Chapter Twenty

Theo

Present Day

A loud knock pulls me out of my memories, forcing me back to the present and the heartbreakingly beautiful woman standing before me. Seconds later, the sound of the front door opening, and soft voices speaking can be heard from down the hall.

With a start, Danica jumps slightly. She had been staring too, and I wonder if her mind had also drifted to memories of the past. “That’s probably Jonathan. We should-” she jerks a thumb over her shoulder as she nods backwards towards the door.

“Right.” My response is clipped, and I can’t help the stony attitude that settles once more on my features at the mention of fucking Jonathan . “Well, I’ll follow you then.” And I nod in a gesture meant to signal for her to lead the way. She turns, and I feel my dick harden as I watch her graceful movements, the delicate lines of her features and the alluring sway of her hips as she leads us back down the hall.

“Finn! Jay!” My eyes narrow as she hugs each man in turn, and I clench my teeth, nostrils flaring, and my hands ball into fists at my sides as I valiantly fight the urge to punch fucking Jonathan in his pretty-boy face for touching my girl. Asshole looks like he’s never been in a fight a day in his life.

Bash is standing next to his brother, Jonathan flanking his other side, as Danica ushers the three of them to come further into the room and settles herself on her cushy reading chair, wrapping Ma’s knit blanket around her shoulders as she sits crisscross, wiggling around until she finds a comfortable spot. Jonathan wastes no time, sitting on the floor at her feet, back resting against the base of her chair as Finn and Bash both plop onto the couch, leaving an open spot for me at the end. Instead, I make my way over to the chair where Danica is seated, and lean myself casually against the wall, hovering inches from where she sits, arms crossed over my chest as I chose to ignore her pointed stare, instead, glaring down at where Jonathan’s head is resting against the side of her leg.

From across the room, out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Bash is wearing a bemused expression, taking in the dynamic between the three of us and, as usual, Finn seems oblivious to it all. Too focused on the matter at hand. Right. “So, you guys wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?” I can’t help the words as they slip out in a rush.

Finn cuts a look to Danica, before turning his gaze to me, and I interrupt my brooding about the new fuckface long enough to return Finn’s pointed stare. Refusing to back down, I sit in silence, waiting. Years of practice, as captain of my team, and with my position in the family business have taught me that nothing is as powerful as a pointed silence can be. It makes people uncomfortable, twitchy. And for people keeping secrets? Well, let’s just say they have a lot to fear from my weighted reticence.

None of that matters to Finn though. Social queues are something that have rarely registered for him; often not being important enough to be worth noting in his meticulously detailed memory bank, his mind always working a thousand miles a minute. Finn deferring to Danica, though? As if waiting for permission or some sort of signal? Now that is interesting, indeed.

“They’re the same.” That’s all he says at first, and we all just stare at him, various versions of the same blank expression on each of our faces. He sighs, running a hand through his hair in agitation. “It’s all connected, don’t you see? It has to be! And we missed it. I fucking missed it! I can’t believe I fucking missed it.” His foot taps absentmindedly against the floor, and he glances once more at Danica, as if imploring her to connect the dots that are flying around in his brain. Danica, for her part, looks just as confused as the rest of us.

“Ugh, dude, you’re gonna have to dumb it down for us simple folk. Not everyone has the inner-workings of a new-age Holmes like you. Care to break it down for all the Watsons in the room?” Bash throws an exasperated glance at his twin as he says this; as if he isn’t just as brilliant as his brother. The difference though, is that Bash has always chosen to hide his intelligence behind his carefree playboy facade, whereas Finn could never be bothered with being anything other than his genuine self.

“The note! It all comes back down to the note!” He is getting frustrated, our general lack of understanding basically the same as him hitting his head against a brick wall. Thankfully, I must admit grudgingly, Jonathan jumps in with some clarification.

“What he is trying to explain is that we think there is a connection between the blackmail letters that Theo has been receiving off and on for years, with the stalking, and the ‘gifts’ Danica has been subjected to more recently. We didn’t make the connection initially because there was such a significant time difference between when Theo started receiving his blackmail notes and when Danni started having her little ‘stalker problem.’ We’ve been splitting our attention between the two issues, rather than viewing it all as one interconnected problem.” Jonathan explains to the rest of us, and I can see the understanding light up Danica’s eyes.

“Yes! Exactly this!” Finn interjects, continuing. “Theo, you have been dealing with blackmail letters since way before you and Danni broke up. We’ve had a team working with your guys to try and figure it out but the letters always appear at random intervals, with zero surveillance footage, no DNA evidence, no witnesses, not even any distinguishable handwriting that can be used for forensic analysis.” He continues to speak, his words becoming more rushed with the excitement of this new insight.

“Similarly, Danica has been dealing with a stalker- no, I’m not referring to you T- who has been messing with her since her days in the dorms. We thought at first that it was just an overenthusiastic fan, especially with the increase in letters directly correlating to her first, and subsequent Olympic medal wins. Innocuous in their vague admiration, and seemingly harmless enough. But then she moved up here, and the pictures started showing up. Then the gifts that followed suit. Once more, we were dealing with a situation where the perp was careful, making sure not to leave any physical evidence; no DNA, no security video footage, no handwriting, or noticeably traceable details left behind in the letters.”

Finn is on a roll now, his breakdown steamrolling over me with this information that I had not been privy to. A low-boiling rage simmers in my veins and I feel the tension knotting in between my shoulders as I hear more and more about this shadow that has been harassing my girl.

“Over the last few months, these incidents have escalated. Whomever it is has figured out how to circumvent some of our top security software and has managed to evade triggering the numerous security protocols we have in place. They have been meticulous in their planning up until now. Tonight, at the office? Well, they really screwed up.”

The confusion that had been in Danica’s eyes fades with the new understanding that clicks into place. “Holy shit!”

Bash looks from his brother over to Danica, before throwing an inquisitive look over at me. In return, I shrug. “Fuck if I know, dude.”

Jumping up excitedly, Danica skirts around Jonathan whose head falls back against the chair in her absence. In a rush, she starts pacing back and forth in the narrow space between Jonathan’s outstretched legs and the coffee table that parts the divide with where the guys are seated on the couch. Finn, seemingly satisfied that Danica finally seems to be getting it, whatever “it” is, just nods in approval while tracking her movements closely, his eyes darting back and forth in time to her harried movements.

“They made it personal. Whoever trashed my place tonight, whoever has been following me and leaving those awful notes and ‘gifts,’ they screwed up by making it personal. They left charred feathers everywhere, and a dead bird in the trash. Not just any bird, a sparrow.”

I suck in a sharp breath, finally catching on to what they are so excited about. Whomever broke in and trashed the place left charred feathers and a sparrow. Which could be coincidental. But what are the chances that whoever it was left a targeted attack using the object of her nickname, a nickname that I used for her back when we first met all those years ago. “Il mio passerotto,” the words escape my lips on the breath of a whisper, soft like a gentle caress. Cherished. No one outside of our inner circle should know that I used to call her that. It is something special between the two of us.

“So then, who all knows the history between the two of you?” This, an echo of the words in my head, coming from Jonathan.

Danica stops abruptly, gazing at each of us in turn, before directing her gaze back to him once more. “Outside of the people in this room, there are very few who could possibly know about-” she pauses, throwing a quick glance in my direction- “about that. Sierra for sure, and Quincy. Theo’s mom, Elena. It’s not something that we publicized. And I would trust all of them, there is no way they are involved.”

Jonathan just nods, his face contemplative, before turning his head to gaze over at me. “And you?”

Narrowing my eyes as I think back carefully, I respond. “I don’t know of anyone who would know that outside of the people in this room. Like Danica said, aside from our deliberate social media posts when we were first trying to get her out of Bradley’s clutches by baiting him, we kept our relationship private.”

“Right.” Finn stands abruptly, bumping into Bash in his haste. “Well, we know that you used to communicate via text, so it looks like we will have to do a deep dive back into both of your old phone records, social media accounts, and computers. We already had our team pull your computer from the mess in your office, Danica, and I will be going back through the files myself as soon as I get all the paint cleaned up. Thankfully, most of it was contained to the casing, I don’t think there was much damage, if any, to the internal hardware. I’ll go through those records as well and see if there is anything we can pull, any other mistakes that might have been made while they were on the property.” He nods to himself, as if affirming his plan of action.

Bash stands next. “Right, well then, now that that’s settled, I’m gonna head out. I have to be back at the hotel, got an early flight out in the morning.” Walking around the table, he comes to stand in front of Danica, giving her an uncharacteristically serious look as he places his hands on her shoulders. “You take care of yourself, Kitty Cat. Don’t let any fuckers mess with that hot ass that we all love.” With a grin, he winks, bringing some levity back into his words. Danica just rolls her eyes, before stepping into his arms for a tight hug.

“I’ve missed you, Bash. A lot.” She rubs her face against his chest as she says this, the words almost too quiet for me to hear. I don’t miss the tear that falls down her cheek as she steps back, out of his embrace, however.

Bash turns to face me as I lean against the wall, and Jonathan, as he continues to lounge from his place on the floor. “Jay, it was good to see ya man. Hit me up next time you’re out my way.” Jonathan nods in acknowledgement. Quirking his brow at me, Bash continues, “You ready dude?” Right. I’m his ride. I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out. My gaze flicks to Jonathan, then over to my girl.

Noticing my hesitation, Jonathan throws me a smirk. “No worries, man. I’ve got this. Not that she needs any supervision, but I will keep an eye on our girl here, make sure she’s safe tonight.” His smirk turns into a wide grin as he looks up at Danica, “Right, baby girl? ”

Danica blushes prettily, the pink flush highlighting her freckles that I used to count every night while she slept in my arms. I see red. I don’t even realize that I have taken a step forward until Bash is suddenly in my face, hand on my chest as he blocks my path. “Fuckin chill, dude.” He mutters under his breath with a pointed glance down at my clenched fists.

Breathing deeply to try and calm my irrational jealousy, I force myself to unclench my fists, fingers stiffly opening as Bash claps a sturdy hand on my shoulder, jostling me. “Right, well, like I said before, baby girl , it was lovely seeing you again. I’ll call you tomorrow once my plane lands.” He jerks his head to the side, “We’ll see ourselves out.” And he roughly pulls me towards the exit, his fingers digging so deep into my shoulder that I know I will have bruises tomorrow. Well, I guess that’s fair, given the shiner I gave him earlier during the match. I let him drag me along, and it’s only when we are exiting through the front door that I allow myself the luxury of looking back one last time at my girl. Only to see her staring silently back at me in return, arms hugging her stomach.