I’d been watching the house most of the afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary. Very few glimpses of Ana, or anyone else for that matter. As dusk fell, I took another look up and down the street. Most of the cars had come and gone at least once. But there was one car that hadn’t moved. As the truck in front of it pulled away, I saw that there was a guy sitting in the driver’s seat.
What the hell?
Were they watching the Varela house too?
I looked between them and the house and then craned my neck to get a look at the reg. The sight of the numbers made me curse to myself. There was no mistaking that it was the same car I’d seen hanging around before.
They definitely hadn’t noticed me — if they had, they’d surely have moved by now. Either moved on and tried again later or at the very least tried to use another car. Trying to get a closer look I pulled out the binoculars from the glovebox. Ironic that I got the idea from them the other night.
Dammit.I still wasn’t able to get a good look at their face, the position of the car kept their faces from getting any light.
I climbed out of my truck, closing the driver’s door quietly behind me. I strode down the sidewalk, towards the car. As I crossed the road toward the driver’s door, I saw the guy had his head down and was looking at a book or a map, or something in the passenger seat.
I stopped short at the driver’s side door and yanked it open.
“What the hell?” I stopped short… that growl was familiar — too familiar. The man whirled towards me, suddenly all fight.
“Finch? What the fuck are you doing here?!” I demanded as I dragged him out of the car and onto his feet.
The snarl on his face turned into a grimace as he realised who I was. He struggled to get away, but that there wasn’t any easy escape route. If he wanted to walk away without a scratch tonight then he’d have to go through me. I cut him a hard glare when he chose to stay silent, “talk.”
He sighed and slumped against the car in defeat. I kept my guard up, Finch could be a sly fox and I couldn’t let him slip my defences. “Anastasia is in danger.”
I scoffed at him, “what the fuck are you saying? You threatening my Ana again, Finch?”
“No! I swear to you. I was here to watch over her, to protect her.”
Scoffing once again in disbelief, I began dragging him away from his car and towards my truck. “And why would I believe you? After everything, you’ve done so far? Give me one damn reason.”
Finch’s mouth is a thin line. Then he said the one thing I never would have expected. “Because… she’s in this mess because of dad.”
That one line shut me up and stunned me to the point that I just opened the passenger side door of my truck and shoved him inside. I stood frozen for a minute trying to regain control over my thoughts.
When I told him to give me a reason to believe him, I didn’t expect a real answer. I definitely had not expected one that would actually make me want to hear him out.
We’d never had much of a good relationship with our parents, but I’d accepted that a long time ago, and since moved on. But I couldn’t imagine how all this, there and then, could have anything to do with our deceased parents. Hell, for all I could remember, our family hadn’t had any connections in Philadelphia.
So...was I mistaken? Or was Finch lying to me?
I wasn’t sure yet but as I hopped in the truck and drove to my hotel, I knew I needed to hear him out. Whatever he had to say, it would be interesting.
I led him to the room and buzzed us in. I still wasn’t happy about him being here, watching over Anastasia without my knowledge. After everything we’d been through, after the way he’d treated Ana… I still felt I couldn’t trust him. But if he’d been here to cause her harm, he would’ve done it by now. He’d had every opportunity, so just maybe he wasn’t a threat.
“Stay put.” I pushed him further into the room.
“Where are you going? Nikolai, we need to talk.”
“I know. I’ll be back for you later. And don’t even think you can weasel your way out of this one. I want answers, Finch.” I slammed the door after exiting. There wasn’t a way to lock him in, so as my only option, I asked reception to call me if they heard from him or saw him leave.
Aside from that, there wasn’t much for me to do except vow that I’d track him down and kick his ass all the way back to Boston if he tried to run away again.
