by R. R. Banks
“I’m keeping the baby, Peter.”
“And if Knox does what I think he’ll do, and walks out?”
“I’ll make it work somehow,” I snap. “I’m a big girl now, Peter. I can stand on my own two feet, you know.”
He sighs and shakes his head, looking absolutely miserable. Which only makes me feel worse. More than that, it makes me feel alone. Of all the people in my world, Dani aside, I thought Peter would be the one person I could count on to have my back. But then, he never told me that Knox is secretly some super-rich guy, so I guess I was wrong to think that.
“You do know Knox never wanted kids, right?” Peter pushes. “Look, he’s a good guy. I love the guy. But he’s not exactly the most reliable sometimes. Especially when it comes to commitment. He lives for fun. Having a kid would hamper that.”
“I think you’re wrong about him.”
“I’d like to believe I am. I’d like to think he’ll prove me wrong and step up,” he responds. “I just don’t think I am. He and I have a lot of history together, and I know what he’s really like beneath all the charm and swagger.”
“I guess you’ve got him all figured out.”
He shrugs. “You don’t know somebody for as many years as I’ve known Knox and not come to learn their true nature.”
I sniff loudly and wipe away my tears again. I somehow manage to gather myself and stop the tears from falling. Getting to my feet, I let the anger surging within me take control, though I manage to temper it. I stare down at my brother with all of the haughty detachment I can muster. If he’s not going to support me – if he’s going to make his love contingent upon me leaving Knox or giving up my child, he’s not going to be a part of my life anymore.
“You have an appointment,” I state. “I should go.”
I turn and walk toward the door of his office, my heart breaking a little more with each and every step. My brother is supposed to be the one person in this world I can count on. The one person I know will always have my back unconditionally. As I reach for the door handle, his voice stops me for a moment.
“This is the stupidest, most irresponsible thing you’ve ever done, Felicity. You have no idea what you’ve just gotten yourself into,” Peter’s voice is suddenly cold. “You don’t really know Knox like I do, and I hate that you’re about to find out.”
I open my mouth to deliver a sharp rebuke but close it again. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction, and I’m not going to add to the sudden acrimony between us. Instead, I open the door and walk through it, feeling more alone than I’ve ever felt in my life.
And the worst is still to come. I still have to find a way to tell Knox.
Knox
“You went to the competition?” I look between Haley and the woman seated next to her.
“You told me to think outside the box,” Haley chirps.
I chuckle. “But hiring the enemy?”
The woman, Cassie Mortenson, is a PI with a competing firm. She arches an eyebrow as she looks at me. With dark hair, dark eyes, and average build, Cassie is good-looking, but she’s somehow non-descript at the same time. She’s just tough-looking enough to be threatening, but just average-looking enough to slip into a crowd unnoticed. Unlike me. It’s probably why she’s good at her job – I assume she is; otherwise Haley wouldn’t have involved her with this. She looks over at Haley and laughs.
“You didn’t tell me he was such a drama queen,” she quips.
“Yeah, I probably should have warned you,” Haley replies.
“Warning her probably would have been the decent thing to do,” I add.
We all share a smile and a laugh. I don’t know why Haley went to Cassie. If she was going to go the PI route, she should have used Black Moon.
“I’ve known Cassie for years,” Haley answers my question before I have a chance to ask it. “I trust her and trust her discretion.”
“I’m also a lot more morally flexible than you, Boy Scout,” Cassie remarks.
I look at her and smirk. “I’ve rewritten the book on morally flexible.”
“Not what I heard,” Cassie challenges me. “I heard you’re willing to walk up to the line but won’t step over it. I don’t hesitate.”
I look over at Haley who gives me a shaky smile and a shrug. “It’s true. You are kind of a Boy Scout.”
“Face it, Knox. You’re not as edgy as you make yourself out to be,” Cassie grins. “That’s one reason the company I work for is kicking Black Moon’s ass and has double the clientele.”
I roll my eyes and look at Haley. “Drinks. Now.”
She smiles and pats me on the top of my head as she slides out of the booth, leaving me with Cassie. I look over at my business rival and flash her a grin, which she returns. We’re sitting in a pub that sits next door to the apartment building I’ve got Felicity stashed at.
I’m hoping to have some good news for her once this meeting is over. If nothing else, I’ll have her come down and have a drink with me. It might be a good time and a good way to introduce her to Haley. I just want to get a lay of the land first.
“Willing to step over the line, huh?” I ask.
“I get results,” she answers. “And in this business, results are all that matter.”
“That’s very true.”
She looks at me evenly for a moment. “You own a football team and have like a thousand other business interests –”
“You looked into me?” I interrupt her.
She shrugs casually. “Due diligence. I looked into all the players in this little drama,” she replies. “What I’m most curious about, though, is – why become a PI?”
I give her a grin. “Sounded like fun.”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Christ. PI tourism. I think I’ve heard it all now,” she mocks me. “Of course, that could be why Haley chose to call in a professional.”
“Now that’s just hurtful,” I tease.
“But true.”
I shrug. “I’m doing okay for a PI tourist.”
“From what I’ve gathered about you, I give you another year, maybe two, before you lose interest and move on to something else that sounds – fun.”
I open my mouth to rebut her point, but really can’t, so I close it again. I don’t really need to justify why I’m doing what I’m doing to her. Haley returns to the table and sets down cold pints of beer in front of us all. We all toast each other and take a drink.
I set my glass down and look at Haley. “This woman is rude, arrogant, sanctimonious, and has a shitty attitude,” I say. “I like her.”
“Reminds you of yourself, I see,” Haley cracks.
I turn back to Cassie to find her chuckling at me, while Haley simply shakes her head and mutters under her breath.
“So, I’m assuming we’re having this meeting because super spy here dug up some information,” I say.
“You assume correctly,” Cassie responds. “But before we start, what makes you so sure he’s still a threat? From my research, your girl hasn’t had a run in with him for a few weeks now. Seems to be de-escalating.”
“How many stalker cases have you worked?” I question.
“Honestly? None,” she admits.
“I’ve worked a few, and my experience says these guys never just go away,” I tell her. “In the cases I’ve worked, there’s been a significant cooling-off period. All it did was lull us all into a false sense of security. But they always came back, and it was rarely pretty.”
“Fair enough,” she responds.
She pulls a file out of the bag sitting on the seat beside her and slides it across the table to me. I flip it open and scan the first page and look up at her, not understanding.
“Did you hand me the right file?” I ask.
“I did,” she states.
“But that means –”
“His name is not Elliott Graham. His real name is Blake Waters,” she cuts me off. “It didn’t pop for the police because one, it’s good enough t
o pass a cursory check, and two, because they had no reason to dig deeper since they weren’t charging him with anything.”
“How did you get this? Like you said, he was never charged or booked by the police, so you don’t have his fingerprints –”
“Because I’m very good at what I do, Knox,” she states flatly.
I look over at Haley, who gives me a shrug and a nod, but says nothing. She’s steering clear of it now that she’s put the two of us together.
“The fact that he’s gone radio-silent is disturbing enough,” I muse. “That he’s also using a fake identity is even more troubling to me.”
“Yeah, that sent off a few red flags for me, too,” Cassie remarks.
I look through the file she put together on Blake Waters. The man is unimpressive. Spotty work history, most of his jobs being of the menial variety. No living family and no criminal record – which I see as a plus. But there is nothing about the man that stands out as unique in any way, shape, or form. He could disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow and nobody would notice.
“I’m still working on getting into his computer,” Cassie adds. “I want to check his email as well as his phone records.”
“You’re going to need a court order for that,” I remark distractedly. “I’ve run into it more than a few times.”
Cassie scoffs. “Please. Goddamn Boy Scout over here.”
I look up and feel a grin pull the corners of my mouth upward. “I think I need you to work for me.”
“You need something,” she laughs.
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter. “This is all great stuff. Thank you for this.”
“You may not thank me when you get my bill,” she quips.
“Yet another reason I need you to work for me. I can make you do this shit for me for free.”
She arches an eyebrow at me. “Planning on your girl having a steady stream of stalkers, are you?”
“Yeah, let’s hope not.”
She slips a card out of her pocket and hands it to me. “Just in case you need a professional instead of just muscle.”
I take it and slip it into my wallet, hoping I won’t need it, but concerned that I might. I give her a nod as she slips out of the booth. Before she leaves, though, she turns back to me.
“Watch your back on this one, Knox. I don’t know what it is, and can’t put my finger on it, but something about this situation just seems off,” she warns. “Call me paranoid, but I think we’re missing a piece. Something bigger than we can see right now.”
I’ve been carrying that feeling around with me for a while, but I don’t say anything. Instead, I give her a nod. She turns and heads out, leaving me alone with Haley.
“You okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I tell her. “Except for this whole business, I’m doing really good.”
“You seem good,” she says. “You still have that glow about you.”
I give her a smile and we sip our beers in silence for a few moments. I’m still processing all of the information Cassie dropped on me. I’m trying to put it all in place and make the pieces all line up. I agree with her that we’re missing something here. Something big. And I just don’t know what it is.
Sometimes, the less I actively think about something, the quicker the answer comes to me. My subconscious mind has a way of working things out and getting all of the pieces to line up in the right order. So, I try to push everything to the back of my mind to let it do its thing. I turn to Haley and smile.
“I was thinking it might be a good night for you to meet Felicity,” I say.
Haley is beaming. “Yeah?”
I nod. “I have her stashed in the building next door. Thought we all might head out for a bite to eat,” I tell her. “I think it’s time the two most important women in my life meet.”
“I think that’s a fine idea, Mr. Vaughn,” she replies. “And might I add, it’s about damn time.”
I laugh and drain the last of my beer. Haley gets about halfway through hers before she gives up the ghost and sets her glass down on the table. She starts to slide out of the booth, but I grab her hand to stop her.
“Before we go, there’s also something else I want to discuss with you,” I announce.
Haley settles back into the booth and looks at me, a strange expression on her face.
“Are you about to tell me you’re going to propose to her?” she gasps, her voice tinged with excitement.
“What? No,” I laugh. “We just started dating –”
“Pregnant,” she guesses again. “You two are having a baby.”
“God, no,” I respond. “It’s a little early for that.”
“Actually, it only takes a couple of weeks for a pregnancy to be detected,” she rambles on. “In a blood test, they can –”
I hold my hand up and laugh. “I meant, it’s a little too early in our relationship for that.”
“Oh. Right,” she laughs. “I’m just saying it’s possible.”
“We’ve been safe.”
She rolls her eyes. “There is only one way to be safe –”
“Says the woman who hasn’t abstained since she was sixteen.”
She laughs and slaps me in the arm. “I’m not the one who’s pregnant.”
“We’re not pregnant either,” I say.
“I think you’d make an adorable father,” she presses. “For the record.”
I swallow down the last of her beer. “Yeah, I think I’d be a pretty shit father. It’s why I never wanted kids,” I mutter. “But, can we get back to what I really wanted to talk to you about?”
“You’re wrong about being a shit father,” she jabs back. “But, by all means, please get back to what you wanted to talk about.”
A rueful laugh escapes me. She always has to have the last word – and she usually gets it. I gave up fighting that fight long ago.
“I want you to take over the Reign,” I tell her without preamble.
She stares at me, utterly dumbfounded for a long moment, the expression on her face cycling between excited and confused – as if she isn’t quite sure she heard me correctly but is holding her happiness in check just in case she did.
“Take over?” she whispers.
I nod. “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To be the first female General Manager in professional sports?”
“What I want is to run a football team,” she says softly. “What I want is to build a winner.”
“And I think you can do that. Which is why I want you to take over the Reign,” I assure her. “God knows I’m doing a shit job of it.”
She puts her hands over her mouth, her eyes shimmering with tears of excitement. She doesn’t speak for several long moments. Just sits there looking simultaneously shocked and elated.
“I take that as a yes?” I finally prod.
She nods. “That’s a hell yes.”
“Excellent,” I tell her. “We’ll set up an introductory press conference ASAP.”
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “I’m a GM. I’m running a football team.”
“And you’re going to be damn good at it,” I tell her. “I know you will be.”
We slip out of the booth and head for the door. Haley is practically bouncing up and down. The news has certainly put a spring in her step. We step out into the pleasantly cool air of the early evening, and I breathe deeply. Once we get clear of this stalker business, everything’s going to be smooth sailing. I’m looking forward to the future in ways I haven’t dreamed of before.
“You’re not screwing with me, are you Knox?” Haley asks as we walk to the front of the building. “I mean, you’re not just being a dick, right?”
I turn and face her, my smile wide but gentle. “Not at all. There is nobody more qualified to run my team,” I reassure her again. “There’s nobody I’d rather have running my team than you.”
Haley squeals out loud and throws her arms around my neck, squeezing me tight and planting a big, wet kiss on my cheek. I
laugh as I embrace her in return, glad I could make her happy. We disentangle from each other after a minute and Haley, still beaming, locks her arm through mine as we step to the front door of the building. I punch in the code on the door and it unlocks for us. I pull it open and usher her inside.
She’s chattering away about what changes she’s going to make to the team as we climb aboard the elevator and ride it up to the floor of Felicity’s apartment. When we turn the corner, the first thing I notice is that my guy isn’t at the door. My body stiffens and my stomach lurches.
“What is it?” Haley asks.
“Tommy should be sitting in that chair,” I say. “And he’s not.”
“Maybe he’s inside,” Haley offers. “Or maybe he took Felicity out to run some errands.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and don’t see any missed calls or text messages. I knew she was going to see her friend Dani and then to have lunch with Peter, and Tommy had called in to let me know they’d arrived safely and again when they were leaving, but I’ve gotten nothing since then.
Walking a bit faster, I get to the door, unlock it, and throw it open. There’s a perfect stillness in the air – the stillness of an empty building.
“Felicity?” I call out.
Her cat, Agatha, is laying on the coffee table, languidly stretching and yawning. I walk over and pick her up, giving her a scratch behind the ears as I walk around the apartment. I walk to the bedrooms in the back to find them empty. Felicity isn’t here.
“Where’s your mom, girl?” I ask the cat who purrs heartily in return.
“Maybe she left a note,” Haley comments, a note of mild concern in her voice as she starts looking around.
I know she means well, but a note? Really? She would have sent me a text if she was stepping out. Who leaves written notes anymore? I’m not sure I even own any pens. Stepping into the dining room, I see Haley standing there, her hand trembling and shaking the piece of paper she’s holding. She turns to me, her eyes wide and an expression on her face I can’t interpret – which scares me.
I step forward and take the piece of paper, expecting to see a ransom note, but what I see on the page in my hand is ten times more shocking than that. A thousand times.
