Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
VALEN
I’m six letters into year four when the front door slams open and chaos enters, bringing with it an early morning chill.
Grant, Sterling, and Chase all try to fit through the doorway at once, which results in Chase being shoved face-first into the doorframe while Sterling and Grant muscle past him.
“Where is she?” Grant demands, his usual corporate polish completely gone. He’s in jeans and a wrinkled V-neck sweater, his hair is disheveled, and his eyes are rimmed red as though he drove straight through the night without stopping. “Where’s Clover?”
“Sleeping,” I say, standing. “So keep your damn voices—”
But it’s too late. One look into the bedroom confirms that Clover has bolted out of bed, on edge, with fear in her expression as she stands with Wrecks nudging her side.
“Who’s here?” Her voice is barely a whisper as she attempts to blink away the sleep from her eyes.
“Family.” Sterling’s tone is gentle for her. “Just family, Clover. We had to make sure you were okay.”
She blinks at them like she’s not entirely sure they’re real. “Right.” She frowns. “That makes sense. Ah, I’ll just let you catch up with Valen then.” She spins in place as though she doesn’t know where to go. Then her shoulders slump, and she stares at me, so…sad and lost that I move on instinct.
But fucking Chase beats me to her.
He practically flies into our bedroom and wraps my girl in a hug.
“Silly girl,” he rumbles, picking her up off the ground and swinging her through the air. “We’re here for you too.” I want to kill him. I’m going to do it too.
Her face crumples, and her chin quivers when he finally, finally sets her the fuck down. Before I can move, she’s crossing the room and walking straight into Grant’s arms.
Grant’s fucking arms.
My body is so hot, I’m surprised steam isn’t rising from my skin.
My cousin—my brother—catches her without hesitation, wrapping her up and holding her like she’s something precious.
And yet, I want to throat punch him too.
“We’ve got you.” His voice carries an almost fatherly cadence that does nothing to quell the beast rising inside me.
“We’ve been waiting for you since we were kids, Clover.
We didn’t say anything earlier because we didn’t want to overwhelm you.
But Valen told us about you so often, you felt like our kid sister without ever laying eyes on you.
Then, when our mom started making plans to help you escape… ”
His gaze darts to mine, but I don’t know what he’ll say next.
He closes his eyes, like he’s giving confession.
“My brothers and I helped decorate a room for you. That whole month, we picked out stuff a teenage girl might like. So while you’ve always been connected to Valen, he isn’t the only one who lost you that night.
We’re your family too, Clover, if you’ll have us. ”
I didn’t know anything about a room for Clover at the Harrington estate. I’ve never seen it.
“We packed it all up and put it in the attic after Valen’s attack,” Sterling says quietly, meeting my gaze. “Mom told us she was safe, and your doctors warned us against sharing anything you might find traumatic. As time went on, Mom said she lost track of Clover, and we lost her a second time.”
“We looked for you,” Grant tells her. “But it wasn’t until after Mom passed away that we found any clue as to who you had become. We wanted to be sure it was you before reuniting you with Valen, and then… Well, here we are.”
That’s when she starts crying.
Not the quiet, suppressed tears from earlier. Real gut-wrenching sobs that shake her entire body.
Grant holds her through it while I stand by, watching helplessly as though I’m the stranger here. Sterling moves to her other side, one hand on her back, while Chase positions himself at the door, standing guard.
I don’t move even though I’m the one who should be holding her. She didn’t come to me. Why didn’t she come to me?
“Valen.” Roman’s hand presses into my shoulder. “She’s not choosing them over you. She just—she needs someone who isn’t carrying the weight of this with her. Someone who can be strong without being destroyed by it.”
He’s right. I know he is, but before I can figure out how I feel about that, she peels away from my cousin, crosses the room, and collapses into my arms. Only then does my frantic heart rate settle.
It takes over twenty minutes for Clover to calm down. Twenty minutes of my cousins murmuring reassurances, comforting us both, and standing guard while she pulls herself together.
When she finally removes her face from my chest, her skin is blotchy and her eyes are swollen, but the trembling has stopped, and she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“I’m sorry,” she says, wiping her face. Her voice is a breathy whisper. “I didn’t mean to— I’m sorry.”
“Stop.” All it takes is one word to convey everything I needed her to hear.
She will never apologize for processing her trauma again.
“We brought food,” Chase announces, having retrieved bags from what looks like every restaurant between here and Charlotte. “And Sterling brought his emotional support bourbon, so we’re fully prepared for whatever kind of stakeout this turns into.”
“Bourbon sounds good,” Chief says from his perch by the coffee maker. “Real good.” I don’t think he’s slept at all either.
Clover looks at me then, really looks at me, and I see the questions swirling in her eyes.
Is it okay that they’re here? Are they safe?
I nod, because she needs this—needs them—and maybe I do too.
“I should call home,” she says suddenly. “The girls. I need to make sure they’re okay. That she hasn’t—”
“Already taken care of,” Grant says, holding out his phone.
“We have people watching all of them. Discreetly, of course. They don’t even know they’re being protected.
Roman discarded your phones earlier so no one could trace you.
We’ll replace them when this is over, but you can call them on this burner phone if you’d like. ”
Clover nods almost frantically. “Yes. Please.”
Grant makes the call. The familiar sound of a FaceTime ring fills the air twice before a woman answers. “Grant Harrington? Calling me? Am I in some kind of trouble, or did Clover put you up to this?”
“Madi,” Grant says smoothly, but I see the tilt of his lips. There’s affection in his expression for the little family Clover has created for herself, and it touches me with an unfamiliar pang of gratitude.
“The one and only. Where’s Clover? Is she okay? She’s been radio silent, and we had a deal. I’m going to kick her cute little butt all over Happiness when I finally get my hands on her.”
“I’m here,” Clover says, her voice shaking as she takes the phone from Grant’s hands. “I’m fine. I just—I needed to hear your voice.”
“Clover?” Madi’s tone switches to a protective one I know well. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing. Everything. I can’t—” Clover looks at me helplessly, like a lost child, so I take the phone.
“Madi.” I hold it to my face so she can see me. “Clover’s okay. We all are. But there’s been a situation, and we’ll be incognito for a while. If you see anything unusual, you’re to call one of us immediately.”
“Define situation.” Madi’s voice is sharp now, on edge, hyper-focused. “Because if someone hurt her—”
“No one’s hurt her, but someone is trying to. Which is why you must tell us if you notice anything strange. Anyone out of the ordinary. Anyone following you. Literally anything that doesn’t quite fit in Happiness.”
There’s a pause. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly.”
Another pause. “There was a woman in the Chug, my coworking space, a few days ago. She was older, dark hair, incredibly rude. She was drinking coffee and watching people for hours. She didn’t even have a computer or a book. I thought it was weird, but Elle said she was probably just a tourist.”
Ice creeps through my veins. “Madi, think, and be as descriptive as you can. What did she look like?”
Grant sorts through the evidence we’ve collected, then snaps a photo of a younger looking Terra. He looks to me and I nod.
“I don’t know. Mid-fifties maybe. Sharp features and a sharper tongue.
I tried to make small talk with her, and she practically ate me alive.
She had an intensity about her that made me uncomfortable, but to be honest, I didn’t think too much about it because Grey’s company is bringing all sorts of winners to town these days.
Why? Is that who’s been stalking Clover? Who is it? What does she want?”
“Valen,” Braxton, Madi’s husband, barks into the phone over her shoulder. “What the fuck is going on?”
Clover’s face is so pale she’s nearly blue. “It’s her,” she whispers. “It’s Terra.”
I keep my tone level. “Grant’s going to send you a picture. She’s younger here. Can you tell me if this is who you saw?”
We wait in the silence, but it only takes three seconds for Madi to gasp. “That’s her.”
Fuck me. “We have no reason to believe that she’s still there, but I need you to call Elle and Savvy.
Right now. Have them go to your inn and stay there.
We have a team on standby to monitor the situation.
Just stay together. Don’t go anywhere alone.
And if you see that woman again, you call this number immediately, understand? ”
“You’re scaring me,” Madi says.
“Valen,” Braxton hisses again.
“Trust me,” I say. “It’s not you she wants. We’re simply being cautious.”
“It’s Clover I’m worried about, you idiot,” Madi snaps, and Braxton growls.
“I’ll be okay,” Clover says. “Listen to Valen, Madi.”
“Trust me. Please,” I plead. “Clover has me, all my cousins, Chief and Wrecks with her at all times. I promise you that she’s protected.”
That seems to soothe her worries. I just wish it had the same effect on me.
“Okay. Fine. But, Clover—” Madi’s voice softens its rough edges. “I love you. Be safe, you hear me? This is not the time to practice living out one of your thrillers.”