CHAPTER FIVE
“Let’s go to my room and put together the Lego set!” Beverly said excitedly as she jumped out of the backseat of Lennox’s truck, immediately followed by Maria, who whooped like an escaped monkey from the zoo.
“Sometimes I wonder if kids understand the concept of an indoor voice,” Lennox murmured from where he sat beside Talia, reaching forward to turn off the vehicle. “I’ve been in firefights that were quieter than those two girls in the backseat.”
Talia laughed, completely understanding. She wasn’t sure if it was her experience as an au pair or simply because she was a woman, but she’d found that it was pretty easy to tune out screaming children. Still, she could appreciate the silence filling the pickup now.
The hyperactivity was all Lennox’s fault of course. While Talia and Katrina had been talking, he’d bought Maria and Beverly a mountain of sugary goodness at the park, including soda, churros, cotton candy, and Skittles. The two kids would be bouncing off the walls for hours. Which explained why Katrina had been more than happy to let Lennox drive the kids back to the McDaniel’s house. She’d known how loud the two girls could be when hyped up on sugar.
“Should we go in and take responsibility for Beverly being so spun up?” Lennox asked tentatively, like he was hoping she’d say no.
“We probably should so Katrina isn’t the one to get in trouble.” She gave him a pointed look. “Unless that was your plan all along.”
Lennox put a hand to his chest, looking wounded. “Ow, that hurts. I didn’t intend for them to eat that much sugar. I just had a hard time saying no when Maria and Beverly hit me with those puppy dog eyes.”
“Having been on the receiving end of those eyes a few times myself, I can understand,” Talia said with a laugh. “Let’s go in. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and the kids will hide in Beverly’s bedroom until they come down from their sugar rush.”
Since Maria and Beverly were best friends, Talia had been at the McDaniel’s quite a lot, which was how she and Katrina had become so close. The huge Mission Hills home was beautiful and one of the most expensive in the area, supporting the theory that Dayton and Roselyn McDaniel were very wealthy. Talia wasn’t exactly sure how the man made his millions. Something to do with biomedical research, she thought.
The moment the maid let them in, Talia could hear Maria and Beverly laughing somewhere upstairs, but it was the sound of voices near them on the ground floor that drew her attention. She and Lennox headed in that direction.
They found Katrina in the drawing room with Beverly’s mother, Roselyn, as well as Vera Rybak, discussing the children’s day at the amusement park. Talia was a little surprised to see Vera. Not that there was any reason Maria’s mother shouldn’t be here. The Rybak and McDaniel families were friends. But Talia had thought Vera and Bogdan were out of town this weekend.
“Mrs. Rybak. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Talia said, leading Lennox into the room.
Talia thought she saw surprise flit across Vera’s face, but it disappeared before she could be sure. Tall and regal, her blonde hair up in a fashionable twist that Talia could never pull off, she gave them a welcoming smile as she stood up to greet them.
“Talia,” Vera said. “And Petty Officer Thompson. What a pleasant surprise! I’m so glad you two are finally dating! Maria will be so happy!”
Talia almost face palmed. Did everyone think she and Lennox were a couple?
“We aren’t dating,” Talia said, giving Lennox an embarrassed look. “I just happened to run into Lennox and mentioned we were going to Legoland and he decided to join us. The girls and I rode back with him because his pickup is bigger than Katrina’s car.”
Vera looked a little dubious at that answer. “Okay, but now I’m confused. I was talking to Ken this morning and he said you didn’t stay on the property last night. That something happened and you went to stay with a friend?”
Talia knew she’d been caught, and it took everything she had to stop herself from visibly reacting. Ken Hull was the head of the security team Bogdan employed. Ken and his team were serious about the family’s security, conducting kidnapping and break-in exercises all the time. He even had Talia memorize a whole list of code words that could be sent out over the phone to alert the family if something dangerous happened.
Ken had been working the front gate last night when Lennox had brought her over to pick up some clothes. Talia hadn’t told him anything about the attack. In fact, she hadn’t told him anything at all, simply waved as they’d left the Rybak residence. She should have realized the man would brief Bogdan and Vera on it. Not because Ken was trying to get her into trouble, but because it wasn’t something she normally did.
“I did stay with a friend,” Talia said, glancing at Lennox from the corner of her eye. “Someone tried to attack me outside Anna Medina’s apartment building last night. You know, the Fredrickson’s au pair?”
“Oh, my goodness!” Vera gasped, her eyes going wide. A moment later she rushed over to take Talia in her arms, giving her a hug before stepping back to look at her. “Thank heavens you’re okay! Did the police catch the person? Was Anna attacked as well? Is she okay?”
The sudden change of direction caught Talia completely off guard, her head spinning as she tried to understand why Vera was suddenly asking about Anna.
Since the whole thing happened outside Anna’s apartment building, Talia supposed it made sense on some level that Vera would be worried about the other au pair. But that logic didn’t stop her stomach from twisting as a seed of doubt began to grow. After learning that the Fredrickson family might be involved in Anna’s disappearance, it was hard not being suspicious of everyone in that same social circle.
Could Bogdan and Vera be involved in Anna’s disappearance. If so, had they also been aware that the scary looking guy had chased her? Is that why Vera had looked so surprised to see Talia? Were they expecting her to be missing now as well?
A glance from the corner of her eye revealed Lennox standing there looking calm, but from the way his eyes narrowed slightly, it seemed like he was as suspicious as she was.
Talia’s first thought was to confront her employer, to demand Vera tell her what had happened to Anna but then she caught Lennox giving her a discreet shake of his head. She could only assume he didn’t want her letting on that they suspected Vera was involved in all of this.
“Anna is fine, as far as I know,” Talia said tentatively, relaxing when Lennox gave her a subtle nod. “Apparently, there was family emergency back in Bolivia and she had to leave to go back home.”
Vera looked for all the world like she was caught completely off balance and unsure what to say next.
“That’s good,” she finally said.
Talia honestly couldn’t tell if Vera was relieved or confused. She glanced at Lennox to see him give her a little shrug, as if he was thinking the same thing.
Afraid Vera might ask her more questions about Anna that she couldn’t answer, Talia turned the conversation to Maria and how much fun they’d had at Legoland. Soon enough, Vera was laughing at the stories and oohing and aahing over the pictures Talia had taken. It was at moments like this that Talia couldn’t think of Vera as anything more than a loving mother.
Loud giggles from upstairs suddenly echoed through the house, interrupting them, and Vera lifted a brow. “After the day the girls had, I would have thought Maria and Beverly would be exhausted.”
“That might be my fault,” Lennox admitted with a wince. “I might have let them eat a little too much sugar. But only because they promised me it wouldn’t bother them.”
Vera exchanged looks with Talia and they both burst out laughing.
Katrina and Mrs. McDaniel stood, laughing as well.
“We’re going to go check on the girls,” Katrina said.
Vera nodded and smiled, then turned to Talia the moment they’d left the room. “I know you don’t want to talk about what happened to you last night at Anna’s apartment complex, but I want you to know I’m just glad you’re okay. You mean so much to our family. Which is why I completely understand if you want to stay with someone else for a while.” Vera glanced pointedly at Lennox before looking at Talia again. “The only thing that matters is that you stay safe.”
Once again, Talia found herself questioning whether Vera could have been involved in Anna’s disappearance. She seemed so caring.
“Will you and Mr. Rybak be home tonight?” Talia asked.
“Unfortunately not.” Vera sighed. “Bogdan is busy with meetings across town at some fancy hotel and I want to be there to support him any way I can.”
And just like that, those vague statements put Talia firmly back on the fence when it came to Vera’s involvement in all of this. Why couldn’t people just say what they meant?
“What do you think?” Talia asked as she and Lennox drove back to his apartment a few minutes later. “Parts of me wants to think that Vera wasn’t necessarily shocked about Anna being missing but she also seemed genuinely upset when she heard that someone had tried to attack me. I don’t know what to think.”
“I agree that she knows something,” Lennox said, glancing at her. “Though I’m not sure about her being directly involved in Anna’s disappearance or that guy trying to attack you. And whatever those meetings are that Vera mentioned, I think Bogdan is involved in something that scares her. So much so that she wanted Sofia and Maria safely staying with their friends.”
Talia frowned. “Do you think they’re meeting with the same people Anna mentioned? The ones who threatened the Fredrickson family?”
“That would be my guess. The question is, what are you going to do? Are you still going to keep working for the Rybaks knowing they might be involved in whatever’s going on?”
Since she might very well be in danger if she stayed, the thought of abandoning Maria like that hurt too much to even consider quitting.
“I have to,” she said. “I can’t just leave Maria like that. And I won’t stop working for the Rybaks on nothing more than a suspicion. I owe them too much. Besides, it will give me a chance to snoop around if necessary.”
Beside her, Lennox’s mouth tightened as he exited off the freeway. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea since that might have been what got Anna in trouble.”
“I know. And if I do have to snoop around, I promise I’ll be careful,” Talia assured him. “But if Anna’s alive, this may be our only hope of finding her.”
It was obvious from his scowl that Lennox wasn’t thrilled with that, but he didn’t try to change her mind. Talia relaxed back in her seat, lips curving into a smile. Despite everything going on, spending the day with Lennox had been awesome. She couldn’t remember having so much fun with a guy. And the way he and Maria got along was simply extra.
“Are you sure it’s okay if I stay at your place again?” she asked as they turned down the road that led to his apartment. “I don’t want to be a nuisance.”
“You could never be a nuisance,” Lennox said, flashing her a grin. “And you can stay at my place as long as you want. My door is always open to you.”
They’d just walked into his apartment a few minutes later when Lennox’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen then thumbed the green button and held it to his ear. When he spoke, it was in blunt monosyllables.
“What is it?” she asked the moment he hung up.
“I’ve been called in for a mission.”
Going into the kitchen, he grabbed a key from a drawer and handed it to Talia. “Wheels up in an hour, so I have to get there ASAP. That’s to the apartment. I meant it when I said you can stay here anytime you want. All bills are on auto pay straight from my account, so you don’t have to worry about anyone bothering you for rent.”
Rent? Just how long was Lennox going to be on this mission?
“Where are you going?” Talia asked, her head spinning as he headed for his bedroom. “When will you be back?”
This was crazy. Lennox was leaving, based on a single twenty second phone call, with no prior warning or notice. And while she knew that was part and parcel of being a SEAL, at this moment, she was terrified.
“I have no idea where I’m going or when I’ll be back,” he called from the bedroom. “I’ll call you if and when I get a chance, but I could be gone for three days or three months. I might not be able to call you at all.”
Talia was still trying to process all of that when Lennox came back down the hallway, a small khaki-colored backpack over one shoulder. The first thought that popped into her head was how he could possibly manage to survive for three months on a bag that small.
“I know me leaving right now sucks, but I don’t have a choice,” Lennox said, stopping in front of her. “I’ll call Kyla on the way into the office, let her know what we learned about Vera, and that I’ll be out of pocket for a while. I have no idea who’s going on this mission with me, but Kyla has all my Teammates on speed dial. If something comes up, she can get help. So please, don’t do anything dangerous without backup. Better yet, don’t do anything dangerous at all. At least not until I get home. And if you even think you see that guy who chased you last night, run to someplace with a lot of people, call Kyla, and tell her that you need help.”
She stood there at a loss for words, her mind still not registering everything. This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to get involved with him. The thought that he could be called away on a moment’s notice had been bad enough, but the reality that he could disappear to parts unknown at any time was a nightmare come true.
Lennox rested his hands on her shoulders. “Please. I know this is difficult, confusing, and uncomfortable. Promise me that you’ll stay here for tonight. At the very least. Where I know you’ll be safe.”
She started to say no, but then realized that him asking her to stay was more about him knowing that she was safe than anything else. He was about to head into who knew what kind of danger and he was worried about her. They’d spent only one day together and yet the thought that seemed to be occupying the front of his mind was her.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Tonight at least.”
“Thank you,” he said.
For a moment, Talia thought Lennox might kiss her, but instead he wrapped her in a hug. She automatically melted into his embrace, not realizing how much she needed that.
“I have to go. Be safe,” Lennox murmured against her hair.
The door was already closing behind him before Talia even realized he was moving, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the living room, suddenly wishing Lennox had kissed her. It was crazy, especially since she barely knew him, but she missed him already.