A Forever Kind of Love (Kinds of Love 1)

Mia picked up her cell phone again. She dialed the number she now knew by heart.

“This is Carter,” he answered, sounding professional and a little bit busy.

“Carter, it's Mia.” She felt stupid, but she wasn't quite sure how to start this conversation.

“How are you?” His voice was instantly warmer, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

“I already called the cops, but I thought you should know. The person sending you those threats sent one to the kids' house,” she blurted out. She grimaced slightly, knowing there was probably a better way to put it.

“What did they do?” The warmness was gone. His voice was cold and with a hum of anger to it.

“They broke a window and spray painted 'don't let him kill them too' on the garage,” she explained

. “I can't see any other damage from out here.”

“I'm sending over a security team. Don't go in the house. Stay in your car until they get there.” Mia had never heard him speak so forcibly before. He was kind of scary.

“Okay,” she promised. “That's what we were planning on doing anyway.”

“Good. Heads will roll for this.” He slammed something down on a table wherever he was. “Someone will be there in five minutes. Stay safe.”

“We will,” she told him. He hung up on her to call his security team and she carefully pocketed her phone. She checked her watch to see only a couple of minutes had passed. Hopefully, the police would be here soon.

“What's going on Mia?” Lily asked, more insistent this time.

Mia chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before turning to face the three of them. Grayson had woken up and was looking around confused at why they were still in the car.

“I'm sure it's just some kind of prank, but I'm just being careful,” Mia explained.

“Why'd you call Carter? And what do you mean he's been getting threats?” Lily asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. Alexander crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

“I called Carter because he has resources to help us,” Mia said. “As for the threats, Carter owns a very successful business. People get angry with him, and they threaten him. That's why he has so much security around his house. It happens a lot to important people.”

“Kind of like the president and the secret service?” Grayson asked, tilting his head.

“Exactly like the president,” Mia agreed with a smile.

“Is that Ben?” Lily asked, pointing to a man walking toward them. “He's one of the security guards at the ranch. He's always nice.”

Mia had been so busy talking to the children that she hadn't seen the black truck pull up on the opposite side of the street. She checked her watch, amazed that Ben had beaten the cops.

Ben walked confidently over to Mia's window. He wore jeans and a W motors t-shirt, rather than the usual dark security uniform. She could see that he was carrying a weapon in the waistband of his pants, and she wondered just how serious this was. Mia rolled down her window to talk to him.

“Are you four okay?” he asked, looking into the car with a frown.

“Yeah, we're just waiting on the police,” Mia replied. “How did you get here so quickly? There's no way you came from the ranch.”

“I was just driving in for the night-shift. Cards called me since he knew this is on my way into work,” Ben explained. “He's on his way as well, but he wanted someone here to make sure you and the kids were taken care of.”

His story made complete sense to Mia, and she smiled at him. She still felt on edge and off-centered, but she was glad he was there. Besides, she liked Ben. He was always good with the kids.

“Thank you, Ben,” Mia told him. “We're doing okay. Just creeped out.”

“I'll stay with you until the police arrive,” Ben told her. “Then we'll get to the bottom of this.”

“We didn't find any sign of the intruder, ma'am,” the police officer told her. She stood on the front porch of Margie's house with police lights flashing everywhere. She was fairly sure the neighbors were going to accidentally rip the blinds off their windows if they kept peeking out like they were.

Mia nodded. She could see Brian and Ben talking with two other police officers by the garage. A crime scene camera flashed for what felt like the millionth time at the garage. She turned back to what the head officer was telling her.