Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Julian came bounding up the stairs, looking for Isla, who was smiling and ready to wrap herself around him, the two of them oblivious to the hundred other people in the area. They saw only each other.
As Cresley chatted with Marlene, she squeezed Carson’s hand, as if to tell him she was still there while her unmistakable essence surrounded him, making him want to pull up a chair and get comfortable wherever she was.
He ought to take back his hand.
He ought to get the hell out of there while he still could.
Then she dropped her hold on him and pulled her phone from her back pocket, her brows furrowing as she read a text.
“What’s wrong?” Carson asked.
“It’s from my nanny. She swears she saw Marlon lurking in the backyard.”
“Let’s go,” he said, taking her by the arm.
“I came with Marlene.”
“Can you get home okay?” he asked Marlene.
“Yes, of course. Go on ahead. I’ll check in later.”
Carson took Cresley’s hand and blazed a trail to the stairs, brushing by Julian and Isla as they made their escape.
Julian looked up and saw Carson. “Hey, where’re you going?”
“Might be trouble at Cresley’s place.”
“Want me to come?”
“Nah, I’ve got it.”
He continued down the stairs and toward the main door, sensing Cresley’s growing panic as she followed him outside and across the street to the parking garage. The second they were in his SUV, Cresley called her nanny.
“Put it on speaker,” Carson said.
“Hey,” the woman said when she answered.
“What happened?” Cresley asked.
“The floodlights kept coming on, so I went to look, thinking it might be a coyote or someone’s dog, but it was Marlon.”
“You got a good look at him?” Carson asked.
“Who’s that?” the woman asked.
“My friend Carson. He’s bringing me home.”
“Oh, okay. Yes, I saw his face. It was him.”
“We’re on the way,” Carson said. “Cresley is going to call the police. They may get there before us, but we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Okay.”
Cresley ended that call and dialed 911, calmly reciting the facts for the dispatcher. “I have a restraining order against him. He’s not allowed within a thousand feet of me or my son during a pending custody matter.”
“And your nanny is qualified to identify him?”
“Everyone who is ever with my son in any capacity is able to identify this man.”
Her left hand was flat against her leg, gripping and releasing the denim.
Carson put his hand over hers and held on tightly.
“Are you currently at the residence?”
“Not yet. I’m on the way, but my nanny, Julia, is there. She’s aware that I’m calling you.”
“We’ll send a unit.”
“Thank you.”
Carson drove as fast as he dared, taking the left onto Laurel Canyon and pressing the accelerator as they headed up the hill. He kept an eye out for the old black Honda Ridgeline truck that Marlon had been driving the last time Carson had seen him.
Cresley called Julia back. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Ty is sleeping, and the floodlights have stopped coming on. I think he’s gone.”
“Okay, that’s good. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Sorry to ruin your night.”
“You didn’t. You did the right thing. Be right there.”
She ended the call and stared straight ahead as he drove faster than he should up the winding road.
He reached for her hand again and was shocked at how cold it was now. “Ty is safe.”
“This time.” She glanced over at him. “Does this mean he’s still watching us? That he knew I was going out tonight?”
“Maybe.”
“I can’t handle living with this kind of fear. He’d love nothing more than to snatch Ty from me and disappear in Mexico.”
Carson gripped the wheel tighter. “That’s not going to happen.” He wouldn’t let it. If he had to personally provide round-the-clock security, he’d do it to keep them safe. “Don’t worry about that happening. He’ll get to Ty over my dead body.”
She shuddered. “Don’t even say that.”
Carson called Anthony.
“What’s up, boss?”
“I need a team at Cresley Dane’s home on Mulholland. We think the ex was skulking around in the backyard earlier.”
“Wow, that’s ballsy. I’ll get with Perry and put together a team.”
“Thanks.”
He pressed a button on the wheel to end the call.
“How much will that cost?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I will worry about it.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t expect you to do that.”
“It’s what I do, Cresley. I’ll take care of you and Ty.
I don’t want you to worry about anything.
” Before she could reply to that, he pulled into the driveway and was out of the vehicle the second he killed the engine.
He was on his way to give her a hand out, but she was ahead of him, leading the way into the house.
Julia was waiting for them, looking pinched and undone. She hugged Cresley.
“Can you show me where you saw him?” Carson said to Julia.
“Um, sure.” They followed her to the slider in the back of the house and into the yard. Motion-sensitive floodlights came on, illuminating a grassy area with an elaborate play set and other outdoor toys.
“He was right here,” Julia said, gesturing toward the back of the play set.
Carson looked around the perimeter, spotting a footprint in the garden that ran the length of the white fence.
He noted a flicker of red light. “That’ll be the police. Can you let them in and bring them back here?”
Cresley nodded, went inside and returned a minute later with two LAPD officers, one male and the other female.
Both officers seemed surprised to be greeted by Cresley Dane.
Carson forced them to focus by reciting the facts of what’d taken place prior to tonight and then what Julia had reported earlier.
They turned to Julia, who repeated her story to them.
Carson pointed to the garden. “There’s a male footprint over here that should be preserved.”
They took a look at the print and then called a supervisor for direction.
Carson heard the male officer mention Cresley’s name, indicating they understood the potential for this to be a big deal if they didn’t respond appropriately.
Of course, everyone should get the same treatment, but the fact of the matter was that celebrity had its advantages.
“They’re sending a crime scene unit,” the female officer reported.
Cresley ran her hands over her arms as if she was cold.
Carson placed a hand on her lower back. “Let’s go inside.”
As he closed the sliding door, leaving the cops in the yard, she went to the hallway, presumably to check on Ty.
“He’ll be bummed to have slept through having police officers here,” Julia said.
“It’d be better if he didn’t know they were here or why,” Carson said.
“Obviously.”
When Cresley returned, she said, “He’s sleeping through it, thankfully. Do you want to go home, Julia?”
“Sure. I can do that.”
Cresley walked her to the door and hugged her. “Thank you again for taking such good care of Ty.”
“I love him.”
“I know you do, and that means everything to me.”
“Let me know what the crime scene people say.”
“I will. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Julia leaned in to say something else that made Cresley smile before she ushered the younger woman out the door and then flipped the dead bolt. Even with Carson there, police in the backyard and more on the way, she was still taking no chances.
“What did she say?” Carson asked.
“That she hopes I’m getting busy with the intense hottie.”
“Oh. Well…”
“Which part of that makes you more uncomfortable? Us getting busy or her calling you an intense hottie?”
He played along only because she’d seemed so fragile before, and he knew her well enough already to get that she was the kind of woman who handled things. The trouble with Marlon was rattling her, and that wouldn’t do.
“Both parts, I suppose.”
“You are an intense hottie.”
“If you say so.”
“I do, and so does Julia.”
“Does your security system record the perimeter?”
“No.”
“We should upgrade that.”
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I hate that he had the nerve to come here, to walk into my yard like the restraining order doesn’t exist.”
“They’re often not worth the paper they’re written on.”
“Great.”
“Come sit with me.” Carson sat on the sofa and patted the space next to him. “It’s apt to be a minute before the crime scene team shows up.”
She sat, but every inch of her was tight with tension. “If they can prove the print is from his shoe, what happens then?”
“He’ll get called back to court to answer for what he was doing here, and depending on the judge, he might get slapped with a fine and a misdemeanor trespassing charge.”
“But he won’t be locked up?”
“Not for that, no.”
“He should be locked up! He’s not supposed to come anywhere near us.”
“Yes, he should be locked up, but that rarely happens.”
“What is the point, then?” she asked tearfully. “This man has been stalking me and my son and is told by the court to stay the hell away from us, and when he doesn’t, nothing happens? I don’t accept that.”
Carson put an arm around her. “I know it’s incredibly frustrating.”
“It’s terrifying. He was in my yard when I wasn’t here—and he probably knew I’d gone out, because he’s still watching us. What was he after?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let him get to you or Ty.”
“So my choice is to take my chances that he’ll leave us alone or surround myself with security?”
“Option one isn’t an option. He’s getting ballsier. This isn’t the time to let down your guard.”
“I’m going to pay him to go away. That’d be cheaper than security.”
“People like him are never satisfied, Cresley. He’ll come back for more the minute he burns through whatever you give him.”
“It’s what he wants. He has no interest in me or Ty. He wants my money, so if I give it to him, this whole thing goes away, and we can get back to living our lives in peace.”
“Give me a little time to see what I can find out about him. We may be able to get rid of him without it costing you a bundle.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said he’s desperate for money, so he’s probably up to no good. If I can prove that, we can turn over the evidence to the police.”
“For all the good the police have done me. The only one charged with anything is me.”
“The system sucks, but it’s the only one we’ve got.”