Chapter 30
“So, you and the big one?” Collette pulled out a vaping pen.
Adalyn swiped it out of her hand. “This shit will still kill you.”
“Darlin’, everything will kill me.”
Adalyn tucked the poison pen into her pocket, frowned. “Freaking smokers. Something wrong with all of you,” she muttered. When she’d had to do it for her cover, it was like eating garbage.
Which just made her aunt laugh in that throaty way of hers as she sat behind her desk. “Life’s hard, gotta feed my vices.”
Adalyn just shrugged and grabbed a fold-up chair from the corner, sat in front of the desk. “This thing is a piece of crap,” she muttered as it pinched her side through her jeans.
“Yeah, I know. It keeps people from lingering.” Standing, she grabbed another fold-up chair from behind the filing cabinet and set it next to her. “Use this one.” As Adalyn sat, her aunt continued. “So, how long are you in town?”
“Ah, we’ll be here for the funerals.” Something she was trying hard not to dwell on. “After that…I don’t know.”
Sighing, her aunt let her head fall back. “Wish it was longer. Maybe I’ll plan a trip to see you. Fleur and I were talking about it.”
“You never leave this place.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve hired some really good managers over the last couple years so I can now take vacations or call out if I feel like it.”
“Good. You always worked too hard.”
Her aunt let out a startled laugh as she pulled out another vape pen. “That’s ironic coming from you.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re so much like her,” Collette murmured, watching her through narrowed eyes. “Stubborn Bonnevie women, all of us, I guess.”
“I’m nothing like my mom.” Or she didn’t think she was. She barely remembered the woman. Just little memories that came suddenly, always in the middle of the night. Flashes of good times, but of a woman who was manic and bright.
“Not her, my mom. Zula Mae. But she was as stubborn as they come.”
Now Adalyn snorted.
“Don’t sass me. And fine, that’s fair.” Sighing, she took a short drag. “Just don’t make the same mistakes she did. Heck, that I’ve made. Don’t let that big tree you just climbed get away.”
She blinked in surprise at her aunt’s words. “Zula Mae liked being single. Said marriage was a waste that only benefited men.”
“And for the most part, she’s right.” Collette shrugged, took another drag before she continued. “But she let someone go because of her bullheadedness. And I did the same thing. Only real regret I have in life. I’d hate for you to make that same mistake.”
“Since when did you start doling out advice?” Adalyn rubbed the back of her neck.
“Since I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”
Adalyn froze, straightened in her chair. “What? When were you—?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ve lived my life exactly the way I wanted, on my own terms. And with the exception of pushing away someone who could have been everything, I have no regrets.” Taking a drag, she shook her head again. “And that regret still sits heavy on me. Don’t do the same thing. It’s just…pointless, child. Absolutely pointless. And I heard you talking about feeling guilty—”
“Oh my god, you did watch us!”
“Only the part until you guys started getting naked. Then I deleted and stopped watching. And don’t interrupt me. Whatever you think you have to feel guilty about…well, maybe it’s justified. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up that man because of some misguided attempt at redemption or some other nonsense.”
Adalyn froze at her aunt’s words, even as she digested the fact that her aunt was dying. Collette wasn’t the first person to call her out on her need for redemption. “I did something bad,” she finally said. “Illegal.”
Her aunt lifted a shoulder, set the pen on her desk with a sigh. “We’ve all done bad shit. And we’ve all done good shit. Now, I do believe in keeping the scales balanced. And something tells me that even if you did screw up, you’ve more than balanced things out. So don’t punish yourself in some misguided attempt to…do whatever it is you’re trying to do. Because you’ll just end up missing out on love and adventure.”
“Adventure?”
“That man is an adventure all his own.” Collette grinned, her expression mischievous. “And if I was a few years younger—and wasn’t, you know, dying—I’d jump him.”
“You’d jump him no matter what.”
“True.” Another, wider grin followed. “But he’s taken.”
Adalyn’s instinct was to deny that he was taken but…screw that. He was taken, by her. If she was brave enough to claim him.
“Look, for the record, I’m sorry about taking that painting.”
“You already apologized.” And Adalyn so didn’t want to have this conversation.
“Well I’m apologizing again. I…should have trusted you enough to ask for it. To explain why I wanted it. And for the record, when I die, it’s going to you. It’s already in my trust.”
Adalyn shifted uncomfortably. “You don’t… I don’t…” She cleared her throat.
“You don’t want to talk about it? Well, I don’t want to die, but here we are. So you’re going to listen for a second since I’ve got you. Families can get crazy when money is involved but I should have known better. So I want you to know that Fleur is the executor of my will, only because she lives here. I’m leaving this place to three of my managers. They’ve been with me for a decade and know this place inside and out. And they love it.” A soft smile played at her mouth for a moment. “Everything else is split evenly between you and your sister.”
“Ah, saying thank you feels weird.”
“Then don’t say anything. Just don’t be a stranger. I’ve got six months, hopefully more.”
Throat tight, Adalyn nodded. “I won’t be a stranger. Promise.”
“Good. Now I’ve gotta get back out there. You go find that man of yours.”
“Hey, has Rowan been back up here?” Adalyn sat in the cushy seat he’d been in earlier, next to her sister and Tiago, still digesting her aunt’s news.
“Ah, nooooo.” Her sister shot Tiago a sideways glance as she dragged the word out.
“Why’d you say no like that?” She glanced over the balcony as a cheer went up—and a handful of beads clanged against the balcony in front of them. She waved at the people on the float, and got a moon pie for her troubles.
Fleur snagged it out of her hand and opened it before she could blink. Then she shoved the chocolate-covered marshmallow goodness into her mouth like a rabid animal.
“What are you doing? You see this?” She looked at Tiago.
But he just grinned. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Who steals from her own sister,” Adalyn murmured. “Anyway, where’s Rowan?”
“He was supposed to be meeting you,” Tiago answered because Fleur was still chewing. “Asked us to tell you that he was in your aunt’s office. We assumed you found him.”
“I did find him…” Trailing off, she stood—and nearly took another moon pie to the face. She snapped it up from the ground and hurried back out into the main bar. As she ate it, she glanced around, looking for him.
He usually wasn’t hard to spot, thankfully. Well over six feet tall with broad shoulders, a beard, arms covered in tattoos, and an adorable face, he stood out. Though he’d probably hate the adorable part, but he really was. Like a tactical teddy bear.
She texted him as she moved through the third bar, then at the second, she stopped where her aunt was talking to one of her employees. “Hey, have you seen Rowan?”
“No, not recently.”
Nodding, she continued, heading downstairs. It was even more crowded, but no Rowan. Ignoring that tight feeling in her gut, she told herself that she was just being paranoid. She was so used to bad shit happening, to expecting the worst because the worst often happened, that it was now her default. He’d probably stepped outside or was in the bathroom or…something. Once she made it back up to the private balcony, she stood in front of Tiago and Ezra. “I can’t get a hold of Rowan. Will one of you call him?” She’d tried calling in addition to the texting and it had just rung and rung until his voicemail kicked in.
Tiago and Ezra straightened, both pulling out their phones. Gage and Hailey did the same with theirs and when they looked up, tension cut deep.
“What is it?”
“We’ve got locators on everyone’s phones and his is a few blocks away.”
“He wouldn’t have just left.” She was sure of it. And he wouldn’t ignore everyone’s calls or texts. Something was wrong, she felt it in her bones.
Hailey frowned. “Maybe he was just blowing off steam or—”
“We just had sex in my aunt’s office. He didn’t leave. Trust me.”
Hailey’s mouth fell open, but she stood up immediately. “Okay, Ezra and Tiago, you head to the phone’s location. Adalyn, will your aunt let us look at her security feeds?”
“Definitely.”
“I’m coming with you,” Fleur set her drink down and fell in step with the others who were all filing out.
Adalyn tried to ignore the buzz of bees inside her telling her that things had just blown up, that whatever was going on was her fault, but it was no use.
Her aunt didn’t blink at giving them access to her office, simply tossed her the keys, and something about that easy acquiescence made Adalyn want to cry. She’d lost a lot of years with a woman who’d she’d once been close to. A woman who’d made a dumb mistake when she’d been grieving and not thinking straight. And Adalyn hated that about herself, hated how she cut people out of her life. Because she told herself that it was easier, that she wouldn’t get hurt that way.
Which was a bunch of bullshit because she was covered in metaphorical scars all because of her own bullshit.
The office was crowded with her, Hailey, Gage, Fleur and Jesse all piled in. Hailey had taken over the security feeds while Gage was doing something on his phone. Probably hacking into local feeds nearby. There were just so many of them, plus all the cell phones in the area.
Adalyn held her cell clutched into her hand in case Rowan called. Or Tiago or Ezra. Or… Jesus, he just had to be okay.
“Wait, rewind right there.” Adalyn pointed at the screen that was showing four different feeds, focused on the top left one. “By the bar. Rewind and then slow it down. Rowan is looking at something.”
Hailey worked quickly, pausing all the other feeds. At this point they weren’t sure what they were looking for other than bad shit. They were following Rowan on the feed, trying to figure out where he’d gone.
“Okay,” Hailey murmured. “This is in the direction Rowan was looking. What are we looking for?”
“What the…?” Adalyn frowned at the screen.
Hailey paused. “What?”
“That’s Curtis Miller, but…he died. Ooooh, no. Press play, go back to Rowan.” She was silent as Hailey pressed play again and switched to the other camera, following Rowan.
Who was heading after Curtis Miller—who was definitely dead. Seriously, what was going on? Everyone from that explosion had been identified through their DNA and teeth. Something she didn’t want to think about. Miller hadn’t even needed the DNA confirmation because his body had been mostly intact.
She watched in horror as Not-Miller strode out an exit door, then Rowan followed a few moments later. “What—”
Hailey pulled up another screen and they watched as Not-Miller spray-painted over the exterior camera.
She started to leave, ready to shove her way through the crowd, then Hailey held up a finger.
“Wait, there are multiple cameras out there.” A new screen popped up, this one partially obstructed with leaves, but she watched as the man who’d lured Rowan outside shoved a needle into his forearm. Watched in horror as Rowan slumped over, would have fallen, but the man caught him then slid an arm around him as he helped him walk.
“It looks like he’s helping a drunk friend,” she murmured as horror crept through her, slow and poisonous. Adalyn’s phone rang as she was about to ask Hailey to pull up other cameras in the area. She answered when she saw Tiago’s name, put him on speaker. “What do you have?”
“Rowan’s phone in a dumpster.” Tiago’s voice was hard and tight.
“I just watched a clone of Curtis Miller on the security camera here. Rowan followed him outside right after the guy disabled the exterior camera. He’s taken Rowan. I mean, not Curtis Miller because he’s dead, but this guy…he looks exactly like him. Whoever he is, he kidnapped Rowan.”
Tiago cursed. “It’s not Curtis. Can’t be. But…ooooh, Curtis had a twin. Cooper. Guy was, or is, Army Special Forces. I don’t know exactly what he did, but it was top secret stuff.”
Adalyn looked between Gage and Hailey, who both nodded that they had the name, would be digging into the guy.
“We’re getting out of here,” Gage said loud enough for Tiago to hear. “Meet back at the house.”
Tiago hung up so she pocketed her phone. “What’s the plan?”
“We need to get out of here,” Hailey said as she stood. “All our tools are back at the house. Now that we have a face to run and can assume that he’s been behind everything and not Ali, it’ll be easier to pinpoint where this Cooper Miller has been the last couple weeks.” She spoke as she walked, her words clipped.
Adalyn fell in step with her even as true fear sliced through her, invading her blood, her bones. The kind of terror she’d felt for her sister when she’d received that text.
And now the same monster who’d shown that he was very capable of cold-blooded murder had Rowan. The man she loved.