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)
“We could go back,” Cami said suddenly, her eyes finally focusing. Her gaze found mine and searched it. “We were safe there.”
“You were,” I said. “Past tense. Until this guy is caught, this is the safest place for you.” Again, I thought about that damn house. Saw all the potential gaps in security.
“He’d never know we were in Hawaii,” she protested.
“You don’t know that. He shouldn’t have known about Emma at all.”
That quelled her rising excitement. I felt her sag against me, her conviction broken. “You’re right,” she whispered. “How did he know about her?”
I had a couple of theories. The guy could have managed to infiltrate the Lavigne’s circle. It didn’t even have to be their inner circle. Maybe he got a job at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Maybe he’d even gotten a job working for them. It didn’t have to be close. The guy who detailed their cars would notice when a car seat appeared in the backseat. Or he’d seen Robert and Elyna at the pool with a little girl who looked a lot like their daughter Cami. The possibilities were endless, but there was only one outcome.
I was going to find him, and I was going to end him.
18
CAMI
Landon got his wish. I was still going mad, but I never wanted to leave the penthouse again. Every time I thought about taking Emma to the beach or the playground, I saw those words again.
Starting with the little girl.
I’ll never let you get close to her, I thought with clear, simple fury as I watched the little girl in question playing with her Arendelle Castle playset in the middle of the formerly austere living room. I’ll kill you first.
I felt the same, quiet, deadly confidence I’d experienced that night in the kitchen when Landon snuck up on me. I had no doubt at all that if I needed to, I could kill to protect Emma. I had no doubt at all I’d have to beat Landon to it, though. While I was willing to kill for my daughter, I got the sense that he wanted to. Pent-up frustration was clear in every move he made. He glared at the computer screen while he worked. He slammed the refrigerator door too hard when he made dinner. A wine glass had been broken the last time he did the washing up.
“We need to get out of the city for a few days,” I said, helping him clean up the jagged shards. “We’re all going crazy.”
Landon shot me a look. “We’re not going back to Hawaii, Cami. We don’t know what this person knows.”
“Somewhere else then. Anywhere.” Delicately, I picked up the last shard and dropped it into the empty cardboard cereal box we were using.
“Maybe.”
The next day, Landon had to go to a meeting. He didn’t want to leave us alone in the penthouse, but my parents were coming over with their security detail, so he reluctantly agreed.
“This won’t take long,” he said, scrutinizing the man standing against the patio doors with his arms crossed over his barrel chest.
“We’ll be fine.” I urged him out the door, then closed it behind us for a moment of privacy. So much tension was radiating off him that even my parents noticed. I knew nothing I said would ease it, so I slipped my arms around his waist and kissed him instead.
His mouth met mine, reluctant at first, but I broke down his defenses. He ignored the ding of the elevator when it arrived and backed me up against the wall, his grip tightening on my waist. His tongue slipped through my lips and his hand moved up to my hair, pulling my head back further, deepening the kiss. For once, I wished we were higher up, that the elevator ride would take longer. Long enough to really release some of the pent-up frustration swimming in both of us. It was what we both needed, but we’d have to wait until he got back, and likely until Emma went to bed.
Suddenly, there was a polite, embarrassed noise of a throat clearing.
Landon made a low, annoyed sound in his own throat and pulled back incrementally, turning to glare at whoever had interrupted us.
Robert stood in the doorway. I could see my mother in the background, sitting on the couch. Her lips were pursed. I pushed my hair back, flushing despite the fact I was twenty-seven and had a child of my own. Some things would never stop being embarrassing, and getting caught by your parents was one of them.
“I think the elevator is here,” Robert said, nodding toward the opening elevator.
Landon straightened, but he didn’t back up. “It’s my elevator, Robert. It’ll wait.”
My cheeks grew hotter. Landon, looking cool as a cucumber, tipped my chin up and gave me a last kiss goodbye before he stepped into the elevator. I stood there until it closed, and the whirling hydraulics told me he was dropping down into civilization.