Chapter 16 #2
“The LAPD found Marlon’s truck a few blocks from Cresley’s house, packed full of clothes, food and other belongings,” Marlene said. “They think he was living in the truck. The front end was smashed in from when he intentionally ran into Carson’s SUV earlier.”
“What?” Griffin asked. “He hit Carson? When?”
“Earlier today,” Cresley said in a flat, shocked tone of voice. “He hit us when we were at a light, pushed us into oncoming traffic, where we were hit a second time. Carson’s Range Rover was smashed up pretty badly.”
“Is this why he took a leave from work?”
Cresley nodded. “Marlon left the scene and went to Ty’s school to try to sign him out.
Fortunately, the school staff called me and then the police.
After both those things, he wanted to stay close to me and Ty until Marlon was found.
This is all my fault.” Tears slid down her cheeks.
“I should’ve just given Marlon the money and made him go away.
And now Carson…” She choked on a sob. “I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t make it. ”
“It’s not your fault, Cresley,” Julian said.
“Carson wouldn’t want you to feel that way.
He’s the most ridiculously stubborn person and does exactly what he wants, when he wants.
If he was determined to protect you and Ty, there was nothing in this world that could’ve kept him from doing just that. ”
“That’s good to know,” she said, swiping away tears. “He’s become… He’s important to us.”
Julian was intrigued by the way Cresley spoke of his brother. “I think it works both ways, or he never would’ve encouraged you to dump me and our firm.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine. Well, my dad isn’t happy about it, but he’ll get over it.”
“I’ve caused so much trouble for him. Maybe I should go.”
“Is that what Carson would want you to do?”
“Probably not.”
“Then you should stay right here where you belong, because when he comes to, he’ll be looking for you.”
She nodded and took the tissue Marlene handed her to mop up a flood of tears.
“Is there anything I can get for you, Cresley?” Isla asked. “Do you need some water or coffee or anything?”
“I’m okay, but thank you so much for asking.”
“I’ll be right over there if I can do anything.”
Isla led Julian to chairs next to Kaidan and Griffin.
“That was very kind of you to encourage her to stay,” Isla said quietly so she wouldn’t be overheard.
“It’s what Carson would want. He’s obviously involved with her if he moved her case out of our firm, took an unexpected leave of absence from work, devoted himself to protecting her and her son and went silent with us over it. I wish he’d told us about Marlon smashing into them in traffic earlier.”
“What would you have done?”
“I don’t know, but I would’ve liked to have known about it.”
“He probably didn’t want you guys to worry.”
“Yeah, I guess.” When his head became too heavy to hold up, he leaned against Isla for support. “Thanks for being here with me. I’d be losing it without you.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
When his father walked over to them, Julian sat up.
“I assume this is the Isla we’ve heard so much about.”
“Isla, meet my dad, Corbin Remington.”
She shook Corbin’s outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Corbin, but I’m sorry about the circumstances.”
“As am I. It’s nice to meet you, too. Julian, may I have a word?”
He didn’t want to leave Isla or have a word with his father, but he gave her hand a squeeze before he released it and got up to follow his father to the far corner of the big waiting room.
“What do you know about this Marlon Beckett guy?”
“As you know, we’ve been working with Cresley, the mother of Beckett’s son, to get him to leave them alone.
He’s been shaking her down for money—again—and there’s a hearing scheduled for next week.
As you also know, Kaidan is now representing her.
Apparently, Carson was concerned about crossing lines with a client and referred her to Kay. ”
“And they were hit by this man in traffic earlier today? Or I guess it’s yesterday now.”
“I just heard about that myself.”
“Is Carson seeing her? I saw pictures of them together at the premiere.”
“At that point, he told me they were just friends. I believe it’s progressed since then. He’d decided to protect her and her son until Beckett was found, which is why he took a leave from work.”
“My God, and now he’s fighting for his life.”
“He’d probably tell you it was worth it to keep her and her son safe.”
Julian noticed that Kaidan had moved to sit next to Cresley and was talking with her.
“What’ll we do… I mean… I can’t even imagine…”
Though he’d been avoiding his father in recent days, he put his hand on his shoulder. “Let’s not go there unless we have to. He’s a fighter.”
Corbin nodded and ran a trembling hand through his hair.
Julian realized he’d never seen his immaculately turned-out father look so disheveled or undone, but then again, none of his children had ever been stabbed and gravely injured before. “Have you called Gramps?”
“I wanted to wait until we knew more.”
“You should call him. He and Carson are close.”
“He’s close to all of you.”
“True, but there’s something extra with Carson, and we don’t want him to find out about it online.”
“I’ll call him.”
When Julian walked back toward Isla, Griffin leaned in to ask him what their father wanted.
“Details about what’s been going on with Carson.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“About how Beckett slammed into them in traffic yesterday and tried to sign her son out of school against her wishes. That’s why Carson took the leave from work.”
“And this is the same guy that stabbed Carson?”
Julian nodded. “We believe so.”
“What’re we doing about it?”
“Cresley’s friend Marlene, a former client of mine, is well connected. She’s talking to her contacts at the LAPD.”
“We’re well connected, too. Should I make some calls?”
“If you think it’ll help.”
“What do we do with Cresley and her son in the meantime? Carson wouldn’t want us to leave them unprotected with a madman gunning for them.”
Julian was suddenly exhausted in every possible way—physically, emotionally and mentally. “We’ll have to put them somewhere he wouldn’t think to look.”
“Gramps’s house. It’s not in Carson’s name, so no one would think to look for them there, and it has good security.”
“Yeah, that’d work. I’ll mention it to her.”
“So is he, like, with her now?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t said anything other than that they’re friends, but it seems like more than that considering that he encouraged her to move her case out of our firm and over to Mom’s.”
“Wow. Two of you in one month. What the fuck is happening?”
“Look who’s talking, Daddy.”
Griffin smiled. “Best thing ever.”
“When can we meet her?”
“Soon. MK said we should wait a bit to build up her immunity before we expose her to people.”
“MK said that, did she?”
Griffin gave him a perturbed look. “Yes, as the baby’s mother, she has things to say.”
“How’s it going with her?”
“Fine.”
“That’s it? Just ‘fine.’”
“That’s it. I’m too busy worrying about Carson to answer questions about my daughter’s mother.”
“Probably a complicated situation.”
“Despite how it ended between us, it hasn’t been that bad, which is frankly more than I deserve. I’m thankful to get to see the baby every day.”
“I still can’t believe you have a daughter.”
“How do you think I feel?”
Julian smiled at the face his brother made. It helped to pretend everything was normal for a second when it might never be normal again.