16. Micah

"Tell me about the uniform again," Micah ordered.

"It was tan. There was a mountain on one side and the man's name on the other. His name was Jeff," Lucy said.

Micah looked up local delivery services. One of them had a picture of a woman wearing the same uniform that Lucy described. He felt the anger building up inside of him. Micah had never been this furious in his entire life. His head throbbed, and he literally felt as though he was going to explode.

Lucy sipped her tea and nibbled on a bite of banana nut bread that Vera put in front of her. Her face was pale and Micah was worried that she was going to faint.

"Who would want to hurt me?" Lucy asked. "I haven't been here long enough to piss off anyone."

"I can think of one person," Micah growled. "It wasn't you, though. It's all her."

"Caroline?" Lucy asked. "Isn't this a little extreme?"

"Not for her," Micah said. "I'm pretty sure that she's capable of just about anything if it means getting her own way."

He grabbed his keys.

"Where are you going?" Ronnie asked.

"I'm going to Pinnacle Delivery Services," Micah said.

"I'm coming with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid," Ronnie said.

Micah looked at him for a second and then nodded.

"Sorry, we're closing," a man at the counter said when Micah and Ronnie walked into the office.

"I'm not here to send a package. I'm here for information."

"Are you a cop?" the man asked.

"No, I'm worse if you don't answer my questions. Where is Jeff?"

"He's busy," the man said. "How can I help you?"

Micah gritted his teeth and said, "You have ten seconds to get Jeff out here right now or I will destroy you and everything inside this office."

"I'm going to call the cops," the man said, grabbing his cell phone.

"You do that. While you're at it, you can explain to them why you delivered a cake laced with cyanide to a pregnant woman today," Micah growled.

The man's face paled and he dropped his phone. "Jeff," he yelled.

A few seconds later a man came to the front counter. "What's going on?"

"A couple of hours ago you delivered a cake to my house, addressed to my pregnant girlfriend, that had enough cyanide in it to kill fifty men," Micah said, trying to keep his voice calm.

"We aren't responsible for what is inside the deliveries we make," Jeff said.

"You will tell me who paid you to deliver the package," Micah ordered.

"I'm sorry, but our customers are confidential. The police will have to come with a subpoena for our records," Jeff said. "Now if that's all…"

Micah grabbed Jeff by the shirt and pulled him halfway across the counter.

He showed Jeff his wolf teeth and then growled, "That is not all. You will tell me who came in here and paid for that cake to be sent."

Jeff turned ghostly white and looked at Ronnie. The man grinned and showed his tiger fangs.

"It was a woman. She gave her name as Jane Smith. Jane said that her best friend's birthday was today and it was really important that she got the cake today. She gave me two hundred dollars on top of our usual delivery fee," Jeff managed to get out.

"You didn't think that was unusual?" Micah asked, still holding onto Jeff's shirt.

The two men were almost nose to nose, with Jeff lying halfway across the counter.

"Yes, but she assured me that it was just a cake. She even showed me."

"What did she look like?" Micah asked.

"She was tall and had a large hat and sunglasses. Her hair was dark brown, but I got the feeling that it was a wig. The place still stunk with her perfume after she left," Jeff said.

Micah released Jeff, who slid back to his feet. "Do you have a camera in here?"

"No. We guarantee confidentiality to our clients," Jeff said. "I've told you everything that I know."

Micah looked at Ronnie, who nodded.

"I'd be more careful about the deliveries I make and who I make them to in the future," Micah warned.

Once they were back in Micah's truck, he said, "Caroline."

"It sure sounds like her," Ronnie replied.

Micah made it to Caroline's house in record time.

"Mind your temper," Ronnie said.

Caroline plastered a huge smile on her face when she saw that it was Micah standing at the door.

"Come in," she said. "I'll fix you a drink."

Her smile faltered a bit when Ronnie stepped in behind Micah.

"What did you do?" Micah asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Caroline protested.

Micah thought that her protest was weak and her eyes darted around the room as she spoke.

"You know damn good and well what I'm talking about. You sent a poisonous cake to Lucy."

"Someone sent a poisonous cake to Lucy? How awful."

"Yeah, you did," Micah said.

"Why would I do that?" she asked.

"Because you hate Lucy since she is living with me," Micah said.

"I do think that is simply scandalous that she is living there, I will admit, but I didn't try to hurt her," Caroline said. "I don't know how to bake and I don't know how to get any poisons. I wouldn't touch poison even if I did know where to get them."

Micah stared into her eyes until she looked away. "If I get any proof that you did have something to do with that cake, I won't bother Zac with the issue. I will take care of the situation myself."

She swallowed hard.

"If you do anything in the future to hurt Lucy, I promise you, no one will ever be able to find your body. Am I understood?"

"Yes, but I didn't…"

Ronnie and Micah left before she could finish her sentence.

"She's guilty as sin," Micah said.

"Likely, but we don't have proof."

Lucy was sitting on the couch in the parlor, curled up with a book when he got back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine. I'm pretty sure that neither Michelle nor Vera was going to let anyone get through the door today. They've been watching me like a hawk."

"I don't suppose we could just lock you up in your bedroom and keep you safe, could we?" Micah asked, only half-jokingly.

"Sorry. Not going to happen."

Lucy offered to help Vera with the dishes after dinner.

"I'm good, thanks, though," Vera replied.

Smiling at Vera, Lucy said, "Then I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm pretty tired."

Micah brushed a kiss across her lips and said, "I'm going out for a while. You've got my number if you need me."

"Have fun."

"If you want to meet at Howlers', I'm buying," Micah texted Conner.

"I'll be there in ten," Conner promised.

"How are things going?" Conner asked after the waitress delivered their beers.

"Good and bad, to the extreme," Micah replied. "The good is that Lucy is pregnant."

"Congrats," Conner said.

"We haven't told anyone except for the folks at the house and Mom. Her parents know, too. We're keeping it quiet for now."

"My lips are sealed," Conner said. "I saw you at the fundraiser. The two of you looked like you were a real couple."

"We have feelings for each other, but we haven't talked about it," Micah said.

"Judging by the looks you guys gave each other and how you interacted, you have more than just feelings. My guess is that you two are falling in love."

"You might be right. That's not a bad thing, though, is it?"

"I think it's terrific. She's carrying your baby. Lucy seems like a very nice woman," Conner assured him. "So, what's the bad?"

"Someone tried to kill Lucy and the baby today. By someone, I think it was Caroline," Micah said.

He took a swig of beer and rubbed his face.

"What happened?" Conner asked.

Micah explained about the cake and told him about his confrontation with Caroline.

"I have to admit that I would doubt whether she would know how to make a cake, at least from scratch. She could have bought a box mix and added the cyanide into the mix," Conner said. "She's not stupid, though. Even Caroline can figure out how to get poison from the internet."

"If I had proof that it was her, I would shred her," Micah growled.

"I don't blame you and I don't think anyone else would either," Conner said. "The bad thing is that if this didn't work, she'll likely try something else."

"That's what terrifies me," Micah said. "Caroline won't do anything physical to Lucy herself, because Lucy would destroy her. However, she will try something else that is just as underhanded."

"Just warn Lucy not to trust anyone and to not accept gifts or deliveries," Conner said.

"I don't think she would try the delivery ruse again. But she'll come up with something," Micah said. "The other person I have to worry about is Dad. When he finds out that Lucy is pregnant, and especially that she is a bear shifter, he is going to flip his lid."

"It's too bad you can't wrap Lucy up in a cocoon and protect her from the assholes in the world."

"I know. She won't let me," Micah said.

"Lucy is smart and tough. Plus, she has Vera, Michelle, and Ronnie to protect her. That is a formidable group. I wouldn't want to go up against them."

"Me either," Micah replied.

Lucy was asleep when he got home, so he went to bed. He missed snuggling with her. Micah was glad to see that she was her usual happy self the next morning. They ate breakfast together and he kissed her goodbye as he headed for the office.

"We're getting to be a regular June and Ward Cleaver," referring to the stereotypical family from the show Leave It to Beaver. "The only difference is that she isn't the one making sure that dinner is on the table when I get home."

Micah was in a good mood until he heard yelling in the foyer outside of his office. "I will not wait. I'm going into his office and you'd better get out of my way, old lady."

He stood up to see what was going on when Gavin stormed into Micah's office.

Gavin didn't bother with greetings or niceties. "Someone I know saw Lucy going to the doctor at that clinic. They also said that she looked pregnant. Did you knock up that woman?"

"She is pregnant and the baby is mine," Micah said, trying to stay calm.

Leaning forward across Micah's desk, Gavin said, "I did some research. She's a bear shifter."

"I am aware of that," Micah said.

"You need to kill that baby and send that whore back to the shifter world," Gavin spat.

"If you say anything like that again, I will cut you off entirely. You won't get another red cent from me," Micah growled.

Gavin glared at Micah and pressed his lips together. Micah had been supporting his parents since he had made his first million, and Gavin had become accustomed to living a certain lifestyle that only Micah's money could provide.

The old man opened his mouth to say something else but apparently thought better of it. He stood up quickly, knocking his chair over, and stomped out of the office.

Martha came in and said, "I'm sorry, I tried to stop him."

"I know. It's not your fault," Micah said.

"If people keep referring to me as an old lady, I might start to get a complex," Martha joked. "I'm only fifty."

"I think you're young and beautiful. You don't look a day over forty-nine," he teased.

"You'd better be careful. I'll just pack up and go to work for Angie," Martha threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," Micah said.

"Keep it up and you'll see," Martha said, laughing as she walked back to her desk.

That night, after dinner, Micah and Lucy snuggled on the couch in her sitting room.

"My father knows you are pregnant. He is a bigot. You should be prepared for snarky comments, questions, and nasty looks," Micah said. "Everyone is going to know."

"No worries. I've got my big girl panties on. I can handle it," Lucy said.

He grinned at her. She gently touched his face as their lips met in a passionate kiss.