Her lip trembled.
“You can’t.”
“I will, Baby,” he said hoarsely.
He watched as tears welled in her beautiful blue eyes.
“It’s bad.” She looked down, her voice faltering. “I’m bad. I should never have been born.”
His gut clenched.
What was she going to say? Could he handle it?
“You’re not bad. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I adore you. Tell me, I’m your safe place.”
Soft, fat tears fell.
He turned off the water, and pulled them both to the floor so they rested against the tub. “Tell me, Baby.”
“I need your help. I thought I could make him go away. I thought I could handle it by myself. He’s my problem.”
“We’re a team. I always have your back. Who’s harassing you.”
Who did he have to kill?
“Roger Heinrich.” She tried to pull out of his arms. “I hate him. He’s a no good bastard. He hit mom. He said I needed to be aborted. He’s the one who sent those goddamn flowers. He’s poison.”
Her words ran together.
Hit her mom?
“Miranda, who is he to you?”
“He’s the one who abandoned mom all those years ago. He found me three years ago after the train wreck, but I kicked him to the curb.” This time when she tried to get up, he released her. Miranda started to walk the length the bathroom.
“I must have been four when he came to our house in Ohio. I watched from the top of the stairs. It’s burned into my memory. He screamed at Mom that she should have aborted the brat. Then he hit her and kicked her. He told her never to contact him again. It was years later that I found out what the word aborted meant.”
Griff zeroed in on the pertinent facts. “What do you mean he contacted you three years ago? Was this after we met?”
“It was when I was staying at your house, I barely remember the confrontation. I got rid of him. I thought it was for good.”
Griff surged up from the floor. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked up at him confused. It was clear she’d been lost in her own memories as she’d told her story. “Because this bastard was my problem. I hardly knew you. Why would I tell you?”
“How about because I was the man who loved you?”
He saw the confused look on her face. Shit, the thought really hadn’t been on her radar.
Chill the fuck out, Porter.
She rested her hands on his chest, “Griff, I’m sorry, it just-”
He sighed. “It’s all right. I get it. Now tell me what’s going on.”
Griff finally got Miranda to bed. She’d been emotionally wiped out. Part of him had wanted to crawl in with her, hold and comfort her and assure her that everything was good now that she’d told him about Heinrich.
Then there was the part that wanted to punch holes in the walls because she’d been targeted, going through this alone and hadn’t fucking told him!
And finally, there was the part of him that had had his ass up all night at the desk. Miranda had told him about hiring Ellen Fairfax, and that was his first call, even though it was three o’clock in the morning in Denver.
She’d made a little progress since talking to Miranda the previous day, managing to dig up an old teammate of Heinrich’s who had been fired from DHS, who had been willing to dish some dirt on the man. Apparently there were rumors of Heinrich doing favors with one of the cartels down in Mexico, but nothing could be proven. His actual write-up, and what he would likely be fired for, was gross incompetence.
Ellen also had calls out to his last two ex-wives. The first one had gone off the grid, which was not a good sign. Heinrich’s last known address was Phoenix Arizona. Ellen had actually flown out there three days ago and knocked on doors. Nobody had seen him for weeks.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this, Griff.”
He wanted to rail at her, but he’d only met the woman once at a company picnic. She was Miranda’s friend and had no real ties to him. “From now on, I need you to report in to both Miranda and I, do you understand?”
“Miranda’s the one paying for my services.”
“That’s a bunch of horseshit. You’re not cashing her checks. Now, if you want to be blackballed by some of the best cyber-security people in the business, I can arrange that, or if you want to have the backing of these guys, it’s all up to you. But don’t try to play fucking hardball with me when it comes to my wife and kid.”
“Hey, hey, hey. I really wasn’t trying to play hardball. But Miranda comes first. As long as she’s cool, I’m cool. No matter what, her health and well-being are my number one priority. I have never doubted that you have her back.”
Griff blew out a long breath. “Sorry, I overreacted. Long night.”
“Look, this guy is a tool. He doesn’t have a chance against you and yours. Okay?” Ellen assured him.
Griff rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s my take, too. But I don’t want to take any chances.”
“You’ve got this.”
“Thanks.” He disconnected.
Miranda looked over at her husband. God, she’d married a good one. He glanced over at her, took one of his hands off the steering wheel, then grabbed her hand.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t pretend to not know what she was talking about. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “You’re welcome. Thank you for finally trusting me. I know it was hard.”
Miranda snorted, then sighed. Anybody else she’d tell them to get their ass to counselling. Luckily they’d handled the shit last night, got past it, and now she’d just have to deal with an over protective SEAL of a husband until Daddy Dearest was gone for good.
“So you remember the deal, right?”
“Yes, Sir. You’re in charge. First you dropped off Livvie, now you’re dropping me off. Then after you’re done with the tadpoles, you’ll pick Livvie up, feed her dinner, drop her off at Kenna and Dex’s and come pick me up.”
“Damn right. You don’t leave the building without me. If there’s a problem, I will send one of the team to get you. Got it?”
After all the bullshit she’d put him through, there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to tell him it was overkill. She wasn’t. He was coming late into this game, it was his right to protect her, he needed this, even if he was going way over the top.
Keep your mouth shut Miranda.
“Griff, both you and Ellen agree that he’s a gnat on a dog’s ass.”
“Miranda, he knew that the flowers made you allergic and that you got a migraine. He’s got eyes and ears in your building. This is serious shit. We’re taking this seriously. Got it?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Dammit, we discussed that too. I’m not an officer,” he said as he pulled up to the front of the building. “Don’t call me Sir.” Then he relented and waggled his eyebrows. “Unless we’re in the bedroom.”
She burst out laughing.
She loved this man.
12
“Miranda, you look like you got lucky. You’re wearing a shit-eating grin, but you have bags under your eyes. So was it a late night?” Susan asked as she sat down in front of her desk.
“It was a late night. And it turns out I scored big time in the husband lottery.”
“Hell, we both did,” Susan grinned. “So, do we have to work double time today on the project because you were indulging in sexy-time instead of working?”
“Nope, I got a lot done on that front, too.” Miranda beamed. “And…there’s good news. Everything I reviewed looked good. There was only one thing of any significance that the QC department found, and it correlated with Riya’s mathematician. Evan, the CTO from Lartronics, should be calling any time now.”
“That’s why I’m here. He’s not going to call. He should be here in three hours. He took the red-eye.”
Miranda’s eyes shot over to her computer screen. Sh
e perused her e-mail and didn’t see any notices that the CTO was planning on coming to San Diego.
What the hell?
“How’d you find out?”
Susan’s smile got wide. “I have an in with his assistant. She keeps me abreast of his schedule when it pertains to TAID.”
“How’d you manage that?” Miranda asked.
“I told her I always wanted to have the kind of snacks he likes on hand whenever he visits.”
“Oh, you’re sneaky,” Miranda beamed. “In that case, do me a favor and arrange to have everybody here for a meeting this afternoon. I want to do a debrief after I talk to Evan.”
“Sounds good. Anything else?”
“Nope. I want to start working on my summary,” she said as she pulled out her laptop from her computer bag.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Miranda was soon writing up bullet points.
Her phone sounded with an incoming text. When she looked down, she realized an hour and a half had gone by.
Shit! She’d forgotten all about the text she’d received last night from the blocked number. What an idiot! She should have told Griff.
When she saw the new one was from Scarlett Hale, she figured Daddy Dearest could wait five more minutes. She deserved something sweet.
“Miranda, I didn’t expect you to call me during your busy work day.” Miranda loved listening to the older woman’s enthusiastic voice.
“You mentioned brunch in your text. That required an immediate response. What did you have in mind?”
“I was talking to your mother-in-law, she needs a baby fix. Claudia was thinking she could come down this way and all of us could go to brunch on Sunday. What do you think?”
Miranda sighed. “Is there any way we could postpone for one week? This Friday is a deliverable from hell. All I want to do this weekend is crawl into bed and sleep.”
“That would actually be even better because Gianna will be in town.”
Miranda perked up. She’d never met Scarlett’s daughter. She’d heard about her, but never met her. “Maybe some of Griff’s sisters could be talked into coming, too. We could make it a real event.”
“Claudia would love that.” Miranda heard the excitement in Scarlett’s voice. “If you’re neck deep in work, how about if I arrange it all?”
“I would love that, are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Positive. I’ll just tell you where you have to be the day before.”
It was great dealing with organized women. “Thanks. That’ll be a great way to celebrate the project milestone.”
“Okay, well I’ll leave you to it. Bye,” Scarlett said just before she hung up.
Miranda immediately clicked over to the other text. It had an attachment.
My granddaughter is beautiful.
The hair on the back of her neck raised.
Miranda’s thumb swiped on her screen. It took a long moment for her to comprehend what she was seeing. It looked so normal. There was Livvie like she had seen her plenty of times before, sitting in the grocery store shopping cart, holding onto her stuffed giraffe with one hand, and the cart’s handle with the other. Griff’s back muscles were well-defined in his T-shirt as he reached up to a shelf for a can of something.
Livvie was wearing her little yellow outfit from yesterday.
Wait a minute. This picture had been taken when Griff had gone to the store with her last evening!
Now the picture was going out of focus.
No, wait, her hand was trembling.
The phone vibrated again.
Blocked caller.
Bastard!
Her eyes flashed upwards. Her door was closed.
“You tagged your message, didn’t you?” she hissed into the phone. “What do you want?”
“It took you long enough to open it. Anyway, can’t a man just take pride in his flesh and blood. I can’t believe you’ve denied me a chance to meet my granddaughter. She’s really lovely, Miranda.” Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
“This isn’t fun and games anymore. You can have me on a string as much as you want. But my daughter? You’ve crossed a line. We’re through. I’m calling the police.”
“And tell them what, exactly?” he asked smoothly. “I haven’t done one thing wrong. All I’ve done is try to establish a relationship with my daughter.”
She hung up.
She forwarded the text to Griff’s phone. Before she could then dial Griff, another text came through from the blocked number. It had another attachment. She couldn’t open it fast enough. It showed a picture of the exterior of Livvie’s daycare. When her phone rang and the blocked number showed again she didn’t answer it, because she was dialing the daycare center.
“Answer, answer,” she chanted into the phone. On the third ring, they picked up.
“This is Mrs. Porter, Livvie Porter’s mom,” she blurted out as soon as she heard the person answer the phone.
“What?”
Miranda didn’t recognize the voice.
She took a breath and then repeated herself.
“How may I help you, Mrs. Porter?”
“I’m going to be there in a twenty or thirty minutes. Please only release my daughter to her father Griffin or to me. Please ensure that both of us provide our identification.”
Dammit, how was she going to get there? She didn’t have her SUV.
“Please hold.”
“Susan!” she yelled.
Miranda was suddenly confronted by static-y music.
She pushed away from her desk and yanked her drawer open. She grabbed out her black purse and slung it over her shoulder as she kept her phone to her ear.
“Susan!” she yelled again. When she got to her office door and yanked it open, she and her friend ran into one another.
“What’s wrong?” Susan cried. “Is it Livvie? Griff?”
“Livvie. I have to get to the daycare. I need your car.”
“I can drive,” Susan said. She turned to her desk and fumbled for her bag from under her desk.
“No, just give me your car keys. “Is Hope still using a booster seat?”
“Yep.”
“Great. You’re in your parking spot?”
“Yeah. Please let me come with you,” Susan begged.
“No, I need you here to handle things.”
“What’s wrong. Is she injured?”
“No, she’s not. I’ll call you later,” she snatched the keys out of Susan’s hands and flew through the glass doors at reception and pressed the down arrow at the elevator.
“Miranda? This is April Marsh. Is there some sort of problem I need to be aware of?”
Ah hell, she’d forgotten she’d had the phone to her ear.
“I don’t have time, April. Just only release Livvie to Griff or me. Make sure we have ID. I’ll explain more when I get there.”
She got in the elevator.
“Do I need to call the authorities, or is this a family matter?”
The elevator door closed, cutting off the conversation.
“Dammit!”
Why hadn’t Griff called her? She’d forwarded him that text what seemed like twenty minutes ago. But she knew it was only two or three.
Her mind raced. Finally the elevator door opened, but it wasn’t to her garage door level, it was the lobby. Nobody got on. She banged on the button but the elevator wouldn’t cooperate.
She rushed out of the elevator, down the flight of stairs from the lobby to the garage and went straight to Susan’s mini-van.
“Dammit all to hell!” she screamed, as she waited for the seat to push back so her face didn’t touch the windshield. As she waited she gave a voice command to her phone to call Griff and it went to voicemail. How was that possible when they just went over security?
“Griff, I forwarded you a text from Heinrich. He took a picture of you and Livvie from last night when you were at the grocery store. It’s in your phone. Then he sent another pic of Livvie’
s daycare. I know you told me not to leave the building, but you’re too far away in Coronado. I took Susan’s car. I’m picking up Livvie and taking her home. You have that place set up like Fort Knox. We’ll be safe.” She got the seat into position and started the car. “Why the fuck aren’t you answering?” she wailed then hung up as she pulled out of the garage.
Her phone beeped, and she glanced down. It was the blocked number.
Play it cool. You have to play it cool. This is Livvie we’re talking about.
“Heinrich, you’re beginning to annoy me,” she said dryly.
“No, I’m beginning to scare you. Now be a good girl and come meet with Daddy.”
She pressed her foot down harder on her accelerator, as she came up on the freeway entrance.
“I’ve called the police,” she lied. “But then I did worse. You’re about to meet your own personal nightmare. And he’s going to rain Armageddon down on your ass.”
The man chuckled.
A semi-truck in the right hand lane forced her to slow down before she could merge. “Angel, you’re reading the situation wrong…again. You think the authorities or your G.I. Joe is going to scare me? Nope. I have bogeymen like you wouldn’t believe coming out of the woodwork. You’re talking to a desperate man. Do you know what the problem is when you’re dealing with someone who’s desperate? They have nothing to fear.”
She looked up at the green sign on the freeway, her exit was just four and a half more miles. Her hand almost slipped as she went to change lanes again. She switched hands and wiped her sweaty palm against her gray slacks.
“Well then you’re just too stupid to live.”
She disconnected the call.
She called Griff. It went to voicemail again.
Her Honorable Hero Page 13
