“I’M JUST GOING TO RUN to the store.”
Lucian inserted himself between me and the door of the condo we’d rented while the house in Desert Shores was being rebuilt.
“Just tell me what you need, and I’ll have one of Ace’s men get it.”
My fingers brushed over his face, trying to erase the worried lines that formed whenever he felt like I was slipping out his grasp for even a few moments. It had been this way for weeks, and I’d played along for a while, but it was time to address it.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “Birdie is going with me, and Ace will chaperone. You don’t need to worry.”
“How can I not?” he snapped. He was tired and irritable, and I didn’t blame him. For the past four weeks, he’d been going to radiation religiously, battling the awful side effects while he tried to navigate his own inner turmoil and deal with the detectives’ constant questions.
“We need to get back to the business of living,” I said gently. “You know it can’t be like this when the baby comes. There will be times when you’ll have to trust that everything is going to be okay because you can’t be here twenty-four seven.”
“I know that.” He sighed. “But I also know that someone I thought I could trust tried to murder you twice. He tried to take away my wife. My son…”
His voice cracked, and he blinked away the memory of that night while I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Because of you, I will never have to worry about that again,” I said. “Our son will never have to worry.”
“You can’t be certain of that,” Lucian answered. “Just because Nolan is gone doesn’t mean the threat is.” His eyes looked like a war zone as he thought of all the possible enemies we’d both accumulated over the course of our lifetimes.
“We could spend time worrying about it, or we can be prepared while we carry on with our lives. But if you let them control us, they win.”
Lucian looked down at me, shaking his thoughts away before his forehead pressed against mine. “I know, pet. I just can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” I assured him. “But sometimes, you have to trust me.”
He blinked, rattled by my words. “I do trust you, Gypsy. I fucked up by ever doubting you. And I want you to know I’ll never make that mistake again.”
My lips brushed against his, and I smiled. “I know you won’t.”
“Let me go with you,” Lucian said. “At the very least, just let me do that if you have to go.”
“You can’t,” I argued. “You’re supposed to be resting, for one. And for another, I’m shopping for your birthday present, so you can’t be there.”
His eyes clouded over, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke. “Birthday present?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what Amazon is for,” he said. “Besides, I already have everything I need. I have you.”
I kissed him again. “True. But I still want to get you something.”
A knock sounded on the front door, and I heard Ace clear his throat behind us as he entered.
Lucian squeezed me as he looked at Ace. The threat was already on his lips when Ace smirked. “I’ve got this, brother. She will be safe in my care. You never have to doubt that.”
“Straight there and back?” Lucian pleaded with me.
I nodded, reaching up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “Now go get some rest.”
Detective Taylor sat down on the sofa, arranging our file and his pen on the coffee table in front of him. “I just have a few more things I’d like to go over.”
They’d been saying that for the past four weeks. Lucian was exhausted and weak, and I really didn’t want him doing this right now, but I also knew he just wanted it to be over. He took my hand in his, squeezing gently to let me know I didn’t need to worry. But I was worried. For the past month, we’d been answering questions while the detectives dug through every facet of our lives.
“According to your statement, you believe Nolan Clark gained access to your home that night with the alarm code, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Lucian answered. “As I’ve told the other detectives before, he was a close friend of mine. I’d given him the access code for emergencies.”
“Ironic,” Detective Taylor mumbled. “And nobody in your home heard him come in that evening?”
Lucian remained steadfast in his responses. “It was the middle of the night. We were all asleep.”
The detective flipped through his notes, reading over a paragraph before scribbling something down and returning to his questions. “Gypsy was in the bedroom, and you were in the office at your desk?”
“Yes,” Lucian grunted. “Where I had fallen asleep.”
“And it is your belief that Nolan took your phone from your desk—where you were sleeping—and locked the house from the inside before disabling the smoke alarms.”
Lucian rubbed at his tired eyes. “That’s the only logical conclusion I could draw, considering my phone was gone when I woke.”
“What woke you?” Taylor asked.
“The sound of the fire.”
“And can you describe to me what happened then?”
“My first instinct was to get to Gypsy.” Lucian looked at me, flinching as he recalled the events of that night. “But when I got to our bedroom, the fire blocked my entry to her.”
Taylor’s eyes scanned over the previous notes, probably checking to make sure that the story was the same. “And what did you do at that point?”
“I gave Gypsy instructions to shut the door and hold tight, so I could come in from the outside.”
“But you didn’t make it outside?” Taylor looked up.
“No.” Lucian shook his head. “I didn’t make it to her, but she got out on her own.”
“Because you encountered Nolan in the hall at that point?” Taylor questioned.
“Encountered isn’t the word I would use,” Lucian responded in a low voice. “He hit me in the back of the head with a gun.”
“And then he left you there?”
“Yes.”
“But you managed to get outside on your own when you regained consciousness?” Taylor asked.
“Yes,” Lucian repeated.
“At which point of the house did you exit?”
“The front door.”
Taylor paused to check the notes. “And then you tackled him to the ground where a fight for the gun ensued, which ultimately resulted in Nolan’s death?”
Lucian hung his head. “That’s correct.”
“It wasn’t Lucian’s fault,” I interjected. “Nolan pulled the trigger himself.”
Taylor studied me. “After the first shot, you mean?”
“Yes.” I glared. “After the first shot. Right before Nolan almost killed me.”
Lucian’s hand found my back, rubbing the tension from my shoulders.
“Okay.” Taylor nodded. “Is it still your belief that Nolan was motivated by the current state of his finances?”
“Yes,” Lucian replied quietly. “That’s the only thing that makes sense. I knew he’d struggled with a gambling addiction over the years, but I didn’t realize how bad it had become.”
“That might be the case, but it’s quite an elaborate plan to fake your death, convince everyone you were dead, and then come back to try to kill you all over again,” Taylor noted.
“Maybe he would have got it right the first time if we hadn’t been friends for so long.” Lucian scowled.
The detective ignored Lucian’s tone and scribbled down another note before he looked at me. “Gypsy, according to my notes, there were no other witnesses besides the two of you that night?”
My fingers dug into Lucian’s thigh. “That’s correct. It was just us.”
Taylor held my gaze for a few seconds too long, and something in my gut told me he knew I was full of shit.
“As we told you already, the security footage from the house couldn’t be recovered, but there was something else we found.” He removed a grainy photo from the file and handed it over to me. It was surveillance from the community cameras, a picture of Ace and Birdie on his motorcycle, their faces obscured by helmets.
“The entry cameras captured this footage around the same time of the incident,” Taylor noted. “None of the neighbors seem to know who they are. Do you?”
I shook my head on autopilot, forcing the word out like my life depended on it. “No.”
“Well, luckily, we were able to track down the owner of the motorcycle,” Taylor said. “Huck William Fallon, more commonly known as Ace. Does that ring a bell?”
“He’s a friend of ours,” Lucian interjected. “He’s been checking on us often, helping out since I’ve been sick.”
“Funny,” Taylor said. “That’s exactly what he told us too. But it seems he didn’t notice the house was on fire that night. I wonder why that is.”
“We aren’t the only ones who live in this community,” Lucian bit out. “He could have been visiting anyone that night.”
Taylor disregarded him and returned his attention to me. “What about the girl on the back of the bike? Any idea who that is, Gypsy?”
“You’d have to ask Ace. I have no idea.”
“Odd.” Taylor scratched at his chin and set the photo aside. “I wonder who it could be.”
I felt like he was toying with me, but I didn’t respond.
“In your own words, can you tell me one more time what happened that night?”
I was tired of this song and dance, but I knew we had to go along with it. Nobody could know that Birdie was there that night. It was the only way to ensure she was safe while she recovered from her injuries.
“I was in the bedroom,” I began the story I’d told too many times to count. “Asleep. Lucian was going to come to bed after. I woke up when I heard him screaming from the hall, but it was so loud, it was difficult to tell if it was real at first.”
The detective’s pen traced over the previous version of events I’d given him, looking for any discrepancies.
“The doorway between us was a wall of fire, and he couldn’t get to me. There was so much smoke in the room, I panicked. Lucian told me I had to shut the bedroom door and wait for him to come around to the window outside.”
“Okay, and did he?”
It was a stupid question, considering Lucian answered it only a few minutes ago, but I complied regardless. “No. I broke the window out myself. Lucian was still trapped inside, fighting with Nolan.”
“But you didn’t witness this?” Detective Taylor asked.
“No.”
“The windows were reinforced,” he observed. “Can you remember what you broke it with?”
“Lucian had a special tool in the sill for emergencies,” I lied.
“Okay.” He clicked his pen in rapid succession. “What happened next?”
“I went to the front of the house to find Lucian, but Nolan found me first. He tried to force me back into a window, and that’s when Lucian tackled him to the ground. They fought over the gun, and Nolan forced the trigger.”
“It was still somewhat dark out at that time. Are you certain that’s what happened?”
“Yes.”
Detective Taylor observed me for far longer than I liked before he scribbled down a few more notes. “It looks like we’re going to be finalizing this case. As of right now, the prosecutor has decided not to file charges.”
A breath I didn’t realize I was holding seeped from my lungs.
“We were able to verify the records tied to the foundation,” Taylor informed us. “Nolan had been funneling money to bogus cases for the past three years. In total, we estimate that he collected over two hundred thousand dollars from the foundation alone.”
Lucian bowed his head, shaking it in disgust. “I should have caught it sooner.”
I squeezed his hand. “There’s no way you could have known. You trusted him.”
He looked at me, his eyes a storm of emotion. “More than I should have.”
I hoped he would eventually find the forgiveness he needed for the decisions he’d made that night, but it wouldn’t be today.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Well, now you and your husband rebuild your lives, I suppose.” Taylor stood and offered me his hand. But when I shook it, he didn’t let me go. “I almost forgot. There was just one more thing I needed to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Naturally, during the course of the investigation, there was some information that came up, and it got me curious. Your maiden name was Gypsy Blue, correct?”
I offered him a stiff smile. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“The stepdaughter of Ricky Montoya, right?”
My face blanched, and he didn’t miss it, but I tried to regain my composure quickly. “Yes.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about his murder, would you?”
At that point, Lucian stepped up beside me, gently removing my hand from the grasp of the detective. “What are you insinuating here?”
“It was a simple question,” Taylor answered, his eyes never leaving me.
“I heard he died,” I forced out. “But I had already left that place far behind when I got the news.”
His features softened, and he didn’t try to hide his sympathy. “There were a lot of accounts of what was going on in that house. If those were true, I might even say that whoever took him out did the world a favor.”
I didn’t answer, and Lucian’s response was to tighten his grip on my hand, a reminder that he was here. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.
“It’s a shame that the state of California didn’t recognize the issues they were dealing with back then,” Taylor continued. “I think you’ll be happy to know that things are a lot different now. The laws have finally caught up with child trafficking. Although, if I had to guess, I would bet your stint in juvie was probably a welcome vacation at the time.”
“That’s enough,” Lucian growled. “If you have a point, get to it, or get out.”
Taylor nodded. “I’m not implying that Gypsy had anything to do with it; however, I would like to follow up with your sister, Birdie, if you could give me her whereabouts.”
My mouth was so dry, I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know how he found about Birdie, but he did. This was what we’d been running from for years, and it had finally caught up with us. For so long, I’d known that when it came down to it, I would take the fall. That was the only option I ever saw that was fair and just. Birdie couldn’t survive prison, and she would have never been in this position if it weren’t for me. The guilt of not doing something myself had consumed me for years.
I was too paralyzed to fix the situation myself, and now Birdie and I were both fucked up. But I didn’t know how to protect her anymore. Taking the blame was out of the question when I had the baby to think about. I wouldn’t give her up either, and when I looked at Lucian, he knew it.
“From my understanding,” he said, “they haven’t spoken in years.”
Taylor’s brows pinched together as he examined me. “Is that true? I have several accounts that the two of you were rather close.”
“We were.” I stared down at my shoes, thinking quick to spin the lie. “She got wrapped up in a guy I didn’t like. We argued about it, and I haven’t heard from her in a while. I figured that whenever she’s ready to talk, she’ll let me know. But I can tell you right now that she didn’t have anything to do with it either.”
Taylor seemed doubtful. “From what I heard, she was prone to bouts of rage.”
“Can you blame her?” I snapped.
Lucian rubbed his hand along my neck, and I did my best to refrain from telling Taylor exactly how repugnant Ricky Montoya was.
“Do you have a phone number for Birdie?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry, I don’t.”
“How about an address?”
I blew out a breath. “That’s anyone’s guess. She could be anywhere in the country for all I know.”
“Hmm.” He looked between Lucian and I as he handed over another card with his information. “Well, if you do hear from her, I’d like to speak with her.”
“Of course.” My fingernails dug into my palm. “I’ll let her know if I hear from her, but it’s not likely.”
He nodded. “That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll track her down.”