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None of us use credit cards, we only use cash. Maya is able to go to a local bank and withdraw money as needed, but only with her financial backing can we survive this way. All my money is tied up in London, and I won't be able to get my hands on it until after we take care of Jonathan. It’s the same for everyone else.
“I hate to ask, Greg, but is it a secure email account?” Timothy asks.
“I believe it is, but the fact an attorney is trying to reach her is what I'm concerned about. He'll only speak directly to her, according to the solicitor. She can't and shouldn't fly back to the States.”
“Bloody hell, is she leaving here? She's targeted as much as Ana. We never took care of her main stalker, and the Secret Service can't protect her. We still have no clue who he is,” Duncan growls.
“I know, my love, calm down. I'll need to find a way to call him and find out what's going on. Greg is right, I can't leave. You're also right, I'm targeted too. We didn't tell you, but my deliveries are now going to Greg's London office.” She rubs Duncan's arm.
She's the only person I know that can calm the big guy. Before her, he was a powder keg of anger. When she left him for a short time, it took all of us to keep him in control. When a guy is six eight, you don't get in his way unless it's necessary.
“Maya, I can set up a secure call through Skype like I do with Joshua to call his mum. Give me twenty minutes and I can have one set up.” Timothy rises and walks out, my guess heading to my office to retrieve the laptops.
“Maya, any guess as to why this attorney is trying to reach you?” I ask.
“Because of her mum's inheritance,” James says from the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, I figured we were having a family dinner here since everyone’s here. I overheard what Maya just said, and thought I could put you all at ease.” His lips are tight, and I can make out the strain around his eyes. His children are his world, including Maya.
“What inheritance? I got the money from her and Father when I was eighteen. I’ve been living off the interest from that for the last few years. Now with the money from Savta I don't need any more.” She's serious, she hates being an heiress to millions, and still more shows up every day because her grandmother from Israel hid a lot of her money.
“Maya, darling, your mum was an heiress too.” James pulls up a chair next to Maya. “Like you, Cara hated having money. She said it changed people. She had me help her invest it after she married Yoseph. It was the last time I saw her before that summer in Tel Aviv. Your father didn't know about it as far as I know. She had the property in Boston and an estate in Ireland.”
“What? Why would she not tell Abba? No, you're wrong, James.” She shakes her head.
“What I'm going to tell you is going to upset you, but it's time you knew. She was threatened and worried about everyone's safety. She too had a stalker. He wanted her money and to possess her. She invested and locked it all away. She spread the rumor it was all lost in a bad investment. I think she hoped he would go away after that.”
“What?” Maya is visibly shaking and looks about to lose it, when my angel walks in and drops in front of her, hugging her close.
“I hired a private investigator after your parents were killed. Between the loss of Isabella in a freak accident and your parents being ‘collateral damage’”—he air quotes and my gut clenches—“from a terrorist bombing, I was questioning everything. Your grandmother wouldn't allow me to exhume your parents’ bodies. I had Bella exhumed, and the reports reopened. Someone cut the brakes to Bella's car, it's a miracle Ana survived.” Silenced shock briefly fills the room.
“Wait, you think my parents were deliberately murdered?” Maya jumps up, her voice rising in pitch.
Duncan pushes past, unable to keep himself from her any longer. I stand and pull Ana away as he pulls Maya into his arms and sits with her in his lap. The strongest woman I know breaks down before my eyes, tears run down her face.
Ana's shoulders tremble and I pull her up into my arms, cradling her against my body as she cries for her loss too. She wraps her arms around my neck and holds me in a death grip. Both of their mum's were murdered.
“Cara called Bella so often before she died, I figured things were better for her,” James continues. “The stalker had stopped bothering her after Bella was killed. When we ran into your family in Tel Aviv, your mum told me she was receiving strange phone calls again. My private investigator spoke with people in the morgue and was able to pull the reports. Your father was killed by a single projectile through the heart, they wouldn't identify it as a bullet because they thought the bomb had ball bearings in it; although, only one other report mentions a projectile, your mum's.”
Silence once again follows. James’s revelation leaves all of us stunned. Greg leans over Maya and says something to her. She shakes her head and burrows in tighter to Duncan. His arms flex as he pulls her in closer. I sit down in the chair Raul has pulled out for me and pull my girl in tighter.
“James, do you have these bomb reports?” Ian asks, he was our explosives expert in the military. He could find things in the reports that anyone else would miss. He could even figure out what type of bomb was used.
“Yes, I also have the death certificates and investigation reports for both. I prayed I was wrong, but too much has been happening.”
“What are your thoughts, James?” I ask.
“I think Cara's stalker has set his sights on Maya now, and is using Ana to get to her, just like he used Bella. When Maya received those black and red roses at my house all those years ago, I knew. I didn't say anything in hopes I was wrong.”
“How did you know about the flowers?” Maya hiccups through her tears.
“Your mother used to get strange flowers. She would brush them off, but I knew.”
“If Maya's stalker and her mother’s is the same, he would have enough clout by now to be able to flip people in DC Metro and the FBI. I always wondered how we were never able to find anything. But if he's been doing this for over twenty years, it would explain a lot,” Greg says as he rests his hand against Maya.
“Cara told me to be careful who I trusted. She also told me she had someone on the inside who was protecting her.”
“The Protector,” we all say.
“Wait, that would mean that Jonathan is wrapped up in this, Dad,” Duncan says.
