by Tia Wylder
“Barnes, I’m coming home,” I whispered as I pushed out of the dingy hotel room. “I’m coming home!”
Chapter 14
Barnes
The hospital kept me overnight, but I bribed the female doctor to help me sneak out in the early hours of the morning. It took over seven thousand dollars and an ironclad agreement claiming that I wouldn’t sue, but I was free.
“And you’re sure about this?” The female doctor looked as if she was beginning to have regrets about helping me. “Because it’s really not safe for you to be on your own. You need intense care.”
I shrugged. “I am,” I said. “And I won’t tell anyone.”
The doctor looked nervous.
“Trust me, I’m a lawyer,” I said. “The agreement is strict – there’s no way I’m going to be able to violate it.”
The doctor swallowed. “You’ll need to come back every day,” she said. “To check in, and we’ll take the pins out of your leg. Do you have someone at home who can care for you?”
“I’ll hire someone,” I lied. “Thanks for your help.”
My driver, Max, picked me up at the curb. He helped me into the back seat, trying not to look surprised at the giant cast on my leg.
“Sir, are you sure this is the right decision?”
I sighed. “I need to find Gianna, and I can’t do that if I’m stuck in the hospital,” I replied. For all of Thomas’s praise of Jessica Norris, I hadn’t heard from her since she’d come to my hospital room. I wondered if she’d made any progress, but there was no way of knowing. Every time I tried to call her, her phone automatically went to voicemail.
“Yes, sir,” Max said stiffly. He adjusted my leg so it was propped on the seat. Moving still hurt like hell, and even though my doctor-friend had given me a huge prescription for painkillers, I was wary of taking anything that would dull my senses too rapidly. I needed to be on alert if I was going to find Gianna.
“And Mrs. Harrington?”
“She’ll be home soon,” I said curtly. I had no interest in my chauffeur learning the particulars of how massively I’d fucked up. “Please take me straight home, and then I’m going to send you out on errands.”
“Yes, sir,” Max said stiffly.
As Max drove through the Hollywood hills, I sighed and rested my forehead against the cool glass of the backseat window. Everything in LA had seemed so beautiful and perfect to me just a short while ago. And now that Gianna was gone, everything had changed. The scenery that I’d found charming and quirky before just looked garish and awful. Instead of happy, gorgeous, rich people, I saw fat tourists on vacation from the Midwest and annoying groups of college kids with selfie sticks taking too many photos.
“Max, do you like Los Angeles?”
Max shrugged. He looked at me in the rearview mirror. “It’s a different place, sir,” he said. “But it’s served me well.”
I sighed. I only liked it because of her, I thought as Gianna’s gorgeous face popped into my head. And if I can’t find her, I’ll never be happy again.
When we arrived home, Max helped me inside. The shock that I received when I hobbled into the living room was almost enough to give me a heart attack.
Gianna was sitting on the couch, with her hands in her lap. She looked pale, and there was a bruise on her face, but her long red hair was piled into a loose, wet bun on top of her head. From the floral scent in the hair, I guessed she had just gotten out of the shower. When she saw me, she gasped. Her hands went to her mouth, then she leapt to her feet and threw herself at me. She squeezed me so tightly that it hurt, but I didn’t care. My beautiful girl was home safe, and that was all that mattered.
“How the hell did you get here?” I asked, pulling away so I could look into her beautiful golden eyes. “What happened to you?”
Gianna ignored me. She stepped back and looked down at my leg, gasping again when she saw the row of pins.
“Barnes, you’re hurt!”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “Now that we’re together again, nothing matters.” I took her hands in mine. “Gianna, if I could, I’d kneel down and beg for your forgiveness. But with my leg the way it is, I’m just going to have to ask you standing up.”
Tears rolled down Gianna’s face, and she shook her head. “You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she said softly. “I love you. I was so worried about you!”
I took her hand in mine and raised it to my mouth, kissing it. “I was gutted, baby,” I told her. “I couldn’t think about my life without you – I never would have forgiven myself if something had happened to you. I’m so sorry I was too stubborn and proud to call the police.”
Gianna pressed her lips to mine. “I love you,” she repeated.
“I love you, too,” I said. “But Gianna – what happened to you? Where were you?”
Just as Gianna opened her mouth to speak, there was a loud knock on the door. Her already-pale face turned even whiter, and she reached out and gripped my arm with both of her small hands.
“Don’t answer it,” Gianna begged. “Please!”
“Gianna,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “What’s going on? What are you so afraid of?” I frowned.
“You don’t have anything else to fear, princess – we’re both home safe, and you’re going to be totally fine.”
“Barnes, I was—“
The knock came again, louder this time. Gianna fell silent. Her eyes were as round as saucers, and she licked her lips, which I noticed were chapped and dry.
“Just, please don’t answer the door,” Gianna said. Her grip on my arm was so tight that I could feel my circulation slowing. Her eyes were big and scared. “Barnes, please!”
“What’s going on with you?” I asked slowly. “What the hell are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”
Gianna bit her lip. “I was kidnapped,” she said. “By some…men, I don’t know! I woke up in this gross hotel room, and I was tied to a chair!”
Hot anger tore through my body and for a second I was so filled with rage that all I could see was red. My broken femur was throbbing, but my anger was stronger than the pain.
“What the fuck,” I growled, unable to comprehend that someone would be evil enough to do that to my sweet, beautiful wife. “Who the fuck did it?”
Tears were streaming down Gianna’s face, and she shook her head so her red hair flipped over one shoulder. “I don’t know,” she said. “I told you, I didn’t see the men!”
“But who confronted you?” I persisted. “Who let you escape?”
Gianna took a deep, shuddering breath. “When I came to, there was a woman in the room,” she said. She swallowed nervously. “She told me that no one was going to hurt me, she just wanted me to agree to abandon Los Angeles and go home.”
“But this is your home,” I countered. “Here. With me. Working on Heaven Cove and becoming a famous actress.”
Gianna nodded. “I know,” she replied. “That’s what I said, too. I told her that I wasn’t interested, and she tried to threaten me.” Gianna’s tears were falling faster now, and she buried her face in her hands as she began to sob. “She told me that she’d ruin my life – make up some fake tabloid story so I’d lose my role on the show, and bribe you with money so you’d leave me.”
My anger nearly spilled over as I listened to Gianna’s horrifying tale. I took her in my arms and crushed her to my body, ignoring the wave of pain that crested over my leg.
“No,” I said fiercely. “I’d never leave you, Gianna. Not for anything in the world. And I think you know that.”
Gianna nodded miserably. “I do,” she said softly. There was blood on her lip from where she’d been biting it so hard. “I just couldn’t believe someone would be angry enough to do something like that to me. When did I ever hurt anyone?”
I sighed. “And you think they’re looking for you now, these…these assholes,” I growled through clenched teeth. “You think they’ve come here, that they’ve found you. G
ianna, I won’t let anyone hurt you – I swear to god!”
Gianna was trembling in my arms, and she extricated herself, shivering as she looked into my eyes. “It’s funny,” she said softly. “I’m not so much afraid of the men as I’m afraid of that woman.” Gianna shivered. “The look in her eyes, it was like something I’d never seen before. She was ruthless, Barns. I couldn’t believe that. She said she was just doing her job, but…”
Gianna’s words struck my heart with a new note of fear.
“What do you mean, exactly?”
Gianna frowned. “It’s hard to say,” she said. “But I could tell there was something…off about her, like she enjoyed being so cruel. Does that make sense?” She shivered again and wrapped her arms around her body. “I’ve never even heard of a female private investigator before, no wonder…if they’re all like her!”
“What was her name?” I asked slowly, fearing the worst.
“Jessica,” Gianna answered immediately. “She was small – smaller than me – and blonde, like some kind of corporate CEO.”
My jaw dropped.
“What?” Gianna asked warily. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “Because I hired a private investigator named Jessica Norris to find the men who were stalking you after the accident,” I said. “And now I feel entirely responsible for the whole thing.”
Gianna went white in the face. “What?” She demanded. Her jaw dropped open, and she shook her head. “I can’t believe you!” She said in a loud, angry voice. “Barnes, what the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you just go to the police?”
“I tried,” I said miserably. “I know you don’t believe me, but I tried. They told me it was impossible – by the time the paramedics got to the site of the wreck, there was no sign of you or any other passenger in the car. I couldn’t even get them to listen to me – it would have been useless to call the cops!”
“But…but you worked with the same bitch who was holding me hostage!” Gianna shrieked.
There was real anger and hurt in her eyes now. “I can’t believe you would do that!”
“Gianna, I didn’t know,” I said fiercely. “She was recommended by a friend as the best investigator in the city – how the fuck was I supposed to know that she was responsible for hurting you, too?”
Gianna glared at me. “Really,” she said, tossing her long hair over one shoulder. “Then why didn’t she say anything to me about it? If she was working for you—“
“She was obviously working for someone else,” I said hotly. The exasperation I felt was obvious in my voice, and I felt guilty, but more than that, I just felt exhausted. I was so tired of things coming between my life with Gianna that I had no idea what to do next.
Gianna opened her mouth to speak, then clamped her lips together. “I just don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I feel so confused.”
The knocking sounded again at my front door – now, it was louder and more persistent.
“I have to get that,” I said pointedly. “Or else they’re going to stand out there all day.”
Gianna pressed her lips together into a thin line. I knew she wasn’t happy with me, but I also knew that she’d come around. After all, she was home safe now – what could possibly go wrong?
With a shuddering sigh, I maneuvered myself through the living room on crutches. It wasn’t easy – every time my cast touched the ground, I felt agony flare inside my broken leg.
“You know,” I called over my shoulder, looking at Gianna as she stood with her arms crossed over her chest. “It’s probably not even for you. I bet the hospital sent a bunch of cops to drag me back into bed,” I added humorously. “They didn’t want me leaving in my condition!”
But when I opened the door, I blinked. There were a couple of well-groomed, middle-aged people standing there who looked vaguely familiar. When they saw me, the man narrowed his eyes.
“It’s okay,” I yelled to Gianna. “It’s just Mormons or something, don’t worry!”
“Of course,” Gianna snapped under her breath as she joined me. “They’re so—“
When she saw the couple standing in the doorway, she gasped.
“Mom?” Gianna asked in disbelief. “Dad? What are you doing here?”
“Let us inside, Gianna,” the woman said. She clucked her tongue and turned to the man I presumed to be her husband. “And Carter, isn’t this a surprise!”
The man – Carter – chuckled under his breath. “Why, yes, it is,” he replied. “I have to admit that I’m rather stunned.”
I couldn’t place it, but both the man and the woman were familiar to me. It was like I’d met them before – albeit, a very long time ago.
“What are you doing here?” Gianna asked in a wary tone. She was standing defensively with her hands in front of her as if the couple was about to attack her.
The woman tossed her head in a no-nonsense kind of way. “I heard from Jessica that she completely failed,” she said. “And while I am disappointed that you conducted yourself in such a way, I have to admit that I’m surprised by your strength. I never would have guessed my daughter capable of something like that.”
Carter chuckled. “Anne, you’ve always know Gianna was a bit of a spitfire,” he said. Then, to my surprise, he turned to me. “And how are you? It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other. What was the last time? The Henderson wedding, when you were a teenager?”
“What is he talking about?” Gianna asked, turning to me and narrowing her eyes. “Barnes, what the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know,” I said helplessly. Turning to Gianna’s parents, I stood straight and tall. “I don’t know what you’re doing here,” I said. “But I’m not letting you in my house – and I’m certainly not letting you threaten or intimidate my wife. If you try anything further or try to drag her back to Boston with you, I’ll call the police.”
The silence was so pure you could’ve heard a pin drop on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” Carter said, clearing his throat and stepping into the foyer, uninvited. “This is your wife?” The shock and surprise in his voice were clear. “You married my daughter?”
“We love each other, Dad,” Gianna said defiantly. “So, there’s no way I’m coming back home with you. And you can’t make me.” She squared her shoulders, looking brave and strong. “I married for love – not convenience, and not to make you happy!”
“My, this is a surprise,” Anne said. She stepped forward, fanning herself with her hand. “I had no idea!”
Carter laughed again. I began to wonder if the old man wasn’t losing his mind – that would certainly explain his actions when it came to raising Gianna and her younger sister.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” I said tersely. “And considering this is my house, I think I have every right to know.”
Anne smiled. She followed her husband inside and set her designer handbag on my foyer table. “Do you have any wine?” She turned to me. “I feel like everyone would benefit tremendously from having a drink right now.”
I turned to Gianna and took her shoulder. “Do you know what’s going on?” I whispered loudly in her ear. “What are you parents doing here?”
Gianna looked just as confused and lost as I did. “I have no clue,” she said. She shook her head and swallowed. “But I don’t like it,” she added. “They’ve never been this nice to me.”
“Come with me,” I said, taking her elbow. “We’ll talk in the kitchen.”
Gianna followed me into the kitchen as I took a bottle of pinot grigio from the fridge and uncorked it. I poured four generous glasses and turned to my wife.
“Why could they be here, except to try convincing me to return home,” Gianna whispered. “And I’m not going! They would have to drag me tooth and nail out the door, and I’d fight and scream and kick the whole way.”
Despite my anxiety over the odd situation at hand,
I couldn’t help smirking at the image. I pushed Gianna’s hair out of her face, then leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“I know,” I said, kissing her cheek. “My little wildcat.”
Gianna sighed, obviously not finding humor in the situation. “Yeah, well,” she muttered. “I spent far too long trying to get away from them. I guess the only thing I can do now is listening to what they have to say, then ask them to leave. Forever,” she added. There was a hard glint of malice in her eyes. “Because nothing they could do would make me leave you.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me with surprising passion. “I love you, Barnes,” she whispered.
