Chapter 5
Blake watched Paradise’s earlier ebullience evaporate, and her efforts to interact with the boys over pizza felt forced and
artificial. Her amber eyes held more worry than she wanted to admit. They played Uno after eating, and she brought a bowl
of buttered popcorn into the living room.
He started Moana. “We’re about to watch this for the twenty-two thousandth time.”
“You’re exaggerating.” Levi liked to use new words.
“Prove it,” Blake said. “I’m sure it’s only a slight exaggeration.”
Levi threw a pillow at him. “I don’t want to count that high.”
Paradise set the big bowl down on the coffee table and handed each boy a smaller one. “Where did you say your mom was tonight?”
Blake sent her a questioning glance. He’d already told her Mom was out on a date with Frank Ellis, a local developer she’d
dated in high school eons ago. He was a widower, and they’d rekindled their romance at their high school reunion a few weeks
ago. “She and Frank were going to a new end-of-the-world film.” He’d withheld that detail.
One of her eyebrows winged up. “Your mom’s idea or Frank’s?”
“Definitely Mom’s. She loves apocalyptic films. Dystopian ones too. This one is right up her alley with an EMP bomb that takes
out the grid.”
The glint in those gorgeous eyes of hers told him he’d gotten through whatever worry she’d been battling. “Want to take me
to one?”
“You like them too?”
“No, but I wanted to see how far you’d be willing to go to make me happy.” She leaned down and kissed him.
He took her hand and pulled her onto his lap. “If you give me another buttery kiss, I’d even take you to a chick flick. Or
a zombie movie. You like zombies, don’t you?” She’d once told him she liked zombie films because she knew monsters existed
in real people and they felt true to her.
“I watched every episode of The Walking Dead. Twice, in fact.” She leaned in for another kiss.
He took his time with the kiss so she knew he was serious, and when he let her go, her cheeks were pink and she was fully
with him with no hint of worry in those amber eyes. Luckily the boys were engrossed with the movie.
He toyed with a stray curl. “Something’s been bugging you ever since I got back with the boys. Are you sure you want them
to have a sleepover?”
Her smile faded, and she looked away. “I’m sure. Um, do you remember how much I liked The Phantom of the Opera?”
“How could I forget? I’m sure we watched it a thousand times plus one.”
“You’re on a roll with the hyperbole. It wasn’t that many.”
“Close.” He studied her shuttered expression. “That so-called prank call bothered you more than you were letting on, didn’t
it?”
“I was trying to remember if anyone else in my class liked it. I mean, Abby knew I was obsessed, but I’m not sure if anyone else did.”
“You never shared personal details with friends much, so I doubt if you told anyone about it. And I wasn’t about to admit
I’d watched it with my girlfriend nearly every night. That was back when we were into Die Hard and action movies. Do you suspect someone you know was the caller?”
She shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it in a long time, and when I heard ‘The Music of the Night,’ it brought back a lot
of memories, that’s all.”
She didn’t fool him—that wasn’t all—but if there was one thing he knew about this woman he loved with everything in him, it
was that she’d tell him when she was good and ready.
She escaped from his lap and moved off toward the kitchen. “I made strawberry lemonade for the boys. I’ll get it.” She called
back over her shoulder, “I left my phone on the dresser in my bedroom. Could you grab it for me?”
“Sure.” Blake ruffled Isaac’s hair as he moved toward the bedroom. Her personal space was already neat and put together. She’d
even set out a picture of all of them mugging it up in front of their one and only sloth. He smiled and touched her smiling
lips in the picture on her dresser. With every day he was more and more thankful she was back in his life.
He walked around the bedroom but didn’t see her phone. Her scent lingered in the room. He started toward the door to tell
her he couldn’t find it when he heard music playing. He followed the sound to her closet and slid open the door. He spotted
the phone on the floor of the empty space. It was lit up, and it only took him a few seconds to recognize a tune from The Phantom of the Opera: “Angel of Music.” He scooped up the phone and stared at the name on the screen. Phantom. Hadn’t it read Unknown before?
Frowning, he carried the phone back to the living room. The boys were drinking their lemonade, and he found her humming in
the kitchen. She was cutting cheese squares and placing them beside pepperoni and crackers on a plate. “I found your phone.
You missed another phone call.”
She eyed his frown and took the phone. She tensed when she touched the missed call list. “I—I have no idea who that is.”
“Somehow he made ‘Angel of Music’ play as it rang. He’s got some skills. I don’t like it.”
Turning away, she dropped the phone on the coffee table. “Thanks for finding it.”
“I want you to stay with us at The Sanctuary.”
Paradise fisted her hands at her sides. “You’re smothering me, Blake. I’ve done fine running my own life for the past fifteen
years.” He paled at her pointed reminder of how he hadn’t been there for her, but she stood her ground. No one was going to
run her off this place she’d claimed as her own. “If I ever expect to be part of the community again, this is where I make
my stand.”
His nostrils flared, and a frown settled on his brow. “You forget what we’ve just been through, and it doesn’t all seem to
be over. Doesn’t this feel as ominous to you as it does to me?”
She lifted her chin. “I think it’s a prank.” She wasn’t about to tell him about the note in her bedroom. He’d throw her over
his shoulder and carry her down to the truck. Someone wanted to scare her away, and she refused to give in to the fear shuddering
down her spine.
“What could be the reason and who would do it? What would be the point?”
“Who knows why anyone pulls harmless pranks? I’m right in the middle of downtown Nova Cambridge. I don’t think I’m in danger
here.”
The lines on his face smoothed. “I don’t want to risk you in any way. I realize I can be overly protective, but I’m working
on it.” He sighed. “You’re really not worried?”
Instead of telling a blatant lie, she shrugged. “We risk our lives every day just getting in a car. I don’t want to live in
fear. I understand your concern about the boys though, and I share that. If you want to take them home tonight, I understand.”
He smiled, but worry still lurked behind his direct gaze. “I’m camping out on the sofa. The boys can be a handful by themselves,
and I’ll be here to help out. I’m worried about leaving you here alone.”
She was worried, too, but Blake had installed a security system with cameras. With pepper spray in her bedside drawer, she’d
be prepared. Wait, the security cameras. She could check those later and see who had entered her building to leave the note. Once she made sure Blake was asleep.
Her phone sounded, and she tensed until she realized it was the DNA center she’d contacted about the missing results. She
turned her back to Blake while she answered it. “Paradise Alden.”
“Hi, Ms. Alden. This is Chad calling back about your DNA results.”
His tentative tone made her straighten. “Hi, Chad. Did you find the report?”
“I’m sorry to say that it seems to be completely gone. I called the lab, and they find no record your samples were ever received.”
“But I got an email when the lab got them. And I received that other email saying the results were available. So that makes no sense.”
“I agree. And after extensive digging, I have no answers for you other than there was some kind of glitch. Could you please
repeat the test and send it in? We’ll refund your money and run the new tests for free.”
She had no choice if she wanted to know more about her missing brother. “I’ll pick up another test.”
“I’ve already had one sent out, and it should be in your mailbox tomorrow. It’s marked high priority, so we should have a
quick turnaround with special care given to the final results. I’m sorry this happened, Ms. Alden, and we want to make it
right.”
“I appreciate that.” They exchanged platitudes and goodbyes before she hung up and turned back to Blake. “You probably gathered
the DNA results are still missing.”
Did someone want to block her efforts to find her brother? And would that same person be trying to scare her into leaving?