by Violet Duke
“Gentlemen!” hollered Jim. “Don’t make us call security.”
Caine reluctantly let him go.
Which prompted the dumb ass to prove he just didn’t know how to shut up. “Addison basically kidnapped the kids from us. You should be throwing her in jail, not rewarding her.”
Caine lunged forward again.
Sonny jumped back, but after seeing Addison, Kylie, and Caine rush forward to forcibly restrain him, the asshole puffed up his chest and started spewing more lies.
“That’s right. We came home one day and found them gone. You can ask her other boyfriend, the P.I. we hired.” Sonny nodded in triumph as he continued to twist history in his favor. “He couldn’t find them because she’d hid them from us. Who knows what kind of lies she’s filled their heads with. Did you know she made them live in a van for years while their mother and I kept looking for them in vain? That’s abuse on top of kidnapping if you ask me.”
“Sir, that’s a very serious allegation.” Simone started jotting things down in a notebook. “I’d advise you to take a minute to think about what you’re saying before proceeding further.”
The idiot didn’t take a minute. Instead, he looked right at Addison and spat out, “You know what? I think Lara and I ought to press charges. Bet all your little donors and supporters will love that. You’ll splash that homeless cesspool of yours all over the news. ‘Local do-gooder actually a kidnapper and child abuser.’ I can just see the editorial headlines now.”
“Enough!” screamed Kylie. “I don’t want the money! I refuse to accept it. Keep it, burn it, do whatever you want.”
“Are you out of your mind?! That’s over a half million dollars!”
She stared Sonny down. “So what? It’s just money.”
“Kylie, calm down,” said Addison gently. “Don’t make a rash decision like this.”
“I. Don’t. Want. It.” Kylie turned to Addison. “You taught us that we don’t need a lot to survive, to be happy. You raised us to do good and to work hard.” She glanced at Caine for a meaningful beat before returning her gaze to Addison. “You raised us to be strong enough to walk away from something we might really want, if it would help or protect the people we love.”
Sonny scoffed. “Then you raised two idiots.”
Caine broke free and punched him across the jaw.
Sonny went flying out of his seat.
When Lara fell to the ground to help him up, Sonny shoved her away and spat the blood pooling in his mouth at Caine’s feet. “Now I can add abusive police boyfriend to my statement to the reporters. And my lawyer.”
“I’m not a cop anymore. So, good luck with that.” Caine reached in his wallet and pulled out a business card. “As far as a lawsuit goes, here—” He flung it at him. “Have your lawyer contact mine.”
Sonny blanched when he read the name on the card. “Connor Sullivan?”
That’s right, asshole. “Figured a guy who used to grunt work for one of the shadiest investment bankers in Phoenix would recognize that name.”
“You’re bullshitting. He wouldn’t take a case like this. He’s a bigshot corporate lawyer.”
“Connor has his own practice now.” Caine couldn’t help but smile a little over how his now happily domesticated buddy was still a feared bad-ass in corporate Arizona. “He’s still as ruthless as ever, only now, he gets to be picky about which opponents he annihilates in court.”
Caine showed his full hand then. “Fun fact: do you know who babysits for Connor when he has date nights with his wife? That would be my sister Lia. And his beloved niece Skylar? She’s an honorary Spencer who’s been working for my brothers’ security firm for years now.”
With Sonny now officially squirming like the worm he was, Caine reeled it in. “Truthfully, even if Connor wasn’t such a good friend of mine, I know for a fact that he’d still happily take the case. Because he loves nothing more than putting shitballs like you away for as many years as he can creatively get. So go ahead and sue me. We’ll counter with so many criminal charges, you’ll be lucky to find a half-decent lawyer to help you defend your ass.”
Sonny’s eyes darted desperately over to the lawyers in the room. “I-I have witnesses. They saw you assault me.”
“Actually,” replied Simone—her poker face really a thing of beauty—“I missed the whole thing. I was on my phone fact-checking Addison’s quite impressive ‘homeless cesspool’ as you called it, when you fell out of your chair. Admittedly, I was a little distracted, seeing as how doing pro bono work for non-profit organizations is sort of my thing.”
“And as my former colleague Connor always tells me when we go golfing,” added Jim, “I don’t have the best vision. Can’t really be sure what these old eyes of mine are seeing these days.”
“This isn’t over,” vowed Sonny as he pushed out of his seat and shot Caine another hateful scowl. “We’re going to fight this executor thing. But first, I’m going to bury that stupid homeless camp and piss all over its ashes. Connor Sullivan won’t be able to protect you from good ole social media shit talk.” He grabbed Lara’s arm and stormed out of the room.
Caine was shocked to see genuine regret flash in Lara’s eyes as she turned to look back at her three children through the glass door. It was replaced by a placating expression a moment later, however, when Sonny began barking at her as they made their way to the elevators.
“Well, now that ridiculousness is taken care of,” said Simone with a smile. “Let’s sign some papers, shall we? Your father was very eager for you two to have this money, and frankly, so are we.”
Tanner looked out at the empty hallway. “But what about Sonny’s threat? You don’t think he has a case?”
Jim snorted. “I think he’ll be lucky if the judge doesn’t fine him for wasting the court’s time.”
“And don’t worry,” reassured Simone, “if he tries to slander Addison or the CoRe Housing Foundation, we’ll hit him with cease and desist orders, and a mountain of legal paperwork.”
Kylie and Tanner both looked at Addison questioningly.
She gave them a big, bolstering smile. “I’ll support whatever decision you two make a thousand percent.”
After a quick, quiet exchange with her brother, Kylie turned back to the lawyers and asked in a bold, cute-as-a-kitten voice, “If we hire you as our lawyers, can you help us put some of this money toward opening up more Cohabitate-Rehabitate housing complexes in other areas with high homeless populations?”
“Along with sustainable agriculture projects and research,” added Tanner. “I have a few ideas I think could really help some communities in need.”
The lawyers looked positively charmed by the pair.
“You did that,” whispered Caine into Addison’s ear. “You raised your siblings to become those two amazing human beings right there…and the world is all the better for it.”
Chapter Sixteen
“If you ask me, I still don’t get why David hasn’t made another move yet.” Gabe threw his thinking ball—an old blue tennis ball that was practically bald, but apparently very good luck—against Alec’s living room wall, and caught it on the rebound. “It’s been almost two weeks since he sent those flowers to her. What the hell is he waiting for?”
Caine was wondering the same thing.
It’d been nearly two weeks since he’d turned in his gun and badge, and like Gabe, he’d honestly thought David would’ve made his presence known by now. With no further threats or anything else to go on, all Caine and Alec had been able to do since was go back over things they might’ve missed over the past seven years.
From every close call he’d had nearly catching David in Mexico, to all the impressively invasive P.I. details Alec had dug up on David—eating habits, product preferences, hell, even favorite colors. They’d analyzed every recorded surveillance photo of David over the years, which Drew had obtained via hacking the hell out of government systems and big-brother cameras that Caine just didn’t ask questions abou
t anymore.
From what Caine had found down in Mexico, David had been doing dirty dealings in designer drugs for years. Even before he’d jumped bail.
Far as they could tell, David hadn’t just been in possession of date rape drugs for his own use, but he’d been working on creating and distributing new hybrid recreational narcotics as well. Not to the level of getting on the DEA’s radar, however—according to Drew’s don’t-ask-how-I-know intel. David’s was more a boutique signature cocktail service where he made customized concoctions for his individual clients’ very specified requests. Like a person who wants to slowly coerce a boss for a raise or drive a spouse paranoid to the point of criminal aggression.
At one of David’s abandoned residences, Caine had found a sick journal cataloging every detail he made his buyers tell him about the effects of the drug on its victim. It was like he was living vicariously, and getting his own high by slowly—always slowly—manipulating the victim to reach the buyer’s goal.
It was twisted.
And it terrified the hell out of Caine.
Imagining David doing something like that to Addison…
He couldn’t even bare to think about it.
The thing was, even with their working together, the only new thing that had developed since was Caine’s grudging admiration over Alec’s tracking abilities. The guy definitely did things different from a cop, but he got results.
On cue, Alec pulled up some photos on his laptop. “Last week, I went back over to Mexico to check a few leads and I was able to find more on that last American girl who went missing in Rocky Point you told me to check on. The one that didn’t quite fit the profile of the other victims.”
A few years back, Caine had discovered a string of rape victims—all American women, all drugged by narcotics unlike any they’ve seen in the States. And all spitting images of Addison when she was twenty. It’d been the real big break after David’s trail had gone cold for nearly a year. Though all the girls were still alive, most of them were in heavy therapy, over half with memories all but wiped from the drugs.
The most recent victim, however, hadn’t resembled Addison at all. But, everything else about her case pointed back to the same non-standard drugs.
“Your hunch was right about that last victim,” Alec continued. “It wasn’t a random on-site abduction, even though it was made to look like one. The girl had been getting harassed for some time by this rich dude who evidently, got tired of getting turned down. I did more digging, and it looks like David has developed a pretty high-end clientele, all by referral.”
That part wasn’t a surprise considering David’s lavish lifestyle. Each of the places of residence he’d tracked David to had been more extravagant than the last. And being bankrolled by wealthy clients would also explain how he’s been able to fund his access to the seemingly unlimited resources helping him avoid capture on both sides of the border.
“The thing is,” reasoned Gabe. “Just because he hasn’t made a move on Addison yet doesn’t mean he’s not working while he’s here to get some funds for whatever he has planned. I say we should get Drew on a dark web marketplace to see if there are suddenly any new players in Arizona willing to ‘help’ in situations where buyers want a drug to control someone. Seems like as good a place as any to see if we get any nibbles.”
Caine’s look of shock matched Alec’s. “That’s actually a really good idea.”
“Geez, you guys don’t have to make it sound like some sort of miracle,” groused Gabe. “I may not be part of the dynamic deputy dog duo, but I’ve got some skills.”
Alec opened up the pizza box that Gabe had just brought over. “You know what’s still bugging me? That photo he sent with the flowers of Caine’s eyes gouged out. It doesn’t seem to match his MO.”
Caine grabbed Gabe’s thinking ball and bounced it on the back of his hand a few times. That part had struck him as off as well. He was missing something, and it was killing him.
“What did you do that week? Did you set him off somehow?” asked Gabe. “Back in Creek Hills he flew off the handle and held Marco at knifepoint because you and Addison drew him out by making out in plain sight?”
“I don’t see how. Other than the police fundraiser and the precinct, we’ve never even been together outside of the housing complex.”
“Maybe he got to one of the residents,” offered Alec quietly, sounding fairly disgusted at the possibility. “Some folks would do just about anything if the price tag is big enough.”
“I don’t know. I think these families respect Addison too much.” But Alec was right, he couldn’t completely rule out the possibility. “Before we go down that route, I think we should look for some sort of basecamp. David never had a reason to stay on this side of the border until now.” Caine put down the ball. “Back in Creek Hills, he’d moved to a building that had a bird’s eye view of the diner so he could keep tabs on Addison. For a big housing complex like Addison’s, that’s probably what we should be looking for this time around, too.”
Gabe frowned. “We’re in the middle of an urban neighborhood, which, from a security standpoint, is actually worse than being in downtown because of all the staggered building heights. We’re talking dozens of residential and commercial buildings, hotels, motels in all directions of the complex, even a few condo hi-rises further away, all of which would give a clean sightline to anyone with a telescope.
Caine grabbed his phone to dial in Drew. “Still. We have location parameters and we have a timeline. Drew should be able to pull info on all the rental units, motels, and hotels occupied within the search radius from the day I pulled Addison to the day she got the flower and photos. Almost every rental management office and every craigslist renter nowadays asks for photo ID to make a copy for their records, which Drew can hack and run facial recognition on.”
Alec looked dubious at best. “Dude, are you serious? The kid would have to backtrack through every possible rental and sublet listing site, not to mention airbnb, craigslist, and like fifty others. And that’s not even counting newspapers, college websites, and military listings. That’s hundreds of possible units if we’re lucky. And from there, he still has to hack every hotel, and every building manager’s office, and every offsite landlord’s computer to check guest reservations and tenant applications. At the very least, it’ll take him forever.”
“I can have the results in a few days,” called out Drew over Caine’s speaker phone, matter-of-factly. “Maybe sooner if I can finish this term paper by tonight.”
Alec blinked at Caine’s phone in astonishment, while Gabe just tsked good-naturedly, “A few days? Man, this college thing is slowing you down, bro. You should just quit; we all know you’re smarter than most of your professors anyway.”
He was kidding, of course. Caine knew that next to Lia, Gabe was one of the biggest advocates of Drew going to college before hacking for Spencer Securities full time.
“I’ll be sure to send Lia a copy of the audio clip of you saying that,” promised Drew before raising his eyebrows in an evil half smile and hanging up.
Gabe scrambled to call him back. “Oh shit. Lia’s totally going to kick my ass.”
“What’d you do now?” asked Addison with a grin as she walked into Alec’s apartment. “And where can I buy front row tickets to the show?”
Gabe mimicked getting a bullet to the chest and fell to the ground.
Unmoved, a laughing Addison stepped around his body to head to the kitchen.
A few seconds later, Gabe groaned and left the room to answer his phone, which was now pealing with the Kung-Fu Fighting ringtone he’d assigned to Lia.
Caine followed Addison to the kitchen. “Are you going to bed already? Because we’re almost done here; I can be there in a few.”
Reaching for another pizza slice, Alec shook his head and put in his two cents, “Okay, I know I’m not exactly an expert on this whole relationship thing, but this whole you going over there every night to be her sleepin
g teddy bear and then coming back here and waking my ass up in the process before dawn, seems a little bit messed up. Just saying.”
Before Caine could promptly refund Alec’s two pennies, Addison shocked the hell out of him by saying, “Actually, that’s what I came over to talk about.” She looked up at Caine and explained gently, “I want to try and sleep solo tonight, if that’s okay.”
“Gotta go, Lia,” stage whispered Gabe from the hallway, “the Addison and Caine saga just had a major plot twist. I’ll keep you on the line.” He hurdle-jumped over the back of the couch to get comfy on the ottoman, cell phone shamelessly held up in front of him.
Smirking, Alec put his feet up and settled in as well.
Bunch of nosy bastards.
Lucky for them, he had more pressing things to deal with. “Do you agree with him?”
She shook her head quickly. “No, of course not. I love sleeping with you. But I just…I think I need a little alone time tonight.”
Frickin’ A, Caine hated that. But he didn’t argue. Hell, he understood needing time to yourself. That’s why he went for runs every morning and either went a few rounds in the ring or shot a few rounds in the range every afternoon. If that’s really what she wanted… “Call me if you get lonely?”
Her gaze softened. “Of course.”
“Boo, false alarm,” said Gabe. “Those two are being level-headed and boringly rational like usual.”
“I dunno,” countered Alec. “Did you see that tell just now? It was little, but it was there. I say this isn’t about her just wanting some time alone.”
At Addison’s startled look, he gave her an unapologetic half-shrug. “Sorry, babe. I can always tell when you’re fibbing.”
She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. “Not always.”
“Uh, yes always.”
Crossing her arms, she volleyed back, “Tell that to the background check you ran on the guy who bought me drinks at your cousin Jo’s wedding. What did I tell you his name was again?”
