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)
I didn’t respond. I didn’t know what Robert was digging for, but I wasn’t going to give it to him.
After a moment he went on. “There’s not much to tell, I’m afraid. Elyna made a mountain out of a molehill. A threat came in – hard to say how credible it is – and she panicked. She’s been under a lot of stress since the trial. I’m sure–”
I was paying attention to what he was saying, but more importantly, I was paying attention to how much he was saying. Robert was a succinct man under normal circumstances. The extraneous information he was padding his response with tripped my internal bullshit detector.
“You’re lying,” I cut him off. “You have damn good reason to think it’s a credible threat, or you wouldn’t risk drawing the media’s attention by hiring personal security.”
Robert sighed heavily, knowing that there was no use denying it. “It’s not ideal, but out of an abundance of caution–”
“Out of an abundance of caution, I’m going to get a lawyer and go after full custody of my daughter if you don’t give me every fucking detail. If someone is threatening the Lavigne family, they’re threatening her.” I already had half a mind to do it anyway. There was no way Cami would take this as seriously as I was. At least, she hadn’t the last time. I didn’t want to take a chance of her being as flippant with Emma’s safety as she had been with her own.
“Unless they’re very, very close, they don’t even know Emma exists,” Robert objected. “We were very careful not to–” he broke off, probably realizing that it wasn’t smart to come right out and say that they’d been careful to hide Emma’s existence because they didn’t want me to find out about her.
“Even more reason for Emma to come live with me. We can keep it that way. She’s not in Hawaii anymore, Robert. If any more interest is stirred up around the family, someone is bound to ask who the little girl is and what she’s doing with Cami Lavigne.”
Robert was quiet for a moment. “Then perhaps the best option is for her and Cami to return to Hawaii in the meantime, or somewhere else out of the public eye.”
“Out of my eye, too, I bet.” I shook my head, though I knew he couldn’t see me. “That won’t work for me, Robert. It’s past fucking time I got to know my daughter, and I can’t do that with an ocean between us. Now tell me what’s going on.”
Reluctantly, Robert did. A particularly nasty message had come in from an IP address tracked to East Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Likely the husband of a consultant who lost everything, based on the wording. I told Robert they had to have a dozen of those, what made this one stand out? He tried to put me off, but the truth came out. Another message had come in from the same account, but this time it had been tracked to Nevada.
“That’s a shit ton closer than Louisiana,” I said unnecessarily.
“You understand our concern, then.”
I did. I drummed my fingers on the desk again, a nasty prick of fear sliding between my ribs. It took me a minute to place the emotion because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been afraid. Concerned, sure. On guard, yeah. But afraid? Christ, it had been years. Maybe not since my time in the Army where I learned to stuff fear down. Pack it away in a soundproof box so its screaming didn’t drown out the voices in your head you really needed to listen to. The ones that were telling you what you needed to do next. The ones that could save your life if you could just fucking hear them.
I took a deep breath, shoved it back down, and listened.
If letting Cami slip away again was the safest option for Emma, I would do it. But first, I wanted to get to know my daughter, so I needed to find her the safest place in the city. I’d already found out that Cami was staying with her friend Casey in the Hills. She wouldn’t be able to stay there. Not with my daughter, anyway. It was a gated community, but there were too many holes in the security. Any highly motivated person with a grudge could get past it.
The safest place in the city.
I stood up, walked to the window, and looked down. The small terrace didn’t extend this far, so it was just a sheer, straight down drop of blue-green glass until it hit the landscaping that surrounded the building, far, far below. You’d have to be James Bond on his best day to break into this place, which was why I’d bought it.
The safest place in the city was right fucking here.