Chapter 24 #2
My stomach tightened. Noah Tremblay didn’t jog anywhere from here.
He didn’t stumble onto our property by accident.
He showed up with a purpose. And he left the second he knew the wrong Thorne had noticed him.
I didn’t believe in coincidences anymore.
And neither did Becket. Harmony stepped inside the cabin the moment I unlocked the door, but she did not move far.
She hovered near the small table with her arms wrapped around herself.
I closed the door behind us, my pulse still hammering from the sight of Tremblay on our property.
Becket stayed outside a moment longer. He swept the tree line with the same focused attention our father taught us.
When he finally stepped in, he shut the door and leaned his back against it, as if he were bracing for another blow.
“That was not nothing,” he said quietly.
“No,” I answered. “He was watching us.”
Harmony flinched.
I crossed the room and let my hand glide gently down her arm. “Sunshine, look at me.”
When her eyes lifted, the fear I found there cut straight through me. It was not loud or frantic. It was quiet and settled, the kind that had learned how to live inside someone for years. Seeing it in her made something in my chest pull taut.
Becket pushed off the door. “You want to tell us what is going on? Because Dad is already tense with the break-ins, and now Tremblay is wandering around areas he has no business being in.”
Harmony hesitated for only a moment before nodding. “I’ll tell you everything.”
She sat down. I sat across from her. Becket took the chair beside me. The heater hummed softly, and the orchard wind pressed against the windows like it was trying to find a way in.
“I didn’t just walk away from my father,” Harmony said. “I ran. And he hasn’t let that go.”
She explained the files. The encryption. The quiet accounts. The favors she never agreed to but became responsible for anyway. She spoke about her mother, Rosalie, in a voice that wavered at first and then steadied as if she had tapped into something deep inside herself.
“She kept me safe without letting me know she was doing it,” Harmony whispered. “And the night she died; she was not the intended target.”
My hand reached for hers before I even realized I had moved.
Becket swore under his breath. “One of Marcel’s enemies?”
“One of them,” Harmony said. “There were many.”
“My father used a fixer. His alias was Vesper. He handled the digital operations for him until he didn’t.”
Becket’s brow tightened. “What are you saying, Harmony?”
“I took over that alias. My father left me no choice when he took him out. I was the only one qualified. The only one he could trust. I did not understand who the messages were meant for until much later.”
A faint shiver moved through her.
“I kept copies. Quietly. Every thread and every encrypted chain. It was my insurance. I thought no one knew except the police when I turned everything over for the case.”
“And now someone wants those files,” I said.
Harmony nodded. “That’s the only thing I can think of. I’ve been getting encrypted messages from someone who knows.”
“Harmony, why didn’t you say anything?” I asked before I could hold myself back.
She gave me a knowing look. “Because I didn’t want you to know what I had done. I wanted to protect your family from this mess, because I was embarrassed. Because I thought, somehow, I could handle it and it would go away.”
I let out a shaky breath, feeling bad for snapping at her like that. Of course she was trying to look out for us.
“You did what you had to do, you shouldn’t feel ashamed of that,” I said.
“He’s right,” Becket agreed.
“Wow, that coming from a cop,” Harmony joked and Becket gave her a crooked grin. “There’s always gray areas in life.” My brother shrugged.
“It’s not Olivier. He isn’t skilled enough for that encryption. And Nico wouldn’t hide behind screens.”
Becket nodded. “Agreed.”
Harmony swallowed. “Vesper was deliberate and quiet. He rarely made mistakes. And if he did, I think they were intentional.”
“And he might be back,” I said.
“Not the original Vesper. Someone who took over his alias,” she said.
The heater clicked and the air inside the cabin seemed to grow heavier.
Becket took out his phone and typed quickly. “I will run that alias when I get back to the station, although Montreal kept everything locked down during Marcel’s trial. I’m not sure anything will even show up.”
“Do you think Vesper knows Harmony turned evidence against Marcel?” I asked.
Becket didn’t answer right away, and the silence told me everything I needed to know.
Harmony’s breath wavered. The heater dipped low for a moment and then rose again.
Becket narrowed his eyes. “Old wiring, maybe.”
“Maybe,” I said.
Harmony shook her head. “No. When the encrypted messages came through the other day, the power flickered exactly like this.”
Becket stood. “I’m checking outside again.”
He stepped out with his hand near his holster, ready but not raised.
Harmony rubbed her arms. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want any of this to touch you.”
“I already told you, I’m in this with you.”
She released a fragile breath.
“And I’m not leaving,” I added just for confirmation.
She looked at me with the expression of someone who was not used to being believed, and it settled something inside me that had been restless since the day she returned. Becket came back a moment later with tension in his jaw. “Everything looks okay out there.”
“I found the camera earlier,” I said and took it out of my pocket and passed it to my brother.
“I’ll add it to the evidence bag,” he said. “You’re not staying here tonight,” Becket said. “Either of you.”
“I’m not taking her to the main house. Too many people. Whatever this is, I don’t want the rest of our family involved,” I said to Becket.
Becket nodded. “Then we bring security here. I’ll place a cruiser at the orchard entrance. And I’ll come around after my shift.”
Harmony swallowed. “Becket, thank you.”
For a moment his expression softened. “You’re family. Whether you realize it yet or not.”
After he left, the cabin grew quiet again.
Harmony looked exhausted in a way that went beyond physical strain. It was as if the weight she had carried alone for years was finally showing itself.
I sat beside her and opened my arms. “Come here.”
She hesitated for only a second before leaning into me. Her head settled against my shoulder like it belonged there. For a few minutes, we simply breathed together. I tried to calm my own racing thoughts, but the more I held her, the more determined I became.
“Sunshine,” I murmured. “Did Tremblay ever meet your father, or anyone connected to him?”
“No,” she said. “He was never part of that world.”
“But he works for the Laurentian Community Trust,” I said. “And they handle funding for half the counties around here. Marcel mentioned once the Trust brushed too close to questionable financial networks. Nothing he could prove, but enough to raise suspicion.”
Harmony stiffened. “Eric, why would he mention that?”
“Only in passing,” I said. “It was years ago. And he kept it off the record.”
Harmony went still for a moment.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“My mom used to say Marcel made enemies in every circle he touched, even outside the criminal world,” she whispered. “She said one day they would turn on him. The sheriff’s file said she must have learned something she was never meant to hear,” she said, referring to her mom.
That made a cold shiver run down my spine because if Marcel was responsible for killing the mother of his children, then he had no rules to live by at all.
“Tremblay is a techy kind of guy. I wonder what he would know,” I stated. “Problem is, asking any questions might cause him to run or who knows what else. We don’t want to tip off the wrong people with any information we may have. Even if it isn’t much.”
Her voice grew smaller. “What if whoever this Vesper is knows something about my mom’s death?” She blinked. “It’s foolish of me to think that.”
“I know what it feels like to live with unanswered questions, it isn’t foolish at all. You never got closure.” I squeezed her hand.
Rosalie had clearly been a woman who had been trying to protect her daughter, without letting Harmony know how much danger surrounded them. A woman who died in a car that had been tampered with. A cold ache spread through my chest.
“I will not let whoever this Vesper is near you,” I said. And for the first time, I realized how absolute the promise felt.
Outside, the crunch of tires faded as Becket’s truck headed down the orchard road. Another engine idled farther away. The sound was too quiet and too patient. My entire body stilled.
Harmony’s eyes met mine. “You heard that too?”
I nodded.
Footsteps followed. Slow. Careful. Deliberate. Then a voice called out.
“Eric, are you out here?”
Asher.
I opened the cabin door. “What are you doing out here?”
“I should be asking you that question,” he said, walking up to the door of the cabin. “Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you guys were staying out here too.”
Relief hit me with an edge of irritation I could not quite shake.
Harmony exhaled shakily. “You scared the living daylights out of me,” she said to my brother.
“He scares everyone,” I muttered.
“Sorry, I stay in the cabin two doors over, Dad was looking for you. You didn’t answer your phone, so he tried the orchard walkie-talkies and you didn’t answer there either.
” He paused and watched us carefully. “You guys good? You seem a little edgy,” he asked as his gaze flicked between Harmony and me.
“Just fantastic,” I said.
“Dad told me to check the cabins. Didn’t mean to intrude.”
That was Asher. Half drifter, half wild card, and entirely more loyal than he wanted anyone to realize. He studied Harmony with a look that told me he sensed more danger than we had admitted.
“You want something to do?” I asked him.
He frowned. “Maybe.”
“Watch the road.”
He blinked. “Why?”
“Because someone has been on this property who shouldn’t be here. Seems Harmony has a stalker and we don’t know who it is. But they are trying to send her a message.”
His posture sharpened instantly. Asher could drift through life like nothing mattered, but the moment a threat appeared, he always snapped to attention. He gave a small nod and headed toward the orchard entrance.
Harmony watched him go. “He doesn’t even know what’s happening. Maybe we should tell him more, so he knows what he’s dealing with.”
“No, for now we keep things between those of us who need to know. Asher is a competitive MMA fighter. Whoever tries to get past him won’t,” I said. “Besides, he’d do anything for those we care about.”
“Am I one of those people?” she asked with such hope in her green eyes, it sucked my breath.
“What do you think, Sunshine?”
Her breath trembled and warmth spread through my chest, cutting through the cold coil of fear. Outside, Asher moved steadily down the gravel path with his shoulders squared and his steps deliberate. There was always more to him than he ever allowed anyone to see. He would get his story one day.
But this moment belonged to Harmony and me, and the danger surrounding us was no longer circling at a distance. It was here.