Vinia smiled at her. "You know I've never lied to you before, and I'm not about to start now. I won't start the conversation with my son, but if he asks me a direct question, I'll answer. If you want to be the one to tell him, then I suggest you hurry up before he comes to me."
After she left, Valerie sat and stared at the stars. It was a view she didn't get in the city, and one that she hadn't realized how much she missed. It would be a great place to raise Londyn and Mitchell, if things worked out, but she wasn't sure how Ty would take to the news. She knew that they were reconnecting on one level, but he still didn't even know why she had left.
His opinion of her may change once he does know. Maybe he'd think she was weak and foolish and made all the wrong choices. Maybe she had. She knew she could move back to Manitou Springs and just not live out here at the ranch, but just being that close to Ty would be torture if they weren't together. There would always be someone remembering them together, and she would constantly have him in her life, physically or otherwise.
She wondered if he would move on once he had closure. He had remained loyal to an ideal, the way he remembered things. Now that he'd know the truth, he wouldn't have the romance of the memory anymore.
She had left him and cut him off completely. Coming back from that was hard enough; expecting him to forgive, forget, and fight for a future was something totally different.
The saddest part was that she had been just as heartbroken and unhappy as Ty had been. She finally stood up and stretched before she headed for her bedroom. She laid quiet and listened to the sounds of the night. Did she want to pray for a second chance with Tyson, or did she want to protect her heart from a second round of pain?
Chapter Fourteen: Chapter 14 Title
Tyson “Ty” Hale
Tyson listened in horror as his mother told him about the voicemails she had overheard. "Who the hell does he think he is?"
"God." It was a simple word with heavy meaning, and Vinia meant every nuance of it.
Tyson had come to her for advice before he did something that could ruin any chance of a future with Valerie. And since he had asked her for help, she informed him that she was able to provide a little insight and had unloaded on him about the horrific nature of Valerie's husband. "If I ever meet the sonofabitch, I'm going to deck him myself for the way he talked to her. You should have heard the venom in his voice."
Tyson was relieved that Valerie had filed for divorce. From the sounds of it, the further away from the man she could stay, the better off she was.
"This man is very abusive, so you need to be careful with Valerie. She has to be very vulnerable right now, whether she knows it or not, especially since that bastard had her son call. The pain and anguish in Valerie," Vinia said as she flinched, "I could feel it across the way."
He didn't bother telling Vinia about their tryst in the barn. Some things were better left unsaid.
"I need to go check out this guy and see what the story is with him."
"I thought you might say that. I did a little search for him, and here is their home address." She held up a piece of paper. "But Valerie is not going to like you going there. I would advise you to do it on the down low."
He shrugged. "From the sounds of it, she already has her hands full in the stress department. What she doesn't know won't hurt her, and there's no real benefit to asking her permission to go. She'd probably want to go with me. I'll go alone and be quick about it. What good is it being a dragon if you can't take advantage of it sometimes?"
She kissed his cheek. "Just be careful and don't take long. Londyn will be the first one to notice you missing. That little girl is smart as a whip."
"She's pretty cute, too."
"It'll be quiet around here when they leave."
Tyson froze. "They're leaving?"
Vinia shrugged. "I have no idea. But they can't live in that cabin forever. We have other paying guests coming in. Unless you want to move them into your house."
He snorted. "Smooth, Mom. I'll be back shortly."
The flight for a dragon from Colorado to New York City was mere minutes. Tyson landed close to the coordinates for the address and shifted. He walked nonchalantly past the house with the mailbox he was looking for. For some reason, the name struck a nerve, but Tyson couldn't figure out why. He was pretty sure it had something to do with Valerie's job at the bank.
It was a huge, impressive house with tall plate glass windows across the front. He could see several men milling around inside, but he had no idea what Randall looked like. There were no women and no little boy that he could see.
Something about the situation raised red flags in Tyson's head. He had a strong suspicion that whatever was going on inside that house had nothing to do with Valerie. It seemed strange that there were so many men at her house unless her husband was going to send out a posse to find her.
The thought probably wasn't that far off. Tyson made a mental note to warn his brothers to keep their eyes open at the ranch.
Luckily in New York City people walked everywhere. Tyson was able to make several passes to scope out the premises. On his last trip past, he still didn't see any signs of Mitchell. Valerie had said that he was holed up in his grandparent's fortress, but he had no idea where that was.
How hard can it be to find? He asked himself the question knowing that Valerie would once again not approve. He was half tempted to find out and just bully his way inside and take the kid. If worse came to worst, that's exactly what he would do.
Two of the men came out of the house as Tyson passed on the far side of the street. They paid him no mind as they walked toward town, one of them checking his cell phone, and neither of them in a very big hurry. As tall as they were and dressed as if they were in the mafia, they weren't hard to pick out above the other walkers. Tyson wandered a bit further in the wrong direction before he pivoted and started to follow them.
