Chapter 5

The manager"soffice was small. Too small.

Maddie felt claustrophobic and trapped, even with her friends there.

It had been nine and a half minutes, and Lucas wasn"t there yet.

Was he coming? Should they have called the cops? What if he was rounding up a team of assassins? They couldn't stop that.

Piper picked up a porcelain art object and hefted it. "This would knock him out." She settled behind the desk. "No one get between me and him if I need to throw this."

A strangled laugh bubbled up. "You"ll kill him with that."

Piper shrugged. "Defense of others is a legal defense. I"m good."

Maddie shook out her shoulders. "I can"t do this. Let"s leave."

Tori let out a visible breath. "Great idea. I"ve been freaking out inside waiting for him to show up. Let"s go."

"Me, too," Keira said. "I feel like a little trapped bunny, and bunnies never win when cornered by wolves."

"Or coyotes," Tori said.

"Or even Corgis," added Keira. "Who wants to be a trapped bunny today?"

"No one wants to be a trapped bunny ever." Maddie stood up and patted Violet"s head. "Let"s go." Relief rushing through her, she bolted for the door, yanked it open, and ran straight into Lucas"s solid, hard frame.

"Whoa." He caught her shoulders with a grip that was all support and no threat, but Maddie jumped back anyway, fear lodging in her throat.

Lucas stood in the open door, a frown etched on his face. "Change your mind?"

"We feel like trapped rabbits in here," Maddie said.

She expected him to laugh, but instead, understanding settled in his eyes. The kind of understanding that made sudden tears want to well up. "I hear you," he said softly, looking around at all the women. "How about if I sit on the floor at the far end of the room? That puts all of you between me and the door. If you need to run, I wouldn"t be able to stop you from there."

She blinked. "You"re treating us like traumatized children."

He paused. "Or trapped rabbits."

She couldn"t help the giggle that wanted to emerge. "All right. I did claim that title." She took a breath and stood taller. This was Lucas Hart. A man who was in the spotlight all the time. If he was a serial killer, someone would have seen him do it by now. Plus, she didn"t want to feel that scared. "You don"t need to sit on the floor."

He shrugged. "I like the floor." He gestured to the room. "May I enter?"

Damn. The man was polite. Thoughtful. Gave her space to breathe. The protective energy of her friends and her dog surrounded Maddie, giving her the courage to continue with the meeting. "Yes."

"Great." Lucas flashed her a smile, then stepped into the office and shut the door behind him. He gave Violet a nod, but didn"t try to touch her.

The office immediately felt small again, but this time, it wasn"t the suffocating weight of fear. It was that Lucas Hart had a commanding presence that filled the space around him.

He looked around at everyone, then walked across the office and, true to his word, sat down on the floor on the far side. He set his cowboy hat aside, then leaned back, draped his forearms over his knees, and looked around the room. "Good evening, ladies."

All the women were standing, and he had to look up at them.

No one answered, because they were waiting for Maddie to take charge. This was Maddie"s moment, and her friends would interfere only as needed.

"Why are you following me?" Maddie asked. She knew she wasn"t being very polite, but this man was following her. Lucas Hart or not, that didn"t earn him warm fuzzies. She"d be an idiot to succumb to his good looks, his reputation, and his visible attempts to make her feel comfortable.

Because he was breathtakingly attractive with his cowboy hat off. His hair was a gorgeous brown, short and efficient. His blue eyes were captivating. And he had lines around the side of his mouth that said he was a guy who liked to smile.

Lucas took a breath. "I was supposed to check on you and make sure you were doing all right, and then leave." He nodded at Violet. "But the therapy dog makes me think that it"s not all good. So I have to ask."

She stared at him, trying to wrap her head around what he was saying. "Who wanted you to check on me?"

"Jacob."

She held out her hands in frustration. "Jacob who?"

He raised his brow. "Jacob Hart. My brother."

Maddie shrugged. "I don"t pay much attention to gossip."

"He just got engaged," Piper whispered. "A single mom, I think, but the press doesn"t have many details."

Lucas slid a glance toward Piper, a little resignation in his gaze that Piper kept track of his family.

Maddie didn"t like that look. Piper had good reason to keep track.

"Hey," Maddie said. "You have one minute to tell me what"s going on. That"s it. Then we"re leaving and if I see you again, I"m filing for a restraining order."

Lucas looked back over at Maddie, and respect flashed across his face. "I don"t know how much you know about your past. I don"t want to introduce things that you don"t already have to deal with."

Her heart started to race, and suddenly, her legs started shaking.

Piper grabbed a chair and pushed it behind her.

Maddie sank down in the chair, and Violet immediately leapt up on her lap. "Are you here to try to take me away from my life?" She watched him closely as she asked, which meant she saw the look of startled surprise in his eyes.

"Take you? From friendship like this? From your dad? Hell, no. Never." He held up his hands. "Never in a million years would anyone in my family take you away from yours. I swear it."

She felt his truth, and the growing coil of terror inside her gut stopped twisting tighter and tighter. It didn"t fade, but it went still, settling at the level it was at. She let out her breath. "I believe you."

He leaned forward, meeting her gaze. "Maddie, every one of the Harts grew up in hellish situations. We know what a shitty past is like. And we know the relief when you find a family that will stand by you. I know where you are. I get it. That"s why I didn"t want to stick myself into your life. We just wanted to know you were all right, but I don"t know that yet, so I have to ask."

"I"m fine," she said automatically.

His eyebrows went up. "What"s your dog"s name?"

She hugged Violet tighter. "Cujo."

He grinned. "You don"t seem like the type to name your dog after a horror novel."

"You"d be surprised at the level of paranormal terror I inflict on unsuspecting innocents on a regular basis."

His smile widened. "I gotta agree with you on that. I thought you were a bad ass, powerful woman doing a hell of a job in her life, not a deadly poltergeist."

Badass. He"d called her badass. Her dad called her badass, too.

"Well, you just never know, right?" She took a breath. "How are you connected to my past?" The moment she asked it, her heart started to race. Not from fear, but from anticipation. For her whole life, she"d hidden from her past, but she was beginning to trust Lucas. Maybe that meant that the information he had about her past might not be dangerous.

He met her gaze, accepting her question and not challenging her as to whether she really wanted to open that door. "What do you know?"

"I know that my dad bought me from some terrible man. No one could find out where the man had gotten me from, so the courts let my dad adopt me. I don"t know anything else."

He nodded. "The man"s name was Ivan."

"Ivan?" Her dad had never given the man a name. "Was he biologically related to me?"

"No, but he"s the biological father of my brother, Jacob."

She sat up. Was that why Lucas Hart had an interest in her? Not because he was going to abduct her? But because his brother had come from the same hellhole she"d passed through? "Really?"

Lucas nodded. "Ivan sent Jacob out one night on a job with the bastard"s friends. When Jacob got back, you were gone. He"s spent his whole life since then looking for you. We found you last week."

"Oh. Oh." Her chest tightened. "My dad said there was a boy there with me, but he couldn't get him out."

Lucas nodded. "That"s Jacob. Do you remember him?"

She shook her head. "I don"t remember anything about that time. Sometimes I dream of bad things, but I don"t know what"s real or not." She paused. "Is Jacob my brother?"

"In his heart, yes. Biologically, no. But no one in the Hart family gives a shit about biological family." He paused. "Jacob didn"t come because he thought you might recognize him. He didn't want to bring back trauma into your life. So I came, because I"m subtle and you wouldn"t notice me." He gave an ironic smile. "That worked out well, right?"

She couldn't help but smile. "You"re the antithesis of low visibility."

He shrugged. "I do my best." He paused. "Would you like to meet Jacob?"

Beside her, Piper sucked in her breath, and Maddie did the same. "Is he here?"

"No. He"s in Oregon. But I have a private jet?—"

Keira held up her hand. "I hate to interrupt, but before you sweep Maddie up into some little Hart web, I"d like to ask if you guys have found where Maddie came from before she got to Ivan"s house. Basically, is there any chance that someone out there is still looking for her, someone she doesn"t want to show up in her life? What about Ivan?"

Maddie shot an appreciative smile at her friend. This was why they were there with her: to notice things she was too emotional to remember.

"Ivan is dead," Lucas said.

"Dead." Weird emotions shuddered through Maddie, ones she didn"t understand. But suddenly she couldn"t breathe. If Ivan was the monster in her dreams, would he go away now? Would he be gone?

Lucas frowned at her. "You okay?"

She held up her hand. "Fine," she lied. "Keep talking. What about before Ivan?"

He watched her carefully, clearly not convinced. "No. We"re looking, but we haven"t found anything."

Keira leaned in. "So, I take that to mean that if the press gets pictures of Maddie with the Harts, and finds out that she is this long-lost family friend, then someone from her past could see that, put the pieces together, and decide to come after her?"

He ground his jaw. "Yes, that"s possible. Unlikely, though. She was a child back then with a different name."

"You found me," Maddie said. "You tracked me right down despite everything my dad and I have done to sever all ties to Sienna. Maybe your attempts to find me sent a ripple out there that someone is going to pick up on." Oh. God.

Lucas"s eyes widened. "We"re very good at what we do?—"

"Would you stake your life on it?" Maddie asked.

He paused. "No."

Piper stood up. "I think you"ve done enough, Mr. Hart. We love our Maddie, and you don"t have a right to put the Hart spotlight on her."

Lucas didn"t move. He continued to sit on the floor, his arms draped over his knees, like he had all the time in the world. "Maddie," he said quietly, as if she and he were the only two people in the little office. "Jacob is a great guy. Losing you has eaten away at him since that day. He would love to meet you. Every Hart has an ugly past, so we know security. We would commit to protecting you."

Maddie stiffened. "I don"t want a life where I need protection," she said. She stood up. "I love my life. My friends. My dad. All I want is to be able to walk down the street and not flinch whenever a car slows down too close to me. I want to go to bed at night with the windows open, and know I"m safe." A year ago, she would have added wanting to be able to sleep at night without fear, but since she"d gotten Violet, she"d learned to trust the dog to keep her safe, and she"d finally been able to sleep well and hard, which she loved.

She didn"t want to lose what progress she"d made. "Tell Jacob that I"m fine, and I have a great life. He doesn"t need to worry about me." She stood, suddenly restless. "Thanks for stopping by, Mr. Hart. Have a great flight home."

He watched her for a moment, then stood up. He grabbed a pen and paper, and jotted something down. He left the paper on the corner of the desk. "If you need anything, ever, call me."

He walked toward her, and she stiffened, stepping to the side as he neared. He paused near her, searching her face. There was so much emotion in his eyes, so much complexity. She could tell he wanted to say more and do more, and a part of her wanted him to.

There was something about Lucas Hart that made her feel safe in exactly the way she"d yearned for her whole life.

But he brought with him a whole new set of dangers, so she said nothing.

He nodded at her friends. "All of you are welcome to my phone number. Don"t share it anywhere else, but if any of you ever need anything, call. We consider Maddie under our protection, and therefore all of you are as well." He glanced at her. "And your dad and your dog, of course."

Maddie put her hand on Violet"s head. "Thanks."

He nodded. "Good luck, Maddie. With everything."

Then, without waiting for any further response, he walked out of the office and shut the door behind him.

Maddie let out her breath and sank down onto a chair while Piper locked the door.

"Holy crap," Piper said. "That man is electric. Am I the only one who felt it?"

Maddie wrapped her arms around Violet while Tori and Keira agreed with Piper.

"Maddie?" Piper sat down next to her and put her arm around her. "You all right?"

She lifted her chin. "I"m great. It"s good to know I have the Harts" protection, if I want it, right?"

"I"ll get his number," Tori said. "I"ll text it to all of us."

"Yes," Piper said with a frown. "But are you all right?"

Maddie laughed softly. "The most compelling man I"ve ever met has dumped himself into my life, past and present."

"He told you Ivan"s dead, though. So that"s good." Keira grinned. "One down."

"Right." Maddie was tired, but she managed a smile. "Well, at least the worst happened, and I survived, right? Someone from my past showed up, and it was all right."

"Yes, it was," Piper said, firmly. "Keep telling yourself that when you can"t sleep tonight, right?"

She patted Violet. "I"ll sleep fine. I just need to process, that"s all." She stood up. "Party is still young, ladies. Let"s go have some fun."

For a moment, her friends said nothing. They just looked at each other, and then at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for heaven"s sake, ladies. I"m fine. Let"s go! I want to dance the night away with my girls!"

Piper narrowed her eyes, then nodded. "All right. No better way to clear the shadows than having fun with the girls. Maddie sandwich!" She dragged Maddie into a hug, and Tori and Keira threw their arms around them both, squishing Maddie in the middle.

By the time the hug was over, she was laughing, and felt better already. "Let"s go!"

The foursome headed out into the hallway, and Maddie couldn't help but look around. She didn"t see Lucas anywhere, and she almost laughed at her disappointment. The last thing she needed was a man, especially one who was tied to the past she did her best to leave behind.

As she followed her friends down the hall, her phone beeped. She glanced at it and saw it was the text from Tori with Lucas"s phone number.

Her finger hovered over it to delete it, then, she changed her mind and added him as a contact.

Not that she would ever call him.

But…just in case.