18. Ryder

Seeing Mia seemed to make Gia tense. Did she know the man her sister was with?

As we walk around the boardwalk, I notice a woman tailing behind us. If we stop, she stops. Her eyes are trained on Gia.

"Did you make any enemies?" I ask lightly.

"Huh?" she asks as if she's in another world.

"There's this woman that is giving you extremely dirty looks every chance she gets."

"Probably because I'm with the town's most eligible bachelor," she teases.

I chuckle at Gia"s response, but my instincts are on high alert. The woman continues to shadow us as we stroll along the boardwalk, her gaze never wavering from Gia. It"s as if she"s studying every move, every expression on Gia"s face.

I discreetly tug her arm and whisper, "I don"t think she"s just a casual onlooker. We need to be careful."

Gia"s playful smile fades, replaced by a furrowed brow as she glances back at the mysterious woman following us.

"I'm sure it's nothing, but we should get back to the cottage. You probably need to pick up Chloe."

I nod sensing the shift in her demeanor. She nonchalantly glances over her shoulder and I don't miss the irritated look on her face.

We make our way back to the truck and then leave the boardwalk.

"Do you want to go with me to pick up Chloe? She'd love to see you."

"I'd like that," she murmurs.

"Good, care to hang out with us for a bit too? Chloe will most likely ask you to come swim or hang out or whatever. She likes hanging with you."

"I like hanging with her too. She really is such a sweet girl."

"Thanks."

"You're a pretty sweet guy too, I guess," she teases.

As we drive towards Ren's house, I can"t shake off the unsettling feeling of being followed—again. Gia seems lost in her thoughts, her fingers nervously tapping on her thigh. There's a dark black SUV with tinted windows following us. I can't see inside but I'm assuming it's the woman from the boardwalk.

I decide to take a few detours, trying to lose our unwanted companion, but she remains persistent. It"s clear now that this is no coincidence; we are being followed. I can make out a partial license plate and commit it to memory.

I'll text it to Kline when we come to a stop so that he can possibly run it and I can figure out what I'm dealing with.

If Gia realizes we're being followed or knows who the woman is she's absolutely not showing that right now.

As we pull up to Ren's house, I quickly type out the partial license plate and send it to Kline, hoping he can provide some answers. I glance at Gia quickly. She's looking out the window as if she is scanning the street but she doesn't look concerned.

Chloe runs out of the house as soon as we pull into the driveway, her face lighting up when she sees Gia.

"Gia! You're here!" she exclaims, running over to give her a hug.

"Hey, Chloe! How have you been?" Gia responds with a warm smile, momentarily forgetting about the tension from being followed.

As they walk towards the house together, I pull Kline's number up on my phone, waiting for a response. Finally, a message comes through with some information on the license plate.

As they walk into the house together, I pull Kline's number up on my phone, waiting for a response. At the same time, I call the Chief of Police's personal cell phone number.

"Hey, Ryder, how are you?" Eric Thomas, a friend since grade school, asks into the phone.

"Not bad, Eric, how's the family."

"They're really good. What can I do for you?"

"I noticed a woman following me on the boardwalk today and now there's an SUV that's been following me. I don't know if it's a reporter or a crazy fan, but I'm hoping someone can do a drive-by to scare them off."

"Absolutely, are you at your house?"

"No, Ren's."

He's quiet for a second and I hear him tapping away in the background.

"I've got an officer about five minutes away; I dispatched him there. What kind of vehicle am I looking for."

I rattle off the partial plate number as well as the description of the SUV and the woman from the boardwalk.

"I appreciate this."

"I'll have my guy make contact, see if I can get identification. We want you and Chloe to feel safe when you're home. I'll make sure my officer lets whoever this is know that their behavior won't be tolerated."

"Again, I appreciate it. If you could text me their information when the officer gets it, too."

"Absolutely. My guy should be passing by in a minute."

"Thanks."

I hang up the phone just as a squad car drives slowly down the road. As soon as the SUV sees it, they try to drive off, but the officer turns his lights on to pull them over.

At the same time, a message comes through from Kline with some information on the license plate.

It's a rental registered to Enterprise. It was rented out to a Dawn Walsh.

Who is Dawn Walsh?

As far as I can tell, she doesn't exist. I'm running the license plates through the database and then I'll see if we can pull a picture from a traffic cam. I'll run facial recognition and see if she rented it with a stolen identity.

Perfect. Keep me posted. Ash Cove PD is doing a traffic stop now. They can give you more information too. I'm trying to figure out why this woman is following Gia.

I pocket my phone and follow the girls inside Ren's house.

"Everything okay?" Ren asks.

"Work stuff," I answer nonchalantly.

My sister shoots me a funny look and then shrugs it off. Chloe is animatedly telling Gia all about her day with Aunt Ren while Ren and Gia grab her overnight bag and shopping bags.

"You didn't come with all of this stuff," I tease.

"We went shopping yesterday for new clothes. Aunt Ren says you don't know how to dress me."

"Rude," I laugh. "But she's not wrong. Thanks, Sis."

"With pleasure. She was a perfect angel."

Chloe grins widely as we walk out of the house. She's already laced her fingers through Gia's and the two are making their way to the car.

"I'm worried that Chloe is going to get hurt," Ren whispers to me as we watch Chloe and Gia interact.

"She's going to get hurt throughout her life, it's part of it."

"You should be trying to protect her from it. Gia's a really great woman but she's not ready to be a mom. She's too young for you."

"Age is just a number; I seem to remember those exact words coming from your mouth when you were sixteen trying to date a twenty-eight-year-old."

"And I realize now there was something wrong with that man," she sighs. "Why are you so set on dating a woman in her twenties."

"She'll be thirty soon."

"Not the point. Is this a midlife crisis thing? Are you acting out from grief over Sofia? What is it?"

"Why does it have to be negative? Why can't it just be that I found an amazing woman who is kind, cool, and fun to be around? She's breathtaking and funny, we align in so many ways."

"It's not possible for this to work out between the two of you. She's going to find a man her age who can travel the world with her and ditch you and Chloe the second that it's convenient."

"I think you're wrong. I would rather lead with blind faith and trust my instincts than walk around living in fear of what could happen. I wouldn't have Chloe if I would have lived in fear. I wouldn't have spent twenty years in the Army or be a professional hockey player. I'd be too scared to leave my house and that's not the standard I want to set for my daughter. You of all people should understand that."

She shakes her head, her face turning red with irritation.

"I don't think that woman is being honest with you about her intentions or anything else. I saw her with another man on the boardwalk the other day."

"It was probably Mia."

"Why are you so damn blind?"

"Why are you acting like this? Are you jealous that Chloe adores her?"

She rolls her eyes and makes a face. "You're being ridiculous."

"You'll always be her Aunt Ren, no one can take that from you. You should be happy that another woman has come into her life that loves her."

"Does she love her? Or is she just nice to her because you're a billionaire who fucks her?"

"I'm done with this conversation," I sigh. "I appreciate that you want to protect Chloe and me, but this is too far."

I walk away even though Ren tries to silently protest. Chloe runs to hug and kiss her aunt before running back to the truck. I go to buckle her in and Gia waves me away.

"I got it," she smiles at me.

I nod and open the passenger door for her. Once she buckles Chloe in, she turns around and smiles at me. I help her up into the truck and then close the door.

I've always been the traditional, old-school-mannered guy who holds doors, opens the car door, brings flowers, etc. With Chloe watching my every move it's even more important to me to do so because I want to set a standard for her and show her that she deserves all of those kind gestures too when the time comes.

"What would my favorite girls like to do for the rest of the day?"

"Can we just swim in the pool?" Chloe asks excitedly. "Gia needs to be in the water so her mermaid tail doesn't go away forever."

"That sounds perfect," Gia giggles.

"Ren bought a bunch of suits and then leaves them here because she always forgets to bring one. She won't mind if you borrow one. They're clean."

"That's perfect."

"I agree. I can grill out for dinner tonight while the two of you get in your water time."

"Yay! Can I have hot dogs?"

"Of course, Princess," I laugh as I glance back at Chloe in the rearview mirror.

Chloe continues to tell us all about her quality time with Aunt Ren and I can't stop smiling about the relationship she's building with Gia. I reach over and lace my fingers with Gia's.

"Aunt Ren and I watched superhero movies all night long. We watched Miss Marvel and Wonder Woman."

"Your Aunt Ren has good taste," Gia laughs. "I'd much rather be a superhero than a princess who needs to be rescued."

"Me too," Chloe giggles.

The drive home is quick and the car that was following us is still dealing with the police officer.

Thank goodness.

Hopefully, the traffic stop is enough to have scared them away for good. Chloe and Gia put on bathing suits and go to the pool, and I go to the refrigerator to pull out what I need for dinner.

While the girls are swimming, and the meat is prepping, I go out to the front yard and cut some of the roses from one of the bushes outside. I cut the thorns off and find a vase to put them in.

"Gia! Watch this!" I hear Chloe yell before I hear a big splash.

"You're so brave, Chloe!" Gia laughs.

The two of them are giggling and having the best time. When the food is done, I almost don't want to break up their party. It's getting late and Chloe needs to eat and shower still before bed.

"Dinner is done."

"Yay, hot dogs!" Chloe exclaims as she paddles to the steps.

Gia follows. She climbs out of the pool and my eyes are instantly drawn to her curves and how gorgeous she is.

"You're so beautiful," I breathe in her ear as she wraps a towel around her and makes her way over to me.

"I feel like a drowned rat."

"Well, you're a gorgeous rat," I tease.

She rolls her eyes as I gesture to the table where the food is laid out. I help Chloe make a plate of food. I gesture to two vases on the table.

"These are for you," I say to Gia.

"What? Where did you get them from, they're gorgeous."

"Front yard while you guys were swimming."

"But why?"

"Just because. These are for you, Chloe," I tell her as I gesture to the smaller vase.

"Thanks, Daddy," she grins widely before looking over at Gia. "Daddy likes to give me flowers just to make me smile."

"That's pretty sweet of him," Gia gushes. "I don't know that I've ever gotten flowers just because."

She mouths a thank you to me as she stares at the flowers adoringly. I will bring her flowers every day just to see that smile regularly.

"Gia? Will you read me a bedtime story?"

"Absolutely," she smiles back at Chloe.

My phone starts ringing and I glance down to see my agent is calling.

"Hey, I have to take this."

"I'll get her ready for bed," Gia offers before she and Chloe disappear up the stairs.

"Hey, Mark," I say into the phone.

"Ryder, you will never guess what came down the pipeline for you today."

"What's that?" I chuckle.

"Detroit is offering you a coaching position."

"Coaching? But I'm a player."

"I'm aware, I told them you weren't ready to hang up your skates but they are hoping for a discussion. They're also offering a substantial salary."

"Mark, it's not time to switch to coaching.

"Why isn't it though? You're not getting any younger. Do you want to leave the league on your own accord or because they medically forced you out?"

"I'm not ready."

"Just listen to their offer, okay? I'll email you over the proposal, but they'd like a meeting with you on Tuesday at nine. Can you do that?"

"It's right in the middle of conditioning."

"Take a break for an hour. It's going to be fine."

I let out a long sigh. This man clearly isn't an athlete who puts in the work on a regular basis if he's telling me to take a break in the middle of my workouts.

I can at least hear them out and see what they're offering even though I know I still have a few good years in me.

"Fine, I'll hear them out, but I'm not promising anything. I'm not ready for retirement."

"Understood, I'm just glad you're open to the possibility."

I hang up the phone and it starts ringing again. This time it's Kline.

"Ryder, I have a problem."

"Did you find out who was following us?"

"Yes, but you're not going to like the answers. Are you alone?"

"Yes. I'll walk outside just to be safe."

"I don't believe that Gia is who she says she is."

"What do you mean? That's not her name? She's not Josh's sister?"

"Her name is correct, but I don't believe her to be as innocent as she claims to be. You've already told me who her father is and I believe she's followed in his footsteps."

"That doesn't make sense."

"The woman following you that you saw on the boardwalk was Allison DeSantis. She's a CIA operative who went missing recently. The CIA believes her to be working with a German spy named Christoph Muller. I have it on good authority that he's in town."

Christoph?

"That's the name that Gia said when I found her on the beach. Is she involved with a German spy?"

"I ran the plates of another vehicle that's been following Gia."

"There's more than one person?"

"Multiple."

"Who is following her?"

"The son of the Don of the notorious Carusso Sicilian Crime Family. Matteo Carusso is just as dangerous as his father. It's rumored that he once murdered a man for sleeping with his girlfriend, then put the guy's head on a stake and placed it in the woman's bedroom. It kept showing back up so that she was constantly reminded that his death was caused by her infidelity."

"Why is the Sicilian Mafia following Gia?"

"I can't give you the reasons, because I don't know. But it doesn't look good that a German spy, a missing CIA agent, and the Sicilian Mafia are after her. I've already had threats show up at my door for looking into the Carusso Family. I have to stop."

"Threats? Like what?"

"It sounds like something out of a movie, but there have been multiple dead animals on my front porch. Within the last hour, my daughter"s cat was skinned alive and had a note tucked into its spleen telling me to stop looking into the Carusso Family or my daughter would find me in the same condition."

"Shit, I'm sorry, man. I had no clue."

"You need to separate yourself from Gia Bennett as soon as possible."

He hangs up the phone quickly, I stare back at the screen for a full minute as his words sink in.

How is a buyer from Macy's being followed by spies, the mafia, and the CIA. None of this makes any sense.

Gia can't be a bad person, it's just not possible.

Maybe Mia is being followed by these people and those following her don't realize they're two different people?

I've watched Gia hold the door for the elderly. I've watched her sit down and have a conversation with a ninety year old Marine veteran as they talked about things he's seen.

I've watched her light up when Chloe comes running to her. I've seen that same look, that same smile when she locks eyes with me.

You can't fake that.

Is it her ex that won't leave her alone? Is he involved in those bad things and she just got pulled into them?

What do I do now?