Chapter 33 Eredine
EREDINE
The few days since the wedding and Brodan’s collapse had been a whirlwind of Adair family activity.
While I got back to work at the estate, Arran was rushed off his feet at work with tourists piling into the Gloaming during the day and work moving toward completion in the guest rooms. We’d barely gotten an hour or two together at night.
Brodan flew back to Vancouver for the movie he was shooting, but Arran told me that Lachlan offered Walker, Brodan’s longtime bodyguard, who was staying at the estate with Brodan’s private security team, a bonus for keeping Lachlan informed of Brodan’s well-being.
Walker had refused the money, shocking in itself, but he’d promised Lachlan he’d look out for their brother.
Arran told me about the conversation in the hospital room and how Lachlan had fired Brodan’s manager and temporarily taken over managing Brodan’s career.
I knew Brodan well enough to know that he would have put up more of a fight if he hadn’t been amenable to Lachlan managing him.
Which told me, beneath his stoic utterances of “I’m fine” and his distant behavior, he still needed and wanted his family around.
Lachlan pulled Brodan out of unsuitable projects and cleared his schedule after the movie in Canada.
He was supposed to do a press tour for a big movie coming up, but Lachlan was planning to cancel that too.
He already had Brodan’s flight booked to return to Scotland in six weeks, once shooting finished.
I personally thought it was too high-handed of him, considering Brodan was a grown man, but Arran seemed on board with the plan to force his brother to take a break in Ardnoch. Which told me he was really worried about Brodan.
As for the rest of the Adairs, well, I hadn’t seen and barely heard from Arro and Mac, who had shacked up in their bungalow for a little mini honeymoon. Regan and Thane were as busy as ever with the kids, and Regan was helping Robyn design the nursery.
Everything was somewhat back to normal, which was probably why I’d forgotten about the strange emails Arran had been receiving. And why, when I returned home from work the following Tuesday evening, that the vase of vibrant flowers sitting at my front door didn’t register as anything ominous.
I grinned as I walked up the porch, thinking Arran one of the most romantic men I’d ever met. Squatting, I breathed in the scent of the gorgeous, long-stemmed red roses and plucked the card from their midst.
Cold nausea prickled over me as I read the typed words on the card.
You didn’t think I’d forget about you, did you? I never forget what’s mine. See you soon.
Arran’s emails immediately came to mind. I dropped the card like it might be covered in poison and ran back to my car. Locking myself inside it, I fumbled for my cell, adrenaline shaking my hands as I pressed speed dial.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” I gasped as the line rang out.
Then click. “Gorgeous, can I call you back—”
“Someone left flowers on my porch with a creepy card in it.”
“Where are you?” Arran barked.
“In my car, in my driveway. My doors are locked.”
“Get out of there now. Drive toward the village. We’ll meet in the middle.”
Thirty minutes later, we were back at my lodge. Arran had checked every inch of the place, and now we were scrolling through CCTV footage.
We watched as a car pulled up to my house around midday and a woman got out. She took the vase of flowers out from the back and walked to the porch. Her face was clear as she knocked on my door.
“That’s Beth.” She owned Bethany’s Flower Pot, the florist situated on a lane off Castle Street.
“We’ll need to call her and see if she can give us any information,” Arran said, his features strained with worry as he turned to me. “I need to tell you something.”
I nodded, not liking his tone.
“I got an email. On Saturday night while Brodan was in the hospital.”
I tensed. “A creepy email?”
“Aye. But this time it mentioned you by name.” He pulled out his cell, tapped the screen a few times, and then held up the email. I read it, the earlier nausea returning.
Looking up from the email to Arran’s face, indignation flooded me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to. I just … I wanted to wait until Nylah found something. She’s going to trace it for us, but she’s in the middle of something for another client.
But when Lachlan gets here, I’ll ask him to pressure her to deliver.
Now that”—he scowled at the bouquet on my dining table—“things have escalated.”
Arran had called Lachlan and Mac, who were on their way right now. But I didn’t care about that at the moment. I cared Arran had kept this from me. “You should have told me.”
“I was going to. I was never keeping it from you.”
“You should have told me when you got it.”
“I didn’t want to pile it on. We’d had a crap night with Brodan, and I thought if I showed you the email, you’d freak out, and I didn’t want that for you.”
And while I understood where he was coming from, I needed him to understand something.
“Now that we’re in a relationship, I know things are different between us and that you want to protect me from anything hurtful, just as I want to protect you.
But you have never treated me like I’m not strong enough to handle the truth, and I really don’t want you to start now.
Do you know the reason I let you bulldoze your way into my life within weeks compared to the years it took Arro and the girls? ”
“Bulldoze?” He frowned.
I smirked. “Yes, bulldoze. I let you in faster than anyone. Partly because of this amazing connection between us, but mostly, at the time, because you treated me like I wasn’t a delicate little flower everyone had to tiptoe around.
You made me feel seen in a way I hadn’t for a long time.
You didn’t keep anything from me. You were always honest. I need that from you, Arran. ”
“You have that from me.” He held me by the arms and dipped his head to look deeply into my eyes. “I will never keep anything from you again.”
Hearing the sincerity in his voice, I nodded, and he sagged with relief, pulling me into his arms where he held me while we quietly pondered what this new threat could mean.
Not long later, after a call to Beth, who told us the flower order was made online but that she couldn’t give out details unless the police were involved, Lachlan and Mac arrived.
They were grim-faced as they walked into my lodge, and I was engulfed in one hug after the other, my promises that I was doing okay seeming to fall on deaf ears. Yes, I was freaked. Of course, I was. But I was determined to remain calm while we figured this out.
After they studied the card and then shared a look, Lachlan turned to us.
“Nylah contacted me this morning. She discovered a video of you and Eredine on a social media platform. Nylah’s software program only detects keywords, and so she does a more complex check herself once a month.
The video was posted by that annoying fucking journalist who was hanging around Ardnoch this summer.
It’s a montage of you and Ery kissing, walking together, and talking on Castle Street.
She named you both in the actual video. Nylah has deleted it, but she said it was up for two weeks before she found it, and it had over half a million views.
I was going to come and tell you tonight, but then this … ” He gestured to the flowers.
And there went my calm.
Full-on panic threatened to take me out. Buzzing sounded in my ears as I stumbled away from them, trying to catch my breath.
“Ery?” Arran touched me, but I jerked away, feeling claustrophobic.
The flowers and the card took on a whole new meaning now.
He’d sent flowers and gifts and creepy cards to Kia before—
“It’s him.” I turned to glare at Lachlan. “It’s Ezra, isn’t it?”
Lachlan held up his hands, palms outward, as he walked toward me, as if approaching a frightened animal.
“The first thing I did was check his whereabouts, and he’s in Washington.
I didn’t want to mention this, but I’ve been trying to dig up as much dirt on this guy as possible over the years.
It hasn’t been easy, but he’s hurt a lot of women, Ery.
The evidence is mounting, and I hope that soon we’ll have enough witness accounts to go after him. ”
“You said you wouldn’t dig!” I cried, not reassured at all. “You’ll bring him here!”
“He doesn’t know it’s me. I’ve hired private detectives who are very discreet and good at what they do. This isn’t something I went into lightly. And it’s taken me a long time to get close to where we are right now.”
“Why didn’t you tell her this? Or me? I asked you directly, and you lied,” Arran said in a quiet manner that sent a chill down my spine. He looked at Lachlan like he wanted to rip off his head.
“I lied because I was worried you’d tell Ery, and I didn’t want her to panic or get her hopes up.”
“She’s not made of glass, Lachlan. She can handle knowing the truth. You shouldn’t have kept this from her.”
Mac joined the fray. “This isn’t likely to be Ezra.
Arran has been receiving these odd emails for years, and this is the only time Ery has been mentioned in them.
It’s rational to assume whoever is sending the emails saw the video online and is using Ery to scare Arran. That’s where our focus should be.”
His words penetrated, and I forced myself to process what Mac was saying. He was probably right. Everything added up to this being the person harassing Arran. Yet I was still so pissed at Lachlan.
“Fine.” I clenched my fists. “We’ll focus on that. But, Lachlan …”
He gave me a tender, worried look.
Yet I had to say this.
“I am more than grateful for what you’ve done for me—”
“Ery—”
“No, let me finish.” I held his gaze. “Nothing you ever do will take away that gratitude. But you have to stop treating me like I’m a delicate flower that will break in half at the slightest breeze.
I’m a grown woman. Your brothers and sister are grown-ups too.
And while I think we will all always need you, you are not solely responsible for fixing our problems. I’m not fragile, and they’re no longer kids who need a parent.
It doesn’t have to be all on you. Let us be a team now.
Keep us in the loop. Make decisions with us, not for us. Okay?”
Lachlan stared at me, stunned.
After a moment of awkward silence as he looked to Arran and over his shoulder at Mac, Lachlan turned back to me and nodded slowly. “All right.”