16. Chapter 16
A week later there had been no new phone calls, notes, or even sightings of Kenneth. It was pissing Levi off. There was surveillance all around Berkland and yet he still hadn’t been able to find this guy. This had never happened to him before. Finding a target was something he was typically good at, but this time, no matter what he did there were no results.
Melanie was getting frustrated too. She was ready to go back to her apartment. Not that he could blame her, he just didn’t want that to be the slip up Kenneth was waiting for. His girlfriend was pretty strong willed. There was only going to be so long he could hold her off.
The knock on his temporary office door surprised him. No one other than Scarlett came to visit him and she usually just pushed her way in. “Come in.”
“Hi. I’m Sabrina,” she said, coming closer to shake his hand across the desk.
“Levi.”
“Yeah, I know.” She shrugged and looked around at the bare walls and the minimal amount of things he’d brought here. There was no point decorating if he was just going to move to the eighth floor in a few weeks. She opened her bag to pull out an envelope. “I was told to bring this to you.”
He took it and flipped it over. Levi was written in what he thought was Val’s handwriting. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” She closed her bag and turned for the door. But when she stopped, he stood back up. “I doubt they’ll let me, but I’d like to be part of Intelligence. It would be good to do something else for a change.”
Andrea had removed Sabrina from head of the escort service after her mini meltdown. Now she was practically Valerie’s full-time assistant. He doubted she was up for the challenge, but he would ask Scarlett. She protected Andrea for a while. That had to count for something. “I’ll talk to Scarlett and Victor,” he said. “No promises though.”
“Cool thanks.” Then she was gone. His guess was to go suck up to Scarlett. He would give her a day or two to make her case then he would ask them about her and how her recovery was going. If she was still being used by Valerie then she had to be doing better than she was last year when she went to rehab.
Sitting down, he opened up the envelope.
I broke my phone. -V
It made him laugh. She sent him a letter so he would get her a phone. He threw the note on the desk and dug around in his bag. Pulling out a phone, he plugged it into his computer and pressed some buttons to get it updated where it would download the stuff backed up on his servers. If he took it by the house personally, then he would get to see the new little baby.
Two hours later, he was standing at the side door to Andrea and Val’s house. He knocked softly and waited. Before coming over, he sent Andrea a text to give her a heads up so Bril wouldn’t shoot him when he pulled in the driveway.
The door swung open and Val gave him a big smile before lunging forward to hug him. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said when she released him.
“Me too,” he said because he wasn’t sure what else to say. “You look good.”
She scoffed and waved her hand for him to follow. “Come in.”
“No, really you look good, Valerie.” To have just popped out a kid almost two weeks ago she looked stellar in his opinion.
“Are you hitting on my wife?” Andrea asked with a smirk as she rounded the corner into the kitchen.
“Of course not, but you’re the one who told me to tell the girls they’re pretty.” He laughed and pulled out the phone he brought to give it to Valerie.
“Thank you. Did my pictures save?” she asked as she started swiping.
“No clue. I’m always scared to look through the pictures of both your phones.” He laughed when Andrea hit his shoulder. “Where’s the new little munchkin?”
“Sleeping,” Val said while Andrea moved over to the fridge. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
He followed her to the living room and to bassinet next to the couch. Inside was little Addy all wrapped up tight and snuggly in her blanket. He looked up at Val with a big smile. “She’s beautiful.” He couldn’t help but reach out a finger to touch her fuzzy hairs on top of her head. They were so fine they tickled his finger. The soft skin of her scalp felt funny too. He didn’t have a lot of experience with babies, but looking at this one made him think about his future. A kid or two running around and wreaking havoc on his house. That would be a lot of fun.
“She’s been perfect so far,” Val said quietly. “She actually sleeps through the night other than when she wakes up hungry. Unlike how Avrie was.”
He looked up when Andrea came into the room. “Well, she seems perfect to me.” Watching Andrea slide her arm around Val’s waist and lean in to kiss her hair made him happy but also jealous for some reason. He’d seen them interact a million times. They were always affectionate. Something inside of him now wanted that for himself.
“They’re amazing,” Andrea said. “Do you want to stay for dinner? I’m going to pick up Avrie in a few minutes then I’ll cook for us.”
That would be really nice. He missed them and it had been a couple of months since she had snuck away to have dinner with him. But he couldn’t. Not tonight. “I need to get back. If I don’t then Melanie’s going to use the opportunity to go home.”
“You could bring her,” Val offered and looked over at Andrea.
She was watching him carefully. “Another time then,” she said instead of confirming they should come tonight. Whatever she saw on his face made him nervous. It was hard to hide from her.
“Yeah.” He glanced back down at Addy and then at them again. “I should go. Congrats, she’s really perfect.”
Behind him he heard Val whisper something then he heard Andrea’s footsteps following him out of the house. “Levi.”
He stopped and turned to look at her. “I’m fine,” he said, trying to head off whatever this was.
“If you want to talk, you know I’m here for you, right?” She put her hand on his arm and squeezed before pulling it back. “You can come to me like you’ve always done. Just because I have the girls now, doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
“I know, Mama A.” He sighed and glanced at the street nervously. “It’s not that. I’m happy for you, but I’m…”
When he failed to continue, she tilted her head. “You’re what?” Now wasn’t the time. She needed to go get Avrie, and he needed to go in general. There was no need to make her worry about him when there was already so much going on in her life. It wasn’t fair.
“Nothing. I’ll see you later.” He walked away again.
Just as he pulled his door open, she pushed it closed. He didn’t even know she had followed him. “What’s going on, Levi?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “I’m too old and tired to play guessing games tonight. What’s wrong?” It was then that he noticed Hutch had gotten out of the car parked on the street, like he was ready to step in if needed. This was stupid.
“I want what you have,” he whispered. “A woman to love, kids, a house. Something has changed about you and I want that for me.”
She uncrossed her arms and pulled his arm. “Come inside. Let’s talk. Just you and me in my study.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said and quickly pulled open the door and slid in. This time she didn’t stop him. He backed down the driveway. Only when he put the car in drive did he see her shake her head and wave Hutch off. The visit had turned way too serious. He was an idiot for even saying anything.
When he made it back to Melanie’s office it was empty so he went up to the apartment she’d been staying in. Really, they had been staying in. Except for a couple of nights, he’d spent the last week there too. But when he stepped off the elevator, the hall was empty. There were supposed to be two men stationed there if Melanie was here. He opened the apartment and went in. It was empty too. All her stuff was also gone. With a frustrated groan, he pulled out his phone and called her.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
He was trying really hard not to be angry, but it just wasn’t going to come out nicely no matter how he said it. “You should’ve called me to let me know.”
The huff she gave him said that she didn’t agree in the slightest. “I’m not going to be a prisoner just because you think that’s the only way to keep me safe. So if you want to come over then feel free. If not, I’ll see you at work.” Then the line disconnected.
When he tried to call back, it went straight to voicemail. She turned off her phone on him. That was ridiculous. It was also kind of hot. He liked when she got mad and told him off. Instead of being a crazy person and continuing to call her when he knew she had no intention of answering, he packed up his stuff in the apartment. Maybe they needed a few days apart. Being trapped in the same space for a week now was obviously pushing him to places in his mind that he had no business being.
Wanting a family and kids were dreams he couldn’t have. His life was dedicated to other things. A girlfriend to have dinner with sometimes and to sleep with when he wanted to had been his goal only a few weeks before he met Melanie. That was more his style. That’s what he wanted. He just had to get his brain to remember what the plan had been.
The problem with those plans was Melanie wasn’t that kind of girl. She wasn’t the girl he could just stick his dick in and then leave when he was done. No, she was the woman that deserved better than that. There was no way their relationship was going to make it if he didn’t pull his head out of his ass and decide which Levi he wanted to be. The player or the man.
At two in the morning, his phone started blaring on the nightstand beside him. Levi rolled over and grabbed it. Answering blindly, he said, “Yeah?”
“You need to get to Melanie’s place now,” Scarlett said quickly.
He sat up and rubbed his face. “What’s going on?”
“She’s gone.”
He practically flew out of bed, pulling on clothes and barely getting his shoes on before going out the door. It took no time at all for him to blow through every red light between their houses. When he arrived, Scarlett was standing outside smoking a cigarette.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked as he pushed through the crowd of DeLaney people and cops alike.
She took a long drag and raised a brow at him before pushing off the wall like she was ready to fight. That was a bad sign, and he knew it. “You let your girlfriend go home by herself and didn’t tell anyone that she had left HQ.” She pointed at him and then around them. “You left her unprotected and didn’t use that big fucking brain you’re supposed to have. So don’t walk up here like some pissed off punk, yelling at me, because this is your fucking fault.”
Levi took a step back. “Sorry,” he mumbled and noticed some people were watching him get his ass handed to him. He straightened his shirt. “Do you know what happened?”
“A neighbor called 9-1-1 when she saw Melanie’s door open while she was taking her dog outside. She checked on her, but the apartment was empty.” Scarlett tossed her cigarette butt on the ground. He felt like he was going to throw up. She was right. He’d left Melanie unprotected just because he got all fucked up in his head.
“Is there anything at all to go off of?”