Chapter Fifty-Two
Sawyer
Two days later, we got notification that the police had searched the premises at my parents’ Colorado home and apparently found something incriminating. It brought forth a round of questioning that made no sense to me.
Who are my parents affiliated with?
Do I know a man named Navarro?
Was I aware of their financial situation in the Caymans?
Did I know a Jim Santoro?
It hadn’t taken them long to realize I knew nothing. What were my parents involved with? The police weren’t talking. But it was hard, not knowing the depths of their betrayal.
Steve discovered Jim Santoro was a hired hand and he’d been arrested. For a plea bargain he was singing like a canary. My parents had hired him to help Adriane kidnap me and take Dylan from me. He’d been the one to slash the tires on the golf cart. When I escaped, he’d been driving the getaway vehicle to the front of the house. When he heard gun shots, Jim fled.
I sat in the rocking chair with Kurt by my side as I nursed Dylan for the third time that morning. Breastfeeding had been a mess at first, with Dylan not latching on properly, but we had the hang of it now. I touched his cheek. “He’s doing good.”
“He is.” Kurt was as fascinated with him as I was. George, still bandaged up, lay at our feet. Since we’d been home, he hadn’t left Dylan’s side. Best dog in the world. He’d put his own life at risk to save ours. Waldo had daily puppacinos delivered to George to aid in his recovery. Every day around nine in the morning, we had a delivery of whipped creamy goodness arrive on our doorstep. This was going to become an unbreakable habit, which I loved.
Dylan cooed. As I breastfed Dylan, I felt an incredible bond.
“I meant what I said the other day. I want you to be my wife.”
Oh…I paused midrock, wondering how to proceed. Of course, I would be thrilled to be Kurt’s wife. I had no aversion to being married. But it still felt like the fear talking. Yesterday, I’d signed paperwork that added my name to the deed to the house and appointed me as Kurt’s power of attorney. I couldn’t imagine facing the fear he had, but he’d made it through. And our true family had been there to support him.
I started rocking again, hoping this would put him at ease. “There’s an envelope in the top dresser. Would you get it for me?”
It was still hard to walk and maneuver about after the two surgeries. But I focused on Dylan, and the pain became more manageable.
Kurt looked confused. When he opened the letter, his eyes grew wider. “What’s this?”
“My power of attorney and a new will, leaving you and Dylan everything I have. What happened with my parents won’t ever happen again. All you have to do is sign it where the sticky notes are.”
Without a second thought, Kurt signed the paperwork and stuffed it back into the envelope—crooked. We smiled at each other because this crazy man was the love of my life.
“Does that help?”
“Of course. It’s just—” Kurt gave me a smile. “It’s nothing. I just want you to know how much I love you.”
“I know that. I love you, too.” The concern seemed to disappear from his eyes, but something still lingered. Before I agreed to marriage, I needed to see Kurt was completely invested in this and not doing it out of fear. Because what we had was more than enough. A piece of paper doesn’t automatically mean it’s true love, forever.
I turned my eyes back to the window as a seagull dipped into the ocean. Dylan’s room was close to ours and overlooked the water. It was peaceful up here. “I love our new house. It already feels like home.”
“It does.”
Once I recovered, I’d work on getting things exactly how I liked them. But Monica and the movers had followed my color-coded specs to a T.
Kurt’s phone vibrated. “The guys texted me and asked if they could bring supper tonight. They got George something, as well.”
I loved those guys. Nina, too. “I’d like that.”
“You sure?”
“Surrounding ourselves with people who mean a lot to us is important right now. And Cameron mentioned coming over tomorrow, if you’re okay with it.”
Squatting, Kurt touched Dylan’s cheek. “Of course. He’s welcome to come tonight.”
“I think he’s going to need some time alone after we visit Adriane today.”
The doorbell rang, and Kurt rose. “I’ll go get it.”
“I’ll need help putting him down once he’s done.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Knoah and Garrick were going to watch Dylan while we were gone. This morning, we were going to the police station to see Adriane. My stress level was contributing to Dylan’s frustration when we attempted to nurse. It was hard leaving him so young, but I needed to get this behind us so we could move forward. Part of me hoped there was a shred of innocence still within Adriane. It repulsed me to think she planned to take Dylan from us as some twisted kind of retribution.
After this meeting, I planned to walk away and never look back. I hoped Cameron did, too. Why is this harder on Cameron than me? I wasn’t sure. Maybe because I had lived with all the abuse directed at me for most of my life. You became numb to people hurting you after a while. No apologies could undo what had been done.
Dylan’s mouth grew slack as he dozed off with a full tummy. I turned him over and patted his back with minimal pain. So far, that seemed to be the best way to burp him since I still couldn’t maneuver him over my injured shoulder.
A few minutes later, Kurt walked in. “You decent?”
Thanks to Knoah, decent was achieved with a quick adjustment of my top. One of my surprises from her had been some new clothes I could nurse in and easily change with my injury. Oh, how I loved my best friend. I couldn’t wait to be there for her in whatever capacity she needed.
“Yes. They can come in.”
Knoah was glowing as she came in and smiled adoringly. “He’s gotten so big in the last twenty-four hours. Auntie Knoah missed her nephew.”
“He missed you, too. He’s in a milk coma.”
I could hear Kurt and Garrick talking out in the hallway. Holding her blond hair back, Knoah leaned down and kissed the little angel. “How’s the nursing going?”
“Much better, still rough, but Kurt keeps encouraging me. This last time went smooth.”
“Good. I’m so glad.”
For a second, Knoah stood and looked at the wall to the left of Dylan’s crib. The guitar she’d given the baby hung there securely as a focal point. Around the room, the words to the first song Dylan and Kurt had written together had been hand-painted to form a border.
“It’s gorgeous.” She sniffed. “Dylan is smiling down on his namesake, humbled by this gesture. Thank you.”
“I wish I could have met him.”
Knoah turned to me with tears in her eyes. “He would have liked you.”
That meant a lot. Of course, Knoah was completely in love with Garrick, but Dylan would always hold a special place in her heart.
Touching my shoulder, Kurt asked, “You ready?”
“Yeah.” Leaving Dylan had me a little nervous, but it was safer for him here, considering the situation. “Thanks for watching him. I’ve put a bottle of breast milk in the fridge if, for some reason, we’re later than expected.”
“We’ll be great. I told Garrick he cannot be a baby hog.”
Inside this rather stuffy man, there was a mushy center where kids were concerned. Some of his rigidity had melted away when he held the baby, and I couldn’t wait to see him become a dad, too.
I kissed Dylan one last time, and we made our way to the car at a slower pace than usual. Really, really slow.
Kurt helped me into the car, and I buckled myself in with my good hand.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore. But it’s getting better.”
When we pulled out onto the main road, he said, “Try to rest on the way there if you can.”
It didn’t take long before I closed my eyes.
* * *
When we pulled up to the jail a little over thirty minutes later, Cameron stood waiting on the steps with Monica by his side. Adriane was inside this building. Alive. My parents were there, too, but I had no interest in seeing them. They’d been useless in the investigation, not saying a word.
“Hey, sis. How’s it going?” Cameron gave me a hug, but it was stiff and nervous and not like him at all.
I held onto him for a little bit longer. “I got to nurse Dylan three times this morning.”
“That’s wonderful.” Monica grabbed Cameron’s hand, and that seemed to help some. “Monica and I were hoping to stop by tomorrow if you’re up for visitors.”
“Yes, we’d love that.”
With a little pressure on my back, Kurt urged me to keep going. We were on a schedule if I wanted to be back in time to nurse Dylan. I looked around as we entered the jail. The place was clean yet dingy at the same time. After checking in and going through security, one of the tall, lanky guards brought us to a room. “We’ll be recording the conversation in the next room and be able to see everything. Are you sure you still want to go in there alone? Adriane Wade has been secured.”
Nodding, Cameron and I said together, “Yes, we’re sure.” Monica and Kurt went into the observation room, where they’d be able to hear our conversation. This was something Cameron and I needed to do alone.
Adriane sat handcuffed to the table and chair. Her frame was thinner than I remembered, and her hair was still long like mine. As she watched me, her brown eyes were flatter than they’d been when I lived at home. It was like any love or humanity had vanished.
She spat, “What are you doing here?”
Calmly, I took a seat. Cameron gathered himself and sat down, as well.
After a second, I responded, “You’re my sister, and I wanted to see you. I thought you’d killed yourself. I just don’t understand.”
She snorted. “You mean gloat like you always did.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
In a mocking voice, she singsonged, “Sawyer, the princess, who always did everything perfect. You even took Mattie from me. She loved you more.”
“She loved you, her mother, more than anything. We were close, yes. But I could never replace you.”
She rolled her eyes.
I was going to try one more time, but then I was done. “Why did you do this, Adriane?”
“You don’t get it, do you?”
“No!”
She gave me an evil smile. “Then you never will. But your baby belongs to me. You owe it to me.”
Owed her the baby? No. Mattie’s death had been a tragic accident, but Adriane was insane. I was done. Any shred of human decency she’d ever possessed was gone.
I wanted Adriane to never get out. If there was something else to lock her away indefinitely, I wanted it. I tried to change tactics. “Why did Mom and Dad help you? They hired Jim Santoro. Why would they do that? It was too risky for them. Faking your death, hiding Mattie, none of it makes sense. This is your chance to show me how much better you are than me. Your only shot. After that, I’m leaving and never coming back.”
The dead eyes of a sister I never thought I would see again stared at me, assessing me. It hurt knowing we could have been close like Cameron and I were. I went to stand when I saw the evil glint she gave me. This had always been Adriane’s weakness, the need to gloat her intelligence. “All those years they thought I was reading, I was actually listening. I gathered evidence. I knew one day I would need it.”
“You blackmailed our parents?”
She laughed, leaving me uneasy. “When you’ve helped a notorious mobster do unimaginable things and he dies, leaving you exposed, it makes you an easy target.”
Unimaginable things. My parents had been criminals. All those years I had no idea. The thickness in my throat grew, but I pushed through the emotion. “What about Jennifer and Amanda?”
Sitting back, Adriane cocked her dark eyebrow. “They were easy targets. I preyed on those poor fools obsessed with Kurt. It wasn’t hard to convince them what needed to be done for them to have a relationship with him. Stupid bitches didn’t follow the simple instructions. Jennifer had to be eliminated. Amanda was a crazy bystander that led nowhere.”
She was right. We hadn’t found Adriane because of Amanda. It had been because of our security team.
This was the genius side of Adriane coming out. All those years, she’d been plotting, waiting for the chance to take control.
“Why me?”
Her lip snarled. “Regardless of what happened to you, how much they ignored you, you were still happy. Cameron loved you. Nan loved you. It’s why I had to kill her. Then I saw you that day with Kurt. You were happy. I wanted to take it all away. Between our parents and social media, it wasn’t hard to keep tabs on you. I wanted to take your baby and leave you brokenhearted for the rest of your life, wondering what happened to Dylan. Mom and Dad only care about themselves.”
I gasped as a tear formed. The thought of losing Dylan nearly crippled me. “You were going to take Dylan. You killed Nan?” The words were barely audible. Cameron stiffened beside me and grabbed my hand. He was about to speak when I squeezed it, stopping him. Adriane was going to confess to more. And Nan deserved to be vindicated.
“I put a heavy dose of phenylpropanolamine in her drink. It brought the stroke on. End of story. You should have seen how sad you were. Then you bounced back. Stupid bitch. But taking your child would have ruined you forever.”
Cameron cursed beside me as I held onto the table and took a deep breath. He demanded, “Why?”
“Because she loved you guys. I wanted Sawyer to feel pain. I wanted to deprive her of happiness.”
Adriane was an evil person. I was speechless, trying to form something coherent. “I…you…”
Victory was hers. “Do you want to see all the terrible things Mom and Dad did? How they helped hide people Navarro killed? How they killed Mattie’s father?”
I shook my head. This was too much. I never wanted the details. Information like that could eat at a person’s soul. Cameron interjected. “You have all that information somewhere?”
She huffed. “Oh, I do. In a PO box under the name of my first victim.”
“Nan,” I whispered. Her gloating smile confirmed it. This had to be enough for the police to move forward with. I wasn’t able to stomach anything more.
I stood. “Good-bye, Adriane. You have no power over me anymore. I mourn Mattie every day, and I will for the rest of my life, but it wasn’t my fault. You did take a lot from me. More than I probably know. But you still lost. I’m happy now. Deliriously so.” I nodded at Cameron and stepped away from the table.
“Come back here! We’re not done!”
With that, I turned and walked out the door. This was the closure I needed. And I had taken the control away from Adriane. She yelled and screamed for me to come back as I closed the door.
Kurt met me in the hallway. “You okay?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Not entirely, but I will be.”
There was so much to process. Nan. My heart ached. My entire childhood was a lie. Adriane’s piercing screams filled the hallway as Cameron emerged, and the guards went in.
I couldn’t tell what Cameron was feeling, so I asked, “You okay?”
“No, not at all.” He put his arm around Monica and said, “I will be. I’m not going to see Mom and Dad. There’s nothing left I want to know.”
“I agree. Let the prosecutors take it from here.”
It would take time for us to completely heal from this, but we would. As we were saying our good-byes, I felt the emotion I had pushed aside bubbling to the surface. But I kept a brave smile on my face so Cameron wouldn’t worry. There was already enough for him to sort through.
On the way back to the house, I closed the door to the past as the tears fell. So much unnecessary pain and loss. I would never forget it—without it, I might not have had Kurt and Dylan. But it would remain in the past for now and forever. I would no longer let people in my past rule me. I would survive.