Navy SEAL Series Boxed Set

by Odette Stone

  I lay on the bed and thought about everything. Jackson acted like he didn’t care about ending things with Harper, but perhaps he cared deeply. At this point, I had even less understanding of what he was feeling. My only hope now was that he would find it in his heart to fall in love with Alien. That he'd be able to give and receive this child’s love. That would almost be enough for me. I could love him. And if he loved our child, I figured that we could somehow make this work.

  I got a chair and pulled down the stairs to the attic. I put the journal back in the attic in the hiding place that I had found it and prayed that Jackson never found out that I had betrayed him and his trust. I needed to tuck that away and forget that I ever saw it.

  I took a hot shower and then let Chloe out in the backyard. When I called her, she didn’t seem to want to come in. She was eating something. Annoyed, I marched onto the cool grass in my bare feet and yanked her back into the house by the collar.

  I woke up to the sound of puking. Chloe lay on the bathroom floor panting. There was blue vomit beside her. She lifted her head weakly and wagged her tail with two weak thumps.

  “Oh shit,” I panicked. I drove like a complete maniac to Newport to the animal hospital. The vet immediately rushed Chloe to an examination room.

  “Do you know what she ate?”

  “She was eating something in the backyard before we went to bed. I didn’t pay attention.”

  He started an IV line for Chloe. “Based on the fact that her puke was blue, I’m almost certain it's rat poison.”

  I sat by Chloe while the vet continuously monitored her. The only person I wanted to talk to was Jackson. I had no idea if he would get my text but I sent one.

  Me: Chloe and I are at the vet. She woke up vomiting. The vet said she has been poisoned.

  Five minutes later, my phone rang.

  “Emily. What’s going on?”

  I could hear a rumbling in the background. He sounded like he was on a plane.

  I explained to him that Chloe had eaten rat poison.

  “What?” his voice sounded incredulous.

  “Someone did this deliberately. This meat was in the middle of our backyard. Chicken laced with poison. Someone wanted to hurt Chloe.”

  “Who'd want to do that?”

  “I don’t know, a dog hater?”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t dragged into our yard by some other animal?”

  I had never seen another animal in our yard before. “I don’t know.”

  “Just don’t jump to any conclusions, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  A long pause. “Emily, I’m so sorry. I wish I were there, and I wish I could talk more, but I have to go. Let me know how Chloe is, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  It was a long night, but by morning, Chloe was standing up on the examination bed and stretching.

  “It looks like she is going to be fine,” the vet said, “Keep her close to home and when she goes outside, be sure to keep a close eye on her.”

  “Do you think this was accidental?”

  “I want to tell you, yes, but the truth is, I have seen all sort of sick things that people do to animals. Maybe someone left out the chicken for some rats and was careless about it, and maybe another animal dragged it into your yard, I don’t know. But you need to be vigilant in watching her. Never let your dog eat anything from outside. When she goes out to your backyard, be sure to go out there with her.”

  “Okay.”

  Chloe moved pretty slow. We got home, and she went straight upstairs to go to sleep. I cleaned up the vomit, careful to use rubber gloves. Then I had a shower. I was so exhausted. I was just about to lie down when my phone rang. It was my realtor in New York.

  “Hey, Jean.”

  “Hi, Emily.”

  “How’s it going?”

  “Well, I was wondering if you changed your mind about selling the loft?”

  “No, why?”

  “Well, I went there yesterday afternoon to do a viewing, and the locks on the loft were changed. We couldn’t get in.”

  I went completely still. “Excuse me?”

  “I even double checked my keys, and the key wouldn’t even go into the lock. We could hear music playing inside. I wasn’t sure if you changed your mind…”

  “Wait,” I stopped her. “You heard people inside?”

  “Yes.”

  “Coming from the loft? My loft.”

  “Yes.”

  I stood still for a long moment. “I’ll get back to you okay?”

  “Thanks, Emily. I knew this was just a big misunderstanding.”

  I hung up. Who was living in my loft? I had heard about squatters who took up residence in an empty property, but I could not believe that anyone would do that to my place.

  I looked at Chloe who was lying at the foot of the bed looking more than just a bit pathetic. I called my lawyer who told me that we needed to investigate but if we wanted to do an eviction I needed to be present. My lawyer also told me that if the people in my loft had been there more than 30 days, we had a more significant problem on our hands, as they might be able to claim squatter rights.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means, if they are there longer than 30 days, without protest from you, they legally have the right to stay there without your consent. And by law, we'll be unable to evict them.”

  “Is that a joke?”

  “I would advise you get down to New York as soon as possible.”

  Chapter 25

  I hated to leave Chloe behind, but I felt even worse traveling with her in this state. I brought her to a dog sitter that I found online, a wonderful older woman who said that she'd baby Chloe like she was her own. She promised that she wouldn’t let Chloe out of her sight and that if there were any sign of trouble, she would rush Chloe to the vet.

  I looked at Chloe who had already made herself at home, lying on the floor beside the couch. After double checking to make sure that the woman had my cell phone and the name of the vet, I crouched down beside Chloe in tears.

  “I won’t be longer than two days.”

  The woman patted my shoulder. “She’s going to be fine. You can call anytime to check up on her.”

  I left my car at the dog sitter’s and took a cab to the airport with only a carry on and booked the first flight I could get to New York. Once in New York, I rented a car at the airport and drove straight to the loft. Just as my realtor had indicated, my keys to the loft didn’t work either. I couldn’t believe it.

  I went back to my rental car and called my lawyer.

  “I’m at my loft. My key doesn’t work. I've no idea what to do.”

  “When is the last time you were at the loft?”

  “I did a walk through with my realtor about three weeks ago. It was empty then.”

  “Well, we can get a locksmith over there. And get you into the place. Legally, you have full rights over the place.”

  “Okay.”

  I watched as the garage door opened. “Wait. Someone is coming back to the loft.”

  I watched from my rental car in shock as Julie and Matt pulled into the garage in Matt’s car.

  “It’s Matt,” I said in complete shock.

  “You know who is squatting in your place?”

  “It’s my ex-fiancé. He used to live there with me. I had his stuff all moved out a few weeks ago when I had the place staged. But it looks like he’s living there with a friend of mine.”

  Silence screamed down the line. My lawyer cleared his throat. “Oh. How long did you two live together?”

  “We moved in together in October of last year. We lived together about eight months.”

  “So did your ex-fiancé ever pay rent or help pay the mortgage?”

  “No. I bought the place outright. Matt never contributed to any of the bills.”

  “Was the water bill or electricity bill ever in his name? Any of the utilities?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, and you'r
e certain that the place was empty a few weeks ago?”

  “I shipped Matt’s stuff to another address, and my landlord had the place staged. Three weeks ago, we walked through the loft. It was empty, and the locks worked. We took a lot of pictures.”

  “That’s perfect. From a legal standpoint, you have full right to enter the place and have all of their stuff physically removed.”

  “I do?” I could hear the fear in my voice. “How do I do that?”

  “Call a locksmith. Have movers waiting. Have them move everything out and you can either remove it to a dump or have them put it in some storage locker.”

  “What if they come back while this is going on?”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Listen, it might be better if you get organized today and then have everyone in place for tomorrow morning when they go to work.”

  I put my head down on the steering wheel. I was so tired. I could not believe this was happening. “Okay.”

  “Do you want me to email you some names that you can call?”

  “I feel weird about doing this.”

  “Emily, if they claim squatter rights we'll have an even bigger legal mess on our hands that could take a couple of years to resolve. Trust me. You want to move fast on this.”

  “Okay.”

  I spent the rest of the day on the phone coordinating everything. We had to provide legal proof to the locksmith that I was indeed the owner. I needed to rent a storage locker and hire a moving company that was willing to pack up and move everything. By the time the day was over, I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open.

  I called the dog sitter who assured me that Chloe was feeling a lot peppier and her appetite was returning. I called Beth, and we arranged that she would meet me at the loft tomorrow afternoon so we could have dinner before I headed back to Virginia. I took a bath and fell into a dreamless sleep.

  I woke up to my Skype ringing. Peering at the clock, it was just after 3 AM. Jackson was calling. My heart stopped beating for a long moment.

  I turned on the bedroom lamp and opened the screen, blinking against the bright light.

  “Hey,” I said sleepily.

  I took one look at his stiff posture, rigid muscles, and corded neck and knew that he was livid. I woke up immediately. “What’s wrong?”

  “You want to tell me where you are?” his jaw was clenched.

  I struggled to wake up and deal with this conversation. “New York.”

  He took a deep breath and shook his head, unable to speak. I peered closer at the screen. He stood in our kitchen.

  “Are you at home?” I asked, my eyes wide. I could feel my heart pound.

  “I’m at home,” he spoke slowly, with forced restraint. “And you’re not.”

  My lips parted in shock. “What are you doing home?”

  He all but snarled. “The mission got pulled.”

  “It’s not what you think,” I blurted out. “My lawyer called and asked me to come to New York. But I was coming back. You told me you would be home in two weeks.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed. “You told me you'd be here when I got back.”

  I could feel how upset he was. I thought about the little kid who moved between Ted and Harry and Irene’s place. The kid who got no love and no commitment from anyone. I was starting to gain a better understanding of who my husband was. He may not love me, but damn if I was going to be the next person in line to abandon him. My voice was quiet. “And you got home, and I wasn’t there.”

  He didn’t answer. He just looked unbelievably intense. I had expressly promised Jackson that I'd be there when he got back. How was I supposed to know that he would be coming back after only two days?

  “Chloe is at the dog sitter in Newport,” I said. “I'd never leave Chloe behind.”

  His green gaze just bore into me. The corner of one of his eyes twitched, the only indication that he had heard me.

  “Matt is squatting in the loft. With Julie. We have to extract them tomorrow.”

  He let out a slow breath. “Chloe is in Newport?”

  “Yes.”

  “With a dog sitter?”

  “She was too sick to travel with me. I'd never leave her behind, Jackson. You know that. I wasn’t running away. I just had to leave to take care of this mess here. I was coming back.”

  He looked away from the camera for a long time and then looked back to me. He had pulled himself together. All emotion had been erased from his face. “Okay.”

  I let out pent-up air from my lungs. “Sorry that you came home to find me gone.”

  He looked down and took a deep breath. Then he raised his green eyes to mine. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with Matt.”

  I explained the situation and how we were going to evict Matt in the morning.

  Jackson looked grim. “I can’t leave the base since I’m on standby, but I can go get special leave. I can be there by tomorrow night.”

  Guilt rushed through me. This man was always willing to drop everything to take care of me. “We'll be done taking care of this by tomorrow afternoon. I can be home by tomorrow night.”

  He stared into the camera at me. “I don’t like it.”

  “My lawyer is helping me. We have to get this done.”

  He rubbed his face. “Emily.”

  I nodded. “I can do this. Everything is organized.”

  He stared at me, thinking. “You don’t want to wait until I get there?”

  I chewed on my nail. I wanted to prove to him that I was a strong military wife. “I can handle this.”

  “Do you want me to pick up Chloe?”

  My eyes filled with tears. “She would love that. I’ll text you the address. You can’t let her out of your sight. She can’t eat anything off the ground. You can’t just let her out in the backyard. You have to watch her at all times.”

  “Okay.”

  We stared at each other for another long minute. “I’m sorry you got home, and I wasn’t there.”

  He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

  My husband’s defense. I could tell that coming home to an empty house had upset him a great deal. I also knew that he'd never admit that it had bothered him. I was starting to understand him a bit better. “Okay. I will call you tomorrow when it is over.”

  We stared at each other and then he nodded. “Okay.”

  And then the screen went black.

  Chapter 26

  After talking to Jackson, I couldn’t fall back asleep. To say that I was emotionally confused was an understatement. One part of me was terrified of this relationship and how much it promised to devastate me. Jackson and I had a lot of unresolved problems around the fact that it seemed like he still harbored some big feelings for Harper. The other part of me was in love with him. After reading the journal, I was starting to get a better understanding of his past and how that had shaped him into becoming the man he was today. I could tell that when he arrived home, and I had not been there, he'd been upset. Anyone would've assumed the worst. After the BBQ I had promised him I'd be there when he got home. I could understand how he'd automatically assumed that I had left him. I hated how that must have felt like such a betrayal to him. I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, unable to shut my brain off.

  Functioning on almost no sleep, I staggered out of bed at an ungodly hour, feeling like death warmed over. I packed my bag up and drove to the loft property. I sat in a car and waited until Matt and Julie backed out of the garage and drove off.

  The locksmith opened the door, and then my real estate agent and I walked through the place. To say that it was a mess was an understatement. Being neat had never been either Julie or Matt’s strengths.

  “Look at this!” Jean looked like she was about to cry.

  Two pieces of furniture that belonged to the staging company, a white leather couch and a faux suede wingback chair, had been ruined beyond repair by what appeared to b
e wine.

  “Jean, I’m so sorry. I’ll pay for all damages.”

  “I know this isn’t your fault.”

  Together we walked around the loft, tagging things that belonged to the staging company to ensure it didn’t get packed up and moved.

  As angry as I was with Matt, I felt horrified as I watched the movers pack. They'd been instructed to put stuff in boxes and move it out, and they hadn’t been instructed to be gentle or to take care. I stood in the bathroom and watched as they removed a drawer from the vanity and dumped it in a box. Cosmetics and hair products tumbled roughly in. The mover tossed in wet towels on top of everything and sealed the box shut.

  The cleaning company arrived after the movers finished and they started to make their way through the loft.

  I walked into the kitchen. The stove was filthy. It was beyond me how anyone could be so messy.

  My phone dinged with a text from Jackson.

  Jackson: How’s it going?

  Me: Tired. Beth is meeting me for a late lunch, and then I’ll be on my way home.

  When had that happened? When had Virginia started to feel like home?

  “What the hell’s going on?” Matt’s voice sounded from the door.

  “Matt,” I turned around, anxiety shooting up my spine. “What are you doing here?”

  He looked around the place, “I repeat. What the fuck is going on here?”

  I heard more footsteps, and then Julie appeared at the door. She looked around in shock. “What are you doing in my place?”

  My eyes widened. “This isn’t your place. I own this loft.”

  Matt strode in. “Where’s all our stuff?”

  I handed him the invoice to the storage facility. “Your stuff has been packed up and stored in a storage locker.”

  Julie took off up the stairs, and a moment later we heard her scream, “Matt. Everything's gone. She stole our stuff.”

  Matt’s eyes narrowed at me. “You think this is a joke?”