“Great. Let me know how that goes, and I’ll buy your ticket.”
“But what about Daniel? I was about to say, if Marcus finds something, can you make sure he knows to proceed carefully? But if I’m showing up in Minnesota withyou, Daniel is going to flip.”
“I will absolutely ask Marcus to proceed carefully when digging into Daniel’s business dealings, but I think it might be good to shake Daniel up a little bit. It’s your decision, but if he tries anything, this time we’ll be watching, and we’ll catch him.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“You’re not alone in this anymore, Lola.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“I also called one of the guys who’s done security for us in the past. Wade—he’s a great guy. I trust him. He’s got his own company now, and I’d like to hire him to make sure Daniel stays away from you.”
“You want to hire someone to watch me?”
“He’s very discreet. He’d stay out of your way. You probably wouldn’t even know he was there if I didn’t tell you, but I wouldn’t do that without talking to you first.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you didn’t. Do you really think that’s necessary?”
“I do. I want to keep you safe. I’m not sure what Daniel will do if we start narrowing in on something. If he starts to get suspicious or feels cornered, I want to have backup. When you said he’d retaliate just from seeing you at the game with me, that scared the shit out of me. That’s fucking twisted, Lola. I don’t want you always watching over your shoulder.”
“Okay. I guess we could do that. I can pay for it, though…and the plane ticket. I’m doing all right for myself.”
What I keep to myself is that I can never fully get ahead, because of Daniel.
“You’re doing amazing. It had been a while since I’d cyber-stalked you, and I did again recently. Your shop is killing it. I’d even heard the name of your shop before but didn’t realize you were the owner. So proud of you, Trouble.”
My face hurts from smiling. “Thank you.”
“Let me do this. Please. It’s not enough, but I’ll feel a lot better about everything if I can help stop this. I’m…so glad we’re talking. I don’t know how long it will take, but we’re going to make sure Daniel doesn’t bother you again.”
I’m hesitant to be too hopeful.
“This must be really hard for you about Daniel. He’s been in your life for a long time.”
“All of this is hard,” he says. “But where I stand with Daniel is the least of my worries right now.” He pauses for a second. “I have to go to practice. Will you let me know if I can move forward with a ticket?”
“Yes.
“Great.” His voice softens. “I hope this weekend works out.”
“Yeah, me too,” I say softly.
After we hang up, I sit in a sleepy stupor. Then I open my calendar and start making calls, just to see if a quick trip to Minnesota is even an option. Briar and Juni are already onschedule, and they’re fine with me being gone, so there’s only one appointment I need to move. My schedule is usually light on weekends. I’d planned on painting my office, but that can wait.
I offer a discount to my client, who’s so excited to pay less, the appointment is easy to reschedule.
I don’t let myself think too hard about Daniel, because if I do, I’ll panic. But then I remember that my main reason for panicking all these years knows the truth now, and so far, he’s still speaking to me. It’s more than I could’ve hoped for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
MEET ME IN ST. PAUL
TULLY
I’ve got some news. Lola and I have talked, and I’ll give you guys the short version of what’s up. Of course, this can’t go anywhere beyond this thread, family vault. Daniel, as in my fucking AGENT, has been blackmailing Lola for years. She finally opened up about it when I was in New York, and she was okay with me telling you. I’ve hired Marcus and Wade to get to the bottom of things. Without going into all the details on here, I’ll just say that after all this time, everything finally makes sense.
Lola will be at the charity event on Saturday night. I wanted her to meet Marcus and Wade in person, and I’d like her to meet you guys if everyone is up for that.
