The Creek Series: Complete Set: Parts I, II, & III

by Abbie St. Claire

  “The best of my life,” Dane responded. He had my hand tightly gripped in his.

  I stood at the wall of windows looking out over his ranch. Our ranch. His house was now my home, and his life was by my side, but something was off and had been on the trip home.

  When Dane sat on the sofa, I observed him, how relaxed he was, and I realized that even though he was still working and doing his conference calls and Skype meetings, he had slowly started to give up the reins of the company.

  I stepped over one of his legs and sat on the ottoman to face him. “Something’s bothering me, and I want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.” He put his legs down and planted his elbows on his knees, so we were inches apart.

  “I want an empty pre-nup drawn up today.”

  “Huh? Babe, everything I have has already been willed to you, and when the baby is born, there will be an amendment.”

  “The baby part is fine, but I want your family to know I’m not a gold-digger. It’s important to me that we have an iron-clad pre-nup that says I get nothing, and if you want, a trust for our son.”

  “Why are you doing this? You just feel like a fight today?” He ran his fingers through his hair, then he quickly got up and started pacing. “Help me out here.”

  “The plane, the trip, the clothes, everything you’ve done for me is a life I’ve never known. Your social friends, they will all think I’m just a country hick diggin’ for gold.”

  He walked to the window and stared out into the open for several minutes. “Fine. I’m not going to argue over this. It’s stupid, but I’m not going to ruffle your feathers, especially during your pregnancy.”

  He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his phone, making a call to his attorney. He told him what he needed and said we would be by later in the afternoon to sign it.

  “You got your wish, now I want mine.”

  “You have one?” If he had a wish, it was a surprise to me.

  “I want us to go to the courthouse and be married today. I don’t want to wait any longer to make it legal.”

  His request seemed pushy as if he questioned whether I’d go through with it. Why else the rush? “Okay, fine, after the pre-nup. But why the hurry, Dane?”

  He walked over to me and pulled me to my feet. With his arms around my waist, I saw sincerity in his eyes. “I worry every minute of every day that something or someone is going to take you away from me. I know a license doesn’t stop that, but I’ve never wanted anything more before. Besides, you’re showing now, and I want you to be wearing my wedding band, and I want to wear yours. I can’t say it enough that you’re mine.”

  “Okay, Mr. Possessive, I’m yours, so make it legal.” I teased.

  The rack of clothes were still in our bedroom, so after a quick shower, I changed into a white skirt and had to use the rubber band trick to get the button closed. With a white lace angel blouse and kitten-heel pumps, I felt polished. Dane always preferred my hair down, so I removed the ponytail holder and put some flowing curls in my hair and added lip gloss and mascara.

  I found Dane in his office, dressed in a glorious grey suit. He was on the phone with someone and mad as hell. His face was so red a potato would probably fry on it.

  I decided hovering was not ideal and walked back into the house.

  When he joined me a few minutes later, he went to the bar and poured up a double Scotch. Just how I wanted to spend my “real” wedding day.

  Chapter 38

  Grateful that a driver picked us up, I didn’t have to worry about Dane’s drinking and driving. I debated asking what was up and threw caution to the wind. “Are you okay?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s go home. It’s stupid to start our married life this way.”

  “Stupid? Married life? We’ve been married for over two weeks.”

  “Okay, poor choice of words. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “The proto-type for our new micro-chip is gone and has been for some time. No one knows where it is.” His jaw clenched, and he rubbed the scruff on his chin with his index finger.

  I thought about what he said. Then I remembered what Stella had said. “You’ve got something I want,” I uttered.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Stella. As Carl hung me in the barn, Stella said ‘You’ve got something I want’. I thought she meant you or the baby. Did she mean I have the chip?”

  He put his hand on my exposed thigh and looked over his shoulder at me. “How could you have the chip?”

  “I didn’t know I had a tracer in my purse, but I did.”

  “Where’s that purse?”

  “At your house.”

  “Samuel, please return to my home. I’m sorry, but we need to detour for a moment.”

  The driver took us back to the ranch, so Dane and I could get the purse. Dane dumped the contents on the bed and went through the pockets, but there was nothing, except a few business cards and a couple of tubes of lip gloss.

  “We need to get on our way. We’ll go through all of your things when we get back. It’s possible that Stella or one of her flunkies hid it in your things.”

  “But why would she do that?” This just didn’t make sense to me, but nothing that had happened lately did.

  “You are an easy target, baby. You are so ritual you’re an easy target and because it would be the least likely place to look.”

  “This gives me the creeps.” My body shuddered, and I couldn’t stop it.

  Dane pulled me into his arms. “I know, honey. Everything’s going to be okay. Don’t let this ruin our day.”

  The attorney had the pre-nup ready for my signature. He quickly pointed out that in the event of a divorce I would forfeit rights to any property or financials pertaining to Mr. Lawrence prior to our marriage and anything after our marriage would be pursuant to Texas law of fifty percent. By my request, all rights to financials post-nuptials would be placed in a trust for our unborn child and modified after birth of the unborn child and any future children.

  I signed the document before the notary, and we made our way to our next stop.

  We’d been married in Paris with plain gold wedding bands, but Dane wanted to purchase wedding bands that matched my engagement ring, so we did that before going to the courthouse. When we got to the courthouse to file for the marriage license, they asked for my driver’s license. I opened my wallet and handed them my license and Dane did the same.

  “Wait, open your wallet.” His voice was almost a shout.

  My eyes widened. “What?” I asked, as I opened it back up for him.

  He reached across my arm and took out a white plastic key card and leaned down to kiss me. “It’s the microchip. You had it all along,” he whispered in my ear.

  “Oh my God, she was telling the truth. She put the card in my wallet, so she wouldn’t ever get caught with it.”

  “Someone else did because if she’d known where it was, you wouldn’t be alive today.”

  My body trembled. The need to sit down overpowered me, and I walked over to a chair. Who would put something so valuable in my personal possession and risk me throwing it away. I had to know the “Who”.

  Dane approached me and stood by my chair. With his hand on my shoulder, he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Don’t do this right now. Trying to figure the mystery out will make you sick. Come on, let’s get married.”

  “Okay,” I mumbled. I mean, I heard his words and knew why we were there, but my mind and my form had been tossed into an out-of-body experience. For some reason, the drama just couldn’t be over. I didn’t want to be married with a cloud over us. If there was someone else out there who wanted to kill either of us, I wanted it over. Solved.

  “I can’t do this. I want to go home. I want to speak with Agent Kirby, Stella, and Carl.”

  “Don’t let them win. This is what I was talking about.”

  “You said it yourself. A license, a piece of paper doesn’t change things.”
r />   The door to the judge’s chambers opened. “Mr. Lawrence, Miss Cunningham, right this way,” the assistant said.

  Dane looked at me with puppy dog eyes. Decision time.

  Was he right? Would they win?

  After a short pause, I stood, took his hand, and smiled.

  Judge Robinson presided over our brief ceremony. We exchanged the new wedding bands, and as we took our vows for the second time, I tried to remind myself that deep within me was the courage to fight and the power to stay strong, not everyone I loved had to die an untimely death. It would be okay.

  On the way back to the ranch, Dane handed me his phone and asked me to pick out my favorite photo of our wedding in Paris. It was the one he was going to use for his press release. I was happy he was doing that; after all, it was the first time we’d taken our vows.

  As I flipped through each one of them, the precious memories took my mind away from everything else for those few peaceful moments.

  Once we were in the confines of our home, Dane called Agent Kirby, and within an hour, Kirby had arrived.

  “So does this mean I can have a visit with both of them?” I asked.

  “Yes, I can set that up. Though, it doesn’t mean you’ll get the answers you desire.”

  I paced in front of our stone fireplace. “Maybe not from Stella, but something tells me Carl will roll over.”

  Three days later, I was boarding a flight for Little Rock with Dane by my side and Agent Kirby along for the ride. Once again, out of safety concerns, Dane thought a private plane was best.

  The flight was short, less than an hour. Once in the car, we were able to talk about what I was going to say. The truth was, I didn’t know. I planned to follow my heart.

  Entering the jail was about the most unnerving event to date. I was stripped of all of my possessions, and my body was scanned, for God knows what, before I could enter locked door after door after door. The room they finally put me in had a long white table and a chair on each side of it. An armed guard told me not to touch the prisoner or step to the other side. Talk about eye-opening experiences.

  When the door opened at the far side of the room, I let out an audible gasp. What once was a prissy blonde bombshell, now was a disheveled, wrinkled lady dressed in an orange pair of scrubs and cuffed at her wrists and ankles, which were chained together. It was revenge at its finest.

  “Well, if it isn’t the pregnant flavor of the month,” she slammed.

  “I’m not here to exchange jabs, Stella. I have some questions. I was hoping you would answer them.”

  “I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

  “You had plenty when I was hanging from the barn rafters.”

  “If I’d been the one to tie you up, you’d still be there as food for the creatures.”

  “And you’d have the microchip, right?”

  Her eyes darted away from me, but came right back. “You haven’t found it, or you wouldn’t be here looking for it.”

  “This isn’t about the chip, well, maybe it is. Who had the chip to begin with?”

  “You still haven’t figured it all out, have you? Stupid little hick.”

  I propped my elbows on the table. “Yeah, that’s me, just the hick who was smart enough to escape, shoot your fucking ass, and will help get you the gas chamber. My next stop is Carl, and I bet he rolls over on you in a not-so-good way. If he does, I’m sure there will be some brownie points in it for him. Not so good seein’ ya, Stella. You look like shit.” I pushed the chair back and stood to walk away.

  “It was Victor.”

  I placed both palms on the table inches away from her face. “Dane’s father? You shot him before you could get the chip back? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Oh, he told me where it was, but he lied. When I went through your purse, it wasn’t in there, so I figured he was holding it for himself, but it wasn’t on his body either.”

  I stood straight and gave her a cocky smile that she wouldn’t forget in a lifetime. “You should’ve checked my wallet. Now, who’s the stupid bitch?”

  The stunned look on her face—priceless.

  I turned and walked to the guard at the door. “Oh, and, Stella, enjoy being the flavor of the month here in an all-women prison. I hear munchin’s not so bad, once you get used to it.”

  The guard opened the door for me, closing it quickly behind me. I propped against the other side and tried to control the adrenaline coursing through my veins. Power felt exhilarating, and yet, with it came the knowledge of painful truths that would hurt the one I loved the most.

  “You did very well in there, Wrenn.” Agent Kirby patted my forearm as I took the empty seat between him and Dane.

  I looked around the room and knew the mirrors were just a front for all the watchful eyes and listening ears. Even in a safeguarded experience, I still had little trust.

  “Can we leave here?”

  “Sure, there’s a coffeehouse down the street.”

  Unnerving. An experience no one should ever go through. And yet, I was about to extend myself for the second time in one day. This called for liquid courage, but Mr. Protection was never off duty and re-ordered for me when I wanted coffee—fully leaded coffee.

  I took a sip of my decaf with a huff.

  Dane put his arm on the back of my chair and leaned in to my ear. “If you’re not up for this, we should go home. I don’t want extra stress on you and the baby.”

  “As tough as it is, I’m fine. The questions drive me crazy, and I need answers.”

  The men’s prison was over an hour away, and as the time passed, the anxiety intensified. Once inside the prison, however, I found the courage and refused to let sins of those around me own me. I took myself back to the barn and found the fight to go forward.

  Door after locked door, one narrow hallway after another, until I was finally deep inside the prison walls. This time, I was not allowed to sit in the same room with the prisoner, rather they had a room with bars down the middle and chairs on opposite sides. At that moment, I became one of them.

  “Why did you want to see me?” Carl asked, while taking the seat, his handcuffed wrists displayed in front of me on the small counter. “You didn’t get enough last time?”

  “I have some memories, but the stress left some holes. Was hoping that by speaking with you, I’d begin to heal.” I lied well, maybe an Academy Award was in my future.

  “Looks like you’re doing all right to me.”

  “Physically yes, mentally no.”

  He propped his elbows on the counter in front of him as if relaying the message that he had all day. “What do you want to know?”

  “How did Victor become involved in all of this?”

  “Stella. She found him when A.D. gave up.”

  “Why didn’t he try to reach out to his son?”

  He left a small huff slip out and looked toward the guard, then back to me. “He did. Lady, why don’t you ask the real question?”

  I crossed my arms in front of me and leaned back in my chair. “Why don’t you give me a play-by-play? There might be something in it for you and don’t leave out the part about the micro-chip being added to my wallet.”

  Carl was a good-looking man. His curly dark hair had been cut shorter, but his dark eyes were just as intense as I remembered, and he appeared to be a bit thinner. His oval face was not as full as I’d remembered.

  “Sadie and Dane used to be fuck-buddies. She got tired of waiting on him to be more, but happened to be around when he was searching for Victor. One night after they’d had a fight and he’d sent her packing, she came down to the barn with a black eye and a ton of liquor on board. I thought it was his doing. Wasn’t the first time I’d seen bruises on her, she liked it rough. I’m sure you know what I mean. She found Victor and put this plan all together, since he was an easy target for her. I think she liked keeping it in the family. She stole the chip proto-type and replaced it with a Chinese knock-off, but she needed a trustworthy player to br
ing down Asher and A.D. and who had more hate than anyone? Victor. He cursed the ground Asher walked on for cutting him out as a nobody.”

  “I don’t believe for a minute that Dane hurt her. It’s not in his make-up.”

  “Believe what you want regarding him, honey. He’s a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy. Longest relationship he’s ever had has maybe lasted a year.”

  “That’s beside the point. Why did you get involved?”

  “He fucked my girlfriend of three years. Of course, she went for the rich guy and dropped me like a hot potato. She got hers in the end because he was done with her after about a month. I stuck around, played my cards, and waited for the right time to pay him back.”

  I twisted the ends of my ponytail. It was hard to hear about all of Dane’s trysts. It hit a weak spot of mine right to the core. “Yeah, I see how that’s working out for you. How did the chip and the tracker get into my purse?”

  He pulled his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair to enjoy one of those big belly laughs. “You should’ve been a blonde. That was the easy part. Brad Crenshaw.”

  I froze.

  Chapter 39

  Dane and Agent Kirby had respected my request to wait until we got on the plane to ask me questions. My face was streaked with makeup and tears and even though I tried to appear as professional as I possibly could, by the time we got to the airport, I’d become a wreck with a total meltdown. My body shook in disbelief of the vicious web that had been crafted around me and the ones I loved.

  More secrets and lies…

  The plane took off and started shaking violently. I gripped the arm rests and started praying, something I hadn’t done in forever. Dane and Agent Kirby were sitting directly in front of me, but when the shaking started, Dane jerked his seatbelt off and jumped into the seat beside me, taking me in his arms in a rocking motion.

  “We’re just going through some weather clouds. It’s okay.”

  I couldn’t stop shaking. I focused on a bolt attached to the floor in front of me.

  “God, baby, what happened in there?”