Treasure My Heart

by Altonya Washington

  It took Minka some time to get out the explanation, but she told them everything, including the prank calls.

  Carro’s security chief was brought into the room to record Minka’s statement.

  “Ms. Gerald, did you see a license plate?”

  “Why the hell don’t you have it already?” Oliver snapped. “It’s security protocol to record names, driver’s licenses and tag numbers of everyone in or out of the gates at every entrance, right?” None of the staff piped up with a response. “Why wasn’t that done?” he asked in a deceptively polite voice.

  Again, there was no response.

  “Did you at least record Ms. Gerald’s information when she arrived? Who was on duty when this all went down?” Oliver continued.

  The staff on hand visibly tensed.

  “I believe there was a shift change,” one of the deputies offered.

  “Shift change between who?” The chief was already pulling up the information on his phone while he asked the question.

  “Remember who’s at fault here, Oliver,” Vectra urged her brother while the guards were summoned.

  Oliver slanted his sister a chilly stare. “Quiet,” he ordered.

  The guards arrived and the chief relayed the protocol questions that Oliver had previously raised. A round of finger-pointing ensued, which only heightened Oliver’s and Qasim’s agitation.

  Qasim caught Vectra’s eye. “Is this the top-notch security you kept bragging about?”

  Chief of Security Spencer Hogan stepped forward. “With all due respect, Mr. Wilder...”

  Vectra quickly surmised the heightening of emotion in the room. She saw Oliver’s fist clench and Qasim’s gorgeous dark features turn poisonous as the chief defended his men. “Spencer. Can we track the car based on what we do know?” Vectra asked, jumping up to ease the mounting tension.

  Minka had gradually regained control of her faculties and was leaning forward to take part in the conversation. “He told me he’d been in San Francisco on business for his new job. He came to Wilder to gloat, saw me leaving and followed me here. His boss in Salinas confirmed that he’d sent him here for a meeting when I spoke to him by phone earlier today.” Minka could feel Qasim’s eyes boring into her as she shared the story. She forced herself to continue addressing the security chief. “Maybe he’s driving a rental. If you contact CG Spring of Spring Holdings, he should know more on how to reach him.”

  The chief held a pen in his hand. “Would you happen to have a number for him, ma’am?”

  “Oh.” Minka’s dismay renewed as she recalled the fate of her tote. “My bag is splattered out there on the drive. I—I’m not sure if my phone survived.” From behind, she heard Oliver utter another furious curse.

  “Thank you, Ms. Gerald. We’ll contact the county PD and enlist their help to track down this coward.”

  “We appreciate whatever you can do.” Vectra escorted the security team from the room. She returned moments later.

  “Thanks for whatever you can do?” Oliver parroted his sister’s words. “Why didn’t you just tell ’em to take the rest of the week off?”

  “Sure, Olive, that’ll best help them find that jerk.”

  “I want ’em out, Vec—figure up their severance pay and get ’em the hell out of here.”

  “You want to fire our security team?”

  “What part of ‘I want ’em out’ was unclear?”

  “Oliver, you’re just lashing out at them because you can’t get your hands on Will.”

  “Oh, you caught that, did you?”

  “Olive—”

  “No, Vectra. If I’d fired their lax asses before this, maybe Lloyd would’ve at least been caught before he got off the property.” Oliver’s eyes blazed toward his sister. “Hell, they didn’t even know the scum was here til he flew by them on his way out! He could’ve done anything to her out there.

  “I can’t believe that creep did this to you,” Oliver fumed.

  “Oliver, I’m okay, really,” Minka said softly.

  “Right,” he breathed, “just like you were okay in Miami, hmm?”

  Qasim, who had been quietly pacing the far side of the room, stopped. “What about Miami?”

  Oliver’s face beamed with fake surprise. “Well, hell, Sim, I see I’m not the only one kept out of the loop. Your boy came to Vectra’s place when we were out there.”

  Once again, Qasim seared Minka beneath his dark, flat glare.

  “What did he want?” Vectra asked her brother.

  “Search me, but whatever it was, it wasn’t anything I needed to worry over, was it, Mink?”

  “Oliver—”

  “Just like all the rest of his calls, right?” Oliver steamrollered Minka’s explanation. “If that clown hadn’t attacked you tonight, would you have ever said a damn word to me about him, Minka?”

  Minka sat on the arm of the chair she stood closest to. “I thought I could handle it.”

  Oliver nodded as though her answer didn’t surprise him. He shifted a quick, measuring look toward Vectra before looking back to Minka. “Of course you did. If I had a dime for every time I heard that—”

  “Oliver!”

  Oliver waved a hand in response to his sister’s reproachful cry. He pushed off the sofa. “Don’t think I’m in the mood for dinner. It’d be better if I just get the hell out of here.”

  “Oliver?” Minka stood, her voice hollow as unease barreled in at the thought of him leaving.

  Oliver didn’t acknowledge her call and walked out of the room.

  “Oliver.” Vectra prepared to go after her brother, but found her way blocked by Qasim.

  “Stay with her.” He looked to Minka. “I’ll talk to him.”

  Vectra curled her fingers into the neckline of the midnight-blue tee he wore and rested her forehead to his jaw. “I’m sorry.”

  “Shh...” Qasim cupped her chin, waited for her eyes to meet his. “Enough of that.” He kissed her forehead.

  “Don’t let him leave,” Vectra urged.

  “He’s not goin’ anywhere.” Qasim looked to Minka who was on the chair and leaning forward, elbows braced to her thighs while she massaged her temples.

  Qasim left to go after Oliver, and Vectra went to sit near the chair Minka occupied.

  “What a day...” Minka groaned.

  Vectra smiled. “If it helps, I can relate.”

  Minka replied with a sad smile. “I didn’t mean to hurt Oliver.”

  “Honey.” Vectra squeezed her hand. “You didn’t do that.”

  “He didn’t even want to come here tonight.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’ve been...seeing each other since Miami.”

  Vectra nodded. “I kind of figured.”

  “He thought we’d be in for a lecture tonight. I told him he was wrong.”

  “No...he was right. Tonight was about more than that, but a lecture would’ve probably found its way in somewhere between dinner and dessert. The man knows me very well. But, um.” Vectra massaged her eyes and then looked to Minka with a refreshed look. “I can see now that wouldn’t have been necessary.”

  “Really?”

  “I think I knew there was something different about him before you guys left for Miami. Did he tell you he already got the lecture from me?”

  “No.” Minka laughed. She recrossed her legs beneath her dirt-streaked cream skirt and leaned forward, eager to hear more.

  Vectra relaxed into the sofa, her expression a bit whimsical. “I don’t know...there’s something about him. Something less...confident, and the man’s got the utmost confidence when it comes to women.”

  “Easy to believe.” Minka grinned.

  “But I don’t see all that when he talks about you or is around
you. There’s this little-boy uncertainty in place of that...arrogance. Like there’s something he wants to know, but he’s afraid to find out all the same.”

  “He says he’s in love with me.” Minka watched Vectra smile.

  “Do you get how huge that is for him? Love isn’t a word he uses lightly, not even with me and my dad. For him to share that with you...” Vectra shook her head in wonder. “He’s jumped some pretty high hurdles to overcome those fears of his.”

  “I’m scared, too, Vectra.” Minka settled back into the chair. “He’s seen more of who I am than I’ve ever let any man see. I don’t know how this works.”

  Vectra fidgeted with a tassel on the crimson cap-sleeved blouse she wore. “If it makes you feel better, neither does he.”

  “My life is about to get all kinds of crazy, Vectra.” Minka moved next to her on the sofa. “This situation with Will won’t help.”

  “Don’t shut him out, hon. Don’t shut him out of any of it. Trust me on that.”

  Minka observed Vectra closely for a moment. “Is it my imagination, or was that discussion earlier about more than what happened with Will?”

  Vectra looked down at her hands limply clenched in her lap. “I was in a relationship a long time ago... It turned abusive.”

  “Vectra...” Minka leaned over to squeeze Vectra’s knee.

  “It was pretty hard for my dad and Olive to see me go through that.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Minka gave an encouraging smile.

  Vectra nodded. “Thank you... Tonight was about Oliver remembering the days when I would tell him and my dad that I could handle it on my own and that I didn’t need their help.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t think they’ll ever truly forgive me for shutting them out the way I did. They didn’t want me to feel...overpowered by a man, but I made them back off.”

  “Did it get uglier after that?” Minka asked.

  “It got crazy enough, and what happened here tonight with you and Will was enough to spook Oliver and carry him right back to that time.”

  Minka looked to the door. “Do you think they’ll find Will?”

  Vectra looked to the door then, too. “Let’s hope they do before Oliver does.”

  * * *

  Oliver snorted out a quick laugh when he saw Qasim approaching. “Tell my sister not to worry. I’m not gonna drive off half-crazed into the night.”

  Qasim chuckled. “I kind of figured that.” He joined Oliver on the steps of the minipatio that faced the east vineyard.

  Oliver presented Qasim with one of the three remaining beers sweating on the steps where he’d been sitting since storming out of the house.

  “Is Minka okay? I didn’t mean to leave the way I did...only...looking at her makes me angry enough to want Will Lloyd dead by my own hand.”

  “You don’t have to explain that to me.” Qasim’s jaw clenched as he handled the bottle.

  “I swear I don’t blame her for any of this, Sim. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me for not making her tell me everything there was to tell about that jackass.”

  “Neither of you is at fault.” Qasim swigged down a bit of the imported brew. “If we’re gonna play the blame game, I can take part for not putting Will’s ass in jail when I had the chance.”

  Oliver gave into a ripple of abrupt laughter. “We’re quite the group of crazies, huh?”

  The guys enjoyed their drinks in silence for a while before conversation returned.

  “She knows where the fool works and was trying to bring him down on her own,” Oliver grimly mused.

  “The way he went after her...” Sim shook his head. “I know he’s pissed about the way things went down, but this...this was reckless. He’s gotta know he’s screwed after this.”

  “What are the odds that your old army buddy is going off the rails?”

  “PTSD?” Sim asked. “It’s a nasty illness for sure...may not be a bad idea to put more security on Minka until we have Will.” He hissed a curse. “It’s a damn shame. He was a good soldier and a pretty decent friend, but going after Minka the way he did...that I can’t forgive.”

  “Got to keep an eye on her,” Oliver warned. “In spite of what happened, I’m betting she still wants to go after him.”

  Qasim shook his head. “She blames herself for me not being able to wrap Will up the way I wanted.”

  “What the hell is she thinking...?”

  “Thinking she can do it on her own. She’s obsessively independent in case you haven’t noticed.”

  Oliver grinned. “I know the type.”

  Qasim paused before tipping back more of his beer. “Is that a dig at your sister?”

  “Who else?”

  “Watch it, Oli. That’s my fiancée you’re talkin’ about.”

  “You finally asked her?” Oliver’s pensive expression mellowed and a grin curved his mouth.

  Qasim feigned upset. “Why was everybody so sure I would?”

  “Hmph.” Oliver shrugged. “It’s easier for folks to see things from the outside sometimes.”

  “So I take it you approve?”

  “You know it.” Oliver chuckled. “And you know you already got Dad’s blessing.”

  Qasim nodded. “I actually went to see Mr. B before I asked Vectra.”

  “Does Vecs know that?”

  Sim shook his head. “Not sure she’d appreciate it as much as you seem to.”

  Oliver laughed even harder. “Ah...the allure of an independent woman.” He sighed as his laughter cooled and then extended a hand to Qasim. “Congrats, man. Are you sure you want to be part of our family after tonight?”

  “Hell, yes.” Qasim shook Oliver’s hand vigorously. “Most people have to pay to see fights that good.”

  They clinked beer bottles and took long gulps.

  Chapter 16

  “So when do you think she’ll want you to start?” Qasim asked as he wolfed down a mouthful of breakfast potatoes and fluffy eggs.

  Minka shook her head while adding a fresh pat of butter to her second biscuit. Vectra and head housekeeper Charlotte Sweeny had settled her in a plush guest room the night before. Minka had slept deeply after the fireworks of the evening.

  The smells of a breakfast tray in the room woke her around 10:00 a.m. She was surprised and pleased to have both Qasim and Vectra join her for breakfast. It was a sweet, informal gathering, with Vectra eating where Minka sat near the headboard and Qasim at the foot of the bed.

  “Gram wants folks to be aware of the change right away, but she understands my obligations to Wilder,” Minka explained.

  “Which means you’ve got about two weeks.” Sim chuckled when Minka pretended to toss her napkin in his direction.

  “Better not let Z hear you with that,” Minka warned.

  Qasim gave a noncommittal shrug. “Miss Z. loves me.”

  “I guess it was your grandmother who insisted Qasim come aboard as the legal advisor,” Vectra noted once her laughter settled.

  Minka smiled. “Actually it was my granddad, but Gram wasn’t far behind in giving her support. They both fell in love with Sim right away.”

  Vectra’s light eyes went dreamy as she caught her fiancé’s gaze across the bed. “I can totally understand that.”

  Minka looked from Qasim to Vectra. “Guys, I’m sorry about the way dinner turned out. Vectra, you were sweet to invite me.”

  “Ah.” Vectra waved her hand before returning to fork up a few potatoes. “Trust me, we’ll have many more dinners leading up to the big day.”

  “Celebrating the—” Minka’s gaze narrowed. “The big day?”

  Vectra raised her left hand and wagged her ring finger to show off a stunning chocolate diamond. “I was smart enough to accept,” she said.

  Minka g
asped, quickly setting aside her food tray. Vectra and Qasim set down their plates in anticipation of being hugged. They were gathered in the middle of the bed and in the midst of a three-way embrace when a knock hit the door and Oliver looked inside the room. He smiled at the sight.

  “Am I interrupting?” His eyes were locked on Minka.

  Minka looked to Vectra. “Does Oliver know?”

  Vectra beamed. “Qasim told him last night.”

  “I just heard about the engagement.” Minka sent a shaky smile toward Oliver.

  His smile broadened as he looked to the happy couple. “It’s the best news I’ve heard in a while.”

  The heavy silence that settled then was saved from becoming too ominous when Vectra scooted from the bed, taking her plate with her. “We’ll just get out of your hair.” She nodded toward Qasim, who followed suit.

  “Hey.” Oliver caught his sister by the arm when she got close. “I’m sorry for the way I behaved last night.”

  “Hush.” Vectra put a playful slap to the side of his handsome face. “You’ll only have to apologize next week when you do something else to piss me off.”

  Laughter emerged between the siblings as they hugged. Oliver shook hands with Qasim and then took the spot he’d vacated at the foot of the bed.

  “I really am sorry about last night,” he said to Minka.

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “The way I left, the things I said before I walked out. Yeah, Mink, that was all on me, and I am sorry.”

  She nodded, watching as Oliver left the bed to retrieve her food tray.

  “You eat while I talk,” he ordered.

  Minka made an effort to do so, but her appetite was gone. She was far more interested in hearing what he had to say.

  “I was obviously coming apart at the seams last night.” Oliver leaned over to rest his elbows on denim-clad knees. “What that dunce said to you, the fact that he touched you... I honestly believe I would’ve killed him if I could’ve gotten my hands on him.” He turned to look directly at Minka. “I would have killed him if I’d gotten my hands on him.”

  “That would only make things worse.” Minka’s voice sounded small.