Chapter 17

When Danny pulled up outside the Vita Nova office, he hesitated before going inside. He didn’t want her to confirm what he feared: that she intended to marry Christopher. But he also had her father’s murder looming. He couldn’t fathom the consequences of telling her and couldn’t be sure that his main motivation wasn’t simply to break up the impending marriage.

He sat in silence, turning his heart to God. “I need your wisdom in this. Make sure I say what needs to be said, and shut my mouth if it needs to be.”

Before going into the office, he went to Jael’s car, already parked in front of his. The hood was cool to touch. She’d been there a while, and she may have spotted him already. There was no turning back now.

He jogged across the street and entered the office feeling unprepared for what lay ahead. A thin woman with brown hair looked up at him.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

He looked around the small room. The door to the kitchen at the back was partially closed. “Uh, I’m looking for Jael. Is she here?”

“No, I’m sorry. You’ll have to come back later.”

“She’s not back there?”

The woman turned to look and shook her head. “No, I told you, she’s not here.”

“I thought maybe she saw me coming and retreated, but it’s important I speak to her.”

“She’s not hiding from you. I can leave her a message if you like. Or you can call her.”

“Her car’s parked outside.”

“It is, yes.”

“But she’s not here?”

“She said she needed to take a walk.” Her words were uncertain.

“A walk where?” He noticed the nameplate on her desk. “Hannah, is it?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m a friend of the family. I used to work for Gregory.”

“You’re Danny?”

“Yeah.” He was surprised Jael had told Hannah about him. “I know this has been a difficult time for her. She’s been especially upset today, and I thought I’d better check and see how she’s holding up. She went to the reading of the will and?—”

“I know.”

“I’m worried about her.”

When Hannah chewed her lip, he knew she was worried too.

“Look,” Danny tried again. “You don’t know me, and I have no idea what Jael has told you about me, so if you believe that she went for a walk to clear her head, then that’s a good thing, and I can come back later. But if not. If you’re worried. I want to help. That’s all. Please, if there’s anything you need me to do, tell me now.”

Hannah pressed her lips together, considering his offer. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“It’s just that…she doesn’t drink much or at all. Normally.”

“She’s been drinking?”

“You have to keep this in complete confidence.”

“I understand. I won’t say a word.”

“I don’t know what’s happened, but something is definitely wrong. And it’s not the first time. About a year ago, I don’t know what happened then either, but back then she spent the day at a bar around the corner. The next day, she made me promise to stop her if it ever happened again.”

“But you didn’t think to stop her today?”

“I did. I recognized the look she had, and when she told me she was going out, I asked her where. She said it didn’t matter, and I said if it was to a bar, she wasn’t allowed to go.”

“She didn’t listen.”

“She said to forget what she told me the last time. She said things had changed. When I asked her why, she said, ‘Nothing I do matters anymore.’ I begged her to stay. She looked so sad but told me not to worry. She said everything would be okay.”

“Do you know what bar she went to last time?”

“No, but I know she turned left when she walked out the door. I should have followed her. If only I had?—”

“It’s okay. I’ll find her.”

“Thank you. And can you do me a favor?”

“I can try.”

“If you— when you find her, can you let me know she’s okay? Just get her to send me a text.”

“Sure.”

Danny checked the first bar to the left, but Jael wasn’t there, so he began a grid search of every bar within a four-block radius to the left of the Vita Nova office. It was an hour before he found her hunched over the sticky counter at a dive bar after he extended his search to the right. She’d gone out of her way to make sure Hannah wouldn’t find her.

A balding guy in his forties with bulging arms and a round stomach was leaning next to Jael. A gold necklace dangled in the v-opening of his shiny shirt. Danny slid onto the stool to her other side.

She looked at him and flinched. “What do you want?” Her words weren’t slurred, but he could see in her eyes that she was either drunk or very close to it.

“Hey, pal,” the shiny-shirt guy said. “We were having a conversation here. Get lost.”

Danny stretched so he could look at the guy over Jael’s back. “She’s not interested,” he said.

“How do you know?” Jael said with a snort.

“She’s not interested in you.” The guy lifted his chin in defiance. “That’s for sure.”

Danny didn’t have time for a fight, and this guy wasn’t worth the effort.

“She’s a friend of mine,” Danny said. “And she’s in trouble. Back off before someone gets hurt.”

“I’m not your friend,” Jael said. “And I’m not in trouble. My whole life is laid out perfectly before me. I have everything a girl could want. A soon-to-be fiancé who’s a horrible person. All the money I could ever need to live in luxury. My life is sweet.”

“You want me to sort out your fiancé?” The guy stood up and hiked up his pants. “I sure hope this is him.”

Danny’s eyes moved to the man, who must lift a lot of weights to have arms that big, but the rest of his physique suggested he had no stamina. Danny would only need to dodge a couple of punches, and he’d have the guy on the floor without breaking a sweat.

“No,” Jael said. “He’s not my fiancé. He’s just Danny.”

Danny hooked his hand around her arm. “Come on. I’m taking you home.”

She resisted, but when he continued to pull, she yanked out of his grasp. “Leave me alone. Why are you even here? I’m doing everything my dad wanted. Your job is done. There’s no more work for you.”

“I’m not here for your dad, and you know it.”

“Do I?”

“I’m worried about you.”

She shook her head. “Liar. The Danny I know never cared one bit about me or what happened to me. Just leave me alone.”

“The lady wants you to back off,” Shiny-shirt said, putting a hand out toward Danny to warn him off.

Danny stepped around Jael, standing to his full height and getting close enough to the guy that he shrunk slightly. A little intimidation should be enough for this guy to decide Jael wasn’t worth it.

“This isn’t a fight you want to start,” Danny said quietly. “I hope you’ll trust me on that. You can leave us alone now, or we can take this outside if you’d prefer.”

“You think you can take me?” Shiny-shirt stood nose to nose with Danny, but Jael jumped from her chair and pushed between them.

“Danny, don’t do this,” she said. “He’s ignorant. You might end up killing him.”

“I’m not gonna kill him.”

“That’s right. You won’t,” Shiny-shirt said, his confidence boosted by the barrier between them.

Jael pressed against Danny so he had to move back a couple steps. Then she turned to the other man.

“I appreciate your help,” she said, “but it will be safer for you to go. As much as I want him to, Danny’s not going to give in, I’m afraid to say.”

“Lady, I can take him, trust me.”

“No. You really can’t. Just go.”

The guy blew out an indignant breath. “Forget it. I don’t need this. You two are both messed up. You deserve each other.” He leaned in toward Jael and said, “And you’re not worth it.”

Danny would have swung for the guy, but Jael, even in her inebriated state, anticipated it and got in his way.

“I already know that,” Jael said. “Have a good evening.”

The guy swatted the air in one last rebuff and stumbled away.

Jael dropped back into her seat, and Danny said, “Come on. Let me take you home.”

“Or you could stay and have a drink with me.” She motioned for the bartender, then said, “Two more please and thank you.”

“Cancel the order,” Danny said. “We’re leaving.”

“Excuse me?” She gave him an offended once-over. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Bartender, keep the drinks coming.”

The bartender gave them each a look, then went to retrieve the drinks.

“I’m not that drunk,” she said to Danny. “So you can stop looking at me with that disappointed frown.”

“I’m not disappointed. I told you, I’m worried about you.”

The shots were deposited on the counter in front of Jael. She lifted one and clinked the other glass. “Here’s to the future.” She downed it in a gulp. “That one’s for you.” She pushed the waiting shot sideways.

“I don’t want it.”

She shrugged, then picked it up and tipped it back.

“Huzzah,” she said before banging it down on the counter.

Danny settled back onto his stool. It could be a long night, but he wouldn’t leave her.

As though she read his mind, she said, “I’m not going anywhere with you, so you may as well go.”

“If I go, then who’s going to take you home?”

“Car—Cam—” She scratched her head. “Maybe it was Sam.”

“Who?”

“The man who will take me home if I ask nicely.”

Danny looked over her head where he saw Shiny-shirt hitting on another woman.

“I think he’s busy.”

“Yeah, well, you still haven’t answered my question.”

“What question?”

“Why you keep following me around? And don’t give me that ‘I’m worried about you’ spiel. My dad is dead.” She laughed. “You going to stand at his grave and give him an update? Or have you changed alliances? Maybe it’s Christopher waiting for news of my whereabouts. I’m sure my fiancé would be happy for you to continue keeping tabs on me. Now there’s a guy who likes to be in control.” The smile dropped from her face, and she ordered another drink.

“I’m here because I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

She scoffed. “Too late for that. I have wounds on my wounds.”

“They can heal if you give them the chance, but you’ve got to stop picking at them.”

She swung around in her chair. “You think I’m the one picking?” She was angry now. “You think I like being this way? My father is dead, and yet, even from the grave, he continues to force me to do his bidding. My life has never been my own.”

“Is that why you’re marrying Christopher?”

“Why else would I marry a man like that?”

“He can’t force you to do anything anymore.”

“Then you don’t know my father. He’s a smart man. He knew that all he had to do was wrap up my inheritance into a marriage. Without a ring on my finger from Christopher, I get nothing. And Vita Nova—” She brushed her hands against each other. “Gone to dust. Not to mention Becca would probably be dead within the week.”

Danny’s mouth puckered as he controlled his anger. It had never occurred to him that Jael’s friendliness with Christopher was forced upon her.

“So stop being nice to me and telling me it will all work out well in the end. It won’t.” She sipped at her next drink. “My life is over. You may as well go live yours.”