Chapter Five
Littlemoon Investigations
Lucian’s Office
Fifteen Minutes Earlier
Everything was fine until it wasn’t. In his dream, Ridge was dreaming about his wife. She was in their home, doing everyday normal things. As he watched her move around, he was at peace.
At first, he believed that was actually reality, and the shit that had gone down was anything but. Seeing her like this gave him hope that she was still alive.
Because he felt guilty.
To him, in his mind, Ridge knew that his wife was dead because of him.
If only he’d protected her better, not leaving her alone to go home to their child.
If only he’d stuck by her side, instead of how he’d been with Lucian at work.
Maybe then, she’d be alive, and he wasn’t going to have to carry this horrible guilt.
Yeah, this was on him.
How was he going to tell Sophia when she was older that he’d dropped the ball?
How was he going to let her grow up without a mom, and with him shattered by guilt?
Hiding in sleep was for cowards, and he knew that. Only, it was far better to pretend, and for this brief moment, that was exactly what Ridge was going to do.
For survival.
“What are you doing?” he asked, as he sat at the island in their home.
Not far away, Wynter was making him a sandwich, much like she always did.
God.
She made the best sandwiches. He loved nothing more than coming home on Fridays after the customary Littlemoon meeting at five and finding his wife making him food.
It was always a sandwich, and it was always made with so much love. She’d sit near him, stare into his eyes, and tell him how much she loved him.
There would never be that again.
And he knew it.
“I’m feeding you,” she said. “Because you need to fuel up for what is coming. If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry about all of this,” she admitted. “I’m sorry how this is going to hurt you when you figure it all out. I’m sorry I’m dead, Ridge.”
His heart skipped.
While he should have been focused on all of that, it was the dead part that hit him hardest.
“You’re really dead, aren’t you?” he asked. “This is just a dream, and I’m going to have to raise our daughter alone.”
She put the knife down.
“Yes, Ridge, I’m really dead. I made some bad choices, and it led to here. Please don’t blame yourself. Taking my life…I had no choice,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“What happened?” he asked. “How did it happen? You were given protection. Why didn’t you use it, Wyn, Baby? Why?” he asked.
It wasn’t like he wanted to blame the victim, but her stubbornness…
It was a high price to pay.
“I should have come back to the office after interviewing the people in the shop again. I should have not done what I did, Ridge. It cost me…a lot. I’m sorry.”
He wiped his eyes as she slid the sandwich across the island to him.
Wynter wasn’t done.
She didn’t have much time.
“I need you to take care of Sophia. I need you to make sure she knows that no matter what happened that I loved her. The voice…it wanted me to kill as many people before ending my life, and I couldn’t do it.”
His heart skipped again.
“What?”
She kept talking.
“I had to take myself out, Ridge. I couldn’t kill our daughter or your mother. I had to stop him, and this was the only way I could. I just wish I was alive a little longer so we could have said our goodbyes, and you didn’t have to carry this.”
All of this horrified him, and on so many levels. The mere idea that their daughter was going to die…
“I don’t want to say goodbye.”
Wynter stared into his eyes.
“We needed to. Please find closure. Please move on and find love again.”
He didn’t like this.
Not.
At.
All.
“Oh, Jesus.”
She leaned on the counter.
“It’s evil,” she said. “Right now, we’re all trapped. He’s got us trapped, Ridge. I need you to set me free. I don’t want to watch you move on. I don’t want to know I was almost happy.”
God.
How?
How did he set her free?
That was the big question.
As he ate, he asked questions.
“Where and how? I’ll do anything for you. You know that, Wyn. I love you. No matter what happened with me and Lucian, I love you.”
She paused.
“He’s your true love,” she said. “I could feel it. I’m glad you have him still. If anything, I’m jealous. To find real love, and to not be able to have it…”
He was confused.
“We had love,” he said. “We still do.”
As he spoke, she turned in a circle, as if she was trying to determine where she was, or she was watching for something he couldn’t see.
“Tell me where you are.”
She closed her eyes.
“I don’t know. It’s dark and silent here. It’s scary,” she said. “I don’t like it. It’s absolute nothingness. Like when the lights go out. That darkness.”
Yeah, he didn’t think she meant lights in a house.
“Set me free, so I can cross. I don’t want to linger or be lost here. I feel weak,” she said. “Like I’m being drained.”
He wasn’t sure how to do that.
“How do I find you? I need to figure out how to get to you, Wyn.”
When she opened her eyes, she knew there was only one way. She was going to have to give him the keys to this.
So, she pointed.
“In my purse. Find me. Ridge, promise me that you’ll stay alive and take care of Sophia.
Let Bishop and Lucian help you. They’ll help keep her safe.
Don’t go home. It’s not safe there. Burn it to the ground!
I love you, Ridge, but I’m being pulled back down.
It knows I’m talking to you. You’re not strong enough as a psychic to fight him. Let me go!”
When she screamed, it was so bloodcurdling that it shoved Ridge from sleep to be wide awake.
He sat up on his and Lucian’s shared couch, and looked around, his breathing heavy, and his heart was pounding in his chest.
As soon as he did, the door flew open, and he jumped again when Lucian came rushing in.
“Ridge.”
The man stood and started crying again. Immediately, Lucian was there, holding him against his body.
“You were dreaming,” Lucian stated. “But it felt like more. I could feel your pain, and I could feel Wynter. How?” he asked.
Ridge clung to him.
He heard footsteps and opened his eyes to see Bishop coming into the room. She gently closed the door and stood there, as if a sentry, protecting them.
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “She said I wasn’t strong enough to go up against him. I had to have been in the shallows of the static. That’s the only way.”
Shit.
That was dangerous.
“I was so exhausted I fell asleep from crying. She just showed up in my dream, but not for long.”
Hearing him explain what had happened, Bishop moved closer. She could see the man clutching her husband’s shirt in his hands as he was plastered to the front of his body. It wasn’t lost on him that Lucian was soothing him, much like he did to her.
Their touch was different somehow, and she’d not noticed until just now.
Their connection…
It had changed.
Somehow, this was different. This wasn’t that partnership that had been here before.
This was intimate.
Tender.
Loving.
This was far more than two best friends soothing each other, or two lovers in the static.
This was two lovers embraced as one, soothed the other with caresses and whispers in his ear. She knew it well, since Lucian did it for her all of the time.
Oh, boy.
Something happened.
She’d bet money on it.
One would expect more distance between them when one of them had lost their wife, but instead, there was even more closeness.
Shit.
They crossed the line.
She’d bet money on it.
Ridge’s voice was shaky as he explained what he’d dreamed about.
“She was making me a sandwich,” Ridge said. “She was sorry she died, and she told me that the voice wanted her to kill as many people as possible. She took herself out before it could make her do that. She was sad she didn’t get to say goodbye and talk to me beforehand.”
Lucian didn’t like any of this.
Had she not taken herself out first, the outcome would have been horrible. She’d been at home with Sophia and Jo. This could have been a bloodbath had Wynter not fought and done what she did.
“I’m sorry, Ridge, Baby,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry that you’re living through this. If I could save you from it, I would. I’d do anything to save you from this pain.”
The whole time, Bishop was watching, taking it in. It was clear that Lucian hadn’t realized what he’d said, but Bishop heard it.
Up to that point, she’d been his baby, and now…so was Ridge.
Yep.
Something definitely went on that she wasn’t aware of for both men to be THIS close.
Oh, and she knew it was in the static. They’d come out countless times and had to have contact like a knee or hand on the arm, but this…
This was full-on CONTACT. Ridge was PRESSED to Lucian’s body, including his lower-man region.
HER personal property.
“Lucian, this is my fault,” he whispered. “This is all my fault! I let her down! I didn’t save her.”
God.
This was painful to watch. It was tearing Ridge apart from the inside out.
As he held him, Lucian left a kiss to his temple. This was not his fault. This fell on the animal doing this. When they found him, Lucian didn’t think he’d need the Marines to handle it.
He was going to handle it.
Bishop watched the familiarity between them. Ridge’s arms were around Lucian’s waist, and his hands…
Were they on his ass?
WHAT?
Oh, Jesus H. Christ.
What had gone down?
Instead of going there, she pushed on with the dream, since they had to find this person.
The cop in her wanted to question the ‘witness’.
“What else did she say?” Bishop asked, putting her hand on his back. “Did she maybe tell you who did this?”
Honestly, he didn’t think to try to ask. He’d been so off balance. Now, though, he thought back to what she said.
Then, it hit him.
“She said, ‘I just wish I was alive a little longer so we could have said our goodbyes, and you didn’t have to carry this’,” he offered. “Oh, and then, she said to look in her purse.”
Bishop glanced over.
It was sitting on the desk.
Bishop brought it here because Ridge was clinging to it at the crime scene. Honor had wanted to strip the house as evidence, but she had this feeling like they needed to have it.
“May I?” Bishop asked.
He simply nodded.