23. Chapter 23
Chapter 23
I’m going to start yelling plot twist every time something goes wrong in my life.
Magnolia stumbled into the safe house kitchen, still exhausted after her hours-long nap, but she’d forced herself to get up. She wanted to eat something, check on Lucas—who’d surprised her by wanting to stay at her parents again—and then catch up with some emails at work and make sure everyone knew she was okay. Maybe she’d wait for the emails tomorrow, she thought, scrubbing a hand over her face. It was nine o’clock and she could get some more sleep after food.
As she rummaged in the fridge, Ezra and Berlin stepped into the kitchen.
“Hey,” she murmured, smiling at both of them.
“Sit, I’ll get you something.” He expertly moved her out of the way and she was too tired to argue.
And why would she? She was exhausted. If he wanted to feed her, she was so okay with that. “Do you have anything in the Italian family with lots of carbs and red sauce?”
He snickered slightly. “Yeah, but it’s all old. I’m going to order you something.”
Berlin cleared her throat loudly. “I’m hungry too.”
Ezra looked up, sighed. “When are you not?”
She cleared her throat again, her expression pointed .
“Fine, when are you not, oh wise one ?”
Magnolia blinked, looked between the two of them. “What’s happening right now?”
“He lost a bet, said I couldn’t hack…ah, said I couldn’t do something, and I did. And now he has to call me ‘oh wise one’ at least seven times in a row, in front of other people.”
Magnolia snickered. “He really should have known better.”
Berlin grinned. “I knew I liked you.”
Magnolia glanced down at her phone as it buzzed, scanning another email from one of her employees. As she started to exit her email app, a new message popped up.
From an unknown sender with the message Too Bad . Even before she clicked on it, her stomach tightened.
Too bad you survived. Next time you won’t be so lucky. Attached was a picture of her being rolled out on a gurney (because Ezra had insisted) with an X over her face.
Her phone clattered to the countertop, her fingers icy and numb.
“What…” Berlin snatched up her phone, cursed, then raced from the room.
“What just happened?” Ezra demanded.
“Someone emailed me a threat and a picture of me being rolled out of my office today. Whoever wants to harm me was watching and waiting for the fallout. I want to go pick up Lucas now,” she blurted, shoving her stool back.
“We will,” he murmured, rounding the island and pulling her into a tight embrace.
She buried her face against his neck, dug her fingers into his back and held tight. “You think Berlin will find him?” she mumbled against his face.
“If anyone can, it’s her. Come on.” He eased back, but didn’t remove his hand from the small of her back.
She savored the feel of his fingers against her body, even with her sweater. She didn’t care if they were just friends now—he grounded her, and more than anything, she needed that right now .
As they headed for the garage, he glanced at his cell phone, then gave her a look she couldn’t read.
“Oh god, what is it? Did she find him?”
“Your mom texted your phone. Berlin told me to tell you…she says to get over there right now and to hurry. No one’s hurt,” he added.
Okay, if no one was hurt, she could deal with this. “Let’s go.”
Luckily they didn’t have far to go, but Magnolia was crawling out of her skin the entire short drive. She’d texted Berlin back, told her to text her mom that she was on the way. She’d really wanted to call Berlin and ask for an update but knew she’d just slow the woman down.
As Ezra pulled into the driveway, she was surprised to find Lucas already there, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the back of the SUV Ezra had loaned to him. They hadn’t wanted him driving his Jeep around. He straightened when Ezra’s headlights flashed over him and Magnolia was out of her seat before he’d even turned off the ignition.
“Are you okay?” She raced at Lucas, looking for any visible signs of injury.
“I’m fine, Mom.” He just sounded frustrated and a hint of anger was in his amber-colored eyes. In that moment she could see more of Ezra in him, the man he was becoming.
“What happened?”
“I—”
The front door opened and her father stalked out, her mother behind him. All the Christmas lights were on, but the cheery backdrop was a sharp contrast to the dark expression on her dad’s face. Her mom just looked…sad.
Ugh. What the hell was going on?
“I caught Lucas trying to sneak out,” her father ground out as he approached. Even though it was later, he was wearing slacks and a polo shirt.
She glanced at Lucas, and to her surprise, her son stuck his chin out defiantly. But he didn’t respond one way or another.
Sighing, she squeezed his arm. Her kid had been through a lot today and shown what an incredible person he was by standing up for someone who couldn’t stand up for themselves. It would have been easier for him to say nothing, but instead he’d put himself out there. “You’re coming with me. Will you go pack all your stuff?”
“I’ve already packed. My bag’s in the SUV,” he murmured.
“Okay, I love you and we’ll worry about whatever this is later.”
“Are you just going to let him get away with this?” her father demanded, stalking toward them.
Magnolia had never seen him like this, so angry. She knew that anger and fear came from the same place, but at this moment she didn’t care. Because she could not deal with one more thing today. “Get in the SUV and just wait,” she murmured. “You’ll follow us.”
“I’m not going to deal with this right now, Dad. Lucas is coming with us and we’ll talk about this later.” She didn’t miss how Ezra moved up beside her, took a little step forward so he was technically in front of her.
Protecting her.
And her heart simply squeezed. He’d always been like that.
“Lucas has never been so disrespectful before. And now that man is back in his life, he’s acting out, sneaking out!”
Oh, no. She reached out, placed a hand on Ezra’s forearm when she felt him tense. “Dad, Lucas is a great kid. He’s understandably upset right now, and no, I have no idea why he was sneaking out. I’ll talk to him later since I’m his mother. Considering he’s a straight-A student who’s never given me a hint of trouble, a kid who has more courage than I did at his age, I’m going to wait to rush to judgment. And you have absolutely no right to put any of this on Ezra, a man you literally stole from.”
Her father made a scoffing sound.
“You stole time from him! You stole his time as a father! You stole from me,” she shouted again, feeling her own anger rise up in a tidal wave that had a red haze over her vision. Looked like keeping all that stuff buried wasn’t healthy. She’d be sure to tell her therapist how right she was later. “I’ll never know what we could have had and neither will he. And Lucas will never know what it was like to have Ezra as a father during his most formative years. So you don’t get to say one damn word about how Lucas is acting.” She looked at her mom, who had tears in her eyes.
And right now that was her only sadness, that her mom was stuck in the middle.
“I love you, Mom. I’ll text you when we get back to the safe house. Unless you want to come with us?”
Her mom shook her head, but then her father opened his mouth to say something. She’d never know what because Ezra stalked forward, nearly stepping completely in front of her.
“Don’t.” There was a lot of anger in Ezra’s voice as he zeroed in on her father. It was tempered, but it was there, a low growl. “Whatever you’re going to say to her, don’t. Most people don’t like to think they’re the villain in their own story, but right now you should do some soul-searching before you say something you’ll never be able to take back.” Then he turned back to Lucas, who hadn’t gotten in his vehicle and instead stood and watched everything with wide eyes. “Your mom will be driving you back and I’ll follow you both.”
Nodding, Lucas handed Magnolia the keys and she got into the driver’s seat, still shaking, but she managed to pull it together and reverse as soon as Ezra did.
“I should have insisted you come to the safe house with me, I’m sorry,” she said as she pulled onto the familiar street of the home she’d grown up in. Of the one Lucas had spent his first five years in. God, what would their life have looked like if her father hadn’t mucked everything up?
“Don’t apologize, Mom. I wanted to stay with Nana. And I kind of thought you and Ezra might want some alone time.”
She shot him a surprised glance, but quickly looked back at the road, cleared her throat. “Ah, we’re not in the safe house alone. A handful of Ezra’s friends, coworkers I guess you could say, are there too. And we’re not… We’re friends.”
“Whatever you say,” he murmured. “And I’m sorry for sneaking out. I’ve been keeping something from you. Not because I didn’t trust your reaction but…I don’t know. I have a girlfriend and she was performing at a local theater tonight. I wanted to catch her show, but with everything going on, I figured you’d say no.”
“Because it’s not safe. Someone poisoned me today.” And had sent her a nasty follow-up message.
He shoved out a breath. “I know, I just wanted to see her.”
Oh god, he sounded miserable. “Okay, well, you’re not in trouble.” Maybe that was crappy parenting, but she was going with her instincts. “But I need you to understand how serious this threat is. I’m questioning myself right now, thinking we should get out of the city, but…” She shook her head as she pulled up to a red light. “For the time being, the safe house is probably the most secure place we could be. Other than your grandparents’,” she muttered even as she tried to shove her anger back down. “Though considering you were sneaking out, maybe it’s not so secure.”
“One of the sensors on the window needs a new battery. I, uh, told Nana to just silence that sensor until I replaced it. I also might have taken the battery out.”
“Oh, Lucas.” She shouldn’t laugh, she shouldn’t . But a snicker bubbled up and it turned into an almost maniacal laugh. “It’s not funny, I’ve just had a very long day and I’ve clearly lost my mind.”
“It was the second floor,” he added. “I figured no one was breaking in that high. A thief would try one of the lower ones if they were going to try anything. I didn’t plan on Grandpa being outside smoking a cigar.” He paused. “I’ve never seen you yell at him like that.”
“I’ve never yelled at him before.” What a mess.
“I’m glad you said all that to him.”
She sighed, turned on her blinker at the stop sign. People were out looking at Christmas lights and slowing them down when she just wanted to get back to the safe house. “I probably shouldn’t have shouted at him.”
“He deserved it. And you were right, he did steal, from all of us. And I don’t think he expected, like, the fallout, or whatever. I bet he thought he was doing the right thing, but it’s still wrong and he shouldn’t just get to move on like he did nothing wrong.”
“Very true. I just hate that Nana is caught in the middle. ”
“Yeah, me too,” he muttered. Then his eyes lit up as she pulled down the driveway of the big home. “This place is sweet.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. Have you eaten yet?”
“A while ago, but I could definitely eat again.”
She continued down the driveway, pulling around to the back where there was a whole area for parking out of sight from the street. “So, this girlfriend…”
Lucas cleared his throat and shrugged. “Her name’s Emma. I met her at the community center. She goes to a different school. She’s a senior and doing dual enrollment with the community college. She’s really into theater and so freaking smart.”
“A senior, huh? An older woman.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Oh my god, Mom !” He looked at her with horror. “I’m almost seventeen. And she’s just seventeen.”
And there was the kid she knew. She grinned, the weight that had been pressing on her chest almost all day easing up just a fraction. “I’m just messing with you. Mostly. Because I’m definitely going to want to meet her. When you’re ready,” she added when he gave her that look again. “But sooner than later.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“And no more sneaking out.”
“Moooom.” Again with the long, drawn-out word.
Ezra was at her door, opening it and effectively cutting off the girlfriend conversation. But that was okay. She slid out and wrapped her arms around him. She knew she’d surprised him, could feel it in his tentative grip, but she didn’t care as she buried her face against his chest. “I just needed a hug.” Her words were smothered.
But he heard her because he said, “Anytime you want.”
Suddenly she thought of something and jerked her head up. “Where’s Scarlett? I thought she was watching him.”
“She was taking a dinner break,” Ezra murmured. “Which your mom knew about so I’m guessing Lucas did too.” He shot a glance over as Lucas rounded the vehicle.
“Ah…yeah. I knew my window was small and I’d planned to leave my phone at the house,” he muttered. “So you guys wouldn’t know I was gone. I figured if she saw me sneaking back in, I’d just take my punishment.”
Magnolia blinked at her son. “I’m a little worried that you’ve thought this out so well.”
Lucas lifted a shoulder, his expression sheepish. “Can we grab some food and talk about my punishment later? I’m starving.”
Of course he was. “I already told you I’m not punishing you. I figure your good deeds from today and the crap show going on right now evens everything out,” she murmured as they followed Ezra to the back entrance of the house. “You’re getting this one on the house.”
“I’ll take it.”
Ezra simply shook his head as he ushered them into the kitchen.
Berlin was waiting for them, her expression dark. “I found the asshole who sent that message.”