Always You (Adair Family 3)

“I ruined him,” Lachlan finished, staring at his wife in dawning realization. “I put the word out in the industry not to hire him. He couldn’t get a decent job anywhere. Fuck!”

“You did what?” I whispered, suddenly filling with dread. “I didn’t know that.” That changed everything.

“He could be after revenge,” Thane said grimly.

“I’ll look into it.” Mac stared reproachfully at me as if I’d wronged him. Well, screw that! I lifted my chin, refusing to offer any kind of apology for keeping this from him. I didn’t bloody know the important part, did I?

“I’ll find out where he is.”

“But you won’t do anything,” Robyn ordered. “Right, Dad?”

Mac stared down at her and eventually sighed. “I won’t do anything, wee birdie.” His voice was gentle, the way it only ever was for Robyn. Then his expression hardened again as he lifted it to meet mine. “But the prick just made it to the top of my suspect list.”

15

Arro

I hated to admit it, but I bloody loved the new Defender. It had all the bells and whistles, and its computer was awesome. Biffy Clyro’s “Instant History” had never sounded so good on a sound system. It was more comfortable and luxurious, and it handled the road so much better. In my older model, I had to slow way down into corners for fear of rolling. This one was a Dynamic, and my God, did it take corners like a dream.

Bloody Nora, I wanted to keep this car.

I’d succumbed to its seduction with embarrassing speed and experienced more than a flicker of guilt as I pulled up outside the Portakabin at our Lairg site. I couldn’t get rid of Dad’s Defender. But Lachlan was right. We needed to put it in storage. For too long, I’d let sentiment win.

I climbed the steps to the cabin and unlocked the door. It was barely light out, and I was the first one on-site, arriving a few hours early. But sometimes, I liked to get here before everyone else so I could answer emails and plow through my administrative jobs, enabling me to fully concentrate on-site when everyone else showed. Marcello was always an hour early to work, so that meant I had to be even earlier if I wanted alone time to get through a good portion of tasks.

I pushed open the door, hit the light switch on my right, and froze.

Fear flushed through me, hot and instantaneous.

My desk, computer, and the walls surrounding it were covered in Post-it notes.

Marcello’s desk behind mine was untouched.

I knew what was written on them before I even took a step toward the Post-its.

* * *

Why won’t you see me?

Slamming the door behind me, I hurried to lock it, my fingers trembling around my keys. Then I fumbled for my phone, peering out the one small window in the cabin at the dark forest beyond the parked Defender.

I hit Lachlan’s name, and it only rang three times before my big brother picked up. “Morning, sweetheart. This is early.”

Something inside me soothed at his voice. “Lachlan, I’ve just arrived at the Portakabin at my site in Lairg. There are Post-it notes all over my desk.”

There was a moment of a silence before, “Fuck. Call the police right now.”

“No. No police. Lachlan, this is my job. I can’t have this being a crime scene. I can’t bring this into my work. Please, can you come or send Robyn?”

“We need to tell the police, Arro.”

“Robyn was the police. Please.”

“Arro, we can’t be foolish here. This is serious.”

Indignant, I snapped, “Do you not think I know that? This is happening to me. But I worked hard for this job, and I won’t have my position here affected by this shit. I won’t let this creep have the satisfaction. This stays between us.”

Lachlan sighed heavily. “Are you alone?”