The last thing I needed was for any of the children to find me in the middle of a panic attack. Tiff and Shiloh were both at work and I didn’t want to disturb them. I sat on the floor and rested my back against the counter. Taking a few deep breaths, I focused on the things I could see. The detergent I had put away, the half filled basket, the purple dress. I could smell the fabric softener. I could also hear the dryer going with another load andlastly I could feel the cold tiled floor through the fabric of my jeans.
Slowly, my breathing returned to normal. I stood, and took one final breath before moving from the mudroom back into the kitchen. Both boys had already started their homework and Jaycee was coloring.
“Kids, I need to make a phone call real quick, okay?” I looked over at my little girl. “The iPad is on the coffee table in the living room when you’re ready for it.”
I walked into the small study and pushed the door on enough to give me some privacy but I would still be able to hear if the kids were in trouble.
With my fingers still trembling, I brought up Shiloh’s contact and pressed call. She answered on the second ring. “Mags.”
“Shiloh.” A small sob escaped me.
The smallest pause before Shiloh spoke again. “What’s wrong?”
“Fred was granted parole.” I tried to keep my voice down so the kids couldn’t overhear. “He’s on his way here.”
“Maggie.” As usual Shiloh’s calm voice was a balm to my nerves. “You do not need to worry about that. None of us will let him do anything. Besides, Fred may be a lot of things, but he wasn’t violent. Not with you.”
She was right. Still the warden’s voice rang in my ears. “The warden said he was giving me heads up. Rumor has it he wants revenge on those who were responsible for putting him in the position he was in.”
“You know what. We should do a girls night. I’ll cancel my plans with Ryder.”
Before I had a chance to tell that a girls night was not necessary, she was off the line. The guilt of the situation coated my throat. Tonight was meant to be one of the happiest nights ofher life. Ryder was getting ready to propose. Instead, she would spend the evening worried about me.
Maybe we could mitigate all that. I brought up Ryder’s contact but my call went straight to voicemail. Damn, Shiloh was likely already on the phone with him. Ruining the surprise proposal he had been planning for weeks. That was the last thing I wanted. Not after everything they had been through. Not after nine years of lies and deceit. Hopefully, he would insist she stick to the plans they’d made. The last thing I wanted to do was get their engagement postponed. All I wanted was to talk to one of my sisters. And seeing as one of them was deployed and one of them was on a plane from New York to make it on time for the party, Shiloh was the one.
So, now I had to fix it. I called Tiffany. She was the receptionist at Salinger Security where Shiloh worked since leaving the police force.
Tiff picked up after one ring. “I heard. Don’t worry. Ryder will make sure she gets proposed to this evening.”
“Good.” I sighed. “Because I think we’ll need some happy before the storm that is Frederick Ripper rolls into town.”
CHAPTER 2
THEO
I tossedmy grey suit jacket and brief case into the trunk of my car before sliding into the driver’s seat. Then, I tugged at the knot of my tie. Even eight years later it felt like I was loosening a noose. The designer suit, the Mercedes A-Class, the fancy corner office, all of it was just a facade. A costume, a prop, and the set to an elaborate play. A tragic play in desperate need of new performers.
I allowed the car to idle for a few moments to allow my head of security to go ahead of me. The silence surrounded me, forcing me to think. I was helping people. That was not in dispute. Salinger Security needed me. Still, it came at a cost. My friendships were hanging on by a thread. The one person I wanted in my life, I couldn’t have. It wasn’t safe for her. Besides, I had done a good job of pushing her into not wanting anything to do with me.
Hunter Spence’s black SUV pulled out of the underground parking lot. Anyone watching us would see Snow Enterprise’s Head of Security and occasional bodyguard when the situation called for it. I saw the Delta Force operator who knew where all the bodies were buried. He’d helped me unearth all the ones myfather had kept hidden. Then he was there when I needed help with a few of my own.
As I drove further away from the skyscraper that housed my office, I tugged at my tie with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel. With every mile the landscape shifted from concrete and skyscrapers to a beautiful view of the Pacific on one side and small hills dotted with cottages and beautiful homes on the other. By the time I had the top two buttons of my shirt undone, I could no longer keep up the lie. All the lies, actually.
I did care what other people thought. Well, not strangers and the hundreds of people who tried to kiss my ass because they were trying to advance their own career. I didn’t judge them for how they chose to advance themselves, but their opinion of me didn’t matter.
No, the closer I got to Marina De Ferrier, I couldn’t deny how much I wanted the approval of so many of its residents. In a few hours one of my best friends would be getting engaged to a great man. Shiloh and Ryder deserved all the happiness coming their way.
According to Ryder’s message in the guys’ text group, Maggie had just found out that her ex-husband was released from jail and was headed into town. Everyone would rally around her and make sure that Shiloh and Ryder still had a great night.
Focusing on the gossip and drama of my friends helped me let go of the deceit and lies I needed to maintain at the office. Everyone believed that Snow Enterprises was as corrupt as it was under my father’s leadership. Still, no one could prove a thing. And while there was a reason for all that, it was exactly as I’d constructed it.
By the time I drove through the large black wrought iron gates I could almost forget about the multimillion dollar deal I’d made earlier that day. A deal that, under differentcircumstances, would not be allowed to go through. But since I had the right connections, not only did it go through, it was also expedited.
I parked in the garage since Hunter and I would be going to the party together in his SUV. I wasn’t sure when my friends became his friends but it seemed that Ryder had invited him. Hunter stayed in the pool house on my property but with the sheer size of everything we hardly saw each other unless we wanted to.
Going around the back I entered my home from the patio. Yeah, it was huge and many of our friends called it a mansion, still it was home to my two teenage siblings. The fact that teenagers lived there could not be missed. Walking in from the patio always felt like crossing a border. The great room, which was just a big living room, had been meticulously decorated by an overpriced designer, it was also home to an obstacle course of blue sparkly pom-poms on the pristine cream couch and a skateboard leaning against a marble fireplace. My father was probably spinning in his grave. That thought alone made me smile. The loud music thumping from upstairs accompanied by the slamming door told me my sister was not in a great mood. I looked at my watch and noted the date.Yup, right on time.
I had explained to my little brother, Connor, that he needed to show a little sensitivity to Zoe around that time of the month. I didn’t know how much of it stuck since he still managed to piss her off.
