Chapter 38
Adam
Four months later …
It’s my first official day back in the office, and although I’ve worked from home a little bit, leaving my ladies was the absolute worst. I’ve never had an issue going to work before, but leaving them both asleep in bed was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
“The big papa returns!” Juliette says once I step onto our floor.
“Big papa!” everyone else yells.
“Please do not call me that.” I groan.
“Glad to have you back.” Woodcroft cuffs my back.
“Good to be back.” I hope they don’t hear the lie.
“You’d rather be back home with Claire and Charlie,” Stone says with a smile.
“I would.” I chuckle. “I absolutely would.”
“Well, sorry to rain on that parade, but we’ve got a breakthrough,” Woodcroft says. “Conference room in five.”
We all head that way, bringing our laptops and notepads, waiting for our boss to fill us in.
“So, Hunter Page was a dead end until Sin randomly threw in a threat to call the FBI.”
“We’re still interrogating him?” I ask.
“More like having regular conversations,” Sin says.
“What’s the deal with the FBI?” Juliette asks.
“That’s the thing. He panicked and told us he’d tell us everything about Lorentz and the setup they have,” Woodcroft says.
“Holy shit,” Stone murmurs.
“What?” I ask.
“The FBI, or someone in the FBI, is involved,” Lex says.
“And it just so happens that my boss is bringing in the FBI to help us with the investigation because we’re at a ‘standstill’.”
“Holy shit,” I mutter.
“So, we need a plan before they get here because I’m not letting them run all over us.
And I’m sure as hell not letting them get away with this shit under our watch.
We’re going to be running two cases. One connected to the FBI and figuring out how deep things go with Page and Lorentz, and the other is our group trying to figure out who in the FBI is dirty,” Woodcroft says.
“God, I love cases like this.” Juliette sighs, typing as fast as possible.
Lex clears his throat. “I also found some information in a hard drive we recovered from Page’s home.
” He’s looking directly at me, and I get a sinking feeling in my chest. “There’s evidence that Charlie Daniels found out what Cano was really doing and who was connected.
He confronted him, and that’s when Oscar Cano killed him with an overdose, making it look like just another junkie died.
Everything I’ve found on the kid says he was clean. ”
“Fuck.” I sigh. It’s both good and bad news, and I’m not quite sure how Claire will take it.
“I’m sorry, man,” Lex says.
“Not your fault. I’m glad to have an actual answer about him, no matter how bad it sucks.”
“It goes without saying that any digging into the FBI needs to be very quiet and on the downlow. Whatever you find goes through me and me alone. I’m not sure if there will be a team that moves in here, so make sure you keep everything away from them.
We’ll hold weekly meetings at my place for progress,” Woodcroft reiterates.
“Are we still helping you move this weekend?” he asks me.
“If you can.” I nod.
Claire and I found a perfect family home. It’s close to work and to the MET since her blog has started to grow rapidly. Masie is over at our place more than I anticipated, so things are going really well.
“Alright, let’s do some preliminary on the team they’re sending over.” Woodcroft sighs. It’s then that I see the dark circles under his eyes.
Is the man sleeping? Sure doesn’t seem like it, and I’m the one with a baby. I make a mental note to ask him about it this weekend.
As the day goes on, I miss Charlie and Claire more and more. When my phone buzzes with a text, I hope it’s my woman.
Claire:
*Picture of smiling Charlie* Hey, Dada, we miss you!
Me:
God, you have no idea how much I needed that. I didn’t think going back to work would be this hard.
Claire:
I’m sorry.
Me:
Not your fault. I just wish I could be a stay-at-home dad with you and not have any obligations except making Charlie giggle.
Claire:
*Video of Charlie giggling* It is pretty amazing.
Me:
So rude of you to send that to me when I’m stuck here. But seriously, I needed that. I miss you both so much.
Claire:
Miss you too, but we’ll be here when you get home.
Me:
And then we sign the papers for the house.
Claire:
I’m so excited. Go back to work. We’ll see you in no time.
The rest of work goes by fairly quickly, all things considered. Woodcroft sends me home an hour early because, apparently, I’m not great at hiding my impatience to see my ladies.
“Honey, I’m home!” I call out as I get back to the apartment.
“Shh. She just fell asleep.” Claure rushes out, looking all kinds of out of sorts.
She’s never looked more gorgeous.
“Sorry.” I cringe.
“Why are you home early?” She frantically rushes around, picking up burp clothes.
“Hey.” I walk over to her.
“I’m sorry everything’s a mess.”
“Claire.”
“I expected another hour,” she rambles.
“Hey.” I step up in front of her, grabbing all the laundry.
“I don’t care. I will never care. If the house looks like a bomb went off when I get home, I’ll help clean it.
If you get a burst of energy and decide to clean the baseboards, I will also support that.
I don’t care about the house looking perfect.
If Charlie is happy and healthy, if you are happy, then that’s all I care about.
” I reach out to cup her cheek and kiss her.
“Today was so hard,” she whimpers.
“How can I help?”
“I have no idea. I think I was just used to you being here, and being alone with Charlie was hard. She was fussy as hell. I think she missed you.”
My heart clenches hard. I know she’s not guilt-tripping me, but man, I wish money wasn’t an object and both of us could just stay at home and spend every second with Charlie.
I know that’s not realistic, though. Charlie needs both of her parents to be happy, which involves both of us working to some extent.
“It’s just a transition period. Give it some time.” I hope to hell that’s all it is because I don’t think I can handle Claire having a hard time like this every day. I’ll figure out a way to make things work, but I’m really hoping things get better.
She takes a deep breath before stepping back. “You ready to sign the papers after Teeny wakes up?”
“I am. I was actually thinking of getting your office set up first so you can have space to work. I know you were saying Masie has a new artifact she wants you to check out.”
“Yeah?” Claire’s eyes light up, and I know this is the right move.
“Totally, but there is something I need to tell you. Something I found out at work.”
“Oh?”
“We found some information about Charlie. He, uh, worked for a company that ran a lot of the artifacts through it. He came upon some information that could have jeopardized the entire operation, so Cano was tasked with … taking him out. He was never on drugs, Claire,” I whisper.
I didn’t know how to broach the subject, so I figured pulling off the band aid was the best option.
“What?”
“He was killed for finding out too much information. He was never doing drugs.”
“But— I—” Her eyes move around like she’s trying to piece together things. “He wasn’t doing drugs?”
“No.” I shake my head.
“Good, that’s good. I-I knew that it wasn’t like him, but the evidence was so overwhelming.” She nods, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Thank you. For telling me.”
“Of course. I’m sorry that I can’t take out that asshole Cano again for what he did to Charlie and you.” I grab her shoulders, pulling her to me to hug her.
“I’m glad I know,” she murmurs, pressing a kiss to my chest. Just as I’m about to lift her up and kiss her again, baby Charlie decides it’s time to wake up.
“I’ll get her.”
Claire nods, still reeling from the information.
I walk into Charlie’s room to find her wide-eyed and smiling.
“Hey there, beautiful. Did you have a good nap? I sure missed you today.” I pick her up, snuggling her to my chest and kissing her head. “You’re growing up too fast, my love.”
“She is.” Claire smiles from the doorway.
“You okay?” I ask her.
“I think so. It’s a relief, honestly.”
I nod, changing Charlie and getting her ready to go out to the mortgage company.
“I love you both,” I say for the millionth time today.
“We love you too.” Claire saddles up next to me, gazing down at our daughter.
Three hours later, the papers are signed on our new house. We drive over there and eat pizza for dinner on the floor. After, we have a dance party in the empty space.
This is my life now, and I’m so damn grateful for it.