Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (65 page)

“Yeah. Said she needed to talk to you about something and that she could meet you at two o’clock at twenty-one thirty-five Tedesco Lane. Said she’ll be away from her phone until then, so she won’t get a call if you try to call her.”

“Okay. I have no idea what that’s about, but if she calls back, tell her I’ll meet her there. Anything else?”

Molly thought that whole part of the conversation was odd and she wasn’t sure why, but now she was worried about Laura. “No, that’s it. You doing okay? I haven’t seen you in a few.”

“Yeah, good. Real good. Thanks for being the world’s best assistant!” Vic laughed.

“You’re welcome, and thank you! Hope you’ll be in tomorrow,” she laughed back.

“I’ll have to see how everything goes today, but yeah, maybe I will. I’ve been missing your pretty face. Can’t have too many of those around!”

“Aw, you’re sweet! Talk to you soon.” Molly was smiling as she hung up.

That’s weird. Wonder what Evie wants?
Vic started to call Steve, but then decided against it. His relationship with Evie was good, and he trusted that if she needed to see him, it was a true need.

When Vic left Tony and Nikki’s jobsite at one o’clock, he decided he’d pick up some flowers for Molly when he got finished meeting Evie, go by the office and leave them on her desk. She’d like that. And he’d pick up some for Laura too, surprise her.

The only thing he got right in the whole equation was how surprised Laura was going to be. But not in a good way.

“Everything looks good, very good.” Dr. Fisher sat up and looked up the table at Laura. “You can scoot up now. Any questions?”

It wasn’t hard to get an appointment with Dr. Fisher, not when her office staff knew you were a Walters woman. Laura had to admit that it was impressive to carry that much weight in a town as big as Louisville. She’d been very candid in the history part of the exam, so Dr. Fisher knew everything that had happened.

“So there’s nothing wrong down there?”

“No. There’s some scarring, but nothing that should keep you from having normal intercourse. I do know from past exams that the men in that family can be, how can I say it, demanding? So tell him to take it easy on you starting out, okay?”

Laura blushed. “Yeah, okay. And something else.” Dr. Fisher’s eyebrows raised and she nodded. “Do you think there’s any chance that I could maybe get pregnant? Would it be okay?”

“Absolutely!” Dr. Fisher gave her a bright smile. “It might be harder for you to get pregnant, and you’re not as young as most of my obstetrics patients, but with monitoring and care, there’s no reason why you couldn’t have a safe, happy pregnancy. That’s something you both want?”

“Yes. Anything I need to do first?”

Dr. Fisher’s expression turned somber. “Yes. I wanted to talk to you about this anyway. Because of your scarring, your breast tissue will be very difficult to read on a mammogram, which would make it almost impossible to diagnose cancer if it happens. Plus, without a nipple, your left breast will have no way to release colostrum or milk, and that could cause some severe problems. I’d like to see you have the breast tissue in both breasts removed and implants placed. That’s something the military surgeons should’ve done when you were first injured, but, well . . . Is that something you’d be open to?” She caught the horror on Laura’s face. “It wouldn’t be a bad surgery, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t get pregnant while you were recovering.”

Laura relaxed a little. “I’ll talk to Vic, but if it will keep me healthier, I’m sure I’ll do it.”

“Until then, I’m going to put you on birth control pills, just temporarily, of course. It’ll take a little while for them to become effective, so use other forms of birth control until your second cycle of pills. Anything else?”

Laura gave Dr. Fisher a shy smile. “No, I think that’s everything. And thank you for being so nice to me.”

Dr. Fisher surprised her by giving her a hug. “You’re a lovely lady. That’s one very lucky man! Call if you need anything.”

Laura’s mind was in a dreamy fog as she went to the car. She’d been a little scared to try making the meatloaf for dinner, but now she was excited. Even if it was a bust, she’d have something exciting to tell Vic. It made her even more determined to open herself up to him – in every possible way.

Vic drove straight to Lexington, then over to the Tedesco Lane address Evie had left for him. It surprised him to find a small house at that address, not at all where he would’ve thought Evie would live. He’d pegged her as a country club estates-type girl. The whole neighborhood on Tedesco was kind of run down. Before Vic even got out of the car, he saw a note on the front door.

When he reached it, it read:

Vic-

I had too go too a neighbors – my water is on tha frittz. Could you pleaze meet me at there house? Its at 2219 Wilmont, just a couple streets over.

Thanx,

Evie

The note seemed strange; he wouldn’t have pegged Evie as being someone who would have trouble composing a simple note. She seemed so polished and well-educated. Vic looked around. The whole neighborhood was quiet – oddly so. He got back in the car and drove a couple of blocks over to Wilmont. It was kind of surprising that she lived in that particular neighborhood. For some reason, he thought it was about to be razed to build a new shopping complex, but it wasn’t a Walters project so he wasn’t sure. There were a few cars here and there, but they didn’t look like much, and the occasional toy or lawn mower in a yard. Even though the lawns looked scruffy, they weren’t overgrown yet; it was still early in the year.

When he got to the Wilmont address, the storm door was closed and the interior front door was cracked open, so he walked up and pushed the doorbell, but he didn’t hear the bell go off. There was a sound from inside the house like someone moving around, and when no one answered, he opened the storm door and called out, “Evie?”

There was still no response, so Vic opened the door all the way and stepped inside. “What the . . .”

There was no furniture. Not a stick. Through the kitchen doorway he could see that there was nothing in the cabinets. He pulled the note from his pocket and looked at it again – 2219 Wilmont; that’s where he was. As he looked down and read it once more, he walked toward the kitchen doorway. He glanced through the back window and noticed a white van. He’d almost made it into the kitchen when he heard a rustling behind him and turned.

In three seconds, he was out cold.

“Hey, babe. It’s me. What time do you think you’ll be home? I need to know so I can start the meatloaf at the right time. I want it to be hot when you get there. So call me back, please?” Laura had left two other messages in Vic’s voicemail, but he hadn’t called her back yet, so she tried a different approach.

“Walters Construction Lexington.”

“Molly?”

“Hey Laura! How are you?”

“I’m good. Listen, I’ve been leaving voicemails for Vic all afternoon and he hasn’t returned any of them. Any idea where he is?”

“No. He had an errand to run here in town.”
I don’t know who Evie is. I can’t imagine that Vic’s messing around on Laura, but maybe she’s not supposed to know about this,
Molly worried silently. “I thought he’d be done by now. Maybe he went back out to the jobsite.”

Laura sighed. “If you hear from him, please ask him to call me. It’s about, well, something this morning.” She was so hyped that she’d decided she couldn’t wait. She wanted to tell him about her doctor visit.

“Sure will! Hey, come see me sometime, okay?” Molly liked Laura.
God, I hope Vic’s not about to mess this up.

“Will do. Let’s have lunch someday soon.” With Nikki gone, Laura hadn’t had anyone to hang out with, and Brittany was busy with the kids. She decided she’d call Molly for lunch as soon as she got a chance.

When he managed to get an eye open, Vic looked around as best he could. Everything was fuzzy and dark, and the smell of mildew was thick. His head was pounding so hard that even his eyes hurt. He tried to remember what had happened, but all he could remember was pulling the car up outside a house and walking in. When he tried to raise his head, it hurt too much, so he let his cheek fall back onto the concrete, then tried to push himself up with his arms.

They were tied behind his back.

“Guess you’ve got time for me now, huh, lover?” The voice was familiar. “Well, say something. I’m hoping you’ll tell me how much you care for me, but I may have to work on that with you.”

Vic’s breath caught in his throat. “Miranda?”

“Oh, so I see you
do
remember my name! I’m shocked. I thought you’d forgotten me. After you fucked me. More than once.” He couldn’t see her face as she spoke, but he could imagine it, see her smirking.

What had she done? Vic tried to think fast, but it was hard with a headache like the one that was threatening to blow a piece out of his skull. “I didn’t forget you. I couldn’t spend time with you every night. I’m a service Dom there and I would’ve gotten tossed if I’d spent time with just you.” Of course, that wasn’t true, but that was on a need-to-know basis and she didn’t need to know.

“I wasn’t asking for every night, just asking for, I don’t know, a couple of times a week for your special girl.” He heard her shuffling around and when he cracked an eye open again, he could see a shoe right in front of his face. “I
am
your special girl, right?
Bella?
”

Oh, god, this is a fucked-up mess. What do I do now?
“Well, you
were
special to me, but you’ve screwed that up. Women who are special to me don’t do this shit to me.”

“It wouldn’t have been necessary if you’d just call me back once in a while.” Then she chuckled. “Wait – that’s not true. I want you all to myself. Come on, I’ll help you sit up.” She wrapped her arms under his and helped him sit up on the floor.

It was a basement, an empty basement, empty except for a mattress, a chair, a bucket, and a bare light bulb, and he was afraid he knew what the bucket was for. When he got his wits about him, he realized the laces of his work boots were knotted together. She broke his concentration by saying, “Come on, get over here on the mattress. That floor’s gotta be hard.” Miranda watched him scoot across the floor until he made it to the mattress and pitched over onto it. “Now that’s better, huh?”