by Emelia Blair
Howard is on the floor, whimpering, and she kicks him again for good measure.
I’ve never seen this much venom in her face before.
She hisses down at him, “I remembered you opened your mouth. And I remember everything you said to my mother.”
When she raises her foot again, I intervene, worried that she might actually kill the guy this time.
She doesn’t fight me, letting me drag her away, but the look in her eyes is hateful and I never want to be at the receiving end of it.
Lucas walks forward and toes the man, asking in an amiable voice, “Are you quite done? I’ll escort you down.”
Once the door closes behind them, Caleb says in a mild tone, “Good aim.”
“Thank you.” Halley’s voice is steady. “That wasn’t the first time I’ve done that.”
Kendall hurries over and inspects her, grabbing her hands. “You okay?”
Halley nods her head and then looks up at me. “I didn’t know why I never remembered him. But when he started speaking, it was like I was back in the dingy basement while he was smirking at my mom. When we left, she sat in the car and she wouldn’t stop shivering. He said some awful things to her.”
My hands tighten around her waist. “This still doesn’t get us anywhere.” I look around the room. “All we know is that a young boy and a woman called up Howard to find out about the forged papers.”
“He said four sets each,” Caleb says.
All eyes in the room turn to him.
“There are only three sets here and none of them are for Lilly Cooper.” He studies Halley intently. “Either your mother destroyed hers and one of yours or somebody took them.”
I nod. And these were left behind in case she didn’t make it.
“A very thorough woman.” There’s a note of admiration in Caleb’s voice.
“What about the money?” Halley asks.
Caleb leans back in his chair. “It was withdrawn in thousands on a weekly basis. A year before she disappeared.”
Kendall makes her way to him and she puts her hand on her husband’s arm. “We tried to track the car that hit Hashem as well. No luck. Whoever the driver was had been lying in wait since nine in the evening. It came and parked there and just waited. This person has a lot of patience. A few traffic cams caught it but it just disappeared at some point.”
“So, we have nothing,” Halley says in a hollow voice. “We have no way of tracking the calls, no way of tracking the car, no way of finding out where the rest of the forgeries are. Back to square one.”
I’m silent for a minute and then I suggest, “You could talk to Cameron.”
“Cameron?” She gives me a puzzled look before horrified understanding dawns on her face. “No! It’s not—Cameron isn’t involved in this. You don’t know him like I do. Plus, he was my age when all this happened.”
I try to keep my tone calm. “He might blame you for his father’s death.”
“He hated his father. Samuel Jordon was a mean drunk. He used to beat Cameron and his mother all the time.”
“He was still his father.”
Halley frowns at me. “They hated him to the point that even after his death, I was still invited over for dinner every Saturday with Mia. His mother was a wonderful woman.”
“Was?” I ask.
A sad expression flits over her face. “She passed away a few months ago. Heart attack.”
“That could have triggered him to—”
“It’s not him!” Halley cuts me off, now getting angry. “I’m telling you! You don’t know Cam!”
My own blood is starting to boil by her persistence. “He was the first person to identify the car! That doesn’t seem a little suspicious to you?”
“No! It doesn’t! We used to carpool!” Halley’s voice is rising in volume to meet mine. “Besides, what do you want me to do, go up to him and say, ‘Hey Cam, did you call the guy my mom got forged identities from to ask him about one in particular’? Do you even hear yourself?”
I growl at her, “He’s the one who might have had a reason to call or his father might have asked him to! It’s just a lead.”
Halley’s scowl is ferocious. “His father was cleared! Just forget it!” She storms out of the office.
I glower in her direction, ready to take off after her, only to stop at Caleb’s voice.
“I still need to talk to you.”
I pause and look over my shoulder.
His expression is grim. He points towards the chair.
I reluctantly sit down. “What?”
Kendall doesn’t meet my eyes and I have a bad feeling about this.
“Jace.” Caleb staples his fingers together. “Whatever Halley is involved in is quite dangerous.”
I frown. “What’s your point?”
Kendall looks a little conflicted but she doesn’t say anything, which I find odd.
“A man has died and whoever is involved is extremely patient. Hashem’s death was clearly linked to his interaction with Halley. There is someone who is watching Halley and probably has been for a long time.”
I straighten up at his words, my eyes narrowing. “You found something.”
Kendall spoke up then, “I found it odd that Halley insisted she had never been asked out or dated and I was just checking some information, old newspapers from her area and her hometown has a really high rate of disappearances, especially those of young males.”
My jaw drops open. “You can’t mean—”
“It’s a leap, I know!” Kendall immediately cuts me off, hastily. “But some of those people were people from clubs she frequented. I got my hands on some police files and it just looks suspicious. These started around the time she turned eighteen and kept on going till she moved here. Ever since she’s arrived here. In these few months, there’s been nothing.”
The idea is so ridiculous that I gape at her before turning to Caleb. “You can’t seriously be listening to this? You’re saying that there’s someone out there who’s killing off men who might have shown a smidge of interest in Halley? That’s—”
“Not entirely impossible,” Caleb says smoothly. “The matter of Halley’s father was never resolved. Nobody knows who he is. Lily changed her name and moved to this town and she sought out Raymond’s help in keeping her identity a secret. She used to live in New York before then. She and Raymond were class fellows in college, so she reached out to him when she was pregnant. The house that she lived in was initially in Raymond’s name. I believe he might know who the man Lily was running from is. That was probably who she was warning Halley against. The red hair in the picture from the traffic cam—not everyone has hair in that shade of red. Whoever this person is, he’s watching Halley and, in his way, protecting her. But for now, I think you need to distance yourself, romantically from Halley. It might indirectly put you in danger.”
This is the longest I’ve heard Caleb speak and it tells me that he’s concerned about me. I can appreciate it, but at the same time, I feel that the two of them are reaching. “I’m not leaving her alone when she needs help. You wouldn’t have done that with Kendall.” I glance at my sister and I know it’s only out of love that she’s trying to get me to leave Halley. “Look, I’ll talk to Halley and see what she wants to do. If she decides to leave and do what her mother told her to…” I pause. “I’ll go with her.”
“Jace!” Kendall sounds shocked.
I give her a small smile. “I really think she is it for me, Kendall.”
Caleb purses his lips and studies me. “Then we’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
14
Halley
Fighting with Jace leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Although I don’t think raising our voices counts as a fight.
My sullen mood is obvious to everyone and no one approaches me for the rest of the afternoon. It’s nearly time to leave but I still have two reports to write out, so I dawdle at my desk.
I know it will
take me less than an hour to finish it but I don’t want to go back yet. Seeing Howard’s face reminded me of that afternoon when my mother had picked me up from school early and we had driven the whole day only to meet with Howard, who had been an asshole to my mother. The words he had said hadn’t held much meaning to me but I remember him grabbing her and whispering something. Now I understand the weight of his demands and it infuriates me that he would have tried to take advantage of a woman who was so desperate at the time.
“Halley?”
I look over to see Uncle Raymond approaching me, wearing a strange look on his face. “Did you go back home this weekend?”
Wincing, I turn around in my chair to face him. “Maybe.”
“Halley.” His voice is stern like it used to be when I was a kid and trying to hide my misdeeds.
The people around us have dwindled and I sigh. “All right. But you have to promise not to get mad.”
He gives me a look.
I make myself smaller in my seat. “Just try not to get mad.”
He brings over a chair from the next cubicle and sits down on it. “Tell me honestly… Are you in trouble?”
“I don’t know.”
I begin recounting everything that has happened, making sure to keep out everything about me and Jace. This is my first relationship and I want to try and figure it out myself.
Uncle Raymond’s face grows whiter and whiter as I recount what I found in the safety deposit box as well as the forgeries. I don’t go into details about how I got my hands on the case file but I mention Jet Stalinski.
An odd expression crosses his face.
I pause. “Did you know him?”
Uncle Raymond looks uneasy. “Not personally.”
It’s obvious that he’s trying to hide something.
I narrow my eyes at him. “What are you not telling me?”
He sighs and rubs his hands over his face, saying miserably, “I didn’t want to have this conversation with you ever.”
I straighten up, a bad premonition in me. “What is it?”
He gives me a hesitant look. “I don’t know this for certain, all right? When your mother moved here, before she did, she contacted me and told me that she was expecting and that she needed to get away from your father. I never asked for his name because she had seemed terrified. A few months before she disappeared, I bumped into her at the grocery store and she suddenly saw someone behind me. Then she panicked as she left everything in her basket and ran. When I turned around, I saw a man behind me, staring in her direction. She never told me who he was to her but I got his name out of the motel he was staying at.”
My heart is racing in my chest as I ask, “You think Jet was my father?”
Raymond’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know. He started showing up more, and sometimes, I would see them together. She did say once that he looked different, that he’d done something to his hair. He was around for a while and then he vanished like he’d never been there, and Lily started acting like herself. When she disappeared, I was so worried that I didn’t pay much attention to other news. If I had known he had been in town then, I would have mentioned something to Egerton.”
“Do you think he’s the person Mom was warning me about?” I ask.
My uncle shrugs his shoulders, helplessly. “He’s the only one I can think about.”
“But she let him babysit me once?” I’m both confused and shaken.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Halley. They started getting close and then he up and left, and now, you’re telling me that he had been in town back then.” Uncle Raymond looks upset. “We need to go to the police with this. If Jet has been alive all this time and he’s been stalking you, we need to get you somewhere safe. We can—”
I immediately cover his hands with mine as I can see the fear on his face. “I’m as safe as I can get. Jace lives in my building. My door is locked. I’ll talk to Cameron as well about all this.”
I try to reassure him and it takes a good half hour for him to finally give in.
But as he stands up, I see the shimmer of tears in his eyes and he’s never looked older than he does right now. “I’ve already lost Lily, Angela, and Suzie. I can’t lose you too.” His old, familiar hand cups my cheek.
I grasp his wrist, smiling. “You won’t lose me.”
He isn’t smiling and I can see how he’s aged after experiencing so much loss over the years.
An email pops up on my screen, making me glance over, and I wince. “I have to finish this up, Uncle.” I squeeze his hand. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Let me drop you home,” he says, concerned. “What if—?”
“I still have a lot of work to do and I’ll get a ride with Jace.”
He doesn’t seem too happy about this and I know that now he’s going to be checking up on me every hour on the hour.
I watch him leave reluctantly and sigh, wondering whether I’ve just made things worse for myself. But I’ve never kept things from him. How could I, considering that he’s my only family left?
“You’re still here?”
Jace’s voice reaches my ears and I’m about to smile at him when I remember I’m angry with him. “I’ve got work to do,” I reply stiffly, not even bothering to look at him, reaching for the mouse. However, I’m unable to reach it as my chair is dragged away from my desk.
“No, you don’t,” he states firmly.
I clasp onto the arms as he pulls my chair across the empty floor towards his office, and I sputter out, “What are you doing?”
“My office is too quiet,” comes the unexpected response.
I glare up at him, holding onto the chair for dear life. “And that’s my problem because…?”
He drops a kiss on the top of my head, so unexpectedly charming, that my scowl falters. “Because I’m your problem now. Come, help me finish these reports and then we can go home.”
I’m already being wheeled into his office and I grumble loudly, just for effect.
It takes us an hour to finish the reports and Jace’s mood worsens as he sees the numbers on the screen. Finally, he growls, “What the hell is this?”
I glance over at the numbers and shrug. “That’s your department, not mine.”
He gives me a look before his fingers start moving furiously over the keyboard.
I toy with my phone, wondering if I should order in tonight. It’s been a long day for me and I just don’t want to cook.
“There.”
“Huh?” I look up at his comment. “You fixed it?”
He’s looking oddly satisfied. “Yeah.”
“So, can we go now?”
He watches me before asking nonchalantly, “What’s the time?”
“Around nine.” I look at my watch.
“Lock the door.”
Now that has me blinking and I narrow my eyes at him. “Why?”
When he raises a brow, I see the shift in him, the particular streak of dominance that I’ve only seen in him when we’re in bed. I’m no longer looking at my boss but at my lover, and excitement stirs in my stomach. However, my mouth opens and I murmur, oddly aware of how my nipples are tightening under his gaze, “But this is the office.”
He’s leaning back in his seat now and watching me. “So? Lock the door and come here.”
I see that same hunger in his eyes that makes me so weak in the knees. “I’m still mad at you,” I mutter. The way his lips curve has me turning wet.
“Then let me make it up to you.”
Even as I want to protest, my feet are moving towards the door. As my hands reach towards the lock and turn, I hear him come up behind me and I freeze.
Rough fingers move the ends of my hair from my nape and I feel his hot breath on my skin, making me shiver. His mouth is hot and wet and he drags his tongue down my nape. The action is so dirty in a way that my breathing grows labored.
I feel one hand on my waist and he drags it down, his mouth finding my ear and nibbling on it,
all the while as my hands remain fisted against the door, my mind deliciously blank.
“Ever had a quickie, Halley?” His voice is a low growl.
I close my eyes, a soft groan slipping out of my lips at the way his words caress my skin.
His hands trail down my blouse and palm my ass, squeezing it in punishment for keeping him waiting.
“No,” the denial is a gasp because he raises his and smacks it on my clothed bottom in a harsh manner. I feel the sting of pain, and at the same time, my pussy clenches.
Jace notices the hitch in my voice and I can hear the amusement in his, as he asks, “Do you like getting spanked?”
Logic dictates that I say no, as does embarrassment, and then I feel his words against my skin. “This is our time, Halley. This is just me and you. Be honest with yourself and me. You’ll like it.”
My heart quivers at his words, daring to believe them, and the ‘yes’ is torn from my lips just as I feel his hand descend on my backside again. I whimper at the flash of pleasure and pain.
Then he says, “I really do like these skirts that you’re wearing. When you started out in all those miniskirts and short blouses, I just wanted to put you on my knee and paint your ass red.”
“That would have been very inappropriate,” I manage.
He chuckles, a low throaty sound. “But you would have liked it, wouldn’t you?” His hands are pulling up my skirt and he orders, “Brace yourself against the door and stick out your ass.”
Cheeks flushing in embarrassment and a bit of shame, I do so, only to let out a small startled cry when he forcefully kicks my legs apart. I’m now standing in a very provocative pose, my back curved as my ass and chest are sticking out while I use my forearms to steady myself against the door.
Crack.
The sound fills the air as Jace lands a hard slap on my panty clad ass. Then he squeezes. And slaps again.
My girls are swelling, my nipples so painfully tight as I want his hands and mouth on them. The very idea of him sucking my nipple has more slick escaping from my pussy and I can feel my panties grow damp.
Unfortunately, Jace can see them.
“What have we got here?” he asks in a low voice, which gives away that he is up to no good.
