Unbreakable (38 page)

Chapter 42

I wake up the next morning still wrapped in
Luke’s arms. “Good morning,” he whispers to me when he feels me
stir. I look up at him and I can tell he’s been awake a little
while.

“Good morning,” I say back to him and sit up
to see is face better. “How long have you been awake?” I ask
resting my head on his chest. I can hear his heart beating.

“About 15 minutes. Didn’t want to wake you,
you were so peaceful.” He smiles down at me.

“I love lying in your arms, but Elliot’s
partner is stopping by this morning to discuss the Adeline
situation,” I explain as I wiggle out of his arms. “I got an email
yesterday from him. Adeline is still threatening to sue me for the
3.5 million dollars,” I say annoyed and walk in the bathroom to
shower. “Although the distraction is nice, she’s crazy. At least it
will keep my mind off other stuff.

“She’s a loon. There’s no way she could win
that lawsuit.” Luke yells to me from the bedroom. “Who does she
think she is anyway?” He says now in the bathroom with me. “Me
like,” he smiles as I take off my t-shirt and get in the
shower.

“She thinks she is entitled to ‘Jane’s
money,’” I say giving him a wink before I disappear behind the
shower door. “But I don’t know why she thinks that. I think that me
having all the money is driving her crazy and she is trying
everything to get it,” I shout over the water. “Which I must admit,
gives me a whole lot of pleasure,” I say smiling and feeling a
little evil.

“Well this gives me a whole lot of pleasure,”
Luke says. I turn around and he’s with me in the shower.

“Me too,” I say as I wrap my arms around his
neck and bring him to me.

After half an hour in the shower of amazing
sex, we both get dressed and head downstairs. The kitchen is
bustling with people. Emma and Jimmy are sitting next to each other
at the island holding hands and eating toast.

Jacob and Lucy are sitting at the table. She
has her laptop out and he listens attentively to what she is saying
as she points to something on the screen. “I put a lock on this.
There is no way he can hack the feeds again,” she explains to Jacob
and he nods to her in agreement.

Jeffrey is coming in from outside through the
French doors. I can see he’s been working hard already this
morning, dirt on his jeans and hands, as he goes to the sink to
wash up.

Miss Finnegan is still at her mom’s, so there
are no huge plates of food waiting for us. I grab some coffee for
Luke and me and sit next to Emma. Jacob runs out the door to catch
Sam, and Jimmy and Luke start talking about the master and they
decide to destroy the bathroom today. Might as well keep busy is
what they are thinking.

“Did you sleep well?” Emma asks me. I can
tell by the dark circles under her eyes that she had not gotten
much sleep at all.

“I’ve slept 24 of the past 36 hours, so I
guess you can say that I am well rested,” I tease, but I know she
is worried about the letter last night. “How are you?”

“Tired, but Jimmy kept my mind off some
things and on other things,” she whispers shyly. It is not like
Emma to be so coy.

“Daddy said that Andy is coming this morning
to discuss the Adeline bullshit,” Emma says quickly changing the
subject.

Luke grabs me in his arms, spins me around,
and dips me down placing a firm kiss on my lips before he brings me
back up right. “We are going to go destroy some stuff,” he smiles
wickedly. “Please, please stay in the house.” He raises his
eyebrows and waits for an answer.

“I will, I promise.” I make a cross over my
heart with my index finger. “I will be down here with Andy and Emma
most of the morning.”

“OK. I am only upstairs if you need me.” He
kisses my temple before Jimmy and he are out the door.

Jacob and Lucy excuse themselves to the study
to continue the project they’ve been engrossed in all through
breakfast.

Andy arrives, and Emma and I sit at the table
with him to go over the lawsuit.

“So, we were contacted by Adeline’s attorney
yesterday saying that if we settle on 2.5 million then they would
not take us to court,” Andy starts out and I can’t help but laugh.
“Yes, it is amusing,” Andy says at my laughter. “Not only do they
not have anything written down that Jane owed any money to Adeline,
but they also have nothing to prove that Jane had asked for her
services,” Andy explains.

“My bet is that they think we will pay just
to avoid a legal hassle,” Andy adds.

“Well they can think that all they want,
because I’m not paying her anything,” I declare to Andy just to
make sure we are on the same page.

“Yes, Lilly, I know, and I have no intentions
on asking you to settle,” he says calmly. “But I do think we should
strike her with a counter suit of our own,” he says and I’m
instantly intrigued.

“The newspaper article, I say we sue her for
defamation of character.” He explains to us that her saying I
threatened to kill her makes me look bad in the community.

“I did threaten to
shoot her though, even though I don’t own a gun,” I say to him and
he gives me a shocked look.

“But can she prove that you really did?” He
asks grasping for straws, still astonished by my confession and
looks to Emma.

“I didn’t hear a thing,” Emma says of that
day, even though she was standing right there with us.

“No, it was just her, Emma, and I. But I
refuse to stoop to her level and lie to get what I want.” I exclaim
and I can see the look of disappointment on his face. “I don’t want
to sue her and I don’t want to pay her.” I tell him letting him
know where I stand. “So if we have to go to court then so be it,
I’m sure we’ll win. I also want you to start digging into anything
you can find about the Jane Sumnor Charitable organization,” I tell
him. “I also want to know if I have any rights to their bank
statements since my ‘mother’ is the name sake.” I choke down the
word mother.

“Okay, Lilly, I’ll see what I can find out,”
he says. “I will contact her attorney and tell them we deny their
offer and I guess we will see just how far she wants to take this,”
he explains as he puts the file back in his briefcase. “I’m sure
once Elliott gets back he will take over the case,” he tells us and
I’m fine with him handling it.

“Well you guys can work out the details. Just
so you know, I am more than comfortable leaving it in your capable
hands,” I say to him as I start to show him to the door.

“Thank you, Lilly. That really means a lot to
me,” he beams at the compliment.

“I can’t believe you don’t want to sue the
pants off of her,” Emma blurts out as soon as the door shuts. “If I
were you, I would take her for everything she has!” She exclaims
evilly.

“What good would it do really?” I shrug and
we make our way to the study.

We had decided that Emma would stay at the
house until her parents get back so she is not in an empty house.
Jacob said he would drive her home to pick up some clothes. When we
walk in the study Jacob is sitting in the office chair and Lucy is
sitting on his lap, and we interrupt them kissing.

“Oh, sorry guys,” I say as they both look up
at the sound of us entering the room. Lucy quickly gets up and
turns away from us embarrassed by getting caught.

“I swear we’ve been working,” Lucy says her
face red with blush. Jacob also seems embarrassed as he stands up
to let Lucy sit in the office chair.

“It’s okay. I know you’ve been working hard.”
I assure them as their faces look like they are in trouble. “I
don’t expect you to work 24 hours a day. It’s not like the hours
here have been conventional,” I tell them and Lucy relaxes. Jacob
beams at her and I can tell he is totally in love and I am so happy
for him.

“We were just seeing when you would be able
to take me home to get some stuff.” Emma says grinning at them.

“Couple hours, we are waiting for a scan to
run on a hit we got. It’s kind of a waiting game, that’s why we,
umm….took a break,” Jacob smiles.

“I think we will let you get back to your
break then.” I grin at them and grab Emma’s arm to leave the
room.

“I’ll come find you when the scan is done,”
Jacob yells to us when we’re in the hall.

“They are so cute together.” Emma smiles at
me happy for them just as much as I am.

Emma and I go over some of the decorating
catalogs for the next few hours to keep us busy. Jimmy and Luke
work in the master and I can tell by the very loud bangs that they
are enjoying the destruction of Jane’s bathroom.

“I really like this one, Bud knows his
stuff.” Emma points out a pale yellow for the sitting room, now
that we are on to paint colors.

Bud is a very flamboyant gay man that I hired
a few months ago to help with the decorating. He had left a bunch
of paint samples and fabric swatches. With everything going on I
have not had the time to go through it all. “Lilly, darling, I am
going to make this place sing.” I remember him telling me the day
he visited. He had scoffed at Jane’s taste and agreed with me that
everything must go.

He had picked out some sage colored furniture
for the sitting room and I think that the pale yellow Emma chose
will go perfectly. I add the color swatch to the sitting room
file.

For the next couple of hours we go from room
to room picking out paint and fabric.

Chapter 43

“What are we going to make for supper?” My
stomach growls and I realize it is almost 6:00. The day has flown
by since Emma and I had made sandwiches for lunch.

“Pizza,” Emma chirps, “ooey gooey pizza.”

“I’m ready to go to the house,” Jacob says
coming into the kitchen. “Jimmy wants to come too,” he tells us and
Jimmy’s in the kitchen a few minutes later freshly showered from
them working in the master.

“Where’s Luke?” I ask them before they leave.
“I’ll order pizza so can you pick it up on the way back.”

“He went to shower, I’m sure he’ll be down
soon,” Jimmy tells me. We decide on what kinds of pizza and the
three of them leave. For the first time in days I’m in my kitchen
alone. Lucy is still in the study finishing up a few things. I sit
there in the silence and suddenly miss everyone. I really like
having all these people in my house. It’s so big and empty
otherwise, and it just makes it feel more like a home. I finish
looking through my magazine and just put it aside when Luke walks
in the kitchen hair still wet from his shower.

“Hey baby,” he greets me coming up behind me
kissing my neck. I can smell his clean fresh scent. I take a deep
breath in as he wraps his arms around my belly hugging me
tight.

“Hey yourself,” I greet back enjoying the
embrace. “We are having pizza and I need to get it ordered so it’s
ready for them to pick up on their way back from Emma’s,” I say and
turn to face him. He’s so gorgeous. I could stare at him for
hours.

I walk around the island to get a phone book
out of the bottom drawer. Luke heads to the kitchen table and is
standing in front of the French doors with his back to them. He is
thumbing through the paint swatches. “Do you like the colors we
picked out?” I say as I reach down to open the drawer and grab the
phone book.

When I straighten back up I see him, standing
behind Luke stabbing him in the neck with a needle.

Luke goes to turn around and before he can
face his attacker he hits the floor like a ton of bricks.

“No!” I scream running towards the man I love
crumpled on the floor unconscious. My heart beating out of my
chest, I see him take a gun out and point it at Luke’s head. He
puts his index finger to his lips telling me to be quiet. I stop
frozen and stare at him as tears start to roll down my face.

This is him, my stalker. Everything we have
been doing to keep him away didn’t work. He stands there, his gun
still pointed at Luke’s head. His facial hair has grown out more
and he’s wearing the same clothes he was wearing the other day in
the woods. I stare at him and his eyes are dark with anger.

“Please don’t hurt him,” I desperately plead
to him.

“That’s up to you,” he growls in a low gruff
voice. “He’s not dead, yet, but he can be in a second.” He sneers
shaking the gun that is still pointed at his head.

“I’ll do whatever you say, if you promise not
to hurt him.” My voice shaking as I respond to his statement. I
start to remember Jacob’s story about how he thinks I like him too.
That he turned aggressive because he thought I was denying him.

“Good girl,” he taunts and moves one step
closer to me. My heart is pounding so hard I feel like he can hear
it. It feels like I’m in a nightmare. I can see Luke’s chest moving
up and down so I know he is alive and I will do whatever this man
tells me to keep it that way.

“Hey, Lil, I need some information from
the……” Lucy enters the kitchen and stops dead in her tracks when
she sees the man holding the gun. In an instant he has it pointed
at her, and just like me her mouth opens but nothing comes out.

“Join your friend,” he growls motioning Lucy
to stand next to me.

“Please. I’ll go with you, just don’t hurt
anyone,” I beg now scared for Lucy’s life also. Lucy looks at me
panicked as she moves to stand beside me. I don’t know what to do,
I feel so helpless that if I fight with this lunatic he’ll kill
Luke or Lucy.

“Oh you will be coming with me, but I can’t
have her calling anyone as soon as we step out the door,” he grunts
and he reaches in his pocket and brings out another syringe. He
walks toward us and we hear a loud bang outside. He’s distracted
for a moment putting the gun back on Luke and walks to the window
to see what the noise was.

Within a second Lucy has her phone out of her
pocket and has the back off of it. She pulls off a small square
device and reaches around me lifting the back of my shirt I feel
her stick the object on the small of my back. She replaces the
cover and quickly puts her phone in my back pocket, but she’s too
late. He turns around just as I feel the phone slide in my
pocket.