Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gavin
I push through the front door, my heart hammering in my chest. The glass is shattered everywhere, crunching under my boots as I step inside. The house feels eerily quiet, too still, like the air is holding its breath. My muscles tense as I take in the wreckage, but nothing looks disturbed, at least not yet.
I take another step, my ears straining for any sound. A faint creak echoes from the back of the house toward the kitchen. My instincts kick in.
I move quickly, heading toward the sound, my pulse spiking as I round the corner. And then I see two figures at the back door, one of them halfway out, the other still inside, standing in the shadows. They’re dressed head to toe in black, ski masks pulled tight over their faces, long-sleeved turtlenecks and pants covering every inch of skin, even their hands are gloved. There’s no way to identify them; not a single detail is exposed.
“Stop!” I shout, but the one inside bolts, pushing through the door as the screen slams shut behind them.
I take off after them, my legs pumping as I dart across the living room, my boots slipping slightly on the hardwood. I burst through the door into the backyard just in time to see the two of them jump onto a four-wheeler waiting by the edge of the trees.
“Stop!” I yell again, but it’s useless.
The engine roars to life, the tires spinning up dirt as they tear off through the woods. I chase them for a few yards, sprinting as hard as I can, but they’re too fast. My legs burn, my breath ragged as I push myself to catch up, but the four-wheeler is already disappearing into the dense trees, swallowed by the thick brush.
I stop running, bent over with my hands on my knees, gasping for air.
Dammit.
I watch as the sound of the engine fades into the distance, my heart still racing. I couldn’t see their faces, couldn’t even tell if they were men or women. But I know one thing for sure—it wasn’t Hank. The body type wasn’t right, too lean, too quick on their feet. Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing.
I stand there for a moment, trying to catch my breath, replaying the scene in my head. They didn’t look like they were carrying anything when they ran.
Did they even have time to grab anything? Or were they after something specific?
I turn and head back into the house, my mind racing. The kitchen looks untouched—no drawers open, nothing out of place. I make my way to the hallway, checking each room as I go, but everything seems normal, undisturbed.
Then I reach the office.
The door is cracked open, and my stomach sinks as I step inside. The drawers on the desk are pulled out, papers scattered everywhere, but nothing seems to be missing. I scan the room quickly, my eyes landing on the filing cabinet where Dad had kept the files on Aaron. Relief floods me as I remember that I took them with me. They’re in my laptop bag, safely tucked away in the car.
I don’t waste any time. I rush out of the office, practically sprinting to the front of the house. My car is parked in the driveway, with no damage done to it. I peer through the window to see my laptop bag is still there, untouched in the floorboard.
Thank God.
I breathe a little easier now, the tension in my shoulders loosening just a fraction. Whoever broke in was looking for something, but they didn’t find it. They were in the office, but they didn’t take anything—or at least nothing important. They didn’t have time.
I glance back toward the house and see Lena and Jayla standing on the porch, both of them wide-eyed, waiting for me. Lena rushes toward me, her face pale.
“Gavin, what happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say, pulling her into a quick hug, needing to feel her warmth and safety for a second. I can feel Jayla’s eyes on us, her small frame stiff with worry. “There were two people. They ran when I got inside. I tried to catch them, but they had a four-wheeler waiting. They’re long gone.”
Lena pulls back, her eyes searching mine. “Did they take anything?”
I shake my head. “No. Nothing important, anyway.”
She exhales sharply, and I can see the tension start to ease out of her, though her hands continue to tremble as she brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank God.”
Jayla steps closer, her voice small and uncertain. “What if they come back?”
“They won’t, sweetheart. We’ll make sure of that.”
Before I can say anything else, sirens approach in the distance. The police finally show up, and two squad cars pull into the driveway. The officers step out, their expressions unreadable as they approach. A tall, broad-shouldered man in his late forties with a sheriff’s badge pinned to his chest steps forward, his gaze sweeping over the house and then back to us.
“Sheriff Joe Dajen,” he says to me, his voice gruff. “What happened here?”
Why didn’t he acknowledge Jayla and Lena? He has to know them if he took Aaron’s job, right?
I give him a quick rundown of the break-in, explaining what I saw and how the intruders got away. Dajen listens, but a look in his eyes rubs me the wrong way. It’s like he’s already decided this isn’t worth his time.
“Hmm,” he says, scratching the back of his neck as he glances over at the house. “Doesn’t seem like they took anything, huh?”
“No, but they were in the office,” I say, my frustration bubbling to the surface. “They were looking for something specific.”
Dajen shrugs, clearly unimpressed. “Could’ve been some kids messing around. Are you sure you saw two people? Maybe you’re jumpin’ at shadows.”
My jaw tightens. “I know what I saw. They were masked, fully covered, and they had a getaway plan. This wasn’t some kids playing a prank.”
Lena steps closer, her eyes narrowing at the sheriff’s dismissive tone. “There’s broken glass everywhere, and Gavin chased them through the woods. This was serious.”
Dajen barely glances at her, his attention still on me. “We’ll take a look around and see what we can find, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. These kinds of things happen, but if nothing was taken…” He lets the sentence trail off like the break-in doesn’t really matter because no one got hurt, and nothing is missing.
I grit my teeth, biting back the urge to argue. There’s no point. He’s not going to take this seriously, not unless something bigger happens.
Lena isn’t as restrained. “Are you kidding me?” she snaps, crossing her arms over her chest. “We just had two people break into our house, and you’re acting like it’s no big deal? Do your job, Sheriff.”
Dajen’s eyes flick to her, a condescending smirk curling his lips. “We’re doin’ what we can, Mayor. You know better than anyone how underfunded we are. You living out here now? I’m pretty certain that disqualifies you from being mayor. You might want to think about better security. Could’ve been avoided.”
I can feel the heat rising on the back of my neck as I take a step forward, fists clenching.
One of the other officers steps forward, cutting through the tension with a quiet, professional voice. “We’ll take your statements and check the area,” he says. “If you think of anything else or notice anything missing later, give us a call.”
I nod, grateful for at least one officer who seems to be taking this seriously. Lena fumes beside me, her hands clenched into fists, but she doesn’t say anything else as we give our statements.
Once they finish, the officers head into the house to look around, leaving us standing on the porch.
“I can’t believe him,” Lena mutters, her voice shaking with anger. “He didn’t even care.”
“I know,” I say quietly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “But we’ll figure this out. I’m not letting this go.”
She leans into me, her body still tense, and I press a kiss to the top of her head, trying to soothe her.
“He’s got a vendetta. He and Aaron hated each other. He’s constantly in city hall meetings bashing me and asking for ridiculous amounts of money for the craziest things.”
“Let’s get inside,” I say softly.
She nods, and we walk back into the house together, Jayla behind us. Inside, the broken glass is still scattered across the floor.
“I think you should stay at my house tonight,” Lena says quietly. “I don’t…”
“I’m not going to argue with you.” I pull her into me and kiss the top of her hair. “I’ll work on getting a security system set up out here.”
“Jay, are you okay with Uncle Gavin staying with us?” Lena asks quickly.
“Yes. Why would anyone break into Grandpa’s house?” Jayla asks as she sits down on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest as she hugs herself tightly.
“We’ll figure it out.”
She nods, but she doesn’t seem convinced.
I text Nate quickly so he’s up to date on the events.
Could he have stirred something up with his research?
The following morning, I go straight to Mike’s office. It’s quiet when I walk in. He looks up from his desk as I enter, his expression serious but welcoming.
“Gavin,” he says, standing up and gesturing for me to sit. “Good to see you. How’ve you been?”
I sit down. “Did you hear what happened out at the farm yesterday?”
“Yeah, Tatum told me after Lena called her. Do they have any leads?”
“No, the sheriff didn’t seem like he cared to dig into it either.”
“Aaron ran against him for sheriff and won, and he’s still a little bitter about it. You know, back then, Dejan was accusing Aaron of being shady, but no one believed it. Maybe he knew something we didn’t.”
“I wonder if he’d talk if you asked him about it. He was dismissive of Lena when they arrived.”
“He was claiming that she was dirty too. Now he’s just an asshole at all of the town hall meetings and tells people that she has it out for him.”
“Sounds like a peach of a guy. Emotionally mature and all.”
“Yeah, not a lot of people wanted to run for sheriff after Aaron’s death. There was a lot of speculation that it wasn’t an accident.”
“An accident…I thought a prisoner shot him.”
“He did. I guess I chose my words wrong. The incidents leading up to how the inmate got the gun in the first place didn’t make sense. They brought in investigators to make sure that it wasn’t foul play inside the department.”
“That makes sense. That’s probably protocol, too.”
“Yeah. That’s not what brings you in this morning, though, right?”
“I told her the truth...about Aaron. Everything. Well, almost everything.”
Mike raises a brow. “Almost?”
“I left your name out of it,” I clarify. “She doesn’t know about the legal side of things, just that Aaron was taking bribes. I didn’t want to drag you into it until we had a plan.”
He leans back in his chair, his hands steepled together. “How did she take it?”
I let out a long breath, the memory of Lena’s reaction playing out in my mind. “Not great. I mean, she was shocked, hurt. She loved Aaron once, even after everything. Finding out he was involved in something so dirty...it broke something in her. But she understands I couldn’t keep it from her any longer.”
“And what about you? Did you learn anything else from her?”
I hesitate for a second, then decide to be upfront. I had my concerns about Mike protecting Aaron, but I realized that if Dad thought Mike was dirty, he never would have trusted him with his Will or anything else.
“Yeah. But not about the bribes. She said that she’d caught him cheating before when Jay was really young. She told me she’d caught him misspending their money and lying about it. She caught him in a lot of lies.”
“Jesus.”
“Tell me about it,” I mutter. “I want to protect Lena from the fallout, but I’m not sure how to do that. If this whole thing blows up, I don’t want her getting caught in the crossfire.”
“We need to be smart about this. The more we can distance her from the situation, the better. If anyone asks, she doesn’t know anything. And we keep her name out of any legal proceedings. That’s where I come in. I’ll make sure she’s protected legally, but we have to be careful.”
“I appreciate it, Mike. Really.”
“If you want to share Henry’s files with me, maybe between the two of us we can figure some more out. I might recognize some of the names.”
I take a deep breath. “For sure.”
My phone vibrates, and I look down to see a text from my PI.
Nate: I have a name for your brother’s mistress. Mercedes Silva, she goes by Sadie. Seems they met on a dating app. The child, Stetson, is about two years old and your brother’s name is on the birth certificate. I’ll send over an address and phone number in a bit.
“How much do you know about Hank?” I ask as I look back up at Mike.
“Not much. He really keeps to himself. Why?”
“Dad gave him some of our land. I went out to the old hunting cabin to see if I could find him. I found…something disturbing. It seems that he’s been spying on Lena and Jayla.”
“What?”
“Yeah, there were photos all over a wall of the two of them.”
“Did you contact the sheriff?”
“No, I reached out to a PI friend, though, and he’s doing some digging for me. After meeting Dejan yesterday I’m glad that I didn’t go to him. I don’t think he would have taken it seriously.”
“Shit. We need…”
“I’m staying at the house with them for now. They’ll be safe. I was supposed to go back into the city for a meeting, but I’ll try to get it moved to a Zoom call.”
“That’s good. I have a friend who can keep an eye on the two of them when you’re not around.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“My wife is with Lena all the time. It will make me feel better to do so, too.”
“Yeah, I guess it would.” I chuckle dryly. “I’ll keep pushing Nate to see what answers he can get me. I might have to pay Hank another visit.”
“Let your man work before you do anything crazy. You can make copies here of the files, and I’ll go through them if you want.”
“Yeah, I didn’t bring them with me, but I’ll get them over to you ASAP,” I say.