“What's wrong? What kind of fucking question is that? You and your brother and who knows how many strangers are about to go through my whole life to find the psycho doing this to usandmy daughter. Every inch of everything I do is about to be scrutinized, parts I want hidden won’t stay that way.” I throw my hands up. “I can't even stay in my own house. I'm being sent away.” He goes to speak but I hold my hand out to stop him. “Don't. I know it's for the best, but I still get to be mad that they're winning.”
Cooper pulls me flush to him. “I get it and I'm so sorry this is happening. But it's only for tonight then we can come back. I promise they won't win.”
“They already are.” I turn leaving Cooper in the room alone.
I'm being a bitch, but honestly, right now I deserve to throw a temper tantrum like Lily.
I'm so fucking angry.
I feel frozen to my spot as I stare at the photos strewn over the bed. I'm not protecting my girls. This scumbag wasinsidethe house. In the rooms. Touching their stuff, leaving his mark all over to embed the memory of this situation everywhere she looks.
Me: They were here in the house. There are pictures of every room and then a photo of Aubrey in her window from five minutes ago. How the fuck are we letting this happen?
Wyatt: On my way. Bringing backup.
Using my phone I take photos of everything. Every little detail that might help us find this person. Then I'm going to use them to bring Nolan down once and for all.
I should have known something was coming. A large resort in the Adirondacks just signed my contract. A contract that Nolan has spent the better part of two years trying to win over. But he never made a trip out to meet them, or build a relationship with them. I did. He sent me. So of course I wasn’t going to give up that contract. I reached out to the manager immediately explaining how I was starting on my own. This is the one account I wasn’t going to let go without a fight. And it looks like Nolan’s bringing the fight.
“Coop.” Wyatt’s hand touches my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Hey. Thanks for coming.” I step to the side, letting him see the mess on the bed. “This is what she found in the drawer. Her phone has the texts and photo of her standing over here at the window. They’re still fucking out there, Wy.”
“I’ve got guys out there looking. We’ll find them if they’re still here.”
Wyatt’s partner, Nick, comes in. “What do we have here?”
“Whoever’s stalking my brother and future sister-in-law was in the house, texting Aubrey, while watching her. You’ll see the last photo is him watching her from the edge of the woods. Cap sent guys in that direction. But we need something that will tell us who it is.”
“Kane is on the number,” I admit.
“Jesus, Coop. I thought we talked about Kane not interfering.”
I glare at Wyatt. “He’s not. He’s running a number that you already ran and couldn’t find. It’s not my fault you got nothing.”
“Uh, sorry but who is Kane?” Nick asks.
“One of my brother’s friends, a whiz with a computer. Probably could hack into the Pentagon if he wanted to.” Wyattruns his hands through his hair, a true sign of his that he’s frustrated as hell.
“I don’t think that’s legal.” Nick so helpfully offers.
“Doesn’t need to be. I just need to know where to start to link this to my old boss. I know he’s behind it. I just don’t know how yet.” I say.
Footsteps fall just outside the door and we all look over at Aubrey as she comes in.
“I just need to get my stuff.” She ignores us and walks over to the closet to start packing.
I exchange looks with Wyatt and Nick who are staring at each other shrugging their shoulders.
Walking up to Aubrey, I ask, “Hey, gorgeous, what's going on?” Her head whips to me and I know immediately I’ve fucked up. “Why don’t we go in the other room?” I usher her into Lily’s room, away from the other two men.
Her eyes are wet and wild, hands shaking, voice about to crack on a sob. I open my mouth to speak but she beats me to it.
“What's wrong? What kind of fucking question is that? You and your brother and who knows how many strangers are about to go through my whole life to find the psycho doing this to me and my daughter. Every inch of everything I do is about to be scrutinized, parts I want hidden, won’t stay that way. I can't even stay in my own house. I'm being sent away.” I take a tentative step toward her, but she backs up putting her hand out. “Don't. I know it's for the best, but I still get to be mad that they're winning.”
Reaching out once again, I don’t let her back away from me again. “I get it and I'm so sorry this is happening. But it's only for tonight then we can come back. I promise they won't win.”
“They already are.” She pulls out of my embrace and goes back into the room before storming out and slamming the door shut.