Sean Four-And-A-Half Years ago

It had been a couple of days since the whole spray paint incident. I’d been pleased with the extra security measures I could tap into using Everly’s system. She had state-of-the-art stuff. I even found a couple of things I hadn’t been aware of. I would be employing them at home. It allowed me to have cameras recording outside at all times with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the perimeter. If Travis returned, we might get lucky and capture his face on at least one camera. I had no doubts it was him. Cassidy was trying to kid herself into thinking it was a stranger, but she knew it wasn’t.

After the weekend we had with Hank and Gus, I hated seeing her return to work on Monday. The main reason was I didn’t want her anywhere near Travis. Even if there were people around, I didn’t trust him. I knew she might get upset with me, but I wanted him to know she wasn’t unprotected, so as soon as she left for work, I placed a call to the owner of the company. After Cassidy moved over to work for them, I’d ensured he knew she was part of the Patriots family. We were colleagues in a way. He worked on different things, so we weren’t in direct competition. And it wasn’t bragging to say any association with the Dark Patriots benefited him, not us.

All that meant was he was more than amenable when I called and told him I was in Florida visiting Cassidy and wondered if it would be okay to drop by and see the Jacksonville office. It just so happened he was there for his quarterly visit, which I didn’t know. He said he’d love to have me spend the day.

It was around ten o’clock when I strolled into the office. I didn’t know what might be required when I came to convince Cassidy to come back to Virginia, so I brought a small bag of clothing. After the accident, I had the guys send me more. Among them was one of my suits. I had the tie, shoes, the whole nine yards. I hadn’t known why I asked for one to be sent, but now I knew I’d always intended to do this subconsciously. I hadn’t known it would be to scare a coworker who didn’t know his place with her. Somehow, I knew business at her office would be necessary.

When I stopped at the front desk, I knew I presented a confident, authoritative image. The woman working there perked up and gave me a huge smile. “You must be Mr. Walterson.”

“Hello, yes I am.”

“Welcome, I was told to expect you. I’m Nadia. Mr. Trompler is waiting for you in his office. Let me show you where that is. Just follow me,” she said sweetly.

As she stood up, I saw her tug on her skirt, and as she led me down the hallway, I swore she swung her hips more than necessary. She wasn’t the first woman to do it, but it wouldn’t get her anywhere, not now. I finally had Cassidy. No other woman attracted me. They hadn’t for ages, although I played the game anyway.

She knocked on an office door, not far from the front desk, and when a man’s voice called for her to enter, she swung the door open and pranced inside. When he saw me behind her, he came to his feet. He met me halfway with his hand out and a big smile.

“Welcome, welcome. What a surprise. I couldn’t believe it when I got your call this morning. The timing couldn’t be better, even if we planned it. Nadia, please get Mr. Walterson something to drink. We have coffee, various sodas if that’s your thing, energy drinks, and bottled water.”

“Thank you, Mr. Trompler, for allowing me to impose on your day. I appreciate it. As for a drink, coffee with just a touch of creamer would be wonderful if you have it. If not, black is fine.”

“Coffee with creamer coming right up. Mr. Trompler, may I get you something?” Nadia asked.

“Coffee. You know how I like it. Thank you, Nadia.” She gave him a nod and cast a look at me before she left.

“Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. I have to say, your call surprised me, but in a good way. I’ve been debating reaching out to you about something. If you don’t mind, I’d like to run something by you later.” We sat not at his desk but in chairs he had set to the side with a coffee table between us. It was more like a conversation area you’d have in your home.

“Absolutely. I know we don’t generally work the same kinds of jobs, but a few times, we’ve crossed over. I’m usually so busy in Virginia that fitting in things seems impossible. Being here has allowed for it. I’ve been meaning for a long time to come for a tour here.”

“Yes, you said you were here visiting Cassidy. I admit I was taken aback when she requested to transfer here. I never thought she’d leave Virginia.”

I knew he was probing, so I gave him something to consider. Cassidy and I had been talking over the weekend. She was going to come back home with me. When she did, she planned to phase out working for them and come back to Patriots full-time. I didn’t plan to tell him that, but I could give him enough information to draw the correct conclusions.

“Well, Mr. Trompler—” I was stopped from saying more by a knock on the door, and then it opened, and in breezed Nadia with a tray of all things. I jumped up, took it from her, and sat it on the table.

“Thank you,” I told her. My mom hadn’t been one to care about manners, but I’d learned them after I met Jessie, Graden, and Adam.

“Thank you, Mr. Walterson. What a gentleman. Is there anything else I can get you?”

“This will do me,” I replied.

“That’s all. Nadia. Please close the door when you leave and ensure we’re not disturbed. Thank you,” he told her.

She took her time getting to the door. Once she closed the door, I finished what I was saying as I fixed my coffee. She’d brought creamer and sugar so we could fix it how we liked. “As I was saying, Mr. Trompler, I came to see Cassidy.” I paused to take a sip of the coffee. When I did, he hurriedly interjected.

“Please, call me Martin.”

“Alright, Martin, and please call me Sean. I came to visit Cassidy. Her move was unexpected, and I came to talk her into coming back home. She and I have been friends for years since she was a kid. Her brother was one of my best friends, which made it awkward when I discovered I had feelings for her. Without going into it, I came here to let her know how I feel.”

“And does she reciprocate those feelings?”

“She does. I love her and want her to come home so we can build a life together. I’m telling you this in confidence. What she decides to do about her work is up to her.”

He was silent for several moments as he drank his coffee. He was diplomatic when he finally said, “I hate the thought of losing her. She’s more than good at her job. She’s great. However, I would never want to stand in the way of her or any employee’s happiness. I’ve been happily married for thirty-five years. I know what I’d be like if I was separated from my wife. Mum is the word.”

“Thank you.”

From there, we chatted while we finished our coffee about trends we saw in the security world. He was fascinated by the Dark Patriots’ military background. We talked for almost an hour before he suggested we tour the office. I knew this would likely not be the most comfortable part of my day. Hopefully, Cassidy would hold back her anger until we were at the house. As for seeing Travis, I couldn’t wait.

The office was impressive and well laid out. His people seemed busy and had enough space to do their work. Trompler introduced me to most of them as we moved through the office. It took up two floors, so it wasn’t until we got to the second one that I saw Cassidy. When she noticed me, her eyes widened and then narrowed. She made her way over to us. I held my breath, waiting to see what she’d say or do.

“This is a surprise. I didn’t know you were coming to my work, Sean.” Her tone had a slight bite to it.

“I wanted to surprise you. I called Martin this morning and found out he was here, so I asked if I could meet him. He extended an invitation for me to do it back home, but I’ve never been able to take him up on it.” It wasn’t a lie. He had asked a few times for me to do it. The main office was near us in Hampton.

“He’s right, I have. We’ve been discussing trends in the industry, and he has been nice enough to appease my curiosity about all things military. I find it thrilling that he and others can use their military training after they get out. I always wonder if our servicemen and women adjust to being back in regular society. I know my son had a hard time after his stint in the Army.” He’d shared how his son struggled to settle after his time in the Marines. Luckily, he finally did. Not all service people were so lucky.

“You’re right. A lot don’t. I know James struggled from what he told me,” she offered back. James was his son’s name. He worked for his father now.

“He did. Even though he knows firsthand how great you are, I’ve been singing your praises to Sean. We barely had to train her on anything other than our procedures. She’s often our go-to trainer, even though others have been with us longer. Cassidy is very thorough.”

“She always has been. It’s how her dad, Adam, raised her and Mark, her brother. He was a details man.” This got her to smile.

“I’m finishing showing Sean around the office. Are you able to join us? I thought we could go to lunch. I have something I want to talk to him about and would like to hear your opinion on,” Trompler told her.

She seemed surprised, but she agreed. Walking through the rest of the floor, I kept her on my right. Martin was on my left. We were almost through, and I hadn’t seen Travis. Wasn’t he here today? Or had he gone out in the field? I’d have to find another way to drive home my message if he weren’t here. Our staff at the corporate office was diving into him and his background. I hadn’t made them work on it over the weekend, even though I wanted to.

Imagine my joy when he popped out of the last office. His eyes comically widened when he saw me chatting and laughing with Trompler, and Cassidy was with us. I met his gaze, which quickly morphed into a scowl. His boss wasn’t looking at him at that moment. When Martin turned his head toward him, Travis put a smile on his face and came forward to kiss his ass.

“Sir, it’s good to see you again. I didn’t know you would be here today.”

“Ah, Travis, yes, I like to keep my visits unannounced. We’re in luck. It coincided with Mr. Walterson being in town. I’ve been trying to get him to tour one of my offices for ages. He’s one of the owners of a firm in Virginia, the Dark Patriots. They do a lot more hands-on security than we do. It’s their military background. He and his partners were all Navy SEALs. The tales, I bet you could tell.” He chuckled.

“True, although most are classified, I’m afraid. And who are you? What do you do here?” I asked Travis.

“How rude of me. This is Travis Cunard. Travis is one of our threat analysts. He mainly conducts the analysis and passes it on to others to implement,” Trompler added.

“So you’re not a hands-on, in-the-field guy. Cassidy is great at threat analysis but likes going into the field too much to be stuck behind a desk all the time,” I said, with a slight jab of condescension. I knew Trompler wouldn’t pick up on it, but Cunard and Cass would.

“That’s true. I blame you and the others for letting me get my hands in so many different things when I was at Patriots,” she said.

I could tell Travis didn’t like our connection being shoved in his face. When Trompler excused us, I pretended to shake Travis’s hand, but instead, I whispered to him, “Stay away from her, us, and our house if you know what’s good for you. She’s mine.”

If looks could kill, I would’ve fallen to the floor dead. As we walked away, I kept him in my peripheral vision. When I glanced at her, she was doing the same. The rest of the day passed without incident. Over lunch, Trompler asked me about an offer he had gotten from another company to work jointly with them on a project. He hesitated and wanted to know what we knew about the other company and the venture. I gave it to him straight. I hadn’t heard the best about them, and if he planned to do a joint venture, I’d pick someone else. Although the work to be done was one I thought worthwhile. Cass agreed with me.

Cassidy went back to work after we returned from lunch. I ended up staying until the end of the day. I knew she was biding her time to bawl me out, but it would hold until we got home. Since we’d driven separately, at the end of the workday, I had to let her go in her car, and I followed her home in the new rental I’d gotten to replace the wrecked one. While I followed her, I felt the hairs on my neck stand up. I scanned my surroundings, but I didn’t see anything suspicious. However, I’d learned to listen to my warning systems, and this one told me something was coming. I assumed it had to be Travis, but it might not be. I barely got through the door of the house before she rounded on me and began chewing me out.

“What the hell were you thinking, coming to my work like that? You had no right to do that, Sean. You should’ve told me if you wanted to talk to my boss. Why sneak around?”

“Because I knew you’d try and stop me. I didn’t expect Trompler to be there. I merely called him to ask if I could tour the office. He has been offering me a chance since you went to work for them. I wanted to see Travis on his ground and make him feel as exposed and vulnerable as he did you by coming here. I’m not stopping until he backs off for good. It won’t be enough just to go back to Hampton. What if we do, and he chooses to fixate on another woman? He needs to know that his behavior is unacceptable. He might just be a nuisance, but I’d rather be sure. If you want to be mad at me for the way I did it, then be mad. I’ll do anything I think helps keep you safe.”

Her angry face softened. I waited. Eventually, she sighed. “You’re an asshole, but I guess I get it—just no more surprises. Tell me what you plan to do before you do it. I still work for them and don’t want to leave on a bad note once I resign.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you before I do anything else.”

“Did you tell Trompler I was quitting?”

“No, I did not. I did tell him that we’re together. If he reads between the lines, he knows it’s only a matter of time. He would’ve guessed anyway from the way I treated you at lunch. I couldn’t help but kiss you when you returned to work.”

She rolled her eyes, but she smiled. Disaster had been averted, at least for the moment. Now, I wanted to see what my people discovered about Cunard and whether he made any more late-night visits.

???

Sitting at the desk in Everly’s home office, I stared at the report I had been sent. Griffin and Gabe were on the computer because I wanted to verify that they saw the same thing I was.

“Are you guys reading the same fucking thing I am?” I barked.

I wasn’t upset with them. I was stunned and a little freaked at the same time. The information in front of me wasn’t what I expected to find when I set the team on the trail of finding out everything they could about Travis Cunard. I thought he might have a girlfriend who complained about him and maybe even got a restraining order against him. Never this.

From what our team found in just a few days, we had a big problem on our hands. It seemed that Cunard had an issue with the ladies he’d dated. Even if they only went out once or twice, the women seemed to end up doing one of two things. In some cases, they up and left their jobs and moved without anyone knowing where they went.

The more alarming ones were those who disappeared. According to what our people found, at least three women supposedly quit their jobs and moved, but no one had heard from them after. Coworkers and acquaintances assumed they had just been forgotten. The women had no immediate family or close friends to report them missing. Our people were top-notch. If they couldn’t find them, I could think of only two possible explanations—one, they had help to disappear and likely changed their names, or two, they were no longer among us.

“I see it. Christ, what did she stumble onto down there? We let her out of our sight for a few weeks, and this is what happens,” Gabe grumbled.

“Hey, give her a break. It’s not like she went looking for a possible serial killer. She needed to get away from asshole so he’d finally get his head out of his ass and man up. It worked. Now, we just have to make sure when they come home, a serial killer isn’t left to terrorize Florida. It sounds like we might get to go hunting,” Griffin said calmly.

“I say this with all the love in my heart, Griff, but go fuck yourself,” I told him.

The shithead laughed, then said, “No thanks. I don’t need any help in that department. If you do with Cass, we need to get you some instruction, Fiend.”

His remark set off a couple of minutes of insulting debate. I knew it was intended to help defuse our worry and anger about what we might be facing. Once we wound down, we returned to the topic at hand.

“How long do you think we need to give the team to see if they can find one of the missing women? I hate to wait and have Cassidy or any woman exposed to danger. How he acted when he showed up here last week shows that she’s a target. He wasn’t happy to find out they weren’t having a relationship, and I was here to take her. I subtly warned him away from her on Monday.”

“Subtle? That’s not in your vocabulary, is it? But I guess if you didn’t beat his ass, then that’s subtle. Look, you’re growing up…finally,” Gabe quipped.

“Ha, ha, very funny. Come on, Seriously, how long should we give them? Today is Wednesday. Is Friday long enough?” I asked.

They sobered up. “Friday is more than long enough. If they haven’t gotten a single lead on those women, then we can safely say there needs to be an all-out investigation. Maybe, if they’re available, we ask Everly and Smoke if they have time to help. When did Cassidy plan to move back home?” Griff asked.

“Well, after she got over being mad at me about Monday, I think I have her close to doing it soon. She already talked to Trompler. He’s fine with her moving back to the Virginia office. They haven’t replaced her there yet. The spot she took was one they had opened for a while, and they had another candidate they were planning to make an offer to when she asked to relocate. She feels bad, but Trompler knows she’s coming back temporarily. They’ll just continue the search for her replacement. She plans to give them time to fill her spot. I told her I didn’t want it to last more than three months, and she agreed. It’s way more notice than anyone gives.”

“Well, we’ll be glad to have her back. I hated her being at another company and, even more, out of state. Okay, we’ll get everyone here who can working on this. You talk to her and see if you can get her to leave sooner. Maybe make up a family emergency that came up,” Gabe suggested.

“I’ll try. You know how stubborn she is. Call me as soon as you guys know something.”

“We will. Take care of our girl. Get your asses home ASAP,” Gabe added. Griff nodded his head in agreement. We were doing a video conference. As we hung up, I sat back to contemplate how to approach this.

Knowing Cassidy, she’d want to go after Travis and kill him herself if he was guilty. Her tolerance for people who hurt others has decreased since her mission to the Middle East. I knew one thing. As long as we remained here, she would no longer go to work or anywhere else alone. I’d drive her and pick her up. If there were errands to be done, we’d do them together. I’d been doing that mostly, but she insisted on driving herself to and from work.

Hearing the alarm alert to the door opening got me to my feet. I’d lost track of the time. She was home. I’d wait and bring moving and Cunard up after we had dinner. I had a feeling it would lead to a long discussion.

???

We were curled up on the couch after dinner. Cassie was relaxed, and I hated to destroy it, but this couldn’t wait. I kissed her neck. She hummed. We’ll get to that later. God knows we’d need the stress relief.

“Cass, I need to talk to you about something vital.”

My tone made her sit up straighter. She gazed at me hard. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk about Cunard. The team got back to me today with what they have found out so far. It’s not good, babe. In fact, it could be awful.”

“Tell me. No need to pussyfoot around.”

She made me smile. I quickly ran her through what we knew and suspected and had the team doing. When I was done, she was sitting rigid, frowning.

“You have to be kidding me! What is wrong with this world? Is it full of monsters? I swear. You said Griff and Gabe think they can have more definite news by Friday. What are we to do until then? How can I go to work and see him without throat-punching him, taking him out in the swamp, and leaving him for the gators to eat?”

I chuckled and hugged her close. “Have I told you how much I love you in the last hour? You’re so damn perfect for me. Honestly, I don’t know how you’ll resist the urge. I hate the thought of you anywhere near him, even if others are around. We’re not leaving the poor women of Florida at his mercy, even if we can’t prove he’s done something. But I want you and I to consider returning home sooner rather than later. Hear me out. If we do it and he’s still a question mark, he’ll likely follow us, making it easier to have him disappear. If he stays here, we can always return and take care of the problem. I want to go home. I can protect you better there. I want us to get started on our life there. Buy a house.”

“And I want the same. I need to talk to my supervisor. Trompler talked to him before he left, so he knows it’s coming. He’s not happy, but he can’t argue with the CEO. Let me hear what you guys came up with as an excuse for me to leave early. I know you have one,” she said dryly. See, she knew us. I told her.

“I could do that. Let me talk to my boss in the morning, and then I’ll let you know. I can’t believe Travis might be a serial killer, but then again, those men at the auction didn’t strike me as deviant assholes, either. You can’t judge a book by its cover,” she admitted.

“No, you can’t. That went better than I thought. If that’s all, I have a better idea of what we could be doing right now.” I smirked.

“Let me guess. It involves us being naked.”

“Yes, it does. Care to join me?”

She jumped to her feet and ran for the bedroom. She called over her shoulder, “What are you waiting for?” I didn’t wait to hear more. I got up and chased her.