Chapter 17
seventeen
. . .
Sadie
The construction crew was working round the clock.
It was only seven on Monday morning, and the same trucks were parked in front of the house.
I leaned forward to see straight down from my window.
Three guys in white painter pants and hats were carrying a very long ladder through the entryway.
Mom had mentioned something about an anniversary or birthday or some kind of party for their friends happening next month.
She wanted the house finished by then. She put herself into these stressful situations by constantly having work done on the house.
I was sure she thrived on that kind of thrill because, otherwise, her life and her social circle were boring as hell.
I purposely stayed in my room until I was sure Mom and Dad had finished breakfast. They never veered from their routines.
Dad would finish his two eggs, hard-boiled, and wheat toast basted with just a touch of butter and honey, then he'd go to his study, shut the door and start making agitated phone calls.
Mom would do the same, only she liked her eggs scrambled and a scone on the side, then she'd go into her personal parlor and answer emails and make phone calls.
Hers were usually less agitated than Dad's because hers tended to focus on charity balls, society luncheons and the latest gossip.
I put on my shoes and grabbed my pack. I zipped downstairs.
Yep, routines still in place. I could hear Dad snarling at someone on the phone, and Mom gasping about some incident at a garden party.
Some things never changed. I slipped through the kitchen.
Ingrid was talking to a tall man who I assumed was the new chef.
"There you are," Ingird said. "I thought you'd never come out of your room.
I made you an egg sandwich." She walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a foil-wrapped parcel.
She walked back to the island and picked up a to-go cup.
"And coffee with a splash of milk." She winked.
"The way you like it." I could offer my mom a diamond necklace if she could tell me the way I like my coffee, but she wouldn't be able to do it.
And it wasn't as if it was a complicated coffee order.
I kissed Ingrid on the cheek. "Still always the best. I'll be back in a few hours."
"Where are you going? Your father will surely ask."
"Tell him I went back to my place to get that photo he ordered me to leave on his desk. See ya soon."
I hurried through the security gate. I didn't need to be stopped by a nosy parent or one of the creepy security guards they had patrolling the grounds.
My apartment was a twenty-minute bus ride from the house, and the bus stop was two miles straight down the hill.
I knew all this because as a teen, my dad rarely let me borrow a car.
He told me my grades were too low for him to trust me as a responsible driver.
I got used to the bus rides and didn't mind them at all.
I managed to finish the delicious breakfast Ingrid made me during the walk down the hill.
The sun was pouring down from a hazy sky.
It seemed it was always hot now. I longed for the cool slopes of the Alps or the icy plains of Iceland.
Constant sunshine and heat made me weary.
Maybe it was time to find an overseas job again.
I certainly didn't have anything to hold me here.
I'd been in the house for just over twelve hours and spoken to my parents only briefly and mostly tersely.
They didn't care that I was home. I'd met a man who I thought might make me want to stay stateside, but Ace took a cleaver to that possibility.
Now Colin was just another memory, one that admittedly made my heart ache with regret.
Not regret that I'd slept with him. Regret that I was never going to get to know him better.
It was early on a Monday, and people were heading to work.
The bus was packed. I held onto the railing and bus surfed, as my friends and I used to call it, all the way to the street where I lived.
My stomach clenched as I spotted the front of my apartment building.
I hadn't been back since the break-in. I looked around but didn't see anyone suspicious or sketchy or thuggish.
I hurried through the grounds. My heart beat louder with each step.
I searched around enough that I managed to trip on sidewalk cracks twice.
I saved myself from falling both times. I raced up the stairs and was close enough to a panic attack by the time I reached the door that I stepped off into an alcove that led to two other apartments to catch my breath.
My hands and face tingled as I closed my eyes and slowed my erratic heartrate.
"Sadie?" a voice said. I startled so badly I made Mrs. Grayson startle, too. Her hand flew to her chest. "My word. Are you all right, dear? You look as if you've seen a ghost. We haven't seen you lately, so I figured you were on one of your world travels."
I forced a smile. The adrenaline and tingling had started to subside. "Just out of town for a couple days. I felt a little dizzy from the heat, but I'm fine. Thanks for checking. Have a nice day."
Mrs. Grayson, a widow who lived with her grown, single son, didn't look convinced. "I could get you a glass of water from my apartment."
"No, really, I'm totally fine now. Thanks for the offer.
" I sidled past her, gave her a kind pat on the shoulder, then hurried to my door.
My hand shook as I unlocked it. I sucked in a breath as I stepped inside.
I had no idea what I'd expected. It wasn't as if a cleaning crew had been hired to go in and straighten up the mess.
At least it didn't look any worse, which meant they hadn't returned.
I stepped over the clutter of books and my fern plant that had been destroyed in the ransacking and walked to my open closet.
Everything had been taken down from the shelves, including a box of photos and negatives.
They were strewn on the floor. I thumbed through them and found one that was a close-up of several adorable puffins sitting on a cliff in Iceland.
I'd fallen in love with the clown-like birds and then found out they served them as a delicacy in local restaurants.
I lamented over that dark reality for days.
I picked out the best puffin photo and the strip of negatives that went with it and stuck it in my pack.
I spun around in the small space, and my toe kicked my black equipment bag.
In my haste to leave my ransacked apartment the first time, I'd left it behind.
I hated to carry it on the bus and then back up to my parents' house, but half my gear was inside and I didn't have enough money to replace it.
If I went back overseas, I would need it.
I zipped the bag and tucked in the long ribbon I had tied to the handle, so I could tell it apart from the dozens of other black equipment bags on the photography team.
We used to joke about going home with each other's bags.
I put a pack on each shoulder and awkwardly shimmied out the door.
I locked it behind me, again, mostly out of habit.
I was glad not to run into any more neighbors.
I didn't feel like discussing my tawdry life problems with any of them.
Most of them had their own problems, mostly financial, relationship or health related.
I was sure none of them were hiding from an angry heavyweight fighter and his hired thugs.
I'd thought about the scary incident outside Colin's apartment a few times while tossing and turning last night.
It was hard to know just what would have happened if the Wilde brothers hadn't intervened.
I was sure I would have capitulated and given them the photo.
Having a picture go viral was no fun if you were dead.
But my biggest worry was that Gregor knew that I knew his big secret.
That made me vulnerable. I didn't know him well, but the men he hired were not exactly respectable.
Maybe they'd been instructed to get the photo and then take care of the nosy journalist. I shuddered at that thought.
My head turned back and forth as if I was watching a tennis match. I looked behind me several times but only spotted a teenage girl wearing earbuds and walking a doodle dog and an elderly man walking with a long stick as if he expected to be assaulted on his stroll.
The sun was even hotter as I reached the bus stop.
The bench was almost too hot to sit on, but I managed to ease myself onto it.
The morning rush had slowed. I was alone on the bench.
I reached into my pocket for my phone to check the time and remembered I wasn't using it.
Phonelessness sure made life difficult. Normally, I'd be scrolling through stupid social media posts while I waited for the bus.
Maybe being without it wasn't so bad, after all.
I stared north, the direction I expected to see the bus coming from.
For the time being I was stuck at home. I'd stay there, mostly in my room, until I figured out what to do next.
The bus bench jiggled slightly as someone sat down next to me. I'd been so in my own head about what to do next and where to go that I hadn't even considered looking over at the person.
"Sadie Rivers, right?" the deep voice said.
I froze and gripped my two packs in my hands. They were both heavy enough to at least cause a good bump on the head if I swung them just right. My other option was to run like hell, which I decided was the best bet.
"Wait." A massive hand grabbed my arm.
I lifted my pack to swing at him but stopped when I saw the look on Buck Finch's face. It was one of pure despair and heartbreak, two emotions I'd been feeling a touch of myself. I sat back and lowered the pack.
"Not going to hurt you, and I'm sorry if Gregor is coming on a little strong. But he's got even more to lose. He's got a wife and kids, and well, he's the champ right now. I, myself, am rethinking every career choice and every choice I've made in the last ten years and not liking any of them."
The adrenaline that had been pumping through me seconds earlier began to dissipate and I felt my body relax.
"I know I wasn't supposed to be in the locker room.
I was taking photos for the online magazine I work for, but a big, brutish bouncer kicked me out, only he sort of lost track of me and I ran for the nearest hallway.
I needed to turn in something for my assignment. I never expected—"
"To get the picture of a lifetime in a smelly locker room. Look, I understand that this could be a big career boost, not to mention you could probably sell it for a fortune, but I just wanted to remind you that there are lives behind that photo."
"Trust me that fact has been going through my head a lot. Why do you think it hasn't been published yet?"
He had a very sweet smile for someone who could dislocate both my shoulders and snap my neck without breaking a sweat.
"I was hoping that was the case. We've been on edge waiting for it to land in the media.
Gregor, he's having a hard time. Sadie, he can be dangerous.
God knows, I love the man more than anything in this world, but I also know he has a very dark side.
Like I said, he has a wife and two boys.
I've got my dad. He'll disown me, kick me out of the family for sure, and frankly, that's not all that bad of a punishment. "
I nodded. "Aha, I see we come from the same kind of family, and ditto on banishment not being all that bad of a punishment."
The bus came around the corner.
"I'm not going to say any more," Buck said.
"I understand your point of view, but I just wanted you to understand mine.
A word of warning though—" For the first time since the conversation started, I felt my muscles tighten in defense.
Had he acted politely just to throw me off guard?
Were the thugs going to pop out from around the corner and grab me?
"Gregor will not stop until he makes sure his—our—secret is safe." The bus pulled over, and the door opened with a hiss. "Take care of yourself."
I nodded. "Thanks for talking to me. I have a lot to think about.
" I climbed on the bus, sat down and looked back at the bus stop.
Buck was gone. Agony had rolled off of the man as he spoke.
If I decided not to publish the photo it would be because of Buck.
If I decided to sell it or post it, I'd do it to spite Gregor.
He was lucky his partner was a decent person.