Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Owen

She jumped from balcony to balcony. I couldn't believe that was seriously what she was telling me right now. I considered myself a laid-back kind of guy but right now my blood pressure was through the roof and I was sure my expression said as much.

"You did what? " There was no controlling the bite in my tone.

"The front door wasn't an option and the balconies aren't that far apart."

I headed straight for the glass door that led to the outside to see exactly what Annalee's definition of “not far apart” was.

"You consider this close?" There was at least four feet between the two wrought iron railings. Not to mention we were on the third floor, so the drop, if she had fallen, wouldn't have been pretty.

"I didn't say they were close . I said they weren't that far apart. Big difference."

Was she really arguing semantics with me? I wanted to shake some sense into her.

"You could've fallen and gotten seriously injured or died." It didn't appear to be sinking in.

"But I didn't. Besides, I was running on pure adrenaline at the time. I could've lifted a car."

There were so many things wrong with this conversation but I didn't even know where to begin.

Her stepbrother.

That seemed like a relatively safe topic to discuss.

"Why would your stepbrother do this?"

I should've asked for a more in-depth background check on her before I left. I assumed the one we ran when she applied for the position was enough. I was wrong.

What was the age-old saying? Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.

That sounded about right.

"Because he's prone to hissy fits when he doesn't get what he wants." I waited for her to say more but she was back to looking at the carnage all around us.

"And what exactly does he want?"

"Everything," she sighed.

Any hope that she would be forthcoming with information was quickly dismissed. This was going to be like interrogating a prisoner.

"Could you be a little bit more specific? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

Annalee huffed and plopped her fists on her hips. It was the universal sign she was frustrated with me.

Two could play that game. I crossed my arms over my chest and met her stare with one of my own.

"I never said I wanted, nor needed, your help."

"Yeah, right." I dragged out the word and nodded to the apartment in general. "I think your apartment tells a different story."

"For once I think my father was wrong." I had no idea where she was going with that sentence and I told her as much with a pop of my eyebrow.

"He's the reason I applied for the job with your security company. He told me to get out of the area and start over new. Normally he's right, but this time maybe he was wrong."

Now I was more confused than ever. Her father died over two months ago and she only applied for the job last week.

"You're going to have to explain that one better to me."

Annalee rolled her eyes but at least she started talking. "The day before my father died, he mailed me a letter from his trip in Italy. He explained that it was time I did things for myself and to get out of this nightmare life and start over fresh. I figured he sensed something was going to happen to him and he wanted to impart some wisdom before he was gone. He knew the only reason I stayed local was because he was here. But then the post office takes forever to ship internationally, so of course I didn't get the letter until two and a half weeks ago. That's when I started looking for jobs outside of Louisiana."

Now what she said made a little more sense.

"None of that explains why your stepbrother destroyed your apartment."

"Pfft." Annalee mimicked my position and crossed her arms. "Because apparently, before my father died, he changed his will. None of us know when he did it, or why, but he cut Dennis out of it and left my stepmother with barely enough to keep her living the fancy life she's accustomed to."

Now things were starting to make sense. Greed changed people and usually not for the better. I made a note to check out her stepmother and stepbrother.

"What kind of relationship do you have with your stepmother?"

If she was going to keep talking, then I was going to get as much out of her as I could before she clammed up again.

"Are you familiar with the story Cinderella ?" When I nodded my head yes, she continued. "That's the kind of relationship we had. Except instead of two evil stepsisters, I had one evil stepbrother. When my father was around, they were cordial with me, but the moment he left for a business trip, they treated me no better than a servant."

"Did your father know this? Is that why he took them out of the will?"

She laughed in my face.

Okay, maybe not right in my face, but there was no denying she found what I said to be funny.

"Uh, no. As much as my father loved me, he adored my stepmother and stepbrother. Sure, he would sometimes complain that Dennis could be lazy but otherwise he loved them. My mother died when I was eleven and my father met Seraphina two years later."

And according to the bio I had on her, Annalee was forty-one. She didn't look that old, and at first glance, I would've assumed younger. Life had treated her well so far. Her chocolate-brown locks had hints of caramel throughout and her face was devoid of age lines around her jeweled green eyes.

"So then why did he cut them out of his will?" I circled back to the second question I asked but never got an answer to.

"No idea, and considering his lawyer didn't say when it was changed, I have no way of knowing what happened. The will was only read this week. My father gave explicit instructions that he needed to be dead for sixty days before the reading could occur."

The more Annalee told me, the less I liked her current situation. It was obvious something happened right before her father died if he sent her that note. But did the same thing have to do with changing the will?

There was only one way to find out.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my teammate.

"I told Mav I was on my way. No need to check in. I'll be in Baton Rouge before nightfall," Lex grumbled.

"Change of plans," I rushed out before Lex hung up the phone. The man hated technology more than most people our age. Even if we relied on it heavily in our line of work.

My teammate sighed. "What now?"

"I found Annalee but her place isn't safe. Send me your location. I'll find somewhere we can meet up. I don't think there will be trouble heading back to Willow Creek, but just to be on the safe side."

I ignored Annalee attempting to get my attention. I knew what she was going to say, and I didn't want to hear it. Her father wanted her out of town and that was exactly what I planned to do. Even if it meant tying her up in the process. She would forgive me sooner or later once she was safe.

"Fine." One word and Lex clicked off. It was what I expected from my friend. In all the years we worked together I rarely heard more than a handful of words at a time. The way he answered the phone was the exception. The man only spoke when necessary and used as few words as possible to get his point across.

Now that I no longer had the phone up to my ear, Annalee let me have it. "I told you I changed my mind."

"Well, now we're changing it back."

"What happened to me making my own choices?"

"That was before you told me what happened. You said your father wanted you out of here, so that's what we're going to do." My gut was telling me something was off about her father's death, but until I could look into it more, I didn't have more than instinct to go on.

Annalee sputtered and maybe it made me an asshole, but I kinda liked that I had her flustered. I just wished it was under different circumstances. "That was before I heard my father's will."

"And?"

"And . . ." She fumbled for an excuse but I was sure there wasn't one. At least not one that justified her staying. "This!" Annalee motioned to the destruction that was her apartment.

"My point exactly. This is why you need to leave. Dennis is clearly unstable, and based on the timing of your father's letter, he knew what would happen and wanted you far away from it."

I watched realization settle in her beautiful green eyes. I could tell from the first time I spoke to her that she was smart, but trauma had a way of screwing with people.

"He's going to follow me no matter where I go. I can't bring that to your company's door."

"Let me and my team worry about that. We didn't get into the security business to sit around and watch shopping malls. Now, why don't you look around and see what's salvageable while I make a few calls. I want to get on the road sooner rather than later."

I didn't give Annalee time to object. My phone pinged during our little hash-out with Lex's location. If I rerouted him and went two hours north, we could meet up instead of us having to spend more time in Baton Rouge than necessary. I sent Lex the meeting place before calling Maverick.

"How you making out?"

"I found her. I'll explain the situation when we get back in town but I'm going to meet Lex on the road so we have extra protection."

Another string of curses. Either Mav no longer cared about his image or he was seriously pissed about having a problem brought back to our new town. I hoped it was the former because either way, Annalee was going to Willow Creek.

"I'll make sure the team knows to expect trouble."

"I appreciate it."

Nothing more needed to be said. My boss might not like that our soon-to-be new receptionist came with some problems, but Mav would never leave anyone in trouble. It wasn't in his DNA.

It wasn't in any of ours.