the man barely said more than a handful of words. The ride from the airport to Falls Church was all but silent. Even Delia didn’t ramble on like she was prone to whenever her father wasn’t around. It was a relief to pull up to her parents’ farmhouse.
Her father, Roy Dean Grafton, stepped out on the front porch, one hand shading his eyes from the sun. He frowned, seeing a stranger driving the car. As soon as Delia was free from the vehicle, she hurtled headfirst at her grandpa. He caught her and promptly kissed her cheek, making wet sounds, and it set her to giggling.
“How’s Pawpawl’s girl?”
“Hungry.” Delia rubbed her belly, which let out a rumble.
“Did they starve Pawpawl’s baby?”
“Yeessss…can I have a cookie?”
“No cookies!” Sara sent her dad a warning look. “It’s too early for sweets.”
She saw Gabe crack a smile while he started to unload the trunk. Maybe he wasn’t as stoic as she first thought. There might be a sense of humor lurking somewhere behind that mask of indifference.
“Here, let me help.” Sara tried to take one of the suitcases, and he brushed her aside.
“No, ma’am. I’ll see to these. I think you’re about to have a cookie monster thief on your hands.” He nodded to the now empty front porch.
Sara laughed. She suspected he was right. They were probably already knee deep in the pantry. “If you’re sure you don’t need any help?”
“Go on. I got this.” His brown eyes twinkled with mirth. Who was this person, and where did Gabe go? His entire demeanor changed. Maybe it was because they’d reached their destination and didn’t have to worry so much?
She made her way up the porch steps and into the house. She heard Delia chatting up a storm in the kitchen, where she found her parents all cuddled up together. They’d been married for almost forty years and were still as in love as the day they said, “I do.” It gave her hope one day she’d find love like that.
“Gross!” She scrunched up her face and made gagging sounds, setting her daughter off into another fit of giggles. Her mother rolled her eyes but didn’t move away from her husband.
“Your mother tells me we’re going to be having some guests.” Roy’s sharp eyes zeroed in on her, worry written in every line of his face.
“Just a precaution, Dad.” She went over and kissed his cheek. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Come on, poppet.” Sue Anne disentangled herself from Roy. “Let’s go see if your stuffed animals survived the weekend. You know how Buster likes to chew up things.”
“Pawpawl promised to keep him out of my room.”
“Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t.”
Delia gasped and hopped down from the bar stool, running hell for leather for the stairs.
“That was so wrong, Dad.”
He smirked. “Got to keep her on her toes or she’ll run us all ragged.”
“That’s the God’s truth,” Sue Anne muttered and took off after her granddaughter.
“Now, tell me what’s going on.”
Sara went to the fridge and fetched a couple bottles of water, knowing Gabe would come find them when he was done with the car. “You remember me talking about Dimitri Kincaid, the writer friend of mine?”
He snorted. “A man writing romance books. Somethin’ just ain’t right about that.
”
Her father was old school. He believed a man worked with his hands to support his family, and if he was going to be a writer, he needed to write horror or science fiction. Anything, really, as long as it wasn’t romance. She suspected Dimitri’s family felt the same, as much grief as they gave him.
“I was telling him about Roger and how he kept violating the restraining order when there aren’t any witnesses around. I was worried he might try something, and Dimitri, being the good friend he is, offered to get us some private security.”
“Private security?”
“His brother owns Kincaid Security and Investigations. They’re going to keep us safe and help me catch Roger in the act.”
“You think all that’s necessary?” Roy frowned, sitting down at the breakfast table. “Roger knows better than to do anything that might get him caught.”
“Sir, men like your son-in-law don’t care about getting caught when they’ve lost the thing that matters most to them. For Roger, that happens to be Sara and Delia. He’s had complete control over them up until this point, and now that’s gone. It infuriates him, and it could potentially drive him to do terrible things.”
Gabe had slipped into the kitchen, unbeknownst to both Sara and her father. He leaned against the doorway, looking at ease, but also very alert.
“Dad, this is Gabriel Knorlin, one of Viktor’s men. He’s here until Viktor arrives.”
“Sir.” Gabe tipped his head. “Please call me Gabe.”
Her father pursed his lips. “I’m still not sure…”
“Mr. Grafton, the last domestic violence case I worked, the husband killed her because she didn’t listen to us when we told her how dangerous the situation was.”
“You can’t be that good if you let that happen,” Roy said.
Gabe looked haunted when he finally answered. “I wasn’t there. She assumed she was safe, despite everything I told her to the contrary. I did my homework on her husband. He had a temper that seemed to get worse around her. She decided she didn’t need our services and sent us home. Three weeks later, her sister called to let us know he doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. I went back to keep their son safe and apprehended his father when he tried to take the boy.”
“He set her on fire?” There was no mistaking the horror in her father’s voice. It matched her own. Who would do that to someone?
“Yes, sir. Men like this, like Roger, they’re evil. There’s no telling what they’ll do, and from what I’ve been told, your son-in-law fits the bill. He’s already violated the restraining order multiple times. He gets mad enough, he could do some serious harm to Sara or Delia. We’re here to prevent that from happening.”
Her father was quiet for a very long time, staring hard at Gabe, who never blinked. “Whatever you can do to keep them safe, I’d be grateful.”
Gabe nodded. “I want to check the perimeter to look for weak spots. As soon as I’m done, I’m going to take up my post on the front porch. If you need anything, Sara has my cell number.”
“Well.” That was all Roy could say after Gabe left the kitchen.
“I’m sorry if this puts you out, Dad…”
“No.” He held up his hand. “I had no idea things could go that sideways. Setting someone on fire…” He trailed off, unable to finish the thought. “I don’t know if Roger is capable of something like that or not, but I don’t want to take any chances with my girls. Whatever we need to do, we’ll do it. I’m taking you down to Sam’s tomorrow, and we’re getting you a gun.”
As much as Sara wanted to say no, she couldn’t. Her father didn’t understand how bad it had gotten with Roger. He wasn’t there to see the beatings she took, feel the pain of the bruises left behind. Roger would have killed her if she’d stayed. She knew that now. It wasn’t until after she’d escaped that she’d been able to look at the situation with any real clarity. He’d escalated in his beatings. She might have survived it another year at most.
Guns were dangerous, and she had a healthy respect for them, thanks to her dad. He’d taught her to shoot a BB gun at the age of six, and she was firing a rifle by the time she was ten. He’d instilled within her a good dose of fear and then showed her how to properly handle a gun. Her father always impressed upon her the age-old adage, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” And it was true. While she had no intention of killing Roger, a gun might give him enough hesitation for her to escape.
None of them would leave a loaded gun where Delia could get her hands on it either. Kids didn’t know any better. They were curious and could easily pick up a gun and shoot, not understanding what they were doing. Sometimes that ended in an accidental death. Anyone who left a gun and ammunition out for their children to get their hands on needed to be prosecuted for sheer stupidity.
“Good idea, Dad. I think Delia’s old enough to dig out my old Daisy BB gun too.”
He nodded and stood. “You might be right. I think I’ll go look for it now.”
Sara and her father stopped in the hallway when they saw the boxes still neatly stacked by the stairs. The luggage sat at the top of the stairs. Gabe had no idea where her makeshift office was, so he’d left them in the hallway. He’d had the good manners to haul the luggage upstairs.
“You go on, Dad. I’ll move this stuff into the spare bedroom.”
Sara picked up the first box and walked toward the room off the kitchen. She worked until she had them all stacked neatly in one corner. There really wasn’t anywhere else to put them.
This would be Viktor’s room while he was here, and at the moment, it looked like a hurricane had passed through. Getting ready for a signing was messy business. All the paper, empty boxes, and excess swag strewn about was testament to that. Shaking her head, she set about cleaning up.
Two hours and one aching back later, Sara wound up the vacuum cord and put it into the hallway closet. The spare room once again looked like a bedroom, albeit with a few boxes and plastic bins stacked in one corner.
Going into the kitchen, she found her mother starting lunch. Her parents firmly believed in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Delia usually had lunch at school, and Sara skipped it most days. Living here had been a death sentence for her waistline.
“Need some help, Mom?” She went to the sink and washed her hands.
“Can you do the salad?” Sue Anne waved to the ingredients she already had sitting out on the island waiting to be chopped and assembled.
“Sure thing.” She took out the salad bowl and set to chopping. “I never asked, Mom. Are you okay with Viktor being here?”
“He’s…” Her mother looked over at her. “He scares me a little.”
Viktor was a big man who looked mean. There was no denying that. “Mom, let me ask you something. Would you have ever guessed Roger would hit a woman just by looking at him?”
Sue Anne let out a sigh. “No. He looks so normal. Your father never liked him, but he seemed so charming and nice. I get what you’re trying to say. I just can’t help feeling a little afraid of him.”
“Do you want me to ask him to find somewhere else to stay?” She put the lettuce in the bowl and started on the cucumber.
Sue Anne took her time in answering. She thought about it. Sara could see the frown forming as she worked through it. “I want to say yes, but I know that’s not the right thing to do. He’s here to keep you safe. I’m not sure Roger will do anything. I know he’s come around a few times, but he knows he’ll get arrested. Then again, what if I’m wrong? I’d rather have Viktor here to stop him from hurting you or Delia.”
Sara hated putting her mother in this position, but neither was she repeating Gabe’s story about his last domestic violence client. It would only cause undue stress on her mom.
“I’m surprised Delia liked him so much.” Sue Anne took the soup off the hot eye so it could cool enough to transfer to a serving dish. “Considering everything she just went through with Roger.”
“I think Viktor makes her feel sa
fe.” Sara smiled thinking about how serious Delia and Viktor’s conversation had been that first morning at breakfast.
“I don’t know how.”
“She’s always been a little skittish of men. I’m just grateful she’s found one man besides Dad and her uncle who she hasn’t run from. I don’t want her growing up thinking all men are bastards.”
“Most men are bastards.”
“Dad’s a catch.” Sara finished the salad and started to set the table, including a place for Gabe, since he would be here until Victor arrived.
“Ha, your father has his moments. There’s been quite a few times I’ve kicked him to the couch over the years.”
“Mrs. Riley,” Gabe called from the front of the house, “there’s someone pulling into the drive.”
It was too early for Victor to be here. He had to drive all the way from South Carolina. Curious, Sara put down the plate she was holding and walked outside to where Gabe stood staring at the blue Chevy truck.
It was a truck she knew well, since it belonged to Roger. Her insides clenched, trepidation rolling through every inch of her. What was he doing here? Roger knew coming within five hundred yards of her or Delia was violating the restraining order.
It wasn’t Roger who stepped out of the truck, though. It was his brother, Ben. He was a younger version of his brother with the same brown hair and eyes. He could charm an old lady right out of her Sunday church money if he wanted to, and that was where the similarities ended. Ben was a decent kid. At barely twenty, he was more honorable than Roger would ever be in his entire wretched life.
“Hey, sugar, I just got back from my fishing trip. I found the cutest little pink fishing pole that will fit Delia’s hand just right. I was hoping me and her could go fishing this Saturday, if that’s all right with you.”
“Ben, did Roger tell you what happened while you were gone?”
Ben frowned, shaking his head. “No. I just got back and stopped by over at the shop since you weren’t home. Roger said you and Delia were visitin’ your parents. I was telling him about the fishing rod.”
“Let me guess. He offered his truck so you could rush over here and show Delia?”