. I can blend anywhere. He needed me vulnerable. And through you he drew me out.”
It was true. With Gabe being Tack and the old man, he had blended better than I’d imagined, changing his accent.
My mouth was dry. “What if he slips back in? What if I think he’s you? I need something to identify you. Alex had Gabe’s tattoo. Somehow, he’d known. I can’t go back there. I don’t want our babies near him.” I stopped as my voice became thick.
Alex was a terrible man. I never wanted to be near him again. And now he was alive and playing with our lives like dolls. With all that we had against us, I was terrified someone would slip through the security team. Fear seeped in as all the ramifications hit me. No wonder he had refused to let me go anywhere. Gabe was not letting me out of his sight.
In a fluid motion, Gabe knelt in front of me, grabbed my hips, and pulled me closer to him. I wrapped my legs around him.
“He won’t get near you. Alex was only able to sell his deception because I hadn’t told you I was a twin. He’s a sick bastard.”
“He was sick.”
“Trent said the finger print was also from the crime scene of the Botticelli theft. If it’s not Alex’s, whose is it?”
Gabe closed his eyes before opening them. “Either Alex wasn’t there during the theft and orchestrated it or this person was a third accomplice. Smudges are hard to isolate if you don’t have an example. If Alex killed this guy, he might have placed the papers in your house on purpose. I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes. Living with Alex had been a nightmare from beginning to end. Every day had been misery. When Alex died, I had truly mourned Gabe.
I nuzzled into the crook of his neck. “What do we do now?”
“We have two options. Wait for him to make his move or force him to make his move.”
I wanted it over. This was probably what Trent was referencing. Gabe had needed his time to work out how to tell me. “How do we force him to make his move?”
“Go after the only two things Alex holds dear.”
My hand went to my stomach as I leaned back, only putting a little space between us. “His child.”
“Yes… and our mother.”
I remembered the picture Mildred gave me in a stack of papers she found. I had found it while Carson and I had been at Martha’s Vineyard, which led to my night of drinking. I hadn’t known for sure I was pregnant then but would forever regret getting so drunk. In the picture, Alex looked like he genuinely loved his son as he held him. But still… this was a child we were discussing.
“Gabe, I can’t bring an innocent child into this. We can’t lower ourselves because of Alex.”
“Sweetheart, I would never hurt a child. I want to emotionally hit Alex. It will throw him off guard. Once, I stood up to Mom. I had her pinned against the wall the last time she beat me. Alex lost it. Completely lost it and crumbled. All rational thought left him. Alex is watching us. I know it. And he will know we visited his kid.”
Gabe put his hand over my stomach. “I would never put you in danger.”
But we were already in danger. I knew this. Gabe knew this. Trent, too. It was why Trent had pushed Gabe to tell me sooner rather than later. “I know you wouldn’t. I’m sure that’s why you want to think through Trent’s suggestion. But, Gabe, I want out of this nightmare. If we did see Alex Junior, what would your brother do?”
“I think he’ll go to my mom. We haven’t put any men on Mom’s house yet. If we do and Alex sees we’ve caught on, he might go deeper. It’s going to piss them off when I turn this game around on them.” If Gabe’s mother was as attached to Alex as it sounded, she was not going to like us messing with her favorite son.
“What can I do?”
The wrinkles came back full force. “I’m trying to think of an alternative. That’s why I wanted to wait so that you’re not involved.”
“What does Trent want me to do?” My mind was trying to think of what I would be able to do.
“Offer to teach art lessons at Apple Blossom. It’ll give you one-on-one time with his kid.”
To Trent’s credit, it was a brilliant idea. It would be easy to check my credentials. Technically, my marriage to Alex was a fraud and there wasn’t any record. I imagined that whoever married us in Vegas probably wasn’t a true officiant but part of this elaborate scheme. I pushed the trepidation aside and found the courage to move forward.
“Let’s set it up. The sooner the better.”
It felt good to head to my house around lunch. This morning I had visited Dr. Jamiston. He echoed everything Dr. Byrum had stated. No sex for five more days to be safe. The risk had been mitigated, but due to continued distress, they wanted to play it safe rather than sorry. It was going to be torture. Luckily, I had been able to keep all my thoughts to myself.
This morning we saw the heartbeats again. It was something I would never tire of. All of my blood work came back normal. In a week, I would be cleared as long as I kept my activities within reason, rested, and nothing concerning happened. I felt completely fine.
A few houses sporadically stood on the beach like small castles commanding their kingdom. My house was toward the end.
At least my body was healing nicely and the yellow bruises had faded a little more. Each day was a step forward even if it felt the opposite.
Carson was still stable. After the doctor visit, we had stopped by. No change was a good thing at this point. It been over twenty-four hours since life support had been removed. The doctors were optimistic that he would wake up any day now.
Gabe had asked if I wanted to come home while the doctors ran some additional tests on Carson. Seeing Carson was going have a busy day of tests, I said yes.
Plus, I needed to come home. Being there helped ground me.
I thought back to last night Trent came to the room after the discussion.
Trent opened the door and walked into the room. There was still some tension between the two men.
I took a seat at the table. “Gabe told me about your idea regarding Apple Blossom. I think it makes sense. What do we do next?”
Trent sat with me. “You should call to see if you can come as a guest teacher. Quite frequently they have guests as part of their curriculum. I’ve already had you and myself cleared with the standard school background checks. Under the premise of me being your assistant, I got the ball rolling. I’ve started the clearing process for Gabe, too. I expect to get the all clear any day.”
“Wait. When did you start this?”
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Trent looked exhausted. “I started this as a contingency plan the day of your art show in case we needed to explore that option with Harley being a suspect. Apple Blossom was one of the few leads we had. I planned to discuss it, but with the accident I hadn’t thought about it. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner.”
“I’m glad you had the foresight to be prepared for this possibility.” Soon, I would be meeting Alex’s son.
Gabe sat stiffly beside me as we turned right onto a road only five minutes from home. I placed my hand on his knee. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I haven’t seen Mildred or Chris since before I was deployed. They spent the last six months thinking I was a terrible person.”
I squeezed his knee and waited for him to look at me. Sometimes I forgot what Gabe was going through. To have someone usurp your life and turn it upside down had to be… I wasn’t sure there were words to describe it. The one thing I loved about my adopted family is they loved without limits.
“They’ll understand. All they want is for me to be happy.”
“That’s all I want.” His gaze moved back to the road as we approached the turn to my house.
I leaned over and gave him a light kiss while placing my hand against his scruff. “I like it when you don’t shave every day.”
He smiled against my lips. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
Since yesterday, I wanted to be near Gabe more than ever. Last night, he’d slept on the
couch again. I had tossed and turned for hours on end, wanting him to be there with me.
“Did you sleep okay?”
I shrugged. “Off and on. Lots on my mind.”
He pressed his lips to the top of my head. “We’ll make it an early night if that sounds good.”
“It does.” We weren’t staying the night. There were still a few minor tweaks to security needed.
The familiar Tuscan-styled house in the Hamptons came into view with the expansive lawn. I still pictured Dad on the front porch waiting for me to come home. It was something I looked forward to—knowing how much he loved having me here. A small pang hit me, but it was lessened having Gabe with me. For the first time since Dad died, the loneliness wasn’t trying to consume me.
I took a deep breath as I saw the ocean crashing onto the shore behind the house. It was magnificent. I was ready to paint again. The hotel wasn’t a good place. I needed my space to create the images that loomed beneath the surface. The car parked at the front door.
Chris and Mildred came out, speaking over each other. “It’s so good to have you home, Willow. We missed you so much.”
My voice was bubbly. “It’s good to be home.”
Simultaneously, I was engulfed in a hug. It wasn’t until Chris stepped back that Mildred released me. His eyes darted to Gabe but then came back to me. His smile only slipped for a second while his gray hair rustled in the light breeze.
From Chris’s text earlier today, I knew Chris was technically off today, but came to see me. It was touching beyond measure.
Mildred took me by the shoulders. “You look good.” Her eyes glanced back to Gabe nervously. “Are you good?”
“I’m good. I have him back.”
Tears formed in her eyes. Bennett had told Mildred and Chris about Gabe prior to visiting Carson in the hospital. In all the pandemonium, I hadn’t thought about it. But now, I knew I should have been the one. They had been affected by Alex’s hatefulness.