Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Plenty for one more.
The thought lingered, then I pushed it away hard. No. Cami and I were making the most of a difficult situation. That was all. We both knew this couldn’t work long term. The house was for Emma, not some perfect family fantasy that would turn out to be bullshit.
That night, I read Emma her bedtime story and she said, “Goodnight, Mr.--” then stopped, puzzled. “Do I call you daddy?”
“You can call me whatever you want to.” I kept my voice steady, relaxed, as though it didn’t matter either way, but my heart thumped in anticipation. I desperately wanted her to call me daddy, but I wasn’t going to push her.
Emma settled for just saying good night, though, and I stuffed away my disappointment. “Sweet dreams, honey.”
Cami, standing in the doorway, heard it all. Her eyes searched mine, and I made sure she didn’t see it either.
Out in the living room, I expected her to ask me about it. Cami liked analyzing feelings as much as I liked avoiding it. Instead, though, she said, “My parents asked us to call.”
My eyebrows went up. Elyna and Robert had kept their distance over the last couple of weeks. I didn’t even think Cami had talked to them much, which was unusual. “What about?”
Cami shook her head, concern in her eyes. “I’m not sure. Do you have work to do first?”
I did, but this felt more important. We went out onto the terrace and slid the door shut behind us. Without saying it aloud, we both agreed we didn’t want Emma to overhear anything they had to say. It wasn’t likely to be a cheerful catch-up call. Cami went straight for the loveseat, but I stayed at the chest-high wall, looking out.
The phone rang once, twice. Then Elyna’s tearful voice flowed through the speaker. “I’m so sorry, ma fille. I don’t know how they even knew about her.”
My head snapped around, met Cami’s eyes, wide and shining in the globe lights that were strung across the trellis above her. I reached for the phone as she said, “Mom, slow down. What are you talking about?”
There was a muffled transition, and then Robert’s voice came through. Calm, but grave, he explained that there had been another threat. This time, Emma had been mentioned.
“By name?” I demanded. Cami hadn’t surrendered the phone, but now I sat next to her, our heads bent together, watching the seconds tick by on the screen.
“No. It referred to a little girl though, and we don’t have any others in our circle.”
Even if they did, that would be enough for me. I wasn’t going to stop the purchase of the house, but there was no way in hell we’d be moving out of the penthouse until this asshole was caught.
After we hung up with Robert, I immediately went back to my room to see what my contacts at the LAPD had been able to provide. Shaken, Cami trailed after me. She stayed in the hallway, staring down at Emma’s closed door. The Olaf-shaped night light was glowing in the crack beneath it.
“Safest place on earth,” I reminded her, spinning my chair around to face my laptop.
“Safest place on earth,” she murmured, but she didn’t come in.
I had a copy of the threat in my inbox. Twice, actually. Robert had forwarded it, and I’d gotten it from my LAPD source, too. It was handwritten–jagged, angry letters. Short, simple. Three lines.
You tore my family apart.
Now I’m coming for yours.
Starting with the little girl.
A muffled gasp came from over my left shoulder. I hadn’t realized Cami had come in the room. If I had, I would have waited to open the attachment.
“This raises the stakes. The FBI will get involved now,” I said. I’d meant to comfort her, but Cami’s face only paled further. I’d forgotten that the FBI hadn’t exactly been a friend to her family.
“Hey.” I turned the chair around and pulled her into my lap. She came willingly, her body fitting against mine as it always did, but her gaze was distant and unfocused. “It’s okay,” I murmured into her hair. “Safest place on Earth, remember?”
Cami looked up at me, but I got the feeling she still wasn’t seeing me. “I shouldn’t have come back with her,” she said. Her voice was strange, introspective, like she was thinking out loud more than she was talking to me. I listened, fighting back the urge to shake her for what she had said. “I could have told you everything from Hawaii. You would have come to us, wouldn’t you?” She looked at me now.
“You know I would.” I tightened my grip on her waist.
Cami nodded. “I know that now. It’s strange to think I didn’t know that then. I didn’t know how you would react. If you’d care.”
Again, I wondered what kind of asshole I’d been four years ago that Cami didn’t know if I would care about my daughter. It must have been a special breed. But then, if I’d been such an asshole, what was she doing back in my bed now?