Neal.
The mont that I hung up with Jas, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. One thing was for sure though, I needed to speak with Beck and find out exactly who this person was and what they looked like. The only problem was that Becca had no interest in really speaking to about anything unless I ca forward and told her what I had been up to.
Taking a deep breath, I mustered up the courage to get up from where I had currently been sitting and make my way out into the main part of the living room. The mont that I walked down the hallway, I felt my pulse racing, my heart beating rapidly out of my chest as I turned the corner and saw Becca in the kitchen, currently unpacking whatever it was that she had purchased during the day.
There was a determination and frustration in the way that she moved as she slamd things down onto the counter and let out a heavy sigh. I instantly regretted my decision to try to co and speak to her, but before I could turn and go back to my room, she looked over her shoulder and stared at .
She was just as beautiful as she was the first day I t her, and even with the thin lipped smile and a raised brow, I knew without a doubt that there was no way I could ever be mad at this woman, nor would there ever be any way that I would ever be able to stop caring about her.
Even if she did currently despise for the shit that I had done.
“Was there sothing that you needed?” she asked in a very short, clipped tone that made realize the last thing she wanted to do was speak to .
“Actually, Allegra ca and spoke to , and I think you and I need to have a discussion.” I wasn’t going to tell her anything about Jas, but what I could do is let her in on a little bit of information, and hopefully she would see that that was the reason why I was upset, even though it wasn’t entirely the truth and would forgive in so kind of way.
Placing down the vegetable that she currently had in her hand, she turned to full body and waited for to continue speaking. When I was hesitant for far too long, she sighed. “Are you gonna talk or not?”
I was quite taken aback by her brash response in the way that she was acting, but at the sa ti, I could see why she would have a hostile tone towards , considering everything that had transpired over the last few weeks.
“So I want to explain why I have been acting the way I have been lately.” I started to say as she crossed her arms over her chest and stood leaning against the kitchen island, waiting for to continue talking. “I’ve been looking into so people who have been looking into you, and I didn’t want to tell you anything yet because I wanted to wait until I had all of the information.”
“There are people looking into , and you thought it would be best waiting to tell ?”
“Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound even worse,” I muttered, running my hand through my hair before letting it slide over my face, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Look, when you ca ho from the hospital, you were so happy with Dahlia. The last thing that I wanted to do was burden you with all of this stuff and take away that ti that you were supposed to be spending with her.”
Part of that was true. I did not want to bother her with any of this stuff because she was spending ti with Dalia, but at the sa ti, it also wasn’t true because it had nothing to do with people following her and had everything to do with Jas.
“As sweet as that is, you chose wrong. I would have rather had you told the truth. So who is this guy that was following today? The one that helped put the stroller in the car? Is this sobody that I need to be worried about? Sobody that is going to be a danger to my children?”
Taking a mont to ponder over exactly what she was asking , I shrugged my shoulders and tilted my head back and forth. “Honestly, it’s hard to say. It could have been soone who was genuinely just trying to be nice, but it also could have been soone that was dangerous, and Jas had a long list of people who didn’t like him. I highly doubt that it was Sergie’s son, but I an, that can’t be ruled out.”
“I thought you said that moving here, we would be fine.” Because she was using her hands to talk, I could tell that she was getting angry. The only ti that she used her hands when she spoke was when she was frustrated or explaining sothing with it was super exciting.
“No, I said that moving here would be a fresh start and harder for anybody else to find us, which it has been. We’ve been here for months with no issues, and then this guy just happens to appear today. I an, I need to know exactly what he looked like, anything that could help figure out who he was.”
As her hand rested upon her chin, she stood there, staring at as if she was lost in thought and thought I was trying to deceive her. She was trying to discern whether or not I was being honest, or perhaps that was just being paranoid. Regardless, though, the look that she was giving was completely unsettling.
“He was tall, about your height, and he had blond hair. He did have an accent, but I didn’t recognize it. No, it wasn’t Russian. It was sothing else. He had sunglasses on, so I have no clue what his eye color was, and he wore a hoodie and a pair of jeans. He literally looked like anybody else out there. He had no identifying marks. I didn’t see any tattoos that I could rember, and his behavior when I t him up close was completely normal.”
She rambled off a list of things that she could rember from her interaction with this person, and every single one of them left completely empty handed and without a clue as to who this person could have been.
I was frustrated, beyond frustrated, and more so annoyed because once again, I was going to have to be on high alert. Which also ant micromanaging her. “Until we know who this person was, and we know that the area is safe, I hate to say this, but I really don’t think that you should go out.”
“Hide?” She stared at before giving a maniacal laugh that was absolutely sinister. “My father and his new wife are here. They just got here a couple of days ago, and they’re coming over for breakfast tomorrow. And then we were supposed to be going out, and now you’re telling that you want to not go into town until you mysteriously figure out what the issues are?”
That was precisely what I was telling her. But when she said it the way she said it, of course, it sounded even worse than when I had actually said it. How was I supposed to tell her that she had to do this for her own safety, and that it was probably best her father and his new wife didn’t go out either? I an, they could end up being used to get to her, which wouldn’t be a good thing because Becca would be the type of person who would go straight into battle rather than to give them what they wanted.
“Look, can I at least make a deal with you?” I asked her as my my shoulders sagged. I did not want to continue arguing with her because, honestly, it was absolutely draining having these conversations with her.
She had beco a firm believer in getting what she wanted, and she did not take no well at all, which was good. But at the sa ti, her extre, heightened new sense of independence was absolutely irritating. Admirable, but still irritating.
“What kind of deal are you looking to make?” she asked after a mont of pondering the question, her body turning back towards the island as she continued grabbing the last few things out of the cloth bags that she had carried, placing them in the fridge.
“Just give forty-eight hours to try and figure out who’s behind this. Make sothing up. Have your dad and his new wife stay here. Do stuff around the house, whatever it is that you need to do. Until I can find this person, and if in forty-eight hours I haven’t found anything, you are free to continue doing as you please.”
I wasn’t asking much. I was literally asking for two days. And even Becca knew that that was a reasonable request under the specific circumstances. There were plenty of things that she could do with the kids and her parents. The last thing I wanted was for anybody to get hurt, and I hoped more than anything that she could see that.
“Okay, fine. You have forty-eight hours. Don’t make regret this. And I better not find out that you’re hiding anything else. So help God, Neal. Things will not end well for you if you continue acting the way you have.” Her threat did not go unnoticed, and as I nodded my head, she gestured with her hand for to basically get lost, or disappear out of her hair, whatever it was that she wanted to call it.
I wasn’t going to have her tell twice, so turning quite quickly, I made my way towards the front door, prepared to go search her car for anything that this person could have left. Maybe I should call a detective friend or sobody with the expertise at dusting for fingerprints. He had obviously touched the stroller, and it made wonder if there was anything else he had touched that I could use to figure out who he was.
I was no detective myself. I was a real estate agent with a very bad past, and my investigating skills were limited. This kind of stuff, it was Jas’s forte, and as soon as I stepped out the front door, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called him.
He needed to be updated.
“Hello?” Jas said quite quickly. “What did you find?”
“I found us forty-eight hours because that’s all that Becca is going to give us, so I hope your skills are as good as you claim them to be.”
If I was going to be warned, so was he. He had to get his shit together, because if we didn’t get this crap done in ti, there was no telling what would end up happening to her.
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