While we waited for Ty to get back from his surveillance job, I decided to be productive.
I collected the files of information that Evan had gathered on Daley and Serena and spread them out on the floor in the office.
Evan had said that they had gone through them and couldn’t find anything, but it didn’t hurt to go over them again. Especially when I had a gut feeling about Serena.
All of the information on her was the basic stuff, she came from a good family, was one of the top kids in her class and married Ty right out of high school. It read like the perfect life but I knew there was no such thing.
Everyone had secrets that they tried to hide. It was finding out where they were that was the hard part. When I came across their marriage certificate, I had to cover it with another piece of paper, I couldn’t bear to look at it.
Was it childish? Probably. It was better than burning it though, which is what I really wanted to do.
I carried on reading her file, noting all of the charities that she had worked for since Ty had left her. She’d been all around the world helping these charities and I kind of hated her for that.
The more I read, the more I started to doubt myself. Maybe I had imagined the look in her eyes?
Maybe it was jealously.
My thoughts were whirling in my head, and it didn’t ease up any by the time Ty came back.
“Kay?” he asked, coming to stand next to me. “What are you doing?”
I tilted my head right back and looked at him upside down. “Just looking through these. Seeing if I can find something that we might have missed.”
He nodded and held his hand out to me. “Ready for the meeting?”
I turned around, pushing all the papers back a little and making sure that I didn’t step on any of them. Placing my hand in his so he could help me up.
He wrapped his arms around me, a soft smile on his face. His brown eyes swirled with so many emotions that I couldn’t pick one, he looked torn, like something was really bothering him.
“Ty?” I lifted my hand to his face, the scruff rough on the pads of my fingers. “You okay?”
Dipping down, he pressed his lips to mine. His tongue swiped along my bottom lip and I opened up, leaning closer as his tongue caressed mine. His arms tightened around me as he deepened the kiss, our chests bouncing off each other as our breathing deepened.
Pulling away, he leaned his forehead against mine. “Yeah, I’m good now.” Chuckling, I pulled back and tapped him on the chest.
Grabbing my hand, he led me into the main part of the warehouse and pulled my chair out for me.
Once we were sat down, he told us everything that he had heard, none of it meaning much apart from Daley’s phone call when Serena had left the room.
“Why has he got protection?” Kitty frowned. “He must think something is about to go down.”
Ty nodded and blew out a big breath.
“We need to look into Daley more. I want him watched every hour of the day.” Looking to Luke and Kitty, he said, “You two are on night duty. I want to know everything that goes on with him, phone calls, where he goes. Everything.”
“When do you want us to start?” Luke asked.
“Tonight.” They nodded at him in reply.
“Me and Kay will take the day shift.” Ty looked at me, asking me with his eyes if that was okay.
“How long will the shifts be?” I asked. However, as much as I wanted to do a full shift, I still needed to think of Eli.
I wanted to be a part of the team and I wanted to be doing the same thing as everyone else, but I still had to think about Eli. Sure, things were much better now that we lived at the compound but that didn’t mean I was going to be any less of a mom. I still wanted us to have time, just me and him. It was too easy to have one of the guys watch over him.
I had to make sure that I didn’t get too caught up in work or Ty.
“Ah, shit.” He hung his head, tapping his fingers on the table, realizing what I meant without having to say anything.
“Does it need to be two at a time?” Kitty asked. “If we’re just watching and waiting, then we could split it into four shifts.”
“No, Kay can’t be on her own-”
“Good idea,” I said, interrupting Ty before he said what I thought he was about to. There was no way that he was going to make special precautions just for me.
“Kay,” he said, reaching over and placing his hand on top of mine. “It was only a few weeks back that you wouldn’t go out on your own. What makes you think that this will be any different?”
My nostrils flared as I listened to him. I couldn’t believe that he’d said that in front of everyone.
I wasn’t stupid, I knew that they had suspicions about me not going off the compound but they didn’t know for sure, at least they didn’t until this moment.
“Tyson.” I gritted out. His eyes widened at the use of his full name. “Have you trained me in self-defense?”
“Ye-”
“Do I have a radio and weapons?”
“Yeah but-”
“No buts. I can do this. You need to trust me.” I kept my eyes connected to his, trying to get my point across. I needed to do this, he had to let me be me again. The me I was becoming before everything happened.
He blew out a big breath and watched me, his eyes scanning my face. I knew he could see it in my eyes, I was practically screaming it at him. Was I scared to go out on my own? Damn straight I was but if I didn’t start now, then when would I?
Before I knew it, it would be ten years down the line and I still wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without one of them with me.
I didn’t want to live like that.
“Fine,” he conceded. “You’ll do nine until three, then one of us will take over from you. Six hour rotations,” he said the last part to everyone, waiting for their nods of confirmation.
Putting a plan in place, I wrote down everything that he said and planned the routes in my head. I didn’t allow myself to feel the fear that desperately wanted to overtake me. Instead, I got stuck in with what I needed to look out for and what photos I might need to take.
I’d hardly slept at all last night. I couldn’t stop thinking of Kay being out of the compound on her own. Rationally, I knew that she would be fine, I had trackers on her and on the cars, but I couldn’t quieten that little voice in my head that told me this wasn’t a good idea.
That she was going to get hurt.
When Kay left to take Eli to preschool on her own, I headed straight for the warehouse and to my desk. I switched the computer on and tracked her all the way there, then to Daley’s house. I’d toyed with the idea of following her there and watching her as she watched him. Then I remembered that Charlie was coming in this morning so I had no choice but to let her do it on her own.
I knew it sounded stupid but I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’d never worried about anyone the way that I worried about Kay. Maybe it was because I’d seen her get hurt and couldn’t bear to see her like that again.
Whatever it was, I couldn’t stop worrying about her. I knew Eli was safe. I had all the security measures in place at the preschool that I could possibly have. But Kay? She had no protection around her whatsoever.
I was going out of my mind.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her because I did, I really did. I just hated the thoughts that ran through my head; all the possibilities of what could happen to her if I wasn’t there.
“Boss! Charlie’s here!” Evan shouted through the warehouse. Shaking the thoughts from my head and looking at the screen one last time, I shoved my chair back.
They were all sat around the meeting table waiting for me when I walked out of the office. My eyes flicked to Kay’s seat and my stomach dipped. It didn’t feel right, her not being here.
“Hey,” Charlie greeted when I sat down.
“Hey,” I huffed, slumping down in my seat.
“Whoa, little bro, what’s with all the enthusiasm?”
“He’s stressing out,” Kitty spoke up. “Kay’s gone out on her own.”
“Holy Fuck.” I lifted my eyes to Charlie. “Never thought you’d let her out on her own, on the account of…you know.”
“Let’s get this over with,” I growled, I wasn’t in the mood to hear all of his sarcastic remarks. “What have you found out?”
“Nothing much.” He shrugged. “Serena has been doing charity work since she moved out of the state. Nothing suspicious so I think she’s just caught up in the cross hairs with whatever is going on here.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’re thinking,” I said, leaning forward. “I listened in on their meeting yesterday. Daley had two bodyguards and there was a suspicious phone call. We’re gonna have eyes on him twenty-four-seven from now on.”
“Good, good. I think we need it. We’ve found out he’s got some contacts that are known cartel members.”
“Yeah?” Luke asked. “Which ones?”
Charlie pushed five folders into the middle of the table, pointing at them and saying. “There’s one for each of you, all the information we could find on Daley and his contacts.”
Reaching forward, I pulled one towards me and opened it up. It was full of his contacts and had information on each of them. My lips lifted in a small smile, this was it. This was how we would catch him. If one of them was in on it, then we could get to him through them.
“Another missing girl was reported missing last night.” Charlie said into the silence.
“Didn’t you say Daley was talking about a package being delivered, boss?” Kitty said, lifting her head and placing the folder on the table.
“He did?” Charlie looked from her then back to me.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “Now it makes sense, he must have been talking about the girl.” I pulled my hat off, running my hand through my hair.
This wasn’t good. Why hadn’t I put it together? Now that I thought about it, it was obvious. How he got so angry over not having the ‘package’ when he wanted it. That package must have been the girl.
“One of the top girls in her class.” Charlie shook his head, looking at me, fire blazing in his eyes. “Only five miles from here.”
“They’re getting closer,” Evan said, turning his laptop around to face us with a map on the screen. “The bigger the dots, the more recent they’ve been.”
The map had loads of dots on and they were all getting closer and closer to the compound. There was no mistaking it.
“How did you get that?” Charlie asked, leaning forward in his seat to see it better.
“I’ve got contacts.” Evan shrugged and smirked at Charlie.
Shaking my head at him, I squinted at the screen. He was right, they were getting closer.
“What is their end game?” I mumbled. What were they trying to achieve?
“I don’t know,” Charlie said, standing up. “But we need to find out, and fast.”
We did need to find out fast; not knowing where those girls were, not being any closer to finding out, was frustrating the hell out of me. I needed to run. I needed to think.
Charlie stood up and looked at his phone. “I’ll be in touch,” he said, making his way to the door.
“Later.” I nodded.
We all stayed silent for a while, each of us looking through all of the information we’d just been given.
“Luke, keep track of Kay. I need to run.”
“On it,” he answered, not lifting his head from the folder.
Huffing, I walked out of the warehouse and straight to the house to get changed into my gym clothes. A good run and some exercise on the equipment in the clearing is what I needed.
Watching somebody’s house on my own, was the most boring thing I had ever done. I’d been sat here for over five hours now and not one person had come in or out.
Taking Eli to preschool on my own was scary but once I had done it, I was so happy. Not only that, but I was proud that I had done it all by myself and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. There was a time not long ago when I thought I’d never be able to take him on my own again but I’d done it and I finally felt like the last piece of the jigsaw had slipped into place.
I’d managed to find Daley’s place pretty easily and I was ready and pumped for some action.
Then… nothing happened. Ty had told me that Charlie was coming to the compound today, he’d text me earlier to say that he left my folder in the kitchen at home.
Home.
That was a word that I was getting used to hearing.
He hadn’t said anything else but I knew that he wouldn’t because, although our lines were secure, he always said that you could never be too careful.
He was due to take over my watch any second now but whether we would be able to talk, I didn’t know.
Pulling my phone out when it buzzed, I swiped the screen and opened up the new message.
FROM: TY
TO: KAY
5 mins away. When I pull up, drive off.
See you at home.
I smiled and kept my eyes on the rear view mirror, looking out for him. A couple of minutes later, he drove up behind me and I pulled my seatbelt around me, switching the engine on. Making my way to Eli’s preschool, I thought about how much my life had changed.
A few months ago, I would have never gone out of that compound on my own, and now I was out on my own, not only taking and picking up Eli, but doing surveillance jobs as well. Everything was perfect. Well…as long as you didn’t count the wife that had turned up out of the blue and not talking to Corey.
I hated not talking to him. I really needed to confront him, especially knowing that he was video calling tonight. I was just so hurt, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around him being so close and not coming to see us.
Pulling up to the preschool, I took a deep breath and got out of the car. I scanned the area as I walked to the door, making sure I knew what and who was around me.
When I pulled the door open, Miss Cooper was sat in the waiting area. She stood and smiled kindly at me, meeting me in the middle of the foyer.
“Miss Anderson? I was wondering if we could have a quick chat?” She waved to the little office opposite, a reassuring smile lighting up her face.
“Sure.” I nodded and walked into the office as she followed behind me and shut the door, closing us in the tiny space.
I watched as she shuffled around the small space, which was covered with stacks of folders and boxes of spare clothes and books. You’d think for a preschool that was so busy and catered for so many children, that they would have a bigger office.
“I wanted to talk about how Eli is getting on,” she said, once she squeezed behind the desk and sat down. “I’m aware that there have been a few changes at home and wanted to talk about going forward.”
“Okay…”
“I’ve got to say, Miss Anderson-”
“Kaylee, call me Kaylee,” I said, lifting my hand and waving it in the air.
“Oh, right.” She cleared her throat and continued. “Kaylee, Eli has improved so much in such a short amount of time. He’s more confident and progressing really fast. I’d like you to consider what you will do when he’s ready to start school.”
“School?” It wasn’t time for him to start school yet, we had a year before he would start.
“I know it’s early to start thinking about it but I feel like you should try and get him in the best school around. He’s such a bright boy.” She smiled, leaning forward and almost knocking over a pile of folders.
Clearing my throat, I shifted in the chair. “So there isn’t a problem with Eli?”
“Oh, no, no. Just the opposite of what you were probably thinking. I’m sorry Kaylee, I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.” She frowned, her face going red.
“That’s fine,” I said and pushed up out of the seat. This office was too damn small and was starting to make me sweat. “Was that all?”
“I have some great options for you to discuss with…” She caught herself before she said anything else and I looked down, feeling embarrassed. Who would I discuss them with? I could talk to Ty but he wasn’t Eli’s father, it wasn’t his responsibility.
“Right,” I mumbled. “Well, do you have leaflets, or…”
“Oh! I have them here somewhere.” She started to look around the room, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t find anything in the piles and piles of folders and papers.
“Don’t worry about it, Miss Cooper, I’ll have them when you can find them, no rush.” Smiling, I walked through the door and waited in the foyer for Eli, glad to be out of such a small confined space.
“Mama!” Eli shouted as he ran through the door, his coat being dragged along the floor as well as his bag.
“Eli!” I shouted back and crouched down with my arms open wide. This felt good, this felt beyond good. Knowing I was doing this on my own again was such an incredible feeling.
“We on our own, mama?” he asked when I took his bag and coat from him and held my hand out.
“Yep” I grinned down at him. “Want to get burgers and take them back to the warehouse for everyone?”
“Yeah!” he shouted and practically dragged me to the car.