by Jaime Lewis
As they came to the small clearing that only yielded a small wooden bench that he made himself, Stitch inhaled deep, taking in the crisp, clean air.
He heard the faint gasp that came from Mia as he pulled her in front of him.
“Oh my gosh, Stitch…it is beautiful up here.”
He cuddled close, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on top of her head. The sun was setting, and the sky was painted an array of colors. The purples and pink against the orange backdrop was breathtaking. The small peak where they stood offered a landscape that could be a painting—mountain peaks capped with snow could be seen all around.
“Welcome to my private haven. It’s where I come to expel the demons trapped inside my body. I’ve seen a lot of bad shit, but this right here is what grounds me.”
Mia turned in his arms, and he gazed down into her beautiful brown eyes. He saw the love and emotion and knew she understood what this place meant to him. She placed her hands against his chest.
“So, nobody knows about this?”
“Yes and no. The guys on the team know about it, but none of them have ever been here. They know its significance to me and respect it.”
“It’s so high up. You can see miles and miles.”
There is only one spot on my property that’s higher, and the only spot you can get a glimpse of this spot from.”
“Where is that?”
He turned and pointed up and toward the left. “I thought about making that location my special spot, but it didn’t offer the privacy and seclusion like this one does.”
She turned in his arms and hugged him close.
“Thank you for sharing something so private and special with me. I promise always to respect it.”
He nudged her chin up towards him and gazed into her eyes.
“I want to share everything with you, Mia. What is mine is yours, including this spot.”
She snuggled into his chest. “I love you, Stitch.”
“I love you too, babe.”
He took another deep breath and exhaled. Yes, this was heaven, with his angel by his side.
Chapter Twenty
Mia felt disgusted and shocked as she, Stitch, Derek, and Tink listened to Ace and Alex explain what they found out on their little jaunt to New York.
She and Stitch had arrived in the morning and invited the others to lunch. They opted for the small family diner just down the road from Stitch’s parent's house.
“They think Dr. Walters is involved in puppy smuggling and my abduction?”
“They aren’t a hundred percent, but it isn’t looking good for him. When the detective called me back last night, he said that he was waiting on some information. But, Mia, how else would Dr. Walters have your hoodie?”
Mia shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I just can’t believe this.”
Ace gave Alex a quick glance as if trying to communicate with her silently, but Mia hadn’t missed the look.
“What else did you find out? How was my apartment?”
She got complete silence for a couple of seconds before she looked at Stitch, who shrugged his shoulders. He hadn’t spoken with Ace yet either.
“Ace, was something wrong with my apartment?” God, she hoped not. That was all she needed, to owe her landlord for damages. It was bad enough she was going to need to break her lease.
Ace blew out a breath. “Your apartment was fine.” He rubbed the back of his neck.” However, we did run into an old acquaintance.”
She scrunched her eyebrows together. Nobody but Danny had a key to her apartment, and he was a friend, not an old acquaintance.
“Jesus, Ace, just tell her.” Alex blurted out.
“Terek.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked at Stitch, who looked like he was thinking, but then his mouth opened slightly all too suddenly, and she knew he figured it out. He squinted his eyes as he looked right at her.
“The Green Beret? Your ex that cheated on you.” Before she could answer, he looked over at her brother. “I hope you gave that asshole a piece of your mind.”
Ace smirked, “Well, Alex gave him a good beatdown. Literally.” He used his thumb to caress the scab that had formed on Alex’s lip.
“You got into a fight with him?! He fucking hit you?” Stitch roared.
Alex shrugged her shoulders. “He didn’t know who I was, and I didn’t know who he was. Once we realized who was who, everything settled down.”
“Why in the hell was Terek at my apartment? How did he even get in?”
Everyone just stared at her as if she asked the dumbest question.
“What? What did I say?”
“Terek was a Green Beret, remember? The locks on your front door are shit.”
“Oh…”
Stitch chuckled and patted her shoulder.
“Why was he there?”
Ace took a deep breath, and Alex looked nervous, which only made Mia more anxious.
“Mia, there is something you need to know about Terek, and what happened the night you were abducted.
As Ace and Alex told her everything, she had so many mixed feelings. She was grateful, hurt, angry, and sad. She had tears in her eyes.
“Terek saved me and warned me. I don’t understand why he was so secretive.” They had left out the part of him being an undercover FBI agent.
Ace looked torn, but then Alex spoke up, “Ace, you need to tell her.”
Mia looked at her brother. “Tell me what?”
“Terek works for the FBI. He’s in New York working on an undercover assignment.”
“What?” She put her hand over her stomach. Had their whole relationship been a sham?
“There’s more.”
Jesus, she wasn’t sure if she could take more. She was ready to cry as it was.
“Terek never cheated on you.” Mia started to speak, but Ace told her to let Alex finish explaining. “Because of his assignment and not blow his cover or endanger you, he had to—”
“Break up with you,” Ace barked out. “Not that I agree with how he did it, but I understand.”
“He staged the whole thing with the other woman you thought he was sleeping with. She works with him. He never slept with her. He just made it look like it.”
Mia’s head was spinning with the news. She put her hand on her head. She felt Stitch’s hand on her back.
“He still cares for you, Mia.”
Mia looked over at Stitch and could tell that hearing that little tidbit wasn’t making Stitch any happier, judging from the scowl on his face as he stared at Alex. “But he knows you are happy with your life now.”
Alex looked over at Stitch and smiled. Mia also smiled and reached out, taking Stitch’s hand as she gazed into his eyes.
“I am happy. In fact, it’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time.” She felt a little more relaxed when Stitch’s facial expression softened, and he squeezed her hand before bringing it up to his lips. Then he pulled her chair closer and kissed her.
“I love you.”
Ace groaned, “Fuck, Stitch. Really? Save that shit until after I leave.”
Stitch shrugged his shoulders and smirked at Ace. “Better get used to it, buddy.”
Ace huffed out another groan, and everyone laughed. But then things got serious again when Ace squinted his eyes at Mia.
“Why didn’t you tell me that your boss had the hots for you?”
“What?”
“According to Terek, your boss couldn’t keep his hands off you at the gala.” Ace gave Alex another look. “Mia, why didn’t you say anything about Dr. Walters forcing himself on you?”
“What? Is that true, Mia?” Stitch asked.
Oh shit! With everything going on, she had pushed that incident aside for the time being. She touched her lips, remembering the way he took her mouth.
She must have zoned out, because Stitch gave her a little shake. She glanced over at Alex, who looked guilty.
“Alex? Why? You prom
ised you wouldn’t say anything. I handled it.”
“I’m sorry, Mia. I know you trusted me with that information, but hearing Terek’s concerns, I had to say something.”
Mia glanced at Stitch, who looked confused and angry. He turned away from her, and that broke her heart.
“Stitch, look at me.” She grabbed his face with both her hands turning his head to face her. The look of anger his eyes held destroyed her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He whispered.
Tears formed in her eyes. The last thing she wanted was for Stitch to be upset with her.
“Because I knew you guys would be upset if you found out. Believe me; I handled it.”
“Obviously not, considering that fucker may have been a player in your abduction!” Stitch’s loud, boisterous tone had her pulling back.
“Stitch…” Ace said in warning, and Stitch shook his head.
Finally, after a long silence, Stitch turned back to her and gently pulled her onto his lap.
“He can’t have you.”
She looped her arms around his neck and smiled. “I don’t want him; I only want you.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. It was a quick kiss, but she made her point.
“Mia, Detective McDonnell is trying to locate Willow, your friend from the clinic. Dr. Walters said she resigned over the holiday weekend. Do you know how to reach her?”
Mia scrunched her eyebrows together. “Willow quit?” She asked, and Ace nodded. “Dr. Walters showed Detective McDonnell the email he received from her. Your friend Danny said she had been acting strange the last couple of weeks.”
“I wonder if that’s why she wanted to talk to me. She and I were supposed to meet that night. All I have is her phone number.”
“Yeah, she’s not answering, and she hasn’t been home.”
“The envelope!” Mia blurted out and Alex looked at Ace.
“Ace, remember the detective asked you about an envelope? Danny mentioned it to him.” Alex looked at Mia. “Did Willow give you an envelope?”
“Yes. It’s in my backpack in the car. I completely forgot about it. Willow told me not to open it until she and I spoke.” Mia looked at Stitch. “Do you mind running out to the car? It’s a manila envelope in the middle zippered section.”
While Stitch went to retrieve the envelope, Mia sat down trying to take in everything. It was overwhelming, not to mention confusing. It was like there were so many moving parts that you couldn’t keep up.
Stitch returned and handed her the envelope, and everyone was silent while she slipped her finger under the seal and pulled out the papers inside. As she fingered through the ten or so pages, she was trying to figure out why Willow wanted to give her copies of vaccination and registration records, until her eyes landed on a page with the words “Blue French Bulldogs” written in blue marker across the top. She flipped to the next page, and she gasped when she read “Dachshunds.” These were papers for the litters of puppies found in the city and brought to the clinic. All of them had prior dates of exams and vaccinations, along with certified AKC registrations. It was impossible. Her chest tightened, and she covered her mouth as tears built in her eyes. It was true. These papers with her testimony proved that Dr. Walters was operating a puppy trafficking ring. What made her feel even sicker was that she had helped him. She was aiding him and didn’t know it. He betrayed her trust and loyalty.
She set the papers down on the table and slid them toward Ace. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and quickly wiped it away.
“There’s your proof that Dr. Walters is trafficking puppies.”
Ace picked up the papers. “What are these?”
She sniffled, trying to hold in her emotions. “Those are forged documents saying each of those puppies are certified AKC registered.”
“How do you know they’re forged?”
“Because I was there when those puppies were brought to the clinic. They had been abandoned on the street. Or at least that was what I had been told. Their vaccinations were done by me, not the person signing veterinarian on those documents.”
She glared at Stitch. “He was smuggling in puppies probably from those puppy mill places you read about, and then selling them. He used me. He manipulated me and used me to aid his criminal activity.” A thought then hit her, and she turned sharply to look at Alex and the guys. “Do you think Dr. Walters knew that Willow had caught on to his operation, and he did something to her?”
Ace looked at Stitch and then back to her. “It’s possible, Mia.”
Tink gathered all of the papers and tucked them back into the envelope. “I’ll go give Detective McDonnell a call.” He looked over at Mia. “He will probably want to talk to you, honey.”
“I’ll do whatever they need me to do. I’ll even go back to New York if I have to.”
A round of “no’s” echoed around the table, then Stitch draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “You’re not leaving my side.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning Elijah was in a panic. He moved around his penthouse like a man on a mission. How could his men have been so stupid and careless? He nor Claus knew which one had abducted and murdered the girl found in the river because nobody was fessing up, but when he did find the person responsible, the next body the police pulled out of the river would be theirs. That was if Demitri didn’t get his hands on the perpetrator first. Whoever it was had used one of Demitri’s cars.
“Elijah, calm down. We got this. The police don’t have any hard evidence on you. If they did, they would’ve taken you in for questioning last night, not wait until the morning and schedule a meeting with you.” Lawrence, Elijah’s attorney, said as he took a sip of coffee and laid down the newspaper.
Elijah couldn’t understand how calm Lawrence could be. Detective McDonnell was due to arrive any minute to question him about the girl found last night in the river. And, since items belonging to the victim had been found near his warehouse, it was standard procedure that the police would want to question him.
He stopped and leaned against the kitchen counter. Christ, he was becoming paranoid. With the cops honing in on him, maybe, he just needed to cut his losses and ditch the operation. He’d made more than enough money to live off of.
A knock sounded at the door. He took a deep breath, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy. At least Lawrence was here and could handle the Detective in case the questioning got out of hand.
◆◆◆
Mia couldn’t stop laughing as Stitch’s dad told some funny stories from his days in the SEALs. Non-classified stories, of course. Mainly how the guys liked to pull pranks on one another. She could see where Stitch got his looks from. He was the spitting image of his dad. They were both very handsome men.
Things were off to a good start with his parents. She had been extremely nervous on the ride over to their house. It took Stitch pulling over on the side of the road and talking to her to calm her nerves. Well, that and kissing her senseless seemed to settle her down. She still wasn’t sure why the nerves hit her because she normally dealt with meeting new people all the time in her career. But Stitch’s mom and dad weren’t just any new people. Stitch’s parents were people that she needed to impress, considering she was planning on being with Stitch for the long haul.
“So Mia, Stitch tells us that you are a vet. Where about in the city is that located?” Robin asked as they sat around the living room talking. Mia sat on the sofa across from her. Stitch and his dad were pouring drinks for everyone.
“Not too far from Times Square.” She noticed that Stitch had stopped what he was doing and was watching her. Mia wanted his parents to know her intentions. “But, I don’t think I’ll be heading back there.”
Stitch’s mom looked surprised. “Really? Why?”
Stitch sat down next to her and put his arm around her. “Because Mia has decided to look for a job here in town.”
Robin’s eyes twinkled. “That is wonderful n
ews.”
Stitch locked eyes with Mia. “Yes, it is the best news.” He looked back toward his parents. “She and I are going to live in the rental I have until we find some property we both like.”
“Well, then, Mia, you should consider stopping at the shelter and clinic I volunteer at.”
“Mom is a big animal lover, especially dogs. She spends one or two days a week at the local animal shelter volunteering. Right, mom?”
Robin’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, I could spend every day there. However, your father has a conniption every time I tell him I’m going there.” She glanced over at Stitch’s dad and winked, “he says it is a bad influence on me. It’s hard when I have to leave the dogs.”
It was magical seeing the love between the two, and Mia could see where Stitch got his romantic and gentle side from. There was still that spark of young love between them. Something she hoped to have after being married for as many years as they were.
“What type of shelter is it?” Mia found herself asking more about the shelter that Robin volunteered at.
“Oh, it is a wonderful place. A no-kill shelter, and owned and operated by a local vet. His name is Dr. Katz. When he expanded his practice a couple of years ago, he opened the shelter. He has a small staff to run the shelter. The manager there, I believe her name is Grace, she pretty much does everything around the place. She is a lovely young woman, a little on the shy side. She graduated college a year or two ago. She has really helped Dr. Katz grow the practice and shelter in just a short period. She has a knack for getting the dogs and cats adopted. I don’t think I’ve seen a person come in there and not leave with an animal.”
“That is quite impressive. Is she a vet as well?”
“No, but she is one very smart woman and keeps things running smoothly. Dr. Katz has full confidence in her. You know Dr. Katz is looking to sell the clinic.”
