Scattered Thoughts (Betrayed by Love Book 1) (31 page)

“And I’m afraid we found evidence of bomb material at her house,” Detective Rux said. “Add that to her mention of having you killed in the parking garage of your Manhattan apartment and that’s enough evidence for some serious jail time.”

“Well, what are you doing to find her then?” Alec snapped, finally ending that unpleasant trip down memory lane.

“We’ve issued an arrest warrant and put out an APB for her car. We’ve also notified the airlines and Port Authority. If she tries to board a plane or train, we’ll know about it.” He shook his head slowly. It made me wonder if there was something else he wasn’t telling me. “We consider her extremely dangerous,” he said finally.

“Anna!” I shouted, suddenly. “She was supposed to meet Valerie for dinner. I begged her not to go, but she wouldn’t promise me.”

“You knew Ms. Russell was here and you didn’t call me?” It was Detective Rux’s turn to be mad now. “Where are they supposed to meet?”

Alec answered for me. “Five Sisters. I already have a team in place in case she shows.”

“What if she lied about where they’re meeting?” I asked.

Alec tilted his head to one side. “Anna wouldn’t lie to you, would she?”

“She certainly wouldn’t be the first teenager to lie to her parents, now would she?” Detective Rux said sarcastically before bolting out of the room.

Alec pulled his hands through his hair. It was as if he hadn’t even considered the possibility Anna wasn’t telling the truth. He tapped the Bluetooth earpiece, “Anna, its Alec. Where are you? Call me.”

He touched the button again. “I want to know where Anna is. Now. Find her.” He touched the button one more time then turned toward me, his stare so intense it felt as though I would burst into flames any second.

“If anything happens to my daughter, Alec…” I dropped my head in my hands. “Please, you have to find her.” In that moment nothing mattered but the safety of my daughter. Not Valerie, not Alec keeping things from me. Only Anna.

He sat beside me on the bed and pulled me back into the safety of his arms. “Don’t cry, baby. She’s going to be okay. We’ll find her.” He leaned back on the bed, his arms wrapped tightly around me as I tried to stop the flow of tears.

After a while, Alec spoke again. “Why did you tell Detective Rux we aren’t dating?”

“Are we?” I asked, confused by his question.

“Are you in the habit of casual sex, Isabella?”

“No. Of course not.”

He kissed me on the top of the head. “Well, neither am I.”

I wrapped my arms tighter around him. Dating. Not casual sex. Not his latest fling, but his
girlfriend
. I was in a relationship with Mr. Control Freak, with Alec Payne. But did I still want to be after everything I’d learned recently?

“Payne,” he said sharply and I knew he was no longer talking to me. He sat up quickly, bringing me with him. “Good work, Marcus. Yes. Go. Text the address to Detective Rux.”

“You found her?”

“Yes. Marcus tracked the GPS in her car.”

“Detective,” Alec called out. Detective Rux rushed through the door. “We have an address. My head of security is sending it to you now.”

“Is Ms. Russell with her?”

“I don’t know yet. My team is on their way now.”

“You better leave the police work to us, Mr. Payne. Ms. Russell is very dangerous. There’s no telling what she’ll do if she feels cornered.” He looked down at his vibrating phone then raced toward the door.

“You can’t be too mad at her, Isabella.”

“And why not?” I folded my arms in protest. “I told her it wasn’t safe. I asked her not to see Valerie, but she went anyway.”

A smile crossed his face. “Like mother, like daughter, huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Doesn’t this sound even vaguely familiar?” His smile widened, but I didn’t find humor in what he was saying. “I remember telling you it was too dangerous, asking you not to go to.” He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “She’s just as stubborn as you are, baby.”

I opened my mouth to object but closed it again. He was right. Anna was a lot like me. She insisted she’d be fine. I bet she even thought I was being too controlling. I frowned, my lower lip protruding, which Alec instantly bit.

“You’re not pouting again, are you?” he said with a smile.

Under normal circumstances that might have made me smile too, but I wasn’t in the mood for him right now. He’d kept information about the break-ins from me, and now that I knew Anna was safe I had to find out why. “If you knew Valerie was behind the break-ins at your office, why didn’t tell me?”

His smile quickly faded. “I had no idea Valerie was involved, Isabella. Until yesterday I thought Charlee and Valerie were two different people.”

“Why didn’t you tell me
after
you found out you had been married to my best friend? Didn’t you think I’d want to know that she was trying to hurt you too?”

“As far as I knew she wasn’t trying to hurt me, Isabella. Do you know what she stole from my office?” he snapped.

“Information.”

“Yes, that’s right. She stole information. About you! The background check Marcus ran on you. Your client list. Even your credit report. Every detail I’d collected. She knew where to find you because of me. The mistakes of my past had come back to hurt you. How do you think that made me feel, Isabella? I failed, just like I had with my family. I was supposed to protect you but she got to you
because
of me!”

Silent tears rolled down my cheeks. The torment in Alec’s eyes was too much to take. I hadn’t even considered what Alec could be feeling about his unlikely connection. He had to know none of it was his fault. Didn’t he?

I reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled out of my reach. “You didn’t do this, Alec.”

He didn’t look at me, his hands still fisted in his hair, out of my reach.

“Valerie knew where I lived. And after thirteen years with the same company she even knew most of my clients. None of this is your fault, Alec. Not even the attacks. Those started long before I met you.”

“You heard the detective. The attacks didn’t escalate until after you met me. If only I’d left you alone.”

“A couple of hours ago you were calling me your girlfriend. Now you’re saying you wish you’d just left me alone. Is that what you want, Alec? You want me out of your life?”

“No, Isabella. God, no, that’s not at all what I want.” He sat down on the edge of the bed again, holding both my hands in his. “I was miserable when you left. There’s something about you, this feeling deep inside, this need I have for you, it confuses me.”  A pained look crossed his face and he closed his eyes. “I was confused about why you left, about what I should do about it, about how it made me feel.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he continued. “I was mad, Isabella. Mad at you for leaving. Mad at myself for not going after you. And when Drew called and told me what happened…” He pulled me closer to him. “I was so afraid I’d never see you again. Afraid I’d never get to tell you how much you mean to me.”

Abruptly, he released me and stood up, running his hands through his hair. “I love you, Isabella. I’ve loved you since the first time we met. I’ve tried to deny my feelings, to convince myself they aren’t real, but when you left I couldn’t deny it any longer.” He sat back down and wrapped his arms around me. “I love you,” he said again.

My mouth dropped open. I didn’t know what to say.
Well, say something
, my inner voice pleaded.
Tell him you love him too.
I shook her off. I loved spending time with him and   was definitely attracted to him. But did I love him? Did I even believe in love after all that had happened?

“I don’t want to lose you again,” Alec whispered.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves, saying a silent prayer I could make him understand my feelings without hurting him anymore than I already had. I leaned in, placing a soft kiss on his lips. “I love being with you, Alec, but I’m afraid.” The tension in his body had me wishing I could tell him what he wanted to hear, what I was incapable of saying, no matter how much I thought it could be true. “What I mean is, well, I loved Spencer with all my heart, and I thought he loved me too, but look how that ended.”

“I’m not Spencer, Isabella. I’d never do that to you. I’ve been afraid to love again too after what happened to my parents and Hope, and then with Charlee.” He shook his head, a pained look in his eyes. “But when I met you I realized how good life can be when you have someone to share it with.”

“Alec, I’m scared.”

“I’m scared too, baby.”

“I need time.”

He kissed me on the mouth. A hard, passionate kiss that spoke volumes about the torment I was putting him through, and it made my heart ache even more. “Take all the time you need. Just don’t leave me again. Everyone I love leaves me.” He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m sorry, Alec. I shouldn’t have left like I did. I promise I won’t do that again.”

He squeezed me tighter. “That’ll do for now, baby.” He kissed me again, only this time his kiss was soft.

My head was spinning from all that had happened the past couple of days, but most of all from the bomb Alec had just dropped.
Holy shit.
He loved me. He’d not only said it, he’d said it first. When I left the beach house and realized how much I missed him, how my heart ached for him, I thought maybe, just maybe it could be love. But I was too scared to tell him. It nearly killed me when I found out about Spencer’s affair. Would I ever be able to put myself in the position to be hurt like that again?

• • • • •

Preston walked through the door of my hospital room, Anna in tow. “I want to speak with you,” Alec said sharply, looking right at Anna. He grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her out into the hall before she could say a word. The door closed behind them, and all I could hear was him yelling. A couple hours ago he’d told me I couldn’t be too mad at her and all the while he was ready to explode. How did he do that? How had he managed to stay so calm and collected on the outside when he was anything but on the inside?

“Did you find Valerie?” I asked Preston, trying to take my mind off what was going on in the hall.

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. She slipped out the back before we could reach her.” Preston stared out the window, neither of us saying another word, the look on his face saying it all. She’d gotten away. Our lives were still in danger and he blamed himself. It saddened me to know he felt responsible too. None of it was his fault, either.

Alec walked back into the room with Anna by his side, his hand still firmly grasping her arm, her tear stained face red and blotchy. “I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. It was wrong. I put myself in danger and that was wrong too.” Alec let go of her arm and she ran to my side. “I didn’t believe she could do this, Mom, especially not to you.” She buried her face against my shoulder. “But she just laughed about it. She said you deserved to die for what you’d done.” I wrapped my arms around her, holding her as tight as I could, my heart breaking for my baby girl.

After Anna had finally calmed down, Alec insisted Preston drive her back to the hotel. “Don’t let her out of your sight,” he’d said before they left. He was so upset with her for lying to him, I thought his head was going to start spinning, but in reality he was more worried than mad. Valerie had managed to slip out the back door of the restaurant before the police could reach her. There was more to that story, something he was keeping from me, but it wasn’t the time for probing, not about that anyway.

What I could ask him about was his conversation with Anna. I’d never seen her so subdued. Every time he looked at her, tears sprung to her eyes and she looked away, clinging to me as if her life depended on it. “What’d you say to Anna?” I finally asked.

Alec kissed me on the top of the head. “That’s between me and Anna.”

“You made her cry.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t hit her if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, of course not.” I reached up and touch his cheek. “It’s just, well, don’t you think you were pretty hard on her?”

“Not even a little. If she was my daughter, I’d have done a lot more than just yell at her. She lied to me. She lied to you. And she knowingly jeopardized her safety. That’s just not acceptable. It’s as simple as that.” He kissed me again, on the cheek that time. “Now drop it before I take
you
over my knee.”

I smiled, relieved his sense of humor had returned, even if it was only for a moment.

• • • • •

“Knock, knock,” Dr. Leonard called out from the doorway.

“Shhh,” I whispered, pointing at Alec. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. Every time I moved he opened his eyes to check on me. I’d tried to convince him to go to the hotel with Anna and Preston, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Not even with the new security team posted outside my door. He’d been spooked ever since he saw that picture from the hotel. “I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he’d said. “Not until Charlee is off the streets.”

“It’s okay, baby. I’m awake.”

Dr. Leonard smiled. “How about we get you two out of here?”

“Hell yes!”

“Tell me how you really feel, Izzy.” Dr. Leonard laughed. “Seriously though, your labs and vitals look good, so I feel comfortable sending you home.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I said enthusiastically. She laughed again, knowing full well how much I hated hospitals.

“Is it safe for her to fly?”

“I’d much rather she take the short flight than the long car ride.”

Shit. Dr. Leonard knew where we were staying. I just hoped I wasn’t the one who told her. Nervously, I glanced at Alec, but he didn’t seem the slightest bit phased by what she’d said. Good. It hadn’t been me.

He climbed out of the bed. “Thanks for everything,” he said extending his hand.

“Anytime, Alec, although I hope we don’t have to do
this
again.” She listened to my heart one final time and then hugged me goodbye.

Soon after I’d dressed the nurse was back to remove my IV’s, discharge instructions in hand. I was lucky that Valerie had been interrupted before I sustained any real injury, other than the massive drug overdose that sent my heart into hyper drive. The nurse cautioned me about over stimulating my heart then sent me on my way. I was free and more than ready to go.

By the time we made it outside, storm clouds were threatening, a typical summer afternoon in Florida really, but I didn’t care as the humidity was soothing to my overly dry skin. I took a deep breath, soaking it all in, my lungs expanding as the salty air passed through my nose. It was the familiar smell of home. I was excited to be going to the beach house, even with Alec and all his controlling tendencies. “Let’s go home, baby,” Alec whispered in my ear. And I couldn’t help the smile that followed.

The flight was crowded with all six members of the security team aboard. “I’m not taking any chances,” Alec said when he saw the frown on my face. I’d thought they were undercover police officers. I hadn’t even considered that they worked for Alec. That was just what I needed, a constant reminder of how stupid my decision to leave the beach house had been. Somehow the near death experience seemed reminder enough.

Shortly after takeoff, I fell asleep, not waking until the wheels touched down in Sarasota. Preston and Marcus searched the airport, looking for any signs of danger before Alec let me get off the plane. As soon as he got the all clear from his staff, he escorted me down the ramp toward the waiting car, the rest of the security team close behind.

Alec helped me into the car, sliding in right behind me. Preston took his place behind the wheel and soon we were pulling away from the plane. I caught a glimpse of the security team as they filled the two black Escalades that were parked on the tarmac. One SUV sped ahead of the X6 Preston was driving, the other fell in behind us. Never in a million years had I imagined needing an entourage.