Bella’s eyes filled. “No, she wouldn’t. She would have painted the whole store in crazy colors if I’d let her.” She stared at the sidewalk. Their store was across the street. She couldn’t stand the idea of looking at it. Knowing that everything was gone.
Logan’s hand moved up to tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck. Quiet and supportive even as part of her wanted to shove his hand away. She leaned into his side. He tensed and she looked up.
Jacob Stack was striding across the street from the grocery store. If Mayor Darcy was the matriarch of Winchester Falls, then Jacob was the patriarch. Two people couldn’t be more different and alike in the entire town. But they both loved it with a singleminded determination that couldn’t be denied.
And when he dragged her up and off the bench and into his arms, Bella wasn’t sure what to do with herself. The tears she’d been battling choked her and she clutched his back.
Jacob had sheltered her in the storm of the paparazzi, he’d stood up for her against Sharon when she’d taken over the Festival planning, he’d always been there in the background.
“Ah, Bella, we missed you. We’ve been so worried about you two.”
She pulled back and smiled up at him. “We had to go.”
Tanned and lined with years of farming, his face melted into a rare smile. “I know it. We all knew it, but we were afraid you were never coming back, girl.”
She stepped back next to Logan and slipped her hand in his. “It was time to come home.” She looked up at Logan and his red eyes and granite jawline. The emotion was just as close to the surface for him, too.
This was his home, not just hers. It had been his for far longer. Logan was right. It was time to fight for their home. She twisted her fingers in Skye’s for a moment before letting go and moving around Logan’s Escalade.
People were standing out in front of their stores. Shopowners and customers. Faces she’d come to know in the years she’d been in town. She threw her shoulders back and crossed the street to the first place she’d settled into.
She’d been an apartment dweller in New York City, a college nomad, a woman who’d created her entire empire online, but this brownstone had been the first place that had truly felt like home. The life she’d created with Logan had been the second. The cabin near the falls had become theirs.
But this was hers.
It had been hers with Nic and Adam. Her only family until Logan.
Logan slipped his hand in hers as she came up to the front of the store. The front window had been boarded up, the glass swept away. But the scorch marks remained. The old door they’d been so proud of was charred and the brass hinges glowed out of the inky stains.
Amazingly the stairs to the lower level were barely marred. The corner of a paper tacked to the front fluttered in the breeze. She went to the stairs and Logan pulled her back.
“It’s okay. I need to see it.”
Large block letters explained the status of the building, but the only word that was important in her mind was one.
Condemned.
Her vision blurred. Late morning sun slanted across the white and yellow form. Logan curled his fingers over her shoulders. “I’m rebuilding.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less.”
“I have an idea.”
He pressed his cheek to her temple. “I’m probably not going to like this, am I?”
“Probably not. We’re going to need Marcus.”
“Can we trust him?”
He asked the question that she’d been asking herself the entire car ride there. She didn’t know the answer. But something had felt off since she’d looked at the pictures. “We’re missing something with those pictures. I know it. I don’t think we can do this alone, Logan. It’s too big—and Aimee has too much influence.”
But she had an idea that was probably going to make Logan go off the deep end.
∞♦ ∞
Logan felt naked.
Standing in the middle of the sidewalk with too many people around them had him crowding into Izzy. Memories of another time when he was in this exact spot crawled up his spine. The acrid scent of smoke and paper, of burnt plastic and his own fear.
Of the red and orange blaze that had lit up the sky.
Inky skies and so many stars—a clear night that should have been perfect.
All he could see was the ravages of her store and billowing smoke.
Nichole’s twisted body out of reach.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Izzy curled her fingers around his hand and upper arm as she pulled him out of the wreckage of memory. Of almost losing her.
He wanted to bundle her up and put her back in the truck.
What had he been thinking coming back here? This wasn’t the place to fight Aimee. They’d lost every damn time.
She pulled him away from the building to the crowd of people that had gravitated to them. Jacob with his arms crossed and a pair of his sons flanking him. Genevieve standing in front of him with her stone gray hair flowing around her shoulders. Skye and the shopkeeper from the clothing store down the street.
Mayor Darcy came forward from the back of the pack. White blazer over crisp black slacks and white blouse. “It’s about time you came back home.”
Logan moved toward her and pressed a kiss to her papery cheek. “I missed your gorgeous face, Sharon.”
She reached up and tapped his jaw. “Charmer.”
Isabella craned her neck. “Cameron, are you back there?”
Logan looked down at Izzy. The spark of determination in her eyes made him proud and scared the holy hell out of him at the same time.
“Yeah, I’m here.” He came around the side with his arms folded across his chest.
She squeezed Logan’s hand.
The nerves alive in his chest flowed out to a full body assault. Shit.
“Okay. I know a lot of you have figured out some of what happened over the summer.” She lifted her chin and shook her hair back. Exhaustion and fear had curled her into a ball on the ride in, but now she seemed more like the Izzy he’d met that first day in late August.
A ballbreaker.
Confident and unafraid.
Fuck, she was gorgeous and breathtaking.
But fear clawed up his neck and strangled him. She had a plan. And he was so beyond fucked. Isabella Grace in determined mode was like a tornado.
He knew her well.
Had fallen smack in love with that Izzy more than a year ago.
“What you might not know is that it wasn’t an accident.”
The crowd murmured and everyone started talking at once. She held up her hands. “Logan and I left because we couldn’t fight—not then. We still can’t fight this. Not alone. We need your help.”
“Oh shit.” He tightened his hand around hers. “Iz.”
She turned to him and rubbed her hand down the middle of his chest. Apology lit her eyes, but she wouldn’t be deterred.
“I want to call a town meeting for Friday night. We’ll be at the town hall at eight o’clock and I’ll tell you everything. Spread the word.”
Relief burned his throat. He still had time to change her mind. Two days wasn’t that long, but it was better than nothing.
Jacob, Cameron, and Sharon came forward.
“What is the meaning of this, Isabella?” Sharon folded her arms, mirroring Jacob.
Izzy walked over to Cameron and hugged him. The usually reserved Cameron bowed his head into her shoulder and crushed her to him.
Jealousy coated his throat and threatened to burn through his common sense. He knew there was nothing there on Isabella’s side for the man, but Logan knew a man an inch away from being in love. Logan had known it when they’d been finishing The Barn. He couldn’t blame him, but it didn’t mean he had to like it.
Friend or not, and he and Cam had been friends for years, he was prepared to rip one of Cam’s burly arms off and beat him with it. But he stepped back and Logan relaxed
.
“You scared me, Bella. And then you didn’t let me come see you.”
“I know. Nic.” She lifted her shoulder. “I didn’t handle it well.”
“None of us did.”
“I know. And I’m going to explain it all to you guys tomorrow. I need your help with The Barn.”
“Whatever you need.”
“Isabella?” Sharon said.
Logan stepped next to Izzy. Whatever she was planning, he had to at least look like he wasn’t in the dark about it. “Sharon, we’ll meet with you and Jacob before we talk to the whole town.”
Izzy nodded. “We need to check into something first.”
“All right. I expect to hear from you tomorrow, young lady.”
“Understood.” She looked up at Logan. “We’ll be ready.”
Logan drew her into the street and across to the Escalade. “Think maybe you should clue me in on this before you share with the world?”
“We’re going to have a show.”
“What?”
“Call the guys in. We’re going to lure out a crazy woman.” She rounded the truck and got inside.
What the hell did that mean? Logan opened the driver’s side door with a sigh. Fiona popped up in the back, barking her fool head off.
“Hush now.”
“She really doesn’t like it when you leave her behind,” he said.
Fiona tried to scramble over the console to the front seat. Izzy rubbed her face against the dog’s. “I know, I know. We’re going home now though. Okay?”
Fiona knew that word and vibrated with it.
“Back. In the back.”
Fiona whimpered but eventually calmed in the backseat as they made their way down Main Street to the access road up to the house.
Izzy dug her phone out of her sweater and turned it on. He heard the familiar buzz of a phone rebooting.
“Are you sure about this?”
She held up a finger as she dialed. “Marcus? I know—” She cut off as he obviously gave her a lecture. Since Logan was usually the one on the receiving end of those, he didn’t envy her.
She sighed and punched a dial on the stereo. “He wants to talk to both of us.”
“Logan?” Marcus’s deep voice filled the speakers of the car.
“Yeah.”
“Before Bella so rudely cut me off last night, I was trying to explain to her that we had some additional information. We hadn’t been able to talk since I sent you the message about Bishop.”
Logan slowly made his way up the incline to the cabin. “Did he finally get details out of the kid?”
“Well, he’s not exactly a kid, Logan.”
Logan drew in a deep breath. “What did he say, Roth?”
“You were right. That year that he disappeared, DeSalvo wasn’t just going underground to get away from Aimee. He was in a facility.”
Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “What kind of facility?”
“I’m working on it. From the outside it looks like a drug rehab, but something is hinky.”
“Hinky?” Izzy questioned.
“Yeah. I think we’ve finally got something so I’ve got Aidan digging into it with our electronics girl. If there’s something off, Gracie will help us figure it out.”
“That’s great,” Logan said.
“Marcus, we need you out here. We want to lure Aimee out of hiding.”
“Well, she’s not hiding. She’s making herself as public a spectacle as possible.”
Logan opened the window and punched in the code for the gate, rolling into the gravel driveway.
Izzy crossed her arms over her stomach. “We need you to see what she did at the cabin. She’s losing it—there’s no way she’s not. Not with what she did. We need to push her now while she’s freaking out.”
“I thought you didn’t trust me.”
Logan winced at the coolness of Marcus’s tone.
“I don’t trust anyone right now.” Izzy’s voice was matter-of-fact. “She’s got way too much insider information. I don’t know how she’s got it, but she does. So we’re not hiding. We’re in Winchester Falls.”
“Are you nuts?”
He pulled up to the front of the house and parked, leaving the truck running. “Hear her out, Roth.”
“I don’t want to be stupid about this, Marcus. I swear I don’t. But the idea of Logan and me happy and making a life in Winchester Falls seems to set her off. I think we need to use that.”
“I’ll be there by this afternoon,” Marcus said. “I’m bringing a detail. No arguments.”
“None from me,” Logan said.
“Bring Sarah if you haven’t reassigned her.”
“She’s eager to be back on this job.”
“Good,” Izzy said. “I have a lot I want to discuss.”
Logan so didn’t like the sound of that.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Bella slid out of the truck. The familiar crunch of gravel under her boots made her heart beat stutter. She hadn’t been here since the explosion. She opened the back and Fiona scampered out of the truck and over the drive to the yard.
She barked and twirled around in a circle before returning to Bella. “Go on. Go explore.” Fiona cocked her head, her butt wiggling with the force of her tail wagging, but she wouldn’t leave her side. Bella rolled her eyes and went to the back of the truck to help Logan with their bags.
“Are you just going to keep all these plans to yourself? You’re driving me nuts.”
“I just know you’re not going to like it.”
“So why are you doing it?”
She pulled out her weekender and slung it over her shoulder. “Because she killed my best friend and she tried to kill me. Whether she intended to hurt us with the explosion is a moot point now. Not after those pictures.”
Her gut was a mess, but she was clear headed for the first time in months. Aimee had way too much power over them. It was time they did something about it.
Logan stood in front of her and cupped her face in his large hands. “I can’t lose you.”
“We can’t live like this. Not and have any sort of life. I want to marry you. I want to have kids and do stupid vacations at Disneyland with our kids.”
His green eyes went wide.
“Scary huh?”
“Kids?”
“I know we really haven’t talked about them.” She pulled at the plaid shirt he wore. “But we’ve been waiting—always waiting. Waiting to see what she was going to do, waiting to make our announcements, waiting to build a life. I’m tired of waiting. You knew when you kissed me that first time that I wanted all of this. Aimee Collen doesn’t change any of that. She just made me forget about it for awhile.”
“Are you going to give me a dark haired little girl with those topaz eyes of yours?”
“Maybe a little girl with your green eyes and my dark hair.”
“Your eyes are prettier.”
“So you say. I’ve got about fifteen bookmarked links on my computer about how people was poetic about your bottle green eyes, buddy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”
She smiled up at him. “I tired of being afraid Logan. I stayed up in the cabin with you wondering every day if she was goint to take you away from me. How am I supposed to not lose my mind? When I wake up I have to know where you are every part of the day. How are you supposed to go back on the road if I’m like that?”
He pressed his forehead against hers. “And you honestly think that a concert will make her come after us?”
“Not just a concert. A special town concert to honor Nichole and Adam’s name. Just for us and the town.”
“Well, I’m all for celebrating their life, but why would that bring Aimee out?”
“Because we’re getting married. Tomorrow. And the concert is our wedding reception.”
He straightened, his fingers tightening in her hair. “Excuse me?”
“Hey, you asked. Now you gotta put up or shut up.”
<
br /> “Of course I want to marry you. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”
“Good answer, King.”
“This isn’t exactly the way I thought our wedding day would go.”
“We don’t do anything half measure. Why should this be any different, right?” She wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “You’re my family, Logan. Nic and Adam were the only people I cared about in this whole world.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “So we’re going to have a kick ass wedding in the park. We’re going to use that gazebo that I’ve loved since the day I drove into Winchester Falls and we’re going to make a spectical of ourselves for the town and the papers.”
“That’s going to drive her insane.”
“No, she’s already insane. This is just going to show the world that she is.”
“You do realize Marcus is going to kill us for pulling this kind of stunt. He’s going to hate it. I hate it.”
She jerked back, but he held onto her. He had to know that this was the only way. They couldn’t live their lives with her in the shadows constantly trying to hurt them or people around them.
“I don’t hate the idea of marrying you in front of the whole damn town. I’ll stand at the top of the falls and scream my vows out to the entire town. But I couldn’t live if something happened to you.”
“And that’s why Marcus is going to be our even planner. Along with Sarah.”
“Oh, yeah. She’s going to love that.”
Bella grinned up at him. “Wait until she finds out she has to wear a dress.”
∞♦ ∞
Logan escaped down to the studio. Upstairs was Grand Central Station with fifteen of Marcus’s operatives filling his kitchen. Skye and some woman named Ember had taken over his bedroom. They were teaming up on Izzy to alter a dress from The Closet, an antique and consignment dress shop in town.
With Izzy’s schedule there wasn’t time to go shopping for a dress so Ember was going to make her one.
Cole and the guys from his band were due to arrive after their show in Connecticut. He’d even managed to get through the town meeting without killing someone.
Edge of Forever Page 14
