Standing There (Love in the Park 1)

We’re on our way to the SUV when Brent calls me. “What’s going on?” It’s too soon for him to leave Lindsay.

“I just had a fight with my sister. Shit. She’s pissed about the security. I fucked up and said some shit I shouldn’t have. Fuck, now she hates me.”

“I doubt she hates you,” I mutter as I start my engine. She can’t hate her brother, but I’m working my way there, I think to myself.

“Where is she?” I ask.

He doesn’t hesitate to respond. “She stormed away with Katherine. They’re going to stay at her apartment.” The guilt and remorse are heavy in his voice. If it was any other woman, I would feel sorry, but this is my woman he upset. I want to gut check his ass for making her cry.

“I’ll send someone to watch her. Give me the address.” He tells me, and then I say, “Go home and get some rest. I’ll take care of it.” As soon as I hang up, I send my guy to follow her to her friends place with the address he provided.

“Can’t get away from work?” Casey asks.

“Nope, I stepped right into tonight. Then again, I got weaseled into working from dad.”

The entire way, I had my headset on so that I could handle the calls and drive. My men trailed after and found them easily. I hate that she’s staying in an unsecured building. Hopefully, they can make-up tomorrow. My knuckles whiten as I think about her sadness. I’m almost at my house when my phone rings, and it’s Brent again. “What’s up?” I answer.

“I’m worried about her. She won’t answer the phone,” he whines.

“My men say that they just walked into her friend’s apartment building,” I inform him.

“She wants me to pull you guys off,” he admits. From the tone of his voice, I know he’s considering it.

“Not happening.”

“You’ll still get your money. It’s just I want her to talk to me again.”

“Brent, I’m sure she will. And it’s not about the money. She’s in real danger and fuck if I’m going to risk her safety because she said not to watch her.”

My personal phone dings with a text. At the next light, I check it out. Fuck, it’s my woman. Made it in one piece. I’m fucking grateful as hell for that, but I can’t talk at the moment.

Great, babe. Call you in the morning. I want to ask her what happened, but I want our conversation to last.

I reassure Brent some more as my sister passes out. “I’m out of town the next couple of days. When I get back, I’ll personally take on her surveillance.”

“Thanks.”

I carry her into the house and lay her in the guest bedroom. Then I go back to my office to check out the cameras that were set up for the event. I enter the software for facial recognition and sit back and wait for the results. I’m nearly falling asleep when my computer starts beeping loudly. There’s a fucking match. I pull up the frame and fucking hell he was there. Brent was right to be fucking worried that he’d show. It’s a crowded place where he could claim he didn’t know she was around. She didn’t even live in that township.

Shit. I grab my phone and call my guy on duty. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Kane answers, “So far so good. There was a car that drove by multiple times, but when I ran the tags, they belong to a Betsy Meara.”

“Okay. I want to do a crosscheck on Meara’s relations. He was at the park. I have him on the surveillance.”

“Damn, I didn’t see him.” I can hear the regret and let down. The place is a walking nightmare. We had no idea she knew about the guards, or they would have come in closer during the event and maybe spotted his ass before he got even twenty feet away.

“That’s because he hid well. From the video he didn’t get within fifteen feet of her, except when I sent you off to watch the friend. The bastard passed behind me.”

“That means he saw you two together.”

“Yes. Fucking hell. I didn’t think of that. I need to make some calls.”

“Okay.”

I call Tiko, my head of engineering and computer maintenance, but he doesn’t answer. A few seconds later though he calls me back. “What’s up, Roman?”

“I need you to do me a huge solid.”

“You want me to go to New York for you?”

“How did you know?” I ask.

“We all know about your fascination with the subject.” He laughs because he’s not fucking blind to what’s been happening since I took his assignment.

“I need better protection on her. Closer protection. He was at the park.”

“Fuck. So, you’re going to glue yourself to her?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. When does the flight leave?”

“At ten, O’Hare. It’s listed as me but can be changed. I’ll make it right now.”