Chapter Eleven
Never in a million years had Alex ever imagined she’d feel at ease descending the grand staircase in what was once her father’s estate.
But that was exactly what she felt now.
Soon after arriving at the estate, Alex made her way to the guest room she claimed as hers when she stayed in the home.
It was in the opposite direction of the primary bedrooms and likely had never even seen her father’s feet in it.
At least that was her reasoning for choosing the room the first time she had to stay the night.
The spacious guest room had its own bathroom and a small sitting area on one side. The balcony faced the front of the house, unlike the rooms that Max and Sarah used, which faced the backyard, pool, and gardens.
Alex had a handful of clothing items to get her through, including two bathing suits that she only ever used there.
Alex took a few minutes of solitude and rinsed off in the shower. That alone helped shed some of the day’s weight.
Wearing a comfortable pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes, she pulled her now-loose hair over one shoulder before joining her family in the large living room in the very center of the estate.
In the time it had taken Alex to shower and change, Piper had arrived and brought Alex’s niece, Hailey, and the ever-protective rottweiler named Kitty.
“You look more relaxed,” Sarah said to Alex.
“I’ll get there faster if someone can pour me a glass of that wine,” she hinted to Chase, who was holding a bottle and filling a glass.
“No problem.”
Alex crossed to her brother first, accepted the wine, and then turned toward her niece in Piper’s arms.
“Where is Max?”
“Showing Hawk around. Giving him a rundown of the security system.”
Alex took her first taste of the wine and let it roll over her tongue. “From Dad’s private collection?”
“Of course,” Chase said with a grin.
Their father had collected more wine than he consumed. Bottles worth thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. All sitting in a wine cellar, rotting, instead of being enjoyed.
“And I can finally have some,” Piper said when Chase handed her a glass as well.
Alex sat beside her sister-in-law, took a second sip, and then put her glass aside. “I get to hold her.”
“Be my guest,” Piper offered.
“I can’t believe how big she’s getting.” Alex lifted Hailey from Piper’s lap and smiled down at her expressive, wide eyes. “Hi, sweetie,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “Did you miss your auntie Alex?”
Hailey cooed and stuck her fist in her mouth.
“I spoke with Mom,” Chase said. “They saw the news. Gaylord wanted to fly them in tonight—”
“That’s not necessary.”
“I told her that. But you know Mom.”
Alex did. Vivian was the most dedicated mother on the planet.
She’d always put Alex and Chase first and now, by extension, Piper, Hailey, Max, and Sarah.
Considering that Max was a product of an affair Aaron had been involved in during his marriage to their mother, that was saying something.
Not once did Vivian hold any ill will or thoughts toward Max.
And in fact, she had embraced him as one of the family.
“They’re coming in the morning,” Chase told her. “She only agreed to that when I told her we’d likely all stay here tonight.”
Alex looked up from her niece and considered what Chase was suggesting. Alex had no real desire to deny the need. The thought of returning to her place and wondering who was walking down the hall of the condominium complex made her shiver.
“Probably a good idea,” Alex said.
The phone in the house rang in the way that indicated someone was at the gate of the mansion.
Sarah moved to answer it.
“Owens?” Alex looked at Chase.
He shrugged.
“Come in,” Sarah said into the receiver. “It’s Nick.”
“Do you hear that? It’s your crazy Uncle Nick.” Alex lifted Hailey a little higher in her lap.
Soon after, Nick bounced into the house, past the foyer, and right into the grand living room. “I’m glad to see no one is blown to pieces,” he said to the crowded room.
“Subtle, Nick,” Chase told him.
Nick leaned in and kissed Sarah’s cheek, then did the same to Piper, who had moved from the couch to greet him. “How is everyone?”
“We’re doing okay.”
Nick took a seat next to Alex and put his arm around her. “I came as soon as I could. Well, not when you were all standing around the building that wanted to go boom. Why on earth were you even there?”
“It didn’t feel right to leave,” Chase told him.
Alex agreed.
“How did you know that we came here?” Sarah asked.
Nick looked at Sarah with a tiny roll of his eyes. “I have this one on GPS. Someone needs to keep an eye on her when she’s out on a date.”
It was Alex’s turn to roll an eye. “Because that’s a thing.”
“The news said they didn’t find a bomb.” Nick looked around as if he wanted someone to confirm or deny.
“Not a bomb. But they did find a bag.”
Nick put a hand on his chest. “A warning? A joke?”
“We don’t know,” Alex said.
Voices from the back of the house moved closer.
Max and Hawk came into view.
Hawk found her eyes first, then he looked at Nick.
“Who is that?” Nick whispered with a little growl in the back of his throat.
Alex nudged her friend’s knee to snap him out of the flirty phase.
Kit lifted his head off his paws, sniffed the air, and put his head back down.
“Apparently, we have a state-of-the-art system,” Max told Chase as they moved deeper into the room.
“Except there isn’t live monitoring of the cameras,” Hawk said.
“Is that really necessary?” Sarah asked.
Nick leaned closer to Alex. “Hawk? The guy from the parking lot?” he whispered.
Alex nodded.
“Yum.”
“Stop it,” she barked in a sharp whisper.
Although hearing Nick’s assessment had her taking another look at the man.
Hawk was a bit yummy. Taller by at least two more inches when she was in heels, which was every time she’d seen him. The man was not afraid of working out, his broad shoulders filled out his shirt and casual jacket. A jacket that hid a gun.
Were guns sexy?
She shook her head and refocused on the conversation.
“... should at least be an option,” Hawk was saying.
His jaw was strong, but not so etched it looked like a cartoon character. And stern. Had she seen the man smile? Alex pulled her thoughts inward and attempted to recall Hawk’s smile.
“What do you think, Alex?”
Her eyes snapped to Chase. Think about what? “I’m sorry. My mind was ...”
Nick chuckled.
Hailey decided that was a great moment to let out a cry. Not an “I need something” one but a “No one is looking at me” cry.
“Hailey agrees,” Piper said.
Then Alex saw it. Hawk’s smile. Well, not so much a smile as a hint of amusement. A lift of one corner of his lips, a dance of light in his eyes. It was ... unnerving.
Sarah and Piper got up and walked out of the room. For what, Alex hadn’t been paying attention to know.
Chase was saying something to Max.
And Hawk was staring directly at her.
His amusement waned, and the light in his gaze turned smoky and thick.
A shiver inched up the back of Alex’s neck, her mouth was suddenly dry.
The phone rang, breaking the spell.
Alex pulled her eyes away and looked to Hailey.
At the same time, Hawk physically turned to face Chase.
Nick made a humming noise in the back of his throat.
“Stop,” Alex muttered.
“Not on your life, darlin’.” Pure entertainment filled Nick’s face.
Alex lifted Hailey off her lap and placed her on Nick’s. As she did, Alex took Nick’s wine from his hand and set it aside. “Focus on the baby.”
Nick made kissy lips to Hailey. “I can multitask ... can’t I, Hailey?”
“It’s Owens,” Max announced.
For a moment, Alex had completely forgotten why they were all assembled at the estate in the first place.
It all came back to her in a rush.
She reached for her wine and lifted herself off the sofa.
By the time Owens made it inside, Alex stood by the wall of windows that looked out at the back garden and the fading sun.
Owens had another man with him and quickly made the introductions.
“This is Detective Fitzpatrick. You’ll likely see more of him than me moving forward. Unless our perpetrator decides to try this again,” Owens announced.
The detective made the rounds, shaking hands.
“Thank you for doing this here,” Chase said.
“Not a problem. Looks like a few of the news vans made it to the gate.”
Max shook his head. “Nothing new about that.”
Owens glanced around. “Your family has attracted a lot of media in the past year.”
“I blame Dad,” Alex said.
“The man is dead,” Nick countered.
“Still on him.” She lifted one finger in the air. “He dies.” Another finger up. “He leaves everything to us.” A third finger. “He kept Max a secret, and God knew that was going to be front-page news once the story broke. And now this.”
“You blame him for dying?” Nick said.
“I blame him for everything.” And she did. “All the bad press anyway.” And everything else, but it felt childish to say out loud.
Piper and Sarah returned.
More introductions were made.
“Please, have a seat,” Max encouraged.
Alex stayed by her perch at the window. Everyone else in the room took a seat except Hawk, who mirrored her stance as he leaned against one of the sofas.
“This is quite the place,” Fitzpatrick said as he glanced around the room.
Chase, Max, and Alex all looked at each other.
Finally, Alex said, “It was inherited. Saying thank you feels strange. None of us were responsible for picking it out, decorating it ... even the wine wasn’t our choice.” She tilted the glass to them before taking another drink.
The detective removed a pad of paper and a pen from the inside of his jacket.
“Who would be angry about that?” Fitzpatrick asked.
Chase, Piper, and Alex all said, “Melissa.” At the same time.
“Melissa . . . ?”
“Stone. Our father’s wife. Widow, that is,” Chase said.
“Enough to put a fake bomb under your car, Miss Stone?”
She let the Miss go and focused on what was really important. “Angry enough? Yes. Smart enough? No.”