“She’s on the other side of the house. There’s no way she can hear what’s going on here.”
He hoped she couldn’t. Paloma adored Stacy. The last thing he wanted was his little girl to hear him arguing with the woman she had grown close to—a woman who was a mother figure in her life.
Is that why he’d convinced himself that a relationship with Stacy was a good idea? Tricked himself into thinking he was ready to start over. It had been easier to shield Paloma from what she was missing when she was younger. That all changed when she started attending the private school, making new friends who all had mommies that doted on them and were around for every event. It didn’t matter how much attention he showered her with, the questions about her mother became more frequent. And his answers did nothing to stop her from wishing her mom was still alive, missing the closeness that her friends had with their moms.
Stace’s presence in his life had helped him fill that void for his little girl.
How fucked up was he?
“Stace … please, just wait.”
“I’m done with this.” Stacy shook her head. “From now on, our relationship will be strictly professional. Nothing more.We’ll go back to the way things were before.” She choked on a sob.
Staring at her, he realized for the first time she was in love with him. Probably had been for a while. Somewhere among the hundreds of flights she’d accompanied him as the attendant, she’d become more than just interested in seeing if they could develop a deeper relationship.
But he couldn’t love her back.
He’d tried to open his heart to the idea, but it was no use.
His heart only wanted Britt.
Stacy turned and opened the door to the guest bedroom.
“Stace … my arms? ” Lachlan croaked out. “Can you let me out of these scarves?”
Her response was a defiant stare. “Get out of them your damn self!”
And then she was gone.
Lachlan slumped against the bed. “House, call Sebastian,” he demanded through gritted teeth. His cock ached and throbbed in pain from Stacy’s retaliation.
The disembodied female automated voice responded, “Calling Sebastian Luttrell.”
His good friend had the decency to pick up after one ring.
“Guess you heard about Titus being murdered?—”
“What the fuck?” Lachlan lurched forward, then winced in pain as his arms jerked back toward the bedpost.
“So that’s not why you’re calling me in the middle of the night?” Sebastian asked.
“No, I need your help. It’s an … emergency,” Lachlan said, deciding not to get into details that were instantly less important than what he thought he’d heard. “Is he really dead?”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said. “I’ll head over and fill you in when I get there.”
Chapter 3
The voice was loud, drowning out the documentary playing through the speakers.
Britt pressed her ear against the door. The Visitor spoke in terse tones to another man, whose voice echoed from what sounded like a cell phone on speaker.
She was expecting The Visitor. He came on the first of the month, like clockwork. When he first showed up, she’d thought he was there to help her. He’d been friendly with kind brown eyes and a sweet smile. A military type, with a muscular build, although he pretended not to be. He wanted her to believe he was a doctor or a counselor, but she knew better. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.
In a different lifetime, she might have found him attractive. Maybe flirted with him or tried to lure him to buy her a drink or take her to dinner. She couldn’t remember what she looked like. But from the way The Visitor looked at her, she imagined she was beautiful. Or at least, he thought she was, though he never said those words. Something inherent in being a woman, she supposed, allowed her to recognize the tell-tale signs of physical attraction.
She soon realized he wasn’t an ally, but an enemy. He’d come to trick her into succumbing to his ultimate plan—forcing her to take over the life of Brittany Freeman. She’d resisted every effort for over a year, but today, she had something different in mind.
The Visitor asked, “Titus Freeman is dead? Source?”
