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Dad presses his phone to his ear, stepping out as he starts barking orders into it.
I get up to follow him since I am one of his team, but my mother jerks her head up and points at my seat. “Sit down, young lady. You’re no longer a part of the investigation into the stalker. They know who he is now. They’ll find him.”
“We need to pull security footage from the bar,” I implore her quietly. “I can help. All from the safety of the resort.”
“No,” she says, and Camille gives me sympathetic smile but nods her agreement.
“Your mom is right, sweetheart. If it was anyone else… We know how competent and smart you are, but someone else can pull the footage.”
“If there even is any,” Vincent mumbles. “It was a pretty old place. I doubt they have a state-of-the-art system installed. How about the street cams? Any way of getting footage off that? I just realized that he never asked me which hotel we were staying at when we left the bar. He just said he knew a shortcut and started walking. I was so wasted I didn’t think anything of it until now.”
Jonathan shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, Vince. We probably won’t get access to the street cams, though. That footage belongs to a foreign government.”
“There’s no way we’ll get it without a court order, and we don’t have enough evidence to get one of those. We can’t hack the cams either because… well, foreign government. The Swiss at that.”
“Do we really need the footage, though?” Maxim asks. “I mean, we know it’s him. Now that we’ve got a name, surely we can find pictures of him to circulate among the security team and to the authorities.”
“If he’s got his father’s talent for staying hidden or any of his contacts, possibly even his prison contacts, we won’t find him until he wants to be found,” Jonathan says solemnly. “The best thing we can all do is to stay out of Mike’s way.” He glances at me. “That means you too, honey. We all know how good you are at your job, but this guy has made you a target. Unfortunately, that means if you’re involved, your dad and the others will be worried about you, and they won’t be able to focus fully on catching him.”
Disappointment races through me, but I’ve never been in a situation like this, and they all have. Plus, he’s absolutely right. The last thing I want is to hinder the investigation just because I’m too stubborn to see I’m not helping by insisting on being involved.
“I’ll step aside.” I assure him. Besides, Vincent needs me more than my dad and his team do right now. I’ve always prioritized work above all else, but not this time. I love Vincent, and if we’re really going to try to be together, then he has to become my number one priority, along with my family and their safety.
“Can we go now?” I ask. “We should let the others know that the beach bonfire is canceled.”
“It’s not canceled,” my mother says firmly.
Camille picks up from her seamlessly, as if they discussed this beforehand, but I know there’s no way they could have. It’s scary how in tune they are with each other sometimes. “That man has taken enough from us. We’re not letting him or his devil spawn take tonight from us in addition to everything else. It’s a celebration of everything we’ve achieved and how far we’ve come. We’re not canceling just because of this misguided idiot.”
“Nothing has really changed except that we know who he is now.” Mom carries on. “That’s a good thing. Anyone who’s no longer in the mood to celebrate doesn’t have to attend, but other than that, there’s no reason to cancel. We’re perfectly safe here. The resort is perfectly secure, which is one of the primary reasons Dad picked it for the break.”
“It’s only us and the staff while we’re here. Vincent said he needed these pictures, and we need everything to appear normal to the outside world,” Camille reiterates. Then she smiles, and even though I can see it’s a forced one, I appreciate it. “Besides, we’ve got a lot to catch up on with you two, it seems. I, for one, could use a glass of wine, a plate of freshly cooked seafood, and some background to your story. I can’t believe none of us knew.”
“We knew,” Maxim says proudly, then ducks when Vincent reaches out to punch his shoulder. A smile cracks on my face then because we’re going to be all right, all of us. I don’t know why Joe’s son is suddenly after us, but we beat the evil dad, and we’ll beat the devil spawn too.
As long as we stick together, nothing and no one can touch us. And in the end, that’s all that matters.
25
VINCENT
For the next few days, it feels as if we’re in the eye of the storm. There’s a strange calm now that we’ve figured out who the stalker is, and despite his creepy connection to Joe, everyone feels better for knowing his identity.
I still feel like an idiot for having befriended the dude and not even realizing it, but between Olivia, Maxim, and Emma, who are the only people who know why I really left that day, they’ve made me realize that self-preservation is important too. I wasn’t just acting out or being stubborn.
Emma even pulled me aside after our meeting and told me she wasproudof me for leaving. She said it showed that I was growing up that I didn’t just give in and screw Olivia when I didn’t know how I felt about her because I knew it would mean more to her than that.
As Mom and Karen said, the bonfire on the beach worked out just fine. Nothing untoward happened, and everyone had as good of a time as they could under the circumstances, but the atmosphere was more subdued than it usually is when we’re all together.
“What are you thinking about?” Olivia asks as she walks out of the bathroom, freshly showered and looking ready for the day in denim shorts and a white T-shirt.
She frowns when she notices what I’m holding. “Why did you bring me flowers? Did you do something wrong?”
I laugh, rolling my eyes as I shake my head and go to her, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her close. “Should I only bring you flowers when I’ve done something wrong? I didn’t fucking do anything. I just thought you might like them. I know you’ve been down about being taken off the team going after Justin, so I thought these might cheer you up.”
“You’re very sweet.” A small smile touches her lips before she cocks a brow as she looks back up at me. “You thought? Or your mom thought?”
“Does it really matter? I’m the one who got them.”
