Chapter 6

Annie

I’m practically holding my breath as Killian waves the device over my clothing and shoes, my laptop and iPad. Then he does the same thing with Aiden’s clothes and toys. He scans the suitcases. He even waves the electronic device over Aiden’s toy dinosaur, which Aiden is clutching tightly to his chest, and the sneakers on Aiden’s feet.

“Well?” Jake says, when Killian finishes.

Killian switches off the device and slips it back into the pocket inside his jacket. “I found eight tracking devices in all. Both suitcases, the laptop, the iPad, both their sneakers, Annie’s purse, and the dinosaur.”

Jake nods, clearly not surprised.

I feel sick. “Ted’s been bugging us?”

The idea that my ex-husband has been tracking our movements sickens me. It’s no wonder he kept finding us when he shouldn’t have. I sit at the foot of my bed as my mind reels with the implications. He’s been watching us. Listening to us. I shudder, feeling sick and… violated. “How is that even possible?” I say. “Ted doesn’t know how to do things like that.”

Jake comes to stand in front of me, taking my hands in his. “He may not know how, but I suspect he’s working with people who do. It explains a lot, like how he found Aiden at the hotel this afternoon.” Jake nods at the stuffed Stegosaurus clutched in Aiden’s arms. “The dinosaur is bugged. So are the kid’s shoes.”

“Oh, my God. Ted knows that’s Aiden’s favorite toy,” I say. “Aiden takes it with him everywhere he goes.”

Killian pulls out a small kit from his jacket pocket and opens it, selecting a tiny scalpel. He inspects each of the tampered items and removes the tracking devices, bagging them up as he goes.

Killian asks Aiden to remove his sneakers so he can remove the tracking device. The only remaining device is embedded in Aiden’s favorite toy.

“Can I see that, son?” Killian says gently, holding his hand out for the stuffed animal.

Aiden shakes his head vehemently. “No! He’s mine. You can’t have him.”

Killian sighs, tossing Jake a quick look before he transfers his gaze back to my son. “You can have him back, Aiden. I just need to remove the tracking device. It’ll just take a second.”

“But Stevie doesn’t have a tracking device,” Aiden argues. “He’s a dinosaur.”

“Stevie?” Killian says, grinning. He retrieves the electronic scanning device from his jacket pocket, switches it on, and waves it over the stuffed dinosaur. Immediately, tiny LED lights on the device begin to blink rapidly. “You see those lights, Aiden?”

Aiden’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “Yes.”

“That means there’s a tracking device in your dinosaur. That’s how your father is finding you when he shouldn’t be able to.”

“Oh.” Aiden’s eyes widen as he begins to process the information. His lips press into a flat line, and I can tell he’s trying hard not to cry. “My dad can find Stevie?”

“Yes,” Killian says.

“Even when Stevie’s hiding?”

“Yes. But I can take the bug out, and then Stevie will be fine.”

“He can still come with us?”

“Yes.”

“But he’ll have a hole in him. His stuffing might fall out.”

My poor, brave sweet boy. I rest my hand on his back. “Sweetie, I can sew him up. His stuffing won’t fall out, I promise.” I glance up at Killian. “Right?”

Killian nods, biting back a grin. “Yes, ma’am,” he says, in all seriousness. “Stevie will be fine. And then your dad won’t be able to find you at the safe place where we’re going.”

Aiden’s big brown eyes fill with tears as he hands his beloved dinosaur over to Killian. He watches closely as Killian examines the underside of the stuffed animal with gentle fingertips.

“Here it is.” Killian makes a small cut in the toy’s seam at the base of its tail. He slips a finger into the opening and scoops out a small metal disk. Then he hands Stevie back to Aiden. “There you go. Just a tiny cut. He’ll be as good as new once your mom sews him up.”

Aiden nods at Killian, in all sincerity. Then he looks at me. “I’ll just hold him carefully until you can sew the hole.”

“What do we do with the tracking devices?” my father says. He’s standing out in the hall next to my mother, looking shell-shocked at the revelation that Ted’s been tracking our movements.

Jake props his hands on his hips. “Absolutely nothing. We leave the devices here in Annie’s room. It will buy us time as we leave the city. It will take Ted a day or two to realize what’s happened, and we’ll be long gone by then.”

Charlie grabs the second suitcase and sets it on the bed, unzipping it. “Here, buddy. I’ll help you pack.”

While Charlie and Aiden pack his belongings, I pack my own.

“If you’re not going to tell us where you’re taking them, then how can we contact them?” my father asks Jake.

Jake shrugs. “Annie can contact you when we arrive. And we’ll give you a secured number you can use to reach us in case of emergency. That’s all I’m prepared to say right now.”

 “Now wait just a minute!” my father says. “You can’t just—”

“Oh, yes, I can,” Jake says.

“Dad, please,” I say, when I can see that he’s only getting more worked up. “We’ll be fine. I’ll contact you when we arrive at our destination.”

Now that our belongings are packed and bug free—Killian checks everything over one more time to be sure—we head downstairs. The two suitcases go into the back of Jake’s Tahoe. Aiden’s booster seat has magically appeared in the back seat of the Tahoe, so I strap him into his seat.

Jake joins me at Aiden’s door. The warm weight of his hand on my back is comforting. “You can sit up front with me, or ride in the back with your son,” he says quietly. “Whichever you prefer.”

“I need to sit with Aiden.”

Jake nods, and his hand absently slides up to cup the back of my neck. The warm, intimate touch sends a shiver down my spine.

“Charlie will ride with us,” he says. “Cameron and Killian will stay here in the city so they can monitor Ted’s whereabouts.”

After Aiden and I say good-bye to my parents, we’re off, heading north out of the city.

While Aiden’s busy inspecting the small slit in Stevie’s underbelly, using his fingertip to poke some escaped stuffing back into the toy, I catch Jake’s gaze in the rearview mirror. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now. Surely he’s as thrown off guard as I am.

“You’ll be comfortable where we’re going,” he says. “It has all the amenities you could wish for. And it’s as secure as Fort Knox—no one gets in without permission.”

I nod in gratitude. “Thank you.”

And then he turns his eyes back to the road, and we drive in silence for the next half-hour.

“Kenilworth?” I say, when he exits the highway. I’m very familiar with this suburb north of the city. My parents have a summer home here, not far from Lake Michigan.

“Yes. My brother has an estate here.”

Suddenly it dawns on me that we’ll be living with Jake for the foreseeable future. I’m nervous. My mind races with all the what-ifs and the unknowns. It’s been so many years. We aren’t the same people we were back then. And yet, I feel the pull between us even now. Every so often I catch him watching me in the rearview mirror. His dark eyes lock onto me with an intensity that takes my breath away.

A shiver crawls down my spine, leaving in its wake a tingling awareness of the man seated in front. Anticipation unfurls in my belly at the thought of being alone with him again.