by Violet Duke
And with that, Addison reached over to hit the button for security.
Lara and Sonny hadn’t broken her before. They wouldn’t break her now. “Alec, let Sonny go. He and Lara will be leaving in about a minute.”
Then to Sonny, she said simply, “My lawyer will draft something up detailing this agreement we just discussed in writing. You sign it, then I’ll talk to the kids. You breach it, and I’ll have you both thrown in jail. Period. There will of course be a provision in it that I never see either of your two faces ever again.”
Security arrived seconds later.
But Addison was long gone.
Up in her apartment, with the door shut, and the still quaking floor under her hands and knees, all her superhuman bravado dissipated. Without it, she was just a mortal woman whose mother had never loved her, whose past was continuing to haunt her.
Alec let himself in and sat down on the ground beside her. “Those two aren’t worth your tears, babe. Not then, and even more so now.”
She hadn’t even realized she was crying.
“I think… I think a small part of me kept holding onto hope. That she’d change. That she’d want to be my mother for once in her life.”
“Yeah. Seems to be a power even the worst parents in the world wield. Trust me, Hale and I have been there.” He bumped his shoulder into hers comfortingly. “So even though that woman definitely doesn’t deserve it, you go on and grieve for as long as you need. Don’t know why, but it helps.”
Strangely, getting the green light for a good cry did help. And eventually, the heart-numbing pain did start to ebb away.
…Largely in part to Alec continually looking down the hall at Kylie’s closed bedroom door in total befuddlement.
When the instrumental sounds of Summer by Vivaldi boomed through the apartment for the third time in a row, finally, he broke. “Okay, is there a reason she’s listening to classical music on repeat? At rock concert decibels?”
He looked so completely stumped, Addison felt the beginnings of an amused smile work its way through the dark clouds. “Whenever Kylie is working through things emotionally, she blasts Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in her room.”
“Interesting musical choice.”
The smile broke through. “You know Kylie.” So saying, she went over to the kitchen to prepare for her unique little sister’s emergence from her room. “We’ve never officially talked about this musical therapy of hers, but I do my part to assist. Say she’s playing Winter, for example. That one, I know to get out the Oreos and Nutella and be ready for a possible long talk, usually with tissues. On the other hand, Autumn means she wants her space. But, I make sure the pantry is ready to be raided because more often than not, she starts baking for a few hours.”
“So her blasting Summer after seeing her deadbeat mom for the first time in almost a decade means…”
“That I need to give her an extra-wide berth, while keeping the pints of root beer floats coming. With an extra shot of hot fudge.”
His lips twitched as he surveyed the float essentials on the counter. “Root beer from a bottle, triple chocolate ice cream, a loopy straw, and a cocktail umbrella. Didn’t take Kylie for such a big drinker.”
“Oh, she can knock back a few of these. The sugar hangover the next day isn’t pretty, but it’s part of the process. The good thing is that Kylie just isn’t wired to stay upset for too long. When she finally plays Spring, it means the worst is over and I can close the bar down.”
Alec looked back down the hall with new affection. “That girl is so wonderfully weird.”
“I always say.”
“You know that’s all your doing, right? Everything she knows about being great, she learned from you.”
An exaggeration, but a sweet one.
His voice sobered. “So when are you going to tell her about the inheritance and everything else that just happened?”
“I meant what I told Sonny. I’ll call my lawyer first thing in the morning to get something drafted and have them e-deliver it over to Sonny and Laura for their signature. Once I have that, I’ll video call Tanner so I can talk to them both at the same time.”
Kylie came out of her room then and beelined it straight to the kitchen. Addison promptly handed her the decked out root beer float.
She took it with a grateful head tilt.
“How long before you threw them out of the office?” Just the slightest wobble, but mostly a fierce calm.
“Not that long. They want me to talk to you and Tanner about something, but I need to get some paperwork signed first. You think you’re going to be at Spring by tomorrow?”
Kylie gusted out a heavy sigh. “No promises. But I’ll do my best.”
With that thoughtfully solemn declaration, she finally took a long first sip of her float. And immediately let loose a small smile. “You added caramel to this.”
“Thought you could use the extra kick. Pace yourself though, that’s Franny’s top shelf caramel, which, as we both know, is about 100-proof sugar.”
Chuckling, Kylie gave her a forehead-clunking hug before heading back to her room.
A minute later, the welcome sounds of Autumn filled the apartment.
“Progress.” Addison went over to put the fixings for peanut butter shortbread cookies in a shopping bag.
Right on cue, Kylie emerged with her school backpack after the end of the song.
Addison held out the shopping bag. “Threw in some sprinkles; don’t overdo it. Tell Taryn we’ll make tacos the next time she comes over for dinner. And tell her mom I’m halfway through the book she recommended and loving it.” She then shoved a cold water bottle in the side mesh pocket of the backpack and a travel pack of Kleenex in the front compartment. “Stay hydrated, and be home by nine.”
Lower lip quivering, Kylie abruptly threw her arms around Addison. “You were a better mom than that woman could’ve ever hoped to be. And I’m thankful for you every single day.”
Aw, hell. Just when she thought she was all cried out.
From the living room, Alec simply shot her a big ‘told-you-so’ look.
With the apartment no longer sounding like a classical music rave, Addison headed back down to her office to shut everything down for the day.
Alec remained silent until she was through.
“I’m sorry I kept it a secret all these years. The part about your folks hiring me.”
Addison locked her office door and joined him in the reception area. “Honestly, it’s really okay. I got a best friend out of it. And truth be told, if you’d told me from the start, I don’t know that I would’ve trusted you enough for that to have happened.”
“Do you?” he asked worriedly. “Still trust me?”
“Alec, of course I do. Always will.”
“Good.”
Studying his relieved expression, she asked curiously, “How much longer do I have before the guilt wears off and you’re no longer obsessing over being a hundred percent honest with me?”
“Probably another few minutes. Five, tops.”
Gotta respect the guy for telling it like it was. With the clock ticking, she laid it all out there. “I want to know your honest thoughts. Do you think it’ll ever work out for me and Caine? Truthfully? I’m talking David behind bars, no more nightmares, possible future white picket fence, the whole nine yards.”
“I think,” he replied without a beat of hesitation, “that in all my years as a P.I., I’ve never met a man more determined to find his target, or more determined to protect his woman. I think if anyone can make it happen for you two, it’ll be Caine.”
He nodded over to the front entrance. “Plus, he apparently has that whole Casanova thing to keep you happy in the meantime, so there is that.”
She spun around and gasped when she saw a delivery boy approach with the biggest bouquet of flowers she’d seen outside of a funeral.
“So my final answer to your question is yes babe, I do believe it’ll eventually work out for you tw
o.” He plopped a smiling kiss on her cheek. “And I’m damn happy he makes you happy because I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.”
After he went off to grab a bite at the dining hall, Addison waited all of two seconds before rushing the floral arrangement back up to her place so she could properly swoon over it in private. She barely made it past her front door before she carefully opened the attached card.
Only to have the vase slip through her fingers and shatter on the ground a moment later.
The flowers weren’t from Caine.
Chapter Twelve
It’d taken a number of tries over the weeks, but Caine no longer jumped instantly to DEFCON 5 alert status whenever Addison called. At least not fully. Or outwardly.
That said, he still hadn’t managed to master the whole saying ‘hello’ thing whenever he saw her number on his caller ID though.
“What’s wrong?” Caine stopped midstride to answer his phone on the first ring, forcing oncoming officers to swerve around him in the busy hallway.
He heard her hesitate before asking quietly, “Is this a bad time?”
Telling himself to remain calm and not go all half-cocked until he knew why she was calling him at work, he drew in a breath and replied in as even a tone as possible, “My shift is almost over; it’s been a pretty slow day. Now I repeat. What’s. Wrong?”
“I-I need to show you something. In person.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“No, wait. I’m not at home. I’m actually at your precinct.”
“I know. I’m heading down to the lobby right now to clear you in.”
“How do you…” She sighed. “Did you lo-jack me again?”
“Honey, I think we both know you won’t like my answer to that.” He got downstairs a few heartbeats later to sign her in.
As they made their way across the main floor, he studied all the signs of distress she was displaying, watched her hands shake and repeatedly fumble with the clip on her visitor’s badge.
On her third failed attempt, he officially snapped. “Come here.”
Tugging her toward the privacy of the emergency stairwell, he pulled her into his arms and just held her as her body continued to tremble in silent terror.
A full minute passed before she could finally whisper, “He’s back.”
Even though Caine had been expecting it, the words still hit him like a grenade to his gut, detonating rage and fear of the most violent, helpless kind all through his system.
“Tell me everything that happened.”
“H-he sent me f-flowers. And this.” She dragged a crumpled envelope out from the front pocket of her jeans.
It was an envelope Caine recognized well. Had a matching set of seven of his own.
After he managed to pry the evidence out from her fingers, he was surprised to find a photo inside the envelope instead of a note. Even more unexpected was that the photo was of him, outside of the florist where he’d ordered the wrist corsage for Addison.
“H-he’s been watching you.” The moment the words left her lips, she began rubbing the cuffs of her sweatshirt sleeves over her arms as if trying to wipe away something oily, foul. Unwelcome. “And he wanted me to know he’s been watching you.”
That much was obvious.
Unlike his own yearly notes from David—with its serial-killer-lettering-on-white-paper simplicity—this picture had a lot more to say. Namely, via the big jagged X’s over his eyes, done so violently that the photo paper was gouged out almost all the way through.
Even the message included on the photo was different. The straight-out-of-a-horror-movie colorful alphabet cutouts were the same, but the wording was less taunt, more demand.
Stay Away From Him
Analyzing it quickly, his main takeaway was that David was starting to slip up. And he told Addison so.
“How can you possibly tell that from this awful picture?”
“I’ve seen a lot of threatening letters over the years, sweetheart. And this one has a crap ton of clues all over it.”
That made her breathing steady a little. “Show me?”
He nodded and began going over the small details one by one. The photo was clearly taken through a vehicle’s windshield, which gave them location, day, and time so—that was all Drew would need to hack into a surveillance footage to hopefully find the vehicle. The visible agitation displayed in the gouged-out parts of the photo was also an important clue. “The guys and I will study this more, but I can already tell you by the timing and nature of this photo, he’s pissed as hell at me.”
Addison frowned. “Isn’t that a given? He hated you even back in Creek Hills.”
“But this is different. He could’ve chosen any photo, specifically, a more recent one. But he didn’t. He’s been sitting on this one for a few weeks. Fuming about it. And on the photo, it’s clearly me he wants to harm. He’s not threatening to punish you; he’s threatening to punish me. Which is good. That means he still doesn’t want to hurt you.”
“But he does want to hurt you.” Her face paled again, even as her eyes narrowed with the same fierce protectiveness she displayed over her siblings.
“Better me than you. I’ll buy flowers at that shop every day and twice on Sunday if it’ll keep his violence focused on me and not you.
He closed his hand over hers and walked her up to the breakroom by the lockers. “Sit for a bit while I finish up here. I’ve got to go see my captain.” Waving over a fellow officer he’d known from police academy days. “Addison, this is my buddy Grayson. Good cop. Scorpio. Currently in love with a woman half the guys on the force think he has no chance with.”
“Thanks, man,” called back a not-at-all-upset Grayson as he joined them.
“Hey, I’m on the half that thinks you’ve got a shot.”
Grayson turned to her. “Is he this invasive in your life?”
That brought on her first smile since she’d arrived. Caine shot Grayson a silent thanks.
“The fact that Caine hasn’t let me meet you until now should answer that question.”
Grayson shook his head at her appreciatively. “Can’t say I blame him.”
Caine wasn’t bothered about leaving her with Grayson per se. The guy really was madly smitten over another woman. What he wasn’t thrilled about, however, was—
“So did Caine ever tell you about the time a buck naked guy fell out of a tree—high as a kite and covered in baby oil—and landed right on top of Caine like a spider monkey in heat?”
Caine sighed. Just so happened that Grayson had been on scene with him during the top three weirdest cases he’d ever responded to. All of which had required him to have his uniform dry cleaned…with extra special solvents to get out stains he never wanted to think about again.
Addison’s eyes began dancing with amusement. She sat with him on the break couch and asked curiously, “By ‘on top’ did the man land on Caine’s back?”
No. He hadn’t. Caine shuddered at the reminder of the man the guys at the station had dubbed the Viagra monkey. For reasons he’d blocked out of his memory.
“So wait,” broke in Addison, interrupting Grayson’s storytelling, “you’re saying a second guy fell out of the tree onto Caine’s back? What on earth were the two guys doing up there?”
Criminy, he could’ve done without that traumatic reminder.
He swiftly left the room before Grayson could bring up why Caine had stopped eating bananas as well.
About a half hour later, Caine returned to the breakroom after changing out of his uniform to see Addison laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Caine didn’t care if he was the butt of every joke, so long as Addison was smiling as the result of it. He gave Grayson a silent nod of gratitude.
“Thanks for keeping me company, Grayson.” Addison hugged him tight. “Remember what I said. If your baker girl doesn’t see a great thing right in front of her, then it’s her loss. I know a dozen women who would love
to go out with you.”
Grayson tossed Caine a look on his way out. “If Sophie shoots me down, and you don’t marry this one within a year, I may ask her myself. Just saying.”
Jesus, was there no one loyal to him where Addison was concerned?
Caine handed her a giant, baggy department sweatshirt. Seeing as how Grayson was the least houndish guy in the building, it was a necessary precaution. “Put that on. I want to give you a quick tour, and the AC’s always cold downstairs,” he reasoned half-truthfully.
“Also…” He treaded carefully. “I know you’re not a fan of guns, and if you hate it, we’ll stop. But given the situation, it’ll give me some peace of mind to take you down to the shooting range so I can arm you with some basics. The Spencer Securities range is more for larger firearms, and whatever crazy covert weapon Gabe is cooking up. The one here is less intense.”
She hated the idea, he could tell. She was giving it careful thought though, which was something.
“Can we practice with a pellet gun?”
That gentle heart of hers was going to be the death of him. “No, honey. We don’t use pellet guns at this range.”
Her face fell.
“You know what, forget I brought it up. We can skip the range and—”
“I’ll try it,” she interrupted softly.
Holy shit.
He couldn’t believe she was actually agreeing to target practice. Just the other day, he’d watched the adorable woman squash a giant scorpion and then sadly scoop it up to go bury it outside by some pretty flowers.
As if hearing his amazement out loud, she added quickly, “I only want to learn enough so I don’t shoot off my own foot by accident. I don’t want to blow David’s brains out or anything. Maybe just…one of his knees so he falls and stays down until you get there and beat the daylights out of him?”
