Chapter Twenty-Nine

Danica

Present Day

“Y ou’re coming home.”

I roll my eyes at Caleb’s overbearing statement, and through the small screen I watch as he grits his teeth.

“This isn’t funny, Smarty. You’ve got a fucking stalker following you around, leaving you notes-”

“Yeah, by definition, that’s kind of what stalkers do. They stalk people, Caleb.”

Ignoring my interruption, he just plows ahead. “And now they are vandalizing your business. On top of that, Theo is back in the picture too? You are coming home right fucking now. I’m not joking. I will send the jet and arrange for Jay or Finn to bring you to the airstrip. Get your ass on that plane and come home .” I can see the tension radiating off my brother, frustration that he is on the other side of the country, at his lack of control. If there is one annoying trait my brother just had to have learned from our parents, it’s his overbearing manner and need for control.

Taking a deep breath, I count backwards from ten in my head like Dr. Sandsworth taught me. Patience. Acceptance. My brother loves me. He doesn’t understand what being back in that place does to me, not really. He never saw the worst of it, he saw me battered and bruised, but that was not what broke me. Caleb never saw me have to endure the night terrors and cold sweats, the crippling panic attacks. Theo was always the one who held me through the night, who wiped away my tears; the one who calmed my fears with a simple touch or whispered soothing words until I could still my racing heart. It took months before I was able to find any semblance of peace.

Even with Theo by my side, with Mrs. Giovanni talking to me about her own past trauma, with Bash and Finn and Caleb’s support. Finding a way forward, clawing my way out of the empty void that Bradley and my own father’s betrayal left in me? Well, let’s just say that in order to truly find a new “normal” I had to fully remove myself from my past. I wasn’t able to truly breathe again until I moved to Oregon for school, started making new friends and creating a new life for myself. So no, that place is not my home. And I honestly don’t know if I will ever be able to go back.

I know my brother is speaking from a place of concern, a place of love, even if it is a bit misguided. So, I make an effort to soften my tone with what I say next, holding in the snarkiness that so desperately wants to push through to the surface.

“We have been through this before, Caleb. This is my home. And you know why I won’t go back there. I can’t. Besides, I’m not going to let some faceless creep try to scare me away. I’ve made a life for myself here. I have people counting on me. I’m not just going to give that all up because some weirdo thinks that they have the right to try to invade my space and try to scare me away. I’m stronger than that.”

Resolute determination fills my voice, and I try hard to shove down the concern that lies close under the surface. I can’t let Caleb see how much this stalker situation is starting to get to me. I am strong. I have survived worse. Caleb may be stuck on the East Coast for business but there is strength in numbers, and I still have a whole team of people on my side, helping me. Between Finn and Jonathan, QT, and all the other security personnel at Finn’s company. We will find a way through this, we have to. I have to.

Caleb squints at me through the screen, his head tilting slightly. “You sure you don’t want me to come over there, then? I could come over for a bit, you could stay at my place?” Caleb is referring to the penthouse apartment he bought last year. Now any time he visits, he has his own bachelor pad where he can crash instead of my tiny apartment. And I don’t have to worry about any of his various. . . guests that he likes to entertain when he is in town. He may be done with hockey, but the hockey fans aren’t done with him.

When I was still in college, he got by with staying in hotels anytime he came to visit, or renting out places if it were for a longer stay, since he knew he couldn’t get me to go back east to see him. Even though he continued to try. But after I moved to Seattle, when Sierra moved back east for her residency program and QT and Wolfie moved into their own place, I had to find something for myself.

Bash and Caleb were both always bitching about how small my apartment is, they don’t understand why I wouldn’t just use the money left for me to invest in a bigger space (i.e. a penthouse apartment or mini mansion like something they both own). Finn and Jonathan both insisted that I could move in with either of them as they also have huge penthouses of their own. But that isn’t me and it never has been.

Despite how my parents chose to live, a life of lavish excess and luxury, I didn’t want that for myself. I just want something simple, something homey. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. And I absolutely refuse to use the money that Caleb insists should have been my portion of father’s estate. He blew everything away on his gambling addiction and then tried to sell me to the highest bidder to regain his fortune. And unfortunately, the highest bidder was my abusive ex Bradley and his sleazy father.

After our father disappeared not long after Bradley’s death, Caleb stepped up to take his place at the head of the family corporation. It was a long and painful process, but Caleb eventually rebuilt what my father lost and the company went on to flourish under his leadership. So, while Caleb insists that money is owed to me from father’s estate, Caleb is the one who worked his ass off to rebuild everything my father had lost; if anything, that money belongs to Caleb, not me.

Besides, it makes my skin crawl even thinking about it. About using anything connected to my father, for rebuilding my new life. My father, his finances and shady business dealings, are a part of my past, not my present or future. Besides, I’m only one person, and except for when I have Wolfie over for the occasional sleepover, I don’t often have guests stay over, so there has never really been a reason for me to invest in a larger space.

“Caleb, I’m fine. Really. I know you’re worried and just want me to be safe. But the truth is, there is nothing that you could do differently by being here in person than what Finn and Jonathan have already done. I already have some of their top trained men living on either side of me in this building. There is additional security that they have now provided on-site at my building round-the-clock, and every inch of my home and business are covered in their top-of-the-line security systems.

“In addition, Finn and Jay are both checking up on me, almost as frequently as you are. Even if you rearranged your insanely busy schedule, it is not going to offer much in terms of physical security for me. I love you and I miss you. And of course, I would love to see you if you came here, but don’t upend your entire work schedule and life just out of some misplaced sense of brotherly duty or desire to keep me safe. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. I have been for years.”

I don’t know how well I am getting through to him, but I can see when he finally comes to terms with the fact that he isn’t going to win this battle, not today anyway. There is still a grim set to his jawline, worry in the depths of his green eyes that are so like my own, but he nods in begrudging acceptance.

“Okay then.”

Slightly thrown off kilter by his lack of further argument, I just sit there staring blankly back at him.

“Okay?” Needing to make sure I heard correctly, I question his response.

He just points his finger at me, jabbing it at the screen. “But if I think for one minute that you are in real danger, if things escalate any more, I am going to fly over there to come get you myself. I’m not kidding, Smarty. You’re all the family I’ve got. We are all we’ve got. And I’m not going to risk losing you to another fucking psychopath.”

He’s wrong, though. Our parents may not be in the picture anymore; after having totally cut off our mother and removing her from our lives, but our family is bigger than that. And I know he knows it too, he’s just scared. Which is why I won’t let him see my own fear. I owe him that much, at least.