by Reus, Katie
“I’m glad that I’m so scary.”
She laughed again, the tension in her shoulders easing. “It’s not that, I swear.”
“Look, do you want to head to the diner and talk for a while?” It would be good for them to be seen around town together anyway, especially when it came out that they were having a baby together. They would need to talk about future plans—childcare options, custody stuff. Ugh. He hated the thought of things being split up.
“That sounds pretty amazing.”
“Are you really done here? I can help you clean up if not.” He glanced around the studio, taking in all the painted canvases.
“Nope, I’m done. I just need to grab my purse.”
As she did, it hit him full force that holy shit, he was going to be a father. And he wasn’t horrified. Maybe a little nervous. Kids could be scary. But, wow. His brain was trying to catch up with the news. His mom would certainly be excited to become a grandmother—she’d been badgering Lucas not so subtly.
Lincoln felt…hell, he wasn’t sure what he felt. He liked Autumn a whole lot. More than he’d ever liked a woman, and he wanted the chance to get to know her more. This had changed everything.
But it hadn’t changed his desire for her. Nope. If anything, he knew he was going to have to fight his protective urges even more. Autumn was not the kind of woman to put up with bullshit. Now he was even more determined to win her over.
“You’re starting to look a little green around the gills,” Autumn said as she slid up next to him, purse over her tan shoulder.
Tonight she had on a loose multitiered skirt and a lacy white top with barely there straps. The straps of her pastel blue bra were visible underneath and she had on custom-made jewelry from one of the local artisans. He recognized the style because he’d been living here forever. Her arms were bare, showing off her many tattoos—some dipping below her top so he couldn’t see them fully now. But he knew exactly what they looked like. He’d seen, kissed, ran his teeth over all of them. She’d left her long dark hair down today and it fell around her heart-shaped face in soft waves. Right now, she looked different than she did when dressed for teaching—more at ease, casual, in her element.
“I’m just digesting everything,” he said honestly. “And I’m thinking how happy my family will be.”
She shot him another look of surprise, her pretty eyes widening. “Happy?”
“I think you seriously underestimate how much my mother wants another grandchild.” Because Louise Jordan had officially “adopted” Harper as her own grandchild even though Serenity and Lucas weren’t married yet. She’d made it clear she wanted more grandkids to spoil.
Autumn watched him cautiously, and he didn’t blame her.
Holy shit, he…was going to be a father.
Chapter 11
Autumn opened her eyes, disoriented by the shifting shadows of her bedroom.
She heard something breaking. Glass. She paused, confused as she pushed her comforter off. Wait…why was glass breaking? And where was Shadow?
She jolted slightly as reality sank in. Someone was breaking into her place!
Heart hammering, she shoved her covers fully off and jumped out of bed onto quiet feet. She had to run, hide.
She ducked into the hallway, shadows twisting and turning everywhere.
The hallway seemed to stretch on for an eternity in front of her. What was happening? Why was she here?
Run, the voice whispered in her ear. Run, or you will end up just like me in the dumpster.
Sweat pouring down her back, Autumn’s heart was a staccato beat in her chest as she started running down her hallway. The harder she ran, the longer it grew in front of her, the end of it turning into the overstretched mouth of a laughing clown, elongating out like a macabre funhouse.
She sucked in a breath and sat up in bed, her real bed, as the nightmare faded around her. She took in her surroundings and found Shadow crawling up next to her, whining softly as she watched Autumn.
Reaching out, she dug her fingers into her fur and petted her gently. Shadow settled immediately even as Autumn leaned forward, her breathing still erratic.
It had just been a dream. Or a nightmare. The beginnings of one, at least. She hadn’t dreamt about her old place in ages, hadn’t had a nightmare in years. She hadn’t even thought about that little one-bedroom apartment she used to live in. She had more to lose now, maybe that was the reason for the unease, the nightmare.
Shuddering, she got out of bed and stripped off her short pajama set. Her entire body was slicked with sweat so she hurried to the shower, not caring that it was four in the morning. She wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon. She could get a little painting in anyway this morning after a quick shower and coffee.
No, damn it, she couldn’t have coffee anymore, she remembered.
Decaf it would be—even if it was a sad substitute for what she really wanted. The trade-off was worth it though.
Until she’d seen those two lines on the pregnancy test, she hadn’t even realized she wanted to become a mother. And when her doctor had told her that, yes, she was absolutely pregnant, she’d been nervous but also overjoyed. Something that surprised the heck out of her.
She loved the kids who she worked with at the high school and the kids of all ages that she taught at the cultural center. But she’d never thought becoming a mother was in the cards for her.
She’d never seen herself settling down with anyone, starting a family. Her own family had been small and broken. She was terrified of being a mother, but Lincoln’s reaction had been something she could only have dreamed of. She knew he had to be beyond shocked, but he hadn’t been dismissive or anything. At the diner, he’d had all sorts of questions she hadn’t even thought of—what would they do for childcare, how would they split up custody.
Somehow, he was handling things better than her. She wished…she really wished things were different between them. Because when he’d been asking her those questions, she’d imagined that they had a life together, a house together, that they did all those parenting things as a team. Which, she knew that you didn’t have to be married to be a good team, but still…he made her want things for herself she’d never thought would happen.
As the water pulsed over her, she tried to shake off the remnants of her nightmare but it had transported her back to the night a masked man had broken into her apartment and tried to kill her. She’d barely escaped out the window with her life, jumping down to the second floor using the fire escape and racing off into the night on bare feet. She’d been lucky, there had been a taxi driver who’d been idling on the street while eating a sandwich. He’d whisked her off to safety and, after that, she’d gone into witness protection.
The marshals hadn’t been able to prove that the Coventrys had sent someone after her, but the threat had been real enough that no one believed it had been a coincidence. The man who had broken in had worn gloves and a mask, but he’d cut himself on the glass he’d shattered. They’d been able to identify him from his DNA—but he’d been dead when they’d found him in his shitty one-bedroom apartment.
He’d died of an overdose but the evidence said it hadn’t been self-inflicted. If it had been the Coventrys behind it, they’d made a mistake in choosing such a moron. She hadn’t been willing to stake her life on them making the same mistake twice. And she hadn’t wanted to live the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, either.
After that incident, she’d been under protective detail 24/7 until after the trial. Which had ended up being a lot shorter than anyone predicted—because of her testimony and the pictures she’d provided. Rand Coventry had been heavily advised to take a deal after her testimony.
But she didn’t want to think about Rand Coventry right now. Or his father, with his cold, angry eyes; the state senator who’d watched her as if she was scum, when in reality his son had been the monster.
Nope, there was no time for that in her life. She was Autumn Perez now.
She lived in Verona Bay, she had a job she loved, friends she loved, and she was about to be a mom.
She was having a baby with her sexy next-door neighbor—and more confused than ever. She wasn’t going to let the past drown her.
Still…the nightmare had unnerved her enough that she double checked that her alarm system was set once she got out of the shower. And triple checked her locks.
She wished she could tell Lincoln about her past, wished she could confide in him at least a little, but knew she wasn’t allowed. No, she had to keep her past a secret. It was the only way to stay safe.
Chapter 12
An alert on Ezra’s computer made him look up from his bowl of pot stickers. He had five screens surrounding him but at the insistent beeping, he looked at the one on the far right. He was working multiple jobs, always was. He’d grown up poor and had been hustling since he was fourteen. Some things never changed—except now he made considerably more for his efforts and he didn’t answer to anyone.
Now he took anything that not only paid the bills, but allowed him to create a nest egg. A very large one in many offshore accounts.
“What have we here?” he murmured to himself as he set the bowl down, the food almost immediately forgotten.
Normally he didn’t eat in here, but his fiancée had knocked earlier, insisting he take the food. He took it only to please her—because she pleased him very much. But he hadn’t allowed her inside. He never did. He didn’t allow anyone in his domain, not even the woman he was going to marry. She lived here, shared every part of his beachfront home, but not his office.
As he quickly scanned the text, he frowned. The alert was from an old job, one he’d long since forgotten about. He’d picked this one up on one of the dark web forums he frequented, hoping to locate the woman the client wanted eliminated. But it had gone cold, as many jobs did. Especially since this particular one had allegedly gone into WITSEC.
For the most part, he didn’t screw around with that. It was far too much work to mess around with protected witnesses with not enough return on investment—usually, anyway. And once they went into the system, he usually shelved the jobs. There were far too many easy jobs he could take locating people who thought they could disappear on their own with all sorts of ill-gotten gains. But without the help of professionals to assist them, they were easily found. Well, easy by his standards. He’d been hacking since he was eleven and he was very, very good at uncovering secrets.
As he looked at the alert from the facial recognition software he often ran in the background, he leaned back in his chair.
A twenty-four percent match.
Not very good. It was the side of a woman’s face, taken from a news story in nowheres-ville Florida. Hmm. Still, the job was live, had never been taken down. It wouldn’t hurt to dig a little into this…
His fingers flew across the screen, alternating with the voice commands he gave it.
Then he paused. “Verona Bay,” he murmured to himself. The name was familiar, but he couldn’t imagine why. He’d never been there. He didn’t care for the East Coast—too humid. Miami was the only exception because he liked the nightlife and beaches, so he occasionally spent winters there.
It took him a moment but then he remembered why the name of the small town sounded familiar. Another couple quick online searches revealed what he was looking for.
Dozens of articles about a serial killer—linked to infamous serial killer Michael Black—ran across his screen. That’s right, he thought. He remembered seeing it in the news feeds months ago. Lately the country was such a dumpster fire of chaos, however, that this incident had been quickly forgotten.
A bloodhound on the scent, Ezra ordered his program to do a search for any picture or article mentioning Verona Bay that might be a potential match to the current picture he had a twenty-four percent match on. It didn’t take long before another one came back with a thirty percent match to the target from ten years ago. It was a picture of a woman wearing a hoodie and jeans, clustered with a group of other people. It had been taken in the midst of one of the searches for a dead woman.
There was another picture he’d snatched from social media. The picture hadn’t even been private, though his program would have picked it up regardless.
He grouped the pictures together to attempt to create a better image of the woman. The target.
Now his program deemed that this could very well be a fifty-six percent match.
Ezra leaned back again and pondered his options. Before contacting the client, he needed eyes on the ground, needed a much better picture of the woman—needed a location. It would cost him some money upfront. He debated if he even wanted to waste his time or not. He didn’t need the money, but he did want a new Lamborghini.
Stretching back in his chair, his gaze flicked over to one of his perimeter security screens. His fiancée was talking to one of the gardeners. He narrowed his gaze, not liking the way the man was looking at her in her string bikini.
Annoyed, he texted Tony, someone he used for small jobs, even as he kept an eye on her. You busy?
The response came back 30 seconds later. Yes but if you need me for a job I can do it.
It’s easy money. Just need a picture of target. A crystal-clear one. Because there were some things that he couldn’t get online, especially since it didn’t appear as if this woman had an online presence. Not from what he’d been able to find.
I can leave tonight. Send me the details.
You’ll see it in ten minutes. He would send it via the secure forum they used for all transactions.
How much?
Ezra snorted, not surprised Tony hadn’t asked the price first. The man was more than decent at what he did, but he wasn’t that bright. Ten thousand plus expenses and transportation.
He received a thumbs up emoji back and smiled.
Considering this job was a couple hundred thousand a few years ago, he didn’t mind parting with ten grand to make sure he had the right person. If he ended up being wrong, well, no risk, no reward, something he believed in thoroughly. He’d just have to eat the money if it wasn’t the target.
His gaze flicked back to the screen where the guy—who should be working—was still talking to his woman. At least she looked annoyed. But he still didn’t have to like it.
He sent a message through the other forum, wondering if the client even checked it anymore. It had been almost a decade, after all. Considering who the client was, something told Ezra that this job was still open.
Once he was done, he shoved up from his chair. It was time to remind the asshole hitting on his female who was boss.
* * *
Tony hated going into jobs blind like this. He didn’t have any sort of frame of reference for where to find his target. His only instructions were to get a picture of a woman who might be living in Verona Bay, Florida.
And the picture had to be crystal clear. He had an expensive, long-range camera, but he usually got up close and personal to take the important pictures, so he mostly used his phone. The picture itself had to match using some sort of facial recognition software. The odds of him finding a woman in a town, even a small one, weren’t great. But he’d done it before.
He was also going to do some reconnaissance for Ezra and see about getting cameras set up around town. In small places like Verona Bay, there weren’t CCTVs everywhere like in New York or Miami. If there had been, Ezra wouldn’t have needed Tony at all.
Tony was used to grunt work like this, and he didn’t mind it. The pay was good enough to cover all his bills, afford him a small house that he owned, and he got to travel some. It wasn’t like he had a reason to be home anyway. His kids didn’t see him anymore, not since their mom had died.
Sighing to himself as he drove down Main Street in the small town of Verona Bay, he shelved thoughts of the family who would have nothing to do with him.
It was time for him to get to work, and he had to be focused. Ezra wasn’t a bad guy to do work for�
�Tony had never even met Ezra before and wasn’t sure if that was his real name. But the guy always paid on time, had never tried to stiff him. And if Tony turned down a job, there were no hard feelings. He took what he could.
He parked in the quaint, coastal downtown and looked around. He’d done some basic research on the way here and there were a couple festivals coming up. It wasn’t like he needed a reason to be here, but he liked to have a cover story. Especially since he wasn’t sure how long he would get stuck here.
This truly was like finding a needle in a haystack. Or more like a needle in a stack of needles. He had no idea where this woman worked, nothing. What he did have was a photograph from ten years ago of a pretty college-aged student with big brown eyes and long dark hair. He didn’t know who she was and he didn’t care.
He was good with faces. He’d been instructed to look for an older version of this woman, get a picture of her and find out where she lived. The address was important.
Ezra had also been clear that she might not even be here in town. Tony would still get paid either way but he liked to do a good job, because he always wanted repeat business. And sometimes Ezra gave him bonuses, so he definitely wanted to find this target.
His daughter had just had a baby a year ago—and he still hadn’t seen his grandson. His daughter had made it clear that he wasn’t welcome around either of them. But maybe if he sent her some money, tried to smooth things over, it would make a difference.
Annoyed at himself, he shook those thoughts off again. No distractions, he reminded himself. He’d been doing this a long damn time and had only got sent up once for robbery. It had been a short stint—though long enough for his dead wife to poison his kids against him.
He’d never turned on his partners though, and he knew it was part of the reason Ezra had hired him for that first job years ago.
He kept his mouth shut and he didn’t ask questions. He didn’t care who this woman was, didn’t care who was looking for her. Because if he knew the details, he might end up feeling sorry for her. And he liked sleeping in his king-size bed with a clear conscience at night.
