by A. C. Arthur
Because that’s what they did, Parker thought as we he and Adriana were left straggling behind while the others had attempted to file into his kitchen.
“We’re going to find out who did this, sweetheart,” he said to her.
She still looked worried, lines etching across her brow. He rubbed his fingers softly there before kissing her. “I promise you we’re going to find out who did this and clear our names.”
“What if I gave them the ammunition? My past coming back to haunt me. If I’d told about Carlo from the very start, this may not have ever happened. I can’t even figure out how anyone else knew,” she told him.
He hadn’t wanted to tell her this, had planned to simply deal with the guy in his own way once he’d found out his name and put the pieces together. But she needed to know, right at this moment she needed to know everything.
“I found out who it was, Adriana. I did some looking into your past and I connected the dots pretty easily. I knew that Carlo diMarco was the designer that had attacked you.”
She took a step back from him, shaking fingers going to her lips, then her arms fell to her sides as he watched her pulling herself together, wrapping her mind around this knowledge. “You looked into my past? What does that mean, Parker? How, or why does someone do that?”
“You’d have to know my family history, my cousin Trent’s history, per se,” he told her and then sighed because she was looking at him as if he were speaking another language. “Trent’s a Navy SEAL, or at least he was. So he’s used to covert ops and all that secretive spy stuff you see on television. As a result he’s always prepared to defend his family and those he loves by being on the defensive, knowing any and everything an enemy might know beforehand. What I’m saying is that he’s always doing background checks on people. He’s done it in so many instances that when he finally retired from the SEALs he decided to open his own investigation firm.”
“With Sam,” she added.
“Yes, with Sam. When you told me about what happened, baby, I needed to know. I needed to know who would be stupid enough to touch you, to hurt you and then leave you the way he did. I needed to find that bastard.”
“And then what, Parker?” she asked lifting a brow as she frowned. “What were you going to do when you found out who he was?”
He clenched his teeth, wondering how to tell her this part. Would she bristle at his over protectiveness? He knew how she felt about her brothers being overbearing with her and that’s not how he wanted to make her feel, but the bottom line was that he cared about her a great deal. And that caring was what led to him looking into her past and finding the asshole that he absolutely planned to destroy the moment he got a chance. Unfortunately, this had happened first.
“He needs to pay for what he did to you,” he told her. “I intended to see that it happened, once and for all.”
The minute she began shaking her head Parker knew he was in trouble. She wasn’t going to understand. She was going to blame him on top of blaming herself. Now was not the time for them to have this between them. They needed to stand together, to remain together. He went to her and reached out, only to have her turn away.
“It happened to me, Parker. It was my story, my responsibility to handle,” she said.
“But you didn’t,” was his quick—and wrong as hell—retort.
Her head snapped up and she looked like she was going to walk away, but instead she came at him. “I didn’t do what you and everyone else thought I should do at the time. I know that,” she said vehemently. “But I never forgot, I never stopped thinking that he should pay for what he did. I knew I’d probably waited too long to press criminal charges, especially since it happened in Italy, but I figured karma would eventually catch up with him. I needed to fix me, Parker! Me!” she shouted at him. “That was my priority and that’s what I’ve been trying to do all these years instead of chasing after him for vengeance. So you had no right, no right at all.”
“I had every right,” Parker shot back. “I love you, Adriana. I think I’ve been slowly falling in love with you all year long and when I heard what he’d done I wanted nothing but to protect you, to keep you from the kind of hurt that would cause you to become physically ill again. I want what’s best for you, now and forever,” he told her.
Her mouth had opened and then shut quickly as she fought for the words. Hell, Parker was fighting for them himself. What he’d just said had been blurted out. It had come as a result of all that was whirling between him at the moment. He didn’t know if he would have ever said those particular things to her in any way, but he had now. His feelings were out and she was trying to deal with them.
His mother, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly how to deal. She’d stepped between them as if she’d been standing by all along. Parker hadn’t seen or heard her enter the living room because he’d been so absorbed in his conversation with Adriana.
“Donovans love hard,” Carolyn said, touching a hand to Adriana’s head and rubbing down the length of her hair. “They can be stupid and misguided and overprotective to a fault, but it’s because of how deep they love. I’m not excusing him because I’m his mother. I’m just telling you how it is.”
Adriana shook her head again and Carolyn hugged her. “You’ve been through so much today, Adriana. Let this rest for now. Come in and have some dinner. Be with your family and let this rest. It’s all going to work out and the happiness you deserve will be yours, I promise you that. But for now, let’s just leave it alone.”
To Parker’s surprise and relief, Adriana nodded, agreeing with his mother. She still turned away from him, walking beside Carolyn and moving into the kitchen, leaving Parker standing there to sigh deeply, rubbing his hand down his face. What the hell was going on in his life? How had he in one minute been on top of the world with the success of his show, his company and in the next, everything had been turned upside down? What the hell had he done to deserve all this drama in his life?
#
People living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Glass breaks. Stones hurt. And what goes around, comes back around.
When the last word was typed, the message re-read and double checked against the text message that had been sent with instructions, the send button was hit and the email went to everyone it was supposed to. Everyone in the Donovan family.
Chapter 12
Parker woke up the next morning alone in his bed.
He’d rolled over too many times to count, throughout the night. His body covering every inch of his king sized bed as he searched for comfort, searched for Adriana. But she wasn’t there. After dinner and a bit of much needed lively discussion of things like the Desdune’s restaurants and roots in Cajun and French cooking to Gavin’s favor towards Mediterranean cuisine, wrapping around to Janean and Carolyn’s boisterous defense of good home-cooked meals and comfort foods, they’d all spread out into Parker’s living room and onto the terrace to enjoy the night view. The Bennett brothers, Rico in particular had kept a close eye on Adriana, everywhere she went. Which for the most part wasn’t near Parker.
“She’ll come around,” his mother had told him when finally his father said it was time for them to leave. “Nothing worth having comes easily, Parker.”
He’d agreed with his mother regarding the latter, hoping and praying for the former. His father had pulled him in for a hug which Parker was only partially feeling. Because of this mess with him and Adriana, he hadn’t had the opportunity to ask his father why this trip had been so urgent. Was there something wrong with Uncle Al or Donovan Oil down there? He had lots of questions, but knew that things had to be prioritized right now. They had to deal with the most pressing matter at hand and unfortunately, that had been the effect this scandal would have on DNT.
As the others had begun to file out, Parker had made his way over to where Adriana had been sitting in the corner of the living room. She’d been staring toward the terrace, but hadn’t ventured out there.
�
��Would you like me to run you a hot bath? I know you enjoyed those bubbles last night,” he’d said kneeling down in front of her.
“Are you ready to go, Adriana?” Rico had asked from behind Parker.
Parker had immediately looked back at the guy, then to Adriana.
She stared at him then, her gaze clear, chin high. “I’m going home, Parker. To my place.”
“I’d rather you stay here, where I’ll know your safe,” he said impulsively. His heart beat rapidly and Parker had felt like he was floundering. He didn’t know what exactly to say or if his words would produce the results he wanted. He needed her to stay with him tonight, to hold her in his arms while he convinced both of them that this would pass. The way she was looking at him said she needed, and possibly wanted something different.
“She’ll be safe at her place with her family,” Rico interjected once again.
Parker stood then, turning to face the guy, more than ready to take a swing which was what he felt like doing. All evening those three had been giving him looks, hovering around Adrianna as if they thought Parker was going to do something to hurt her. That hadn’t been him. He hadn’t been the one that hurt her. He was the one who loved her.
“I’d like to hear how she feels, what she wants. If you don’t mind,” he said to Rico Bennett, a six foot tall guy with a medium build and a fierce temper that Parker could see was itching to break free.
As if they too sensed something was about to go down, Savian, Sam and Dion came over to stand near them. But it was Adriana who had stood and touched Parker’s shoulder.
“I want to go back to my place. My brothers are going to stay with me tonight so there’s no need for you to worry about anything happening to me,” she told him.
Parker turned to her then, reaching down to take her hands in his. “Listen to me, Adriana, I’m sorry if what I did upset you. I did it because I care about you and I want you to be safe. I should have told you before, but I didn’t. I don’t want for this to come between us, between all that we’ve been building together.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do this right now, Parker. It’s just too much. I’m going to go home and wait for my parents to arrive tomorrow. There’s a lot I need to tell them, a lot I want to tell them before these rumors get out of hand.”
He knew what she was saying. She was going to tell her parents about what Carlo had done to her. Parker knew that was a big step for her. He also knew that it was going to go a long way towards her ultimate healing and he wanted to be there for that, for her.
“I understand. Then I’ll pack an overnight bag and go with you. Your brothers and Sam can stay here tonight. And after we talk to your parents we’ll all meet back here and go over any new findings Sam comes up with,” he said, hopeful that she would agree.
But she did not.
“No. You need to stay here and deal with things on your end. I’ll go and I’ll be back tomorrow to talk with Sam,” she said and then moved past him. “I just have to get my things and I’ll be ready.”
That was said to her brothers, the ones who had once again formed a line of defense close to their sister. When she was out of earshot Parker had sighed again, then he’d turned to the Bennetts.
“I’m not the bad guy here,” he’d said to them.
“I can’t tell,” Rico snapped back.
“I’m good for her,” Parker had countered. “We’re good together. And I’m not going to let you come storming down here to take her away from me.”
“You seem like you’re doing a good enough job of pushing her away on your own, Donovan,” Rico told him.
Parker stepped toward the guy and Rico stepped up toward him. Alex clapped a hand on Rico’s shoulder, Dion stopping Parker.
“How about this,” Sam said joining in as another voice of reason. “I’ll stay here with Parker tonight. That way I can keep my stuff all set up here and keep an eye on things in case there are more broken window incidents.”
Savian and Sean had filled Sam in on the attacks on their parents’ houses last night and Sam had found the timing of everything more than a little interesting.
“You guys go ahead and take your sister back to her place. She should get some rest and your parents are going to want to see her the moment they arrive in the morning,” Sam continued. “You two go on home but be sure to let me know if you think of anything that might connect the break-ins to this text message scandal. Anyone in your business dealings that may stand to gain from your downfall. Sound good?”
Dion was the first to nod, keeping his grip on Parker’s arm. “Sounds great.”
“I agree,” Savian added. “I’ll go home and look through our most recent deals and everyone involved. Let me know if your parents need a place to stay and I’ll make some arrangements for them,” he told the Bennetts.
Renny had been the one to nod. “Will do. Knowing my mother it’ll be us that need the place to stay as she’ll want to remain close to Adriana.”
Savian agreed. “My mother would want to be near Regan as well, so I completely understand.”
Parker hadn’t understood. He hadn’t realized how much he loved Adriana until everything had exploded around them and now, he had to accept how much it was going to hurt to watch her walk out of his house. So he didn’t watch. He pulled his arm free of Dion’s grasp and went out onto the terrace. He hadn’t returned until Sam had come out and given him the all clear. Then he’d come back into the house, he’d thanked Sam, locked up and then went straight to his room. Where he’d remained until the bright sun beams coming through the windows attempting to spread happiness and cheer into the otherwise gloomy mood of his bedroom.
He rolled over again, this time onto his back, extending his arm to reach over to the nightstand for his cell phone. Today, he and Adriana were both getting new phones and new numbers, but Sam wanted to keep their old ones on and working just in case more text messages surfaced. He’d gone through his phone at least a million times yesterday and hadn’t found any trace of a picture or a sexual related message to or from Adriana. She’d done the same and the action had left them all perplexed as to how this could have happened. Sam’s explanation made sense but it had taken a lot of work, some planning. Who the hell would have the time or the energy to do something like this? And why?
Parker closed his eyes when he saw no messages or missed calls from Adriana. He remembered back to a time when this had happened before. Those had been the longest two days of his life. Now, he wasn’t sure how long of a wait he was in store for. What he was damned certain of, however, was that he didn’t plan to sit back and let her take her time speaking to him this go round. Maybe he’d been wrong for digging into her background. Okay, he could admit that. But dammit, he loved her. Everything he’d done from the moment she’d told him about what happened had been because he loved her so much.
After a shower he’d gotten dressed and went out to get something to drink. He wasn’t in the mood to eat but wondered if Adriana were up and if she were eating breakfast at this time. She needed to eat to keep up her strength and to keep the stomach pains away. Starving herself or eating very lightly was her way of convincing herself that she wasn’t going to binge, but that wasn’t healthy and he’d been working with her to get that under control. Would her mighty and tough brothers even know that about her? Would they fix her something to eat and make sure she ate it?
He must have been frowning with those thoughts as he entered the kitchen because when Sam turned away from the coffee maker he’d held up both hands in surrender.
“Calm down, man. I’m just fixing coffee. If you’d rather I not be in your kitchen—”
“Cut it out,” Parker interrupted. “It’s not you I’m pissed with.”
Sam had lowered his hands and shrugged. “Good because I’m not your problem in this. From where I’m standing I’d say you are public enemy number one right now.”
Grabbing a glass down from the cabinet Parker moved to the refrigerator an
d without a thought reached for the jug of that cranberry mixture his mother had sent over for Adriana. He poured a glass and took a long swallow before looking back to Sam.
“I did what I thought was right,” he told him by way of explanation.
Sam nodded. “We always do,” he said. “Problem is, as far as women go, that’s probably always the wrong thing.”
Leaning back against the counter, glass still in hand, Parker agreed. “Yeah, I’m figuring that out now. Too little, too late.”
“Nah, I don’t think it’s too late. She cares about you. If she didn’t, you looking back into her life and not telling her wouldn’t have hurt her so badly. I’ve had a chance to get to know the Bennetts and I’ve spent some time with Adriana before she came down here. She’s been struggling for a while now, but from what Gabriella had been telling Bree, she was doing great down here. She was happy with her work and with you.”
“She told her sister about me?”
“She sure did,” Sam replied, looking through one cabinet and then another.
“Third one from the left, top shelf,” Parker advised.
“Thanks,” Sam said grabbing a mug and moving back to pour himself a cup of coffee. “She told Gabriella and when Gabriella came over to help Bree with the triplets one day last week, she told Bree. When I called Bree about what was going on, she told me.”
“I guess I should say good news travels just as fast as bad, huh?” Parker thought wryly. The fact that Adriana had even been talking about him, about them, made him feel slightly better.
“The Bennetts can be really strong minded about their business and their children following in their footsteps. I know that Renny had a rough time going against their mold and now Gabriella is too. So it’s understandable that Adriana wouldn’t have been up front with them about Carlo’s attack.”
Parker emptied his glass then set it on the counter. “You looked into it too, I see.”
