Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
SADIE
My words were met with deathly silence…followed by chaos. The three brothers exploded into action, arguing with each other in half-sentences that only made sense to them.
“If one of our guys has been threatening Sadie, there isn’t a place on this godforsaken earth they can go where I won’t find them,” Gideon finally snarled, silencing the other two.
Jack and Knox exchanged a loaded look. Jack obviously was used to playing peacekeeper, because he lifted his arms in a placating gesture. “Let’s take this one step at a time.”
Gideon vibrated like there was excess tension tightening his body. I stepped up to him and put a hand on his chest. When he met my gaze, his eyes were dark. “I mean it,” he said. “Whoever is threatening you won’t be able to hide from me.”
A tendril of pleasure snaked through me. I’d never had anyone care about me so much. Not to the point that they’d blow up their own business to protect me.
I didn’t want him to make any rash decisions, though.
It was like him giving me the space and time (and snacks) to sew cushion covers with old scraps while I reacquainted myself with sewing; I knew he cared about Marswood Security, and he cared about his employees.
I wanted to help him keep everything he loved while figuring out if anything needed to be scrapped. If there was a rat.
“I don’t think Mr. Titty is the person or people who have been threatening me,” I said, keeping my voice calm.
“You have no evidence of that,” Gideon fired back.
“It makes no sense. If it was the same person, why would they keep drawing boobs around town when I got here? Why not escalate further right away? If the goal is to get me away and to stop the arranged marriage scheme, why not move to a bigger target? Why not go after you or your brothers or your grandmother?”
His eyes narrowed. He kept an arm wrapped protectively around my waist, but his gaze shifted to his brothers.
“It’s a fair point,” Jack said, and Knox grunted in agreement.
“The tags stopped after I got the footage from Cash. Mr. Titty knew we had more footage of them, and they got spooked. So, the way I see it, there are two problems here. One, someone in your inner circle is either selling information to Mr. Titty, or one of your employees moonlights as a breast connoisseur.”
“This is not a time for fucking jokes, Sadie,” Gideon growled.
I ignored him. “The way to solve this problem is to look at everything you know about Mr. Titty through the lens of a very short suspect list which includes everyone who works for your organization.”
The three brothers watched me. Looked at each other.
I took a deep breath. “Once you’ve done that, you can determine whether or not that person has been threatening me. If they have been, we go from there. If they haven’t, we start at square one. There are only so many people in this town. It can’t be that hard to find out who’s doing this.”
The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Gideon stared at me, then lifted his gaze to his brothers.
Knox nodded and started packing up the laptop while Jack said, “Let’s get to work.”
“Um,” I said, lifting a finger. All three men stopped what they were doing and looked at me again. I gave them a tense smile. “Can I make a suggestion with where you should start?”
After two days of being holed up in Gideon’s apartment, he finally reluctantly allowed me to go out as long as he was right there beside me. He and his brothers had looped Bennett into the traitor-in-their-midst hypothesis, and they’d been busy gathering evidence.
I was pretty sure I knew what they would find.
We went for coffee—I’d missed my matcha lattes when shit had hit the fan—and then wandered up Main Street to the seamstress’s shop. Despite everything, I’d made progress on Lola’s dress and was ready to get her in for a first fitting.
The muslin draft hung on a dress form. The main goal of the fitting was to get the bodice nailed down.
It was a strapless sweetheart neckline with quite a bit of boning in it that flared out into a full skirt.
The muslin fabric didn’t fall like the silk would, but the draft would allow me to cut the fabric with confidence.
I waited in the shop, working on sketches of another dress that had popped into my head. Finally, around noon, Lola walked in. Her blond hair had been slicked back in a low bun, and she wore dark sunglasses and a black tank top tucked into her loose jeans. She gave me a blazing smile. “Hi, Sadie!”
I smiled in response, then squeaked when she came up and hugged me.
Her mom, Jennifer, entered behind her and greeted me with a smile.
I’d spoken to her for a while at last week’s family dinner, and had learned that she and her husband were both accountants who were born and raised in the area.
I was vehemently informed that Lola was absolutely not going to follow in their footsteps.
“So, this is what I’ve come up with so far,” I said, leading her to the dress form.
Lola frowned. “Okay…”
“The muslin is stiffer than the silk, so the skirt drapes differently. But I really just want to make sure it fits you, and then I’ll deconstruct this and use it as a pattern to make your actual dress.”
Lola tilted her head, interested. Her mom drifted closer and touched the silk fabric I’d folded on top of the work table. Lola went behind the curtains at the back to change into the dress.
“Lola’s so excited about this,” Jennifer told me. She was about fifteen years older than me, with thick-rimmed glasses and a calm demeanor. It was hard to believe her exuberant daughter came from the same stock.
I smiled. “I have to say, I’m pretty excited about it too. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve looked forward to creating a dress.”
“You don’t like doing wedding dresses?”
I chewed my lip. “I’m not sure anymore.”
She hummed, nodding. “It’s a lot of pressure.”
We both turned as Lola walked out. The bottom of the dress dragged a bit, and she’d gathered it up to reveal her white sneakers. She marched up to us and stood in front of the floor-length mirror, then let her hands slide down her waist as she considered the dress.
“We’ll take this in a bit,” I said, repinning the waist. “And I’ll make sure to get a lot of volume in the skirt so there’s drama when you walk. Your inspo photos all had a thigh slit. How’s this height?”
“Too much leg,” Jennifer cut in, and Lola let out an exaggerated huff.
I nodded, pinning the slit a little lower to make the dress more modest. Lola clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes at her mother.
As I pinned, my eyes darted to movement outside. Someone was crouching near Jennifer’s car. I looked away again and smiled as Lola said she loved the dress. She beamed at me in the mirror and did a twirl. “Omigod! I can’t wait to see the final dress!”
“We haven’t talked about payment,” Jennifer said when Lola had gone to change back into her own clothes.
I shook my head. “There’s no payment necessary. I didn’t even have to buy the fabric.”
“But—your time. Your expertise!”
“Trust me,” I said. “It’s been my pleasure.”
“I’ll make you some cookies,” Lola announced when she came back out and handed me the bundle of muslin. “I make really good chocolate chip cookies.” She beamed at me, then threw her arms around me for a tight hug.
My heart twinged. She really did seem like a good kid. That’s why it hurt so much when Gideon walked in, looking grim. Jennifer and Lola turned at the sound of his footsteps, and Lola made a strangled gasp when she saw what he held.
“That’s my backpack!”
“Gideon,” Jennifer said, putting herself between my husband and her daughter. “What the hell is going on? Did you break into my car to get my daughter’s stuff?”
The backpack’s zipper creaked as Gideon wrenched it apart with his strong hands. He reached inside and, without a word, pulled out a used can of blue spray paint.
Lola screamed, turned around, and ran…
Right into Jack’s chest, who’d snuck in the back door. He caught her around the waist and lifted her over his shoulder. Jennifer gasped. Gideon sighed.
I grimaced, disappointed that I’d been right. Recognizing the white sneakers had seemed like a long shot—so many people wore them—but it had been enough.
“Jennifer, you might want to sit down,” Gideon said, gesturing to a chair. The mother obstinately remained standing, caught between shock and the desire to protect her daughter.
“You tell me what the hell is going on,” she demanded. “And you.” She pointed at me. “You had something to do with this!”
“She sure did,” Gideon agreed. “She’s the one who figured out that Lola is Mr. Titty.”
“I’m not!” Lola screamed.
“One third of Mr. Titty,” Gideon corrected. “The other two thirds are waiting for us at headquarters.”
Lola suddenly went limp in Jack’s arms, her head drooping in defeat.
GIDEON
When the hubbub had died down, Jennifer agreed to drive to the Marswood Security headquarters with Lola so we could get to the bottom of things. The look in my aunt’s eyes told me that Lola would have a very unpleasant trip—worse than if Lola had ridden with me.
Beside me, Sadie was quiet as we drove up toward headquarters.
“You okay?” I asked, not liking the curve of her shoulders.
Her eyes were sad as she looked at me. “Don’t go too hard on them,” she requested. “They’re just kids.”
I couldn’t get the words out to answer. How could I, when I was choked with grief and betrayal?
My own family. My own kin.
I’d done everything for my brothers. I’d sold half my business to give them their livelihoods. I’d hired Connor and nurtured his talents from the start. I’d given so much, and this was how they repaid me?
It was almost easier when my mother had left. When my father had died. When Lenore had turned her back on me at my lowest. Because this? This hurt, this knife in the back? It was so much worse.
I glanced at Sadie once more, wondering what she was thinking. If she still had dreams of a successful business in the city. If she’d be the next one to cut my legs out from under me.