Evan
Evan
E van picked up some dinner on his way home, and he just couldn’t shake the bad feeling that Carrie was in some kind of trouble. Maybe it was the look on her face earlier, or the way that she looked as though she had been crying, but he felt an inexplicable pull to drive over to her place. He knew where she lived. It was actually one of the buildings that McTavish Industries owned, and his place was just around the corner. Evan quickly convinced himself that checking in on her was the right thing to do and he did a U-turn at his housing development before he could talk himself out of it.
He parked his car in the parking garage and rode the elevator up to the fifth floor. He was pretty sure that he’d seen “Apt. 509” on her HR forms earlier that day. Evan found her place at the end of the hallway and gently knocked on the door. He could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door, and he was pretty sure that she wasn’t alone in her apartment. Evan was also sure that whoever was on the other side of the door was spying on him through the peephole.
“Carrie, it’s me, Evan,” he shouted through the door. He heard her muddled curses and bit back his smile as she pulled her door open.
“Why are you here, Evan?” she asked.
“I can’t explain it, but I was worried about you. I know, it’s weird, but I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. You seemed upset earlier,” he said.
“I told you that it was just a message from home, and it made me homesick,” she lied. He could tell that she was still scared—he saw the fear in her eyes.
“How about you tell me what has you looking as though you’re terrified, Carrie? Maybe you should call Alex or Rod,” he said.
“No,” she almost shouted. She opened the door wider and pulled him in from her doorstep, quickly shutting the door behind him. “They can’t know what’s happening. They’ll never forgive me.”
“Forgive you for what?” Evan asked. He looked down the hallway to find another woman standing in Carrie’s small kitchen.
“That’s Mina, my neighbor,” Carrie said.
“Good to meet you,” Evan said. “What do you need Alex and Rod to forgive you for?” he asked again.
“You wouldn’t understand. Besides, you’re my boss and you’re their partner. You’ll tell them everything and they’ll ship me back to Scotland.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” he assured. “You can tell me anything and I won’t tell the guys. I’m your boss and I give you my word that I won’t share anything you don’t want me to share.”
“It’s worth a shot, Carrie,” Mina said. “You can’t keep running.”
“What are you running from?” Evan asked.
“It’s a who,” Carrie almost whispered. “My ex-boyfriend followed me from Scotland, and he’s been here tonight looking for me.”
“It’s why she’s coming to stay over at my place across the hall,” Mina cut in.
“You’re going to hide away from your stalker ex just across the hall from your apartment?” Evan asked.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like a bad plan,” she said.
“Because it is a bad plan,” Evan insisted. He was sure that there was a lot more to her story, but he didn’t care about all of the details right now. He just wanted to get her out of there and back to his place where she’d be safe.
“Where is your ex now?” he asked.
“The cops just took him off. He never found me because Mina called them to report him. But they won’t keep him for long. He’s a very powerful man back in Scotland,” Carrie said.
“I’m sure that back in Scotland he’s got allies that will help him out. But here, he’ll have to lawyer up before they release him. That gives us a little bit of time to pack your stuff and get you out of here before he comes back,” Evan insisted.
“That’s the plan and staying at Mina’s will give me a bit of time to figure out my next move,” she said.
“Your next move is going to be over to my place,” Evan said.
“What—no!” Carrie spat. “You’re my boss. I couldn’t possibly move into your place. It would go against every rule that HR has.”
“I don’t give a damn about HR or their rules. I’m telling you that you aren’t staying here. So, you have two choices here. You either come to stay with me, so that I can help you, or you call your cousins and tell them about your ex showing up here. What’s it going to be?” he asked. For some strange reason, Evan found himself hoping that she’d willingly chose the first option.
“You can’t be serious,” she insisted.
“I am,” he assured, “option one or two, Carrie?” She looked back at her friend, and she shrugged.
“He’s not wrong,” Mina insisted, “hiding right across the hall isn’t the best plan. You need to get help if your ex is as powerful as you say he is.”
“If I go with you, it will ruin our working relationship,” Carrie said, nodding to Evan. “And if I involve my cousins, I put their families at risk. Maybe I need to consider another option.”
“There’s a third option?” Evan asked.
“Yeah, she thinks she should keep running, but where will you go, Carrie?” Mina asked.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I can’t go back to Scotland. He has the local authorities on his payroll. I’ll never be free of him,” Carrie said.
“What does he want from you exactly?” Evan asked. He noted the fear in her eyes just before she placed her hand on her tummy.
“My baby,” she said. “I’m about six weeks pregnant and that’s why I left Scotland last week. The only people who know about my baby are you, Mina, and my father,” she said.
“And now, Alastair,” Mina reminded.
“Yes, and now my ex. He won’t stop until he finds me and punishes me for leaving him. He’ll want his child. He won’t let the baby go because he believes that my child belongs to him.”
“You didn’t tell Alex or Rod about your pregnancy?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered. “I was going to hide it from everyone for as long as possible.”
“But eventually, you’d have to tell people. I mean, when you’re carrying around a newborn, I think that everyone would figure it out,” Evan chided.
“Yeah, I know that you’re pissed. But as my boss, I don’t have to tell you anything until I’m ready to, and I wasn’t ready. Alastair showing up in the states took that choice from me, so here we are.”
“I can’t believe we’re all still standing here discussing this,” Mina said. “Listen, you need help,” she said, pointing to Carrie. “And you want to help her,” she said, nodding to Evan. “I’m not seeing a problem here.”
“She’s right,” Evan said. “We don’t have time to stand around her and discuss what needs to happen. Come home with me and figure that all out later, but for now, you and your baby will be safe at my house. No one will suspect that you’re hanging out at your boss’s place.”
“I don’t want to tell Alex or Rod yet,” she insisted. “Can you promise me that you won’t tell them?” He hated making her that promise, but if it meant that she’d come with him and he’d be able to keep her safe, he’d make it—for now.
“I won’t tell them what’s going on with you, but eventually, you’ll have to,” Evan said.
“I know that, but I need to have my life together a bit more before that happens,” she said.
“Great, we’ve just about got you packed,” Mina said, cutting in. “Go into the bathroom and finish packing your toiletries. I’ll make sure that the coast is clear, and you pull your car up to the back parking garage. It’s the one that the staff uses and where deliveries are made. If Alastair has someone watching this place, he might not have that entrance covered.” Mina crossed her arms over her chest as if daring either of them to question her plan.
“Wow,” Carrie said, “you’re actually really good at this stuff.”
“I listen to a lot of crime scene podcasts,” Mina said. “I guess they’ve rubbed off.”
“Okay, we have a plan, let’s get to it,” Evan ordered. Carried hurried back to the bathroom to finish packing. “It was good to meet you, Mina.”
“You too, Evan,” she said. “You promise that you’ll keep Carrie safe?”
“You have my word,” he assured.
“Thank you,” Mina said. Evan turned to go down to the parking garage, keeping an eye on his surroundings the whole time. He worried that Carrie’s ex might have left someone behind to watch the building, but then, maybe he was just being overly cautious. For now, all he wanted to do was get Carrie to his home safely, and then, he’d figure out a way to convince her to tell Alex and Rod about her ex and the baby, because it just felt wrong to keep the truth from his new partners.