Chapter 2
Elise
Today
For the last few weeks, Devlin and I had been so busy with work and the kids that we hadn’t had any time to ourselves.
We slept in the same bed, and he held me as I fell asleep, but more than a few times, I’d opened my eyes and saw he was staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.
When I asked him what was bothering him, he would brush it off, saying it was work stuff.
I would hear him and James talking in hushed voices, only for them to stop talking when I walked into the room.
That was when I started to question exactly what was going on and who was in danger this time.
For the last few years, one member of our family after another was dragged into some kind of personal hell, and not one time did he keep it a secret from me.
So, why was he doing it this time?
This afternoon, he said he wanted to spend the evening alone and offered to take the boys to my parents’ house for the night.
While he was gone, I got cleaned up, taking a little extra time for grooming, hoping he and I would end up in bed tonight.
We’d somehow pushed that part of our relationship off to the side, but without the boys in the apartment, we could be as loud as we wanted.
Just after six, he texted me that he was coming up in the elevator, and I hurried to slip on the sexy lingerie I’d bought.
Since he didn’t say where we were going, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a nice blouse.
He and I weren’t white linen tablecloth kind of people, so I hoped my outfit choice was okay for his plans.
As I heard the elevator door open, I walked into the living room to meet him. Our floor was private, so we didn’t see the need for a front door. James and Amaya wouldn’t come up from downstairs unless they were asked, so I knew it was him.
He entered and lifted his blue eyes to me.
A smirk appeared on his handsome, bearded face as he walked across the room and slung his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.
The kiss was everything I’d missed from my husband, and when he broke the embrace, I felt my insides clench at the heated look he was giving me.
“I need to shower then we can go,” he offered as he released my waist.
“Are you sure you want to go out?” I asked, and he glanced over his shoulder. “We could always stay in.”
His smile seemed forced as he responded, “I’ll be out in a minute and we can go.”
My smile dropped as he walked down the hallway and into the master bedroom.
I heard the shower turn on and I shook my head as I walked into the kitchen.
Pulling open the drawer, I removed the wooden box I’d had since college and went to the sliding glass door leading to the balcony.
I stepped out into the coolish evening air and pulled the door closed behind me.
Sitting at the small table on the large balcony, I took a joint from the wooden box and used the lighter inside to ignite the tip.
Inhaling deeply, I returned the lighter to the box and closed it as I blew the smoke into the air.
The weed did little to stop the unhealthy thoughts from running through my head.
Were we in danger?
Did he meet someone else?
Was he tired of me already?
Over the last five years, I tried my best to keep my inner voice from speaking too loudly in my ear, but it still managed to get through from time to time.
It liked to whisper how someone like him was better than someone like me.
How I was the daughter of a pimp and a whore, and he was the son of a feared and wealthy man who, thankfully, was dead now.
Inhaling again, I thumped the ashes off the balcony, watching them float into the breeze.
Looking over the edge, I watched the people walking and biking around Pierce Lake as the sun began to set behind the trees on the far side of the lake.
Laughter floated into the air from the small playground that I often took DJ and Conner to.
I felt a smile on my face as I thought of my sweet boys laughing and playing under the big shade trees.
The door behind me opened, and my smile fell as Devlin stepped out and closed the door behind him. “I was looking for you inside.”
I inhaled off the joint and said, “I decided to wait out here.”
I couldn’t look at him out of fear I’d start crying and when he stepped up next to me, I cut my eyes to him before he said anything. He asked, “Are you ready to go?”
“Sure,” I responded and stepped away from the banister to drop the joint into the ashtray.
He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he silently followed me into the apartment and secured the door behind us.
The ride down to the lobby was quiet, and I was starting to think the worst about tonight when the door opened and Devlin took my hand into his.
His touch calmed me as we walked into the small lobby of our building.
Devlin looked at the two armed guards who patrolled the lobby and front walkway as he asked, “Has everything arrived?”
One of the guards walked to a door off to the side of the small lobby and returned with a wicker basket. Handing it to Devlin, he replied, “Everything is as you requested.”
“Thanks,” Devlin said to the man before he smiled at me. “Are you ready?”
Realizing I probably overreacted to everything, I smiled and nodded, “Where are we going?”
He pushed open the doors leading to the sidewalk and we stepped into the cool night air before he answered. “I thought we could have a little picnic in the park.”
His smile was brilliant, and his blue eyes twinkled as I looked up at him.
Picnics were one of my favorite things. You got to sit on a soft blanket, enjoying delicious bites of food as you connected with the other person.
No waiters, no interruptions. He and I did it often when we first got together, but since our lives had changed so much over the last five years, I couldn’t remember the last time we had one.
We walked hand in hand down the sidewalk and across the parking lot at the front of Pierce Lake. Families were starting to gather their children as people began to leave the park. There was still at least an hour of daylight, but I guessed they wanted to get home before it got too late.
Moving down the sidewalk, Devlin seemed lighter, happier than he had in weeks, and it gave me hope that whatever had been keeping him preoccupied was over.
As he guided us down the path and away from the people still enjoying the park and the lapping waterfront of the lake, I felt a weight start to lift from my shoulders.
When we got to where he wanted to be, he released his grip on my hand and placed the wicker basket onto the ground.
He squatted in front of me as he began to pull out a blanket and various containers with food in them.
When he was satisfied with the way everything was placed, he stood and offered me his hand.
I took it and we kicked off our shoes and stepped onto the blanket. I sat down, crossing my legs under me as Devlin sat across from me. He poured each of us a glass of wine and he handed one to me before he raised his in a toast.
“To us and all the love we share,” he stated, and we clinked glasses.
Taking a sip of the dry red wine, I watched as he began to open the containers. There was meat, cheese, fruit, crackers, and something made out of chocolate. I didn’t know where to begin so he reached down and picked up some meat and cheese before handing them to me.
“Hmm,” I moaned as I popped the food into my mouth, tasting the strong cheese and smoky meat.
We took turns feeding each other, and the longer we sat there, the more relaxed I became. When we had eaten enough, he placed the lids onto the containers and topped off my wine glass as the cool air swirled off the lake.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been distant lately,” he remarked as we watched the sky turn from blue to shades of orange and pink. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I sat up straighter and took my gaze off the sky as I turned my attention to him. “Is everything okay?”
His gaze shifted to the side before he looked back at me, and I was scared of what I saw in his eyes.
I’d only seen it once before, when I confronted him after my dad, Chuck’s brother kidnapped me.
Devlin had kept secrets from me, putting me into danger, and from the look in his eyes, whatever he had to say wasn’t good.
I placed my glass onto the blanket and gave him my full attention.
“I don’t know where to start,” he began, and it felt like an eternity before he spoke again.
“When you moved in with Chuck and Blaire all those years ago, I was still trying to untangle myself from the web I’d spun around myself after Marco.
” I nodded, remembering him telling me how he had to work for years to build Callahan Security into a trusted name, and during that time, he was dealing with the sins of his past. “Well,” he swallowed hard and said, “Something from my past has come back to threaten me.”
“What is it?” I asked, scooting closer to him as I felt my heartbeat increase. “Are you in danger?”
“No,” he tried to reason as he took my hands into his. “But I’m having trouble getting a handle on the situation and as hard as I tried to keep you out of it, I think you should know, just in case.”
“Just in case what?” I posed and he scrunched his nose and pressed his lips together.
“These people,” he shook his head, appearing worried.
Throughout the last few years, he’s faced off with some of the worst people in the country. He’s battled alongside his siblings to protect all of us, and not once did he seem worried. I was getting scared of who or what this threat was.
“Tell me,” I requested and when I went to open my mouth to ask another question, I happened to glance over his shoulder.
There was a man standing behind him, hiding in the dark, leaning against a tree.
I’d never seen him before and I squeezed Devlin’s hand, trying to relay that someone was behind him.
Devlin released my hand and carefully slid his hand under the leg of his jeans, retrieving a snub-nosed . 38 from the holster he always wore.
Spinning on his butt, he turned to see who was behind him when I felt someone approaching from behind me. I turned to see who was there at the same time I heard a shot ring out.
My head snapped back to Devlin, and I saw the man with a gun in his hand, casually walking closer to us. Touching Devlin, I saw his blue eyes look back at me before he collapsed onto the blanket in front of me.
The gasp that came out of my mouth was instant as I tried to see where he was hit but someone clamped their hand over my mouth and yanked me from the blanket. I tried to fight them, but they were bigger and stronger than I was as they hoisted me off my feet and away from the blanket.
In the weaning light, I saw the man who was behind Devlin squat down and check on him before lifting his eyes to me as he stood. His smile was feral as he reasoned with a shrug, “One less madman to worry about.”
I felt my world shift off its axis as the person holding me injected something into my neck, burning as it entered my bloodstream.
The last thing I remember before everything went dark was the vision of my husband dead on the ground with his blood staining the blanket as I was dragged away from him and into the unknown.