Chapter Twenty-Seven
EVERLY
My heart was about to burst. Never in my life had I been as happy as I had been when Noah arrived back from his mission.
Watching Skylar run to him with unadulterated joy was a sight to behold.
Hearing her call him dad was beyond anything I had expected so soon.
And seeing the joy in his eyes at hearing it was something else completely.
Since neither Sky nor I had expected Noah home so soon it took us an hour to get packed up and ready to leave. Jake put Daisy down for a nap while he spoke to Noah about the mission.
Cassie made sure all our things were out of the laundry, leaving Sky and I on our own.
Finding alone time for just me and my girl had been difficult in the previous weeks.
Between her preparing for champs and the introduction of Noah and all the moving we had to do, her life was quite a whirlwind.
My main priority had been that she was safe and happy.
But before we went home, I wanted to take a few minutes of girl time.
I sat on the bed we’d been sharing and patted the spot next to me. “How are you doing, sweetheart?”
“You mean about calling Noah, Dad.” Noah was right, her smile lit up the whole room. “Or preparing for champs. Because I’m cool with both of those things. I’m just tired of moving. I wish Dad and everyone he worked with would catch the asshole who’s after you.”
I was her mom, so I couldn’t resist. “Language, Sky.” I pulled her under my arm. “I am so sorry you need to deal with this. I know it's difficult. I want him caught too. Men like that get arrogant and overconfident. He’ll slip up soon enough. We just need to be hypervigilant until then.”
She may have looked like her dad, but that nose twitch as she mulled things over was directly from me.
When she burrowed even further into my armpit, I took full advantage and held her tight.
The snuggling moments with her would become more rare as time passed and I took full advantage of the situation.
“I guess. Hopefully dad catches him before he goes on another mission.”
“Nothing else bothering you?”
Sky frowned and she looked up at me. “You sound as if something should be bothering me.”
“Aidan. He was helping you with your math. Now that your dad’s back, that will probably happen a little less.”
Jared’s little brother had been a great help since both Noah and Bex had been away. Math was not one of Sky’s strengths and he stepped in to help.
“Yeah, I think Jared had asked him to help me. I mean everyone knows that I have issues with math, it's not unrealistic to believe they had a backup plan, especially in this family.”
I smiled at the use of the word family. It wasn’t such a strange concept, and I was grateful for the people I had in my life. It made me sad that my parents couldn’t accept me the way I was. But my daughter and I were happy. Deranged madman aside, of course.
“So, there’s nothing there? Between you and Aidan, I mean.”
“Mom.” Her blush was cute as all get out. “He’s cute and he’s a brainiac with straight A’s. He’s already on the chess team and some math team that I didn’t even know existed. I cannot even multiply fractions. And most of the time I just sound stupid in front of him.”
“Oh, sweetheart. The thing you need to remember is, boys are stupid. Even brainiacs who are mathletes. Even the cute ones.” I raised a brow and smiled at her. “Sometimes, especially the cute ones.”
“Hey.” Noah’s voice rumbled behind us. “Are you saying I’m not smart or I’m not cute?”
“You’re the exception.” I smiled and winked at him.
He darted his gaze between Sky and me. “What boy are we talking about, because I am sure he’s stupid if he thinks he’s smarter than you?”
“Oh, no.” Sky held up her hands to stop the conversation. “Because you’ll get overprotective and want to beat the shit out of him when he is, in fact, smarter than me.”
“Sky, language.”
“Sky, language.”
Both Noah and I spoke at the same time. I glared at Noah as I rubbed Skylar’s arm, easing her anxiety. “Your dad will not threaten anyone you deem worthy of your attention. Not in any way.”
Noah frowned at me. “That’s not fair.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Once more I relished the ever so rare mommy-daughter hugs.
I held her tight in my arms as I patted her back. “Now if said gentleman breaks your heart, I will hand your dad the shotgun.”
Noah walked into the room and high fived me while Sky let out a loud groan.
Twenty minutes later we were all packed up and on our way home. We hadn’t been living in the house for very long before Noah’s mission. It hadn’t even cleared escrow, but the owners were happy to let us pay rent until the transfer took place.
As we pulled into the driveway I frowned at the front door. We had a mailbox, sure, but we hadn’t yet started the process of changing our address anyway. There should be no reason for the assortment of colorful envelopes and packages at the front door.
The hairs at the back of my neck were raised.
My heart pounded in my chest. Something told me I was not going to like what I would find at my front door.
Noah’s jaw ticked as his gaze slid between me and the cottage.
The wheels turned in his head. “Sky, stay in the car.” He turned to me.
“I’m guessing telling you the same thing is pointless. ”
I glared at him as I got out of the car. I stomped to the front door and inspected the two parcels and five envelopes. Each dated, one for every day that we were away from the house. Whoever the asshole was, he knew we were not home. He knew he would not get caught.
“I am so sick of this, Noah.” My voice was raised but I was beyond caring.
“He wants me, he’s going to have to come get me, because I have a fucking army behind me.
But I am guessing he knows that, which is why he’s playing these games.
” I turned to the street camera, even though it wasn’t working.
“You hear me you fucking coward, come and get me. See if you are any match for the people I have surrounding me. I am so sick of you and your fucking cowardly games.”
Noah held on to me, and I turned into his embrace. “We’ll get him, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of my head. If I hadn’t been so close to him, I may have missed what he whispered next. “That camera.”
“What?”
“No one knows that camera exists.” He turned and frowned at the camera.
“Jared looked into it. It belongs to HOA, but when the petitions went out about privacy, the project was abandoned. Not even the Salingers were aware of it until I asked Jared to look into it. All the bureaucracy complicated things but the bottom line is, it still records, and the company that installed it keeps everything, but no one actually looks at it.”
“So, I was just screaming at some HOA official, this asshole will never hear me.”
“Babe, he was never going to hear you. Unless, he installed the camera. But it was here before we moved, so I am guessing it has a record of the activity on this part of the street.”
He checked the lock and the alarm. No one had tampered with anything. “Get in the car with Sky and let me just clear the house.”
I, in turn, rolled my eyes at him. “Go do what you need to do. I’m not moving from here.”
“Fine but call Jared in the meantime. Tell him what happened.”
Noah walked back to the car and opened the trunk.
As he walked back, the hand gun at the small of his back made me pause.
I guessed that he had all sorts of weapons in the trunk of his car, and that he would want it put into the safe before anyone else got here.
After the lecture Skylar had gotten about never touching the weapons, she wouldn’t even question him.
He unlocked and deactivated the alarm. I took the time to call Jared.
He sounded out of breath and I rushed to explain what had happened. He was patient as he asked me questions. By the time Noah was back outside, I was quick to hand the phone over to him.
Noah took the phone from me. “You and Sky get inside. I’ll bring our stuff in. As soon as everything is packed away, we can call the police. Don’t touch the envelopes.”
I nodded and went to the car to fetch my daughter.
I was still angry, but with the rush of adrenaline leaving, the fear set in.
The asshole knew where I stayed. That I had moved.
And considering the envelopes had been dated since the first day we were not at home, I had to believe that he knew that we were away and that he was watching.
An hour later, my home was once again surrounded by police and staff from Salinger Security.
Someone had even brought garden chairs so they could gather around the large dining table.
The envelopes were fingerprinted. As it turned out, the police had to wait for a warrant to view the footage from the camera.
Jared looked very serious and innocent when he told them that they better get on that before the footage was deleted.
He then smiled at Noah and went back to his laptop.
Seriously, he brought his laptop and no one found that suspicious.
At least, no one verbalized that it was suspicious.
At least Sky and I were not asked to leave our home again. It was established that wherever we went, the stalker would know. We had assumed that he had been monitoring me for a while.
Once the police officers left, Jared brought up the footage. It wasn’t long before he had fast forwarded to the point where a delivery guy had delivered the first envelope. Then twenty-four hours later the second one. And so on, and so on.
“You know.” Jared looked between Nick and Noah. “He doesn’t know that we’re back early.”
A voice rang out from his laptop. “Exactly, you guys have the advantage.”
Tex. I’d heard of the man and his involvement in rescuing my friends. Hopefully he could help now.
“What are you two thinking?” Noah’s voice had a hard edge to it.
“Let him come to you.”