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My arm goes around Gia. “I’m getting Gia out of here.”
“I’m not leaving.” Gia gives me a pleading look. “I don’t want to be away from you…and don’t tell me you plan on staying with me. I know you too well. You’d take me some place safe and come back here and wait. That’s not happening.” She buries her face in my chest, the wetness from her tears seeps through my shirt. “Please Hunter. I need you safe too,” she adds, softly.
“This is all my fault,” Carrie sobs into her hands, dropping her forehead to the table.
I want to reassure her that it isn’t, and deep down I know it isn’t her fault, but I can’t get the words out because we brought her to the house and now Gia’s safety is compromised.
“It’s not your fault,” Julian snaps in anger, lifting his eyes to the ceiling.
“We need to get Gia to some place safe before we worry about this house being compromised,” Jarrod says. “Plus, she’s been here since last night so they’ll know where she is by now…and they would’ve known that this is my home before you even met Carrie.”
“God, I hate it when you’re right.” I usher Gia into a chair at the table. “Stay put while I go and check something with Julian.”
She opens her mouth to disagree and I seal it shut with my lips. “Please, Gia. I won’t leave you. I promise.” I kiss her forehead and nod my head for Julian to follow me.
22
Gia
“Wait!” Carrie shouts, lifting eyes full of tears to look at Hunter and Julian. “They made me do it.”
My blood runs cold at her words…she can’t mean… “You made everything up?”
She rapidly shakes her head as Hunter and Julian slowly approaches.
“Tell us,” I ask. “Please, Carrie. Why would you lie when they can help you?”
“They threatened my sister’s life.” She cries. “They said if I didn’t do exactly as they said that they’d ship her out of the country and I’d never see her again. They discovered your friend was telling you things so they took his fourteen-year-old daughter. They’re evil and I’ll do anything to save my sister. I figured if I did everything that they said that I could tell you the truth and you’d help get her free, except,” she cries some more and eventually calms down, “I didn’t know how to tell you the truth after I’d already lied to you.” She then quickly adds, “I only lied about the way I got to you and what was said. Everything I told you about my sister and what I’ve been through is the truth…Oh, God. You don’t think they have a voice thingy? You know so that they hear what we’re saying?” She cries.
“Nothing would work inside the house, right Dad?” I add, looking at my father for confirmation.
He nods his head. “After what happened to Gia, Hunter had a friend install a new security system and part of that means that any transmitters get scrambled as soon as they’re carried through the front door.”
“That’s good right?” Carrie asks.
I sense Hunter trying to control his temper and I know a lot of that is because of my safety, and because Carrie has lied to him. Watching him, I move closer and wrap my arms around his waist. “Think about it,” I plead, holding his gaze, “he knows that we’re in town—that I’m sure of. If anyone wants to know then it’s easy to find out my father’s address. So really, they don’t know anything that they didn’t before.”
Julian sighs. “She’s right.”
“Let’s get back to your sister.” Hunter looks at Carrie. “Do you know where she is?”
I move toward the fridge and grab some sausage and eggs because we’re all going to need something to eat, so I might as well get the lunch started.
“I don’t know. They used Facetime to show me that she was still alive… She begged me to help her.”
I glance at Carrie and a tear slips down her face before I move my gaze to my husband.
He’s still angry at what she did, and I know him as he tries to accept why Carrie lied to him. If she hasn’t compromised my safety then he’d be more accepting. That I do know.
Catching my gaze across the kitchen, Hunter winks at me causing delight to bubble up inside of me as I turn and quickly lay the sausages on the large griddle. I beat the eggs in a large jug, shoving it in the microwave to scramble. I smile at my father as he sets the bread up ready to be toasted.
Although I don’t like the reason why we’re back at my old home with my father, I’m glad that we’re here because I miss him. We talk and maybe exchange a text or two daily, but it isn’t the same as being in the same room.
After mixing the eggs one final time, I walk over to my dad and wrap my arms around his waist, sighing against his chest when he holds me tight. He kisses the top of my head, and whispers, “Are you all right?”
“Mmm, as long as the most important people in my life are, then I am.”
“It isn’t just us out there trying to put a stop to him,” my father whispers. “Colin has men working around the clock as well as the Feds.”
