Chapter 1
Chapter One
“ W hat relationship? Are you delusional?”
Jake stood and shoved his hands into his pockets.
In silence, he crept over to where the metal bars stood and came to a complete stop. “I’m not the one sulking around the police station at night.”
“I work here.”
“My point stands. I’m sure you have better things to do than keep an eye on us. Isn’t that what those cameras are for?”
“That’s a lot of talk for someone who’s about to go on trial.”
Jake snorted. “Yeah, I’m not worried about that.”
“Because your employer is going to pull strings to get you out?”
Jake’s expression tightened. “I’m making a deal and selling him out. He probably wants me dead by now. Or he will, once he finds out what I’m doing.”
“Or you’re playing all sides.”
Ian stepped out of the shadows and into full view of the security cameras. His heart was pounding steadily against his ears, and bile was forming in his stomach, but he didn’t care. None of it mattered.
All that mattered was getting Jake Long, the Falmouth burglar and Eric Taylor’s henchman, to break.
Jake took his hands out of his pockets and gripped the metal bars. “Play the police? Yeah, I’m a lot of things, Ian, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
Ian’s blood turned to ice. “How did you know my name?”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “Did you really think I’d take this job without knowing everything there was to know about all of you? I only threw in those other burglaries to throw you off my scent.”
And they’d walked right into his mousetrap.
Jake Long couldn’t be underestimated, even if he was temporarily on their side.
Ian took a few steps forward, and the stench of sweat and urine hit him. “What do you know about us?”
“Eric has done his research,” Jake told him, his eyes never leaving Ian’s face. “He’s got extensive files on all of you, but he’s taken a keen interest in you.”
Ian dug his nails into the insides of his palms. “You’re just saying that to get a reaction out of me.”
“You’re already riled up enough. That wouldn’t take much.”
Ian adopted a neutral expression. “What do you want?”
“I should be asking you that. You’re the one who came in here looking for answers.” Jake released the metal bars and took a few steps back. He kept moving backward until he stood directly underneath the window, bathed in the pale glow of the moon.
Ian squared his shoulders and ignored the twinge in the center of his chest. “I want to know why you did it.”
Jake’s lips lifted into a half smile. “I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. Why do you think I did it?”
“Why are you trying to psychoanalyze me?”
“ You’re the one who’s trying to psychoanalyze me . Why would anyone do something like this? For money. Eric Taylor is a rich and powerful man. All I had to do was get him the information he needed, and I’d be set for life.”
Anger—hot, red, and unpleasant—burned in the center of Ian’s stomach. It rose to his chest and swelled, eager to burst out of him. He needed an outlet, something to keep him from doing something stupid that could cost him his job. Unfortunately, all he could think about was grabbing Jake by the scruff of his neck and shaking him hard enough to make his teeth rattle. Ian was dangerously close to losing it, but he didn’t want to.
He couldn’t afford to.
“And you’re okay with ruining people’s lives for this?”
What kind of man was Jake Long? How was he able to look at himself in the mirror every morning?
Jake shrugged. “They’re not people I know or care about, so why should that bother me?”
“I don’t care about the kind of deal you made with the DA,” Ian told him with a lift of his chin. He looked directly at Jake and refused to break their gaze. “If I find out the intel is wrong or that you’re messing with us, I’ll make it my personal mission to find you.”
Regardless of what the fallout was.
“And do what?”
Ian covered the distance between them, so he stood opposite the metal bars. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to reach out and grab Jake. “I don’t think you want to know.”
“That’s a lot of talk for a small-town boy.” Jake’s expression didn’t change. “You might want to check yourself before you play with the big boys.”
Ian gripped the metal bars, drew his lips back, and glared at Jake. “Don’t underestimate me. You have no idea what I would do to keep the people I love safe.”
And if it meant having to break a few rules to do it, it wasn’t as if Ian hadn’t considered it. A part of him recoiled at the thought of breaking his oath and going after Jake himself, but considering the kind of threat they were up against, he was sure no one would hold it against him.
He’d make time to worry about his conscience later.
Jake offered him a full smile. “Maybe Eric was right to worry about you. You’re not the lackey I thought you were.”
Ian released the bars with a noise of disgust. “I can’t say the same thing about you.”
In the background, a door opened, and the smell of perfume hit him first.
Marissa placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Come on, shift’s almost over.”
“Listen to your partner. She knows what she’s talking about.”
“You self-serving, little rat—”
Jake was in front of the bars in two seconds, a menacing look on his face. “I wouldn’t finish the rest of that sentence if I were you.”
Marissa dragged Ian off as he shook and bristled. His mind was spinning and racing as she pulled the door shut behind them.
Then she released Ian and stood so she was blocking the door, her arms folded over her chest. “He’s trying to get a rise out of you.”
Ian was still shaking with rage. “It’s working.”
“Don’t let it work,” Marissa snapped, her eyes tightening around the edges. “You know better than this, Railings. Go home. Your shift is almost over.”
“I’ve still got fifteen minutes.”
“Go home to your wife and kids,” Marissa repeated with a little more force than before. “You do not want to be here right now. Trust me.”
Ian crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.
After a long pause, he spun on his heel and turned his back on her. Pausing at his desk, he picked up his keys and wallet. On the drive back home, he kept seeing Jake in his mind’s eye and replaying the smug look on the man’s face. By the time he pulled up into the driveway, Ian’s hands were still shaking.
He turned off the engine and lingered in the parking lot, maintaining his viselike grip on the steering wheel. His phone rang, but he ignored it, instead preferring to conjure up images of himself in a room alone with Jake. Red-hot anger was pulsing through him when he shoved the car door open and walked across the street.
The early morning sun was peeking out from behind the horizon, bathing the world in hues of red and orange. As Ian climbed up the stairs to his two-story house, he kept trying to shake off the bad taste in the back of his mouth, but he couldn’t. It stayed with him as he unlocked the front door and kicked off his shoes.
It only deflated when he wandered through the house till he found Lucy in her office, typing away at a keyboard. He crossed one ankle over the other and watched her swat at a lock of red hair.
Then she spun around in her chair, and her hand flew to her chest. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Just a few minutes. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
A furrow appeared between Lucy’s brows. She twisted in her seat and minimized the window, plunging the screen into darkness. Then she stood up and stretched her arms up over her head, showing off her taut and toned stomach. Ian’s eyes traveled from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes, a smile hovering on the edge of his lips.
Even after over twenty years of marriage, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world with her smooth, angular face, hazel, almond-shaped eyes, and a tiny nose in the center.
Wordlessly, Lucy brushed past him, pausing to smooth out the front of her red sweater. “How was work?”
Ian shrugged and followed her into the kitchen. “Same old. How was your day?”
Lucy poured herself a cup of coffee and stood on the other side of the kitchen counter. “This wedding is a little harder than I thought it was going to be.”
Ian stood on the other side of the counter and studied her. “Anything I can help with?”
Lucy averted her gaze and hid her face behind the mug. “No, it’s okay. I’ve got it.”
Silence stretched between them.
Ian moved around the counter and came to stand beside his wife. He poured himself a generous cup of coffee and rummaged through the fridge. When he poked his head out, a container in his hand, Lucy was in the living room, studying the pictures above the fireplace.
He set the container down on one of the counters and pried it open. “I talked to Jake Long today. I know I shouldn’t have, and Marissa is going to chew me out for it, but I couldn’t help myself.”
“Uh-huh.” Lucy studied her glass reflection in the TV above the mantelpiece.
“He kept trying to rile me up. I mean, I knew that he would, but I don’t know why I convinced myself it was going to be different.”
Or that it was going to give him the answers he needed.
“Right.” Lucy took a few more sips of her drink and lowered herself onto the armchair. She looked directly at the double doors leading out into the backyard, and her expression turned thoughtful. “You should listen to Marissa more.”
“I already do.” Ian placed a slice of cheese in the middle of the sandwich bread. Then he added a slice of bologna. “Did you hear about that new influencer who came in? Apparently, Maddison told her to come here, and she’s looking for a wedding planner.”
Lucy pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything.
Ian opened his mouth but was cut off by the shrill ringing of the bell. He ran a hand over his face and made a beeline for the door. Kelli and Dana were already arguing when they came in, dressed in matching jeans and heavy sweaters. Dana had her beanie pulled low over her dark hair, and Kelli had wisps of blond hair poking out from underneath her cap.
Dean trailed behind them, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans and a pair of earmuffs hanging on his ears. The three of them gave Ian a quick hug before heading for their mom. Lucy’s entire face lit up as she pulled them all into a group hug, and some of the tension melted from her face.
Ian couldn’t help but wonder if they were headed down the same path as Sophia and Darren. Without the children keeping them together, his sister and her ex had floundered before drifting apart. Granted, they were back together now, but Ian didn’t want them to have the same fate.
Not if he could help it.
“Dad, did you hear Dean wants to move back in?”
Dean shot Kelli a dirty look and unwound the scarf from around his neck. “I said I was thinking about it because I want to save on dorm money, and I’m looking to get a summer job.”
“Or you could get an actual career like the rest of us,” Dana told him with a pointed look. “What are you going to do with an art history degree? It’s not like you’re going to write a novel like…what’s his face…the guy who wrote The Da Vinci Code ?”
“Dan Brown,” Ian replied a little too quickly. “Stop picking on your brother, D. Dean has to figure out his own path. We can’t all have everything figured out by the time we’re eighteen.”
“Show off,” Dean grumbled in Dana’s direction.
“Has-been,” Dana retorted, sticking her tongue out in his direction. “Baby Deanie should’ve stuck to college football.”
During breakfast, the three of them continued to bicker over the food. Lucy silenced them all with one look, and they spent the rest of the meal swapping stories and passing food. Two hours later, Ian’s eyes were burning, and he was falling asleep at the counter when Dean draped an arm over his shoulders and hoisted him up.
“You can stay in the basement,” Ian told him in a thick voice. “Your mom and I don’t mind.”
Dean let his dad fall onto the bed and exhaled. “Thanks, Pop. We’ll talk some more later. Get some sleep, okay?”
Ian was asleep before Dean made it out of the room.