Chapter 19 #2
“Is that what you did?” Jude asked.
Harmony shook her head. “I haven’t had time. The money is sitting in my account. It feels like all it’s brought me is trouble. Like it’s a curse.”
“Is that why you feel like Grant Pickens was paying you off?”
“No. I guess I can’t really explain that feeling. I just know he’s dangerous.”
Jude’s eyebrows jumped up. “And how do you know that?”
Harmony shrugged one shoulder. “The last thing he said to me was he wouldn’t dream of hurting me with so many witnesses.”
“He said what?” Damien barked.
Harmony’s gaze swung to his. The fear in her eyes was real.
“Why didn’t you tell me before this?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I hoped I was overreacting to what he said. Everything else seemed to be… Nothing traced back to him. I thought…”
“You thought it was all a coincidence,” Jude provided.
“Yeah.”
“Shit, Harmony.” Damien pulled her into his arms. She clutched at him, holding on as if he was the only thing keeping her together. She trembled in his arms, and he cursed himself for not seeing how terrified she was.
Never again. He wouldn’t let Grant Pickens, or anyone else, get to her ever again.
Harmony felt better after admitting the whole truth to Damien about Grant Pickens.
She tried so hard to convince herself she was overreacting to his words, especially when Damien said they didn’t find anything about the man.
But people didn’t make threats like that unless they expected to not get caught.
She wanted to forget all about Grant Pickens. And for a while, she did. She let herself get lost in Damien and her work and pretend life was normal for her.
But now that she saw Grant Pickens with the man who broke into her apartment, she knew it was all connected. She didn’t know how or why, but she knew it was. Which meant she had to be careful until the police…
What? Proved he was involved in his own company’s attempted robbery? Why would he do that? And they didn’t even take anything, so what was the goal?
None of it made any sense to Harmony. Or to Damien’s team from the look of it. They’d been staring at their computer screens for hours with no breaks. They had to be exhausted.
Harmony considered going out to get food for everyone, but she knew that wouldn’t fly. She could order the food, though. She had a lot of money from a man who maybe wanted to hurt her. She might as well spend some of it on the people trying to help her.
“I’m going to talk to Berkeley,” Harmony told Damien.
Damien nodded absently. “Okay.”
Harmony smiled. She was the same way when she was head down in a project. Sometimes you needed all your focus to get something done.
Berkeley was on the phone when Harmony walked out to the entryway, so Harmony waited until the pretty redhead was done with her call.
“Sorry about that,” Berkeley said. “Did you need something?”
“I was thinking about getting food for everyone. They’re all working really hard, and I feel bad that it’s all for me.”
“This is what we do here. It’s not a bother. But food is always nice.” Berkeley grinned.
Harmony chuckled. “I thought it might be. Do you have any recommendations? Something they all like?”
Berkeley opened a drawer as her phone rang. “Go through the menus and see what you like. These are all places we order from regularly.”
Harmony grabbed the stack while Berkeley answered her phone. There was a huge variety of food in the stack of menus. Harmony hesitated at the Indian menu. They missed their Italian lunch, but Indian sounded good.
Berkeley hung up and looked at what Harmony was holding. “Everyone loves Indian. Want me to order?”
“Do you know what they all like?”
Berkeley laughed. “I do. It’s part of the job.”
“That would be great. Thank you. I’ll pay. If that’s okay.”
“I’m sure Montgomery will be very appreciative of that. Thanks, Harmony.”
“You’re welcome.”
Harmony waited while Berkeley placed the order. She said they’d have a card when the delivery driver arrived and hung up. She told Harmony the total. “Is that okay?”
“Absolutely. It seems affordable for all that food,” Harmony chuckled.
“That’s one of the things we like about the place. They should be here in about thirty minutes.” Her phone rang again, and she rolled her eyes before answering.
“I’ll be back,” Harmony whispered, pointing to the secure door.
Berkeley buzzed Harmony back. She went to Damien’s desk and grabbed her purse, digging out her credit card.
“What’s going on?” Damien asked.
“Berkeley ordered food for everyone. I wanted to pay since I’m not paying for your protection.”
Damien captured her wrist and tugged her onto his lap. “I’ll always protect you for free.” He cupped her jaw and brought her lips down to his.
“Get a room,” Rhett teased from behind them. Rhett was the guy Harmony noticed didn’t get along well with his partner.
Damien flipped him off, smiling at Harmony. “Thanks for buying food.”
“Are you making any progress?”
“I don’t know. Until we get the footage from Antonio’s, I feel like we’re digging through mud. It’s easier if we know who we’re looking for. Especially if Grant Pickens isn’t his real name and we can’t find anything accurate about him.”
“You’ll figure it out. I know you will.”
Damien grinned. “Thanks.”
Harmony saw his gaze drifting back to the computer and climbed off his lap. “Get back to it. I’m going to hang out with Berkeley until the food arrives.”
“Sorry.”
Harmony cupped his jaw and kissed him chastely. “I get it. More than you know.”
Damien breathed a laugh. “Yeah, I guess you do. Thanks.”
Harmony trailed her fingers across his jaw and squeezed his hand, then left him to his work.
Berkeley was hanging up the phone again when Harmony joined her.
“Busy day?”
Berkeley nodded. “Yeah. More than usual. But that’s not a bad thing. We can handle it.”
“That’s good. I guess it’s always good when work is busy.”
“It is.” Berkeley shrieked, jumping to her feet.
Harmony panicked for a second, then Berkeley’s grin registered. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry! One of our guys and his wife and baby.”
Harmony looked up and saw Austin and Lacey approaching the door with baby Samuel. She waved when they walked in.
“Harmony! I didn’t know you’d be here. How are you?” Lacey asked, hugging a very excited, and confused, Berkeley.
“You know each other?” Berkeley asked.
They all laughed. “Damien and Harmony came over for dinner last weekend,” Lacey explained.
“Awesome. Let me hold Samuel.” Berkeley reached for the baby. “He’s so cute.”
Samuel smiled at Berkeley and grabbed her hair.
“I’m so sorry,” Lacey said, trying to pull the baby’s hand free.
“He’s fine,” Berkeley assured her. “If it makes him feel secure, it’s okay.” She shook her hair in Samuel’s face, making him laugh. He grabbed more of her hair.
“You’re so good with him,” Lacey said.
“I always wanted kids,” Berkeley confessed.
“One day,” Lacey told her.
“I’m going to check in with Montgomery. Are you ladies okay up here?” Austin asked.
“Yes, we’re good. Indian food is on the way if you guys want to stick around. Harmony’s paying,” Berkeley told him as he swiped his pass.
“Sounds good to me,” Austin said. “I’ll be right back.”
Lacey rubbed Samuel’s back as he made noises at Berkeley.
Harmony watched the two women coo at Samuel, enjoying the female interaction. After spending the day with mostly men on the other side of the door, and mostly men in her program, she was loving the ease of being around other women for a few minutes.
A gurgle filled the air, followed by an unmistakable sound. Berkeley’s eyes went wide. Lacey fought a laugh.
“Was that Samuel?” Harmony asked.
Lacey snorted. “It was.”
“He’s like his grandfather,” Berkeley teased. “And his father.”
Lacey laughed loudly. “He really is. And I left the diaper bag in the car. Austin wanted to stop in for a minute. I didn’t think Samuel would be so comfortable here he’d empty his bowels.”
“I can grab it,” Harmony offered. “Where are you parked?”
“Are you sure?” Lacey asked.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.”
Lacey handed her the keys. She pointed to a dark SUV two rows back and to the right of the door. “It’s that one. The bag is in the backseat behind the driver.”
“Got it.” Harmony took the keys and pushed out the door. She checked for cars and jogged across the lane, hitting the button to unlock the SUV. She circled around the front and reached for the handle.
The bag was right where Lacey said it would be. Harmony reached for it.
“We meet again, Ms. Gibbs.”