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The new Crimson Blades had stepped up that day, not only protecting the town from the Serpent threat but also by doing what needed to be done. When the police found Rich’s body, in his own home, they’d ruled his death a suicide.
There’d been a note left, confessing to his guilt over embezzling the money from the Haven Center, and his role in Emily’s death. The police were far too happy to close two cases at once to look much deeper into things.
“Hey, are you daydreamin’ again?”
Bastian’s voice pulls me from my thoughts and I look up to see him leaning against the car, looking way too cool in a leather jacket and sunglasses. I walk over to him and reach up to give him a kiss. He bends down, our lips meeting for a brief moment, but it’s enough to send a flutter to my belly.
“I was just thinking about everything that happened and how lucky we are,” I tell him. He reaches out and rests a hand on my belly, rubbing little circles into it, a smile on his face.
“Thornton may have been a bastard, but he brought us to you, and now we have this little one,” Bastian agrees. “So he did one thing right in his miserable life.”
“I don’t want to think about him today,” I say. “I have news about the baby that I want to share, but I want to wait and tell everyone at the same time.”
“Oh man, is everything alright in there?” he asks, concern etched on his brow.
“Everything is fine,” I tell him. “It’s exciting news.”
“Is the due date sooner than we thought?” Bastian asks, opening the car door for me.
“No, and don’t speculate,” I say, slapping his hand away as he tries to pinch my butt as I get inside.
“Fine, I can wait,” he says, crossing over to his side of the car to get in. After we found out I was pregnant, they traded in the bikes for an SUV, so now we have three cars.
Bastian reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing it as we take off to pick up Caleb. He’s started his first semester at Watford, studying computer science. He’s become obsessed with cybersecurity since my second kidnapping, and we nudged him towards that field.
“How’s our little peanut?” Caleb asks as he gets into the car, reaching up to give me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“She has some kinda news about it, but she won’t say until we’re all together,” Bastian grumbles. “Dom won’t be home until five.”
“He’s been so busy at work lately,” I complain, rubbing a hand over my belly. It’s still quite small since I’m only fifteen weeks along but it will be growing quickly.
“Yeah, but that’s to be expected. They just reopened the Haven Center a couple of months ago,” Caleb says.
After the scandal with Rich came to light, the former board of directors of the center was suddenly clamoring to get it back up and running. The optics of having someone like Dr. Thornton get away with criminal activity because of an inefficient investigation didn’t look so good.
The news of Lorna Hull's reinstatement as Director of the newly established Haven Center had brought the community a sense of relief. Her compassionate leadership had been a guiding light for the community at one time, and her reinstatement promised new stability on the horizon.
It wasn’t just her return that filled us with hope though. An unexpected will was discovered among Rich’s things, stating that he was leaving behind a sum of money equal to what he’d stolen, along with quite a large sum to the Ravenwood boys, who “he considered his own children.” Dominic had been given a position on the board of directors for the center, to help run things with fresh eyes.
We arrive home and the boys help me inside, despite my protests. They’ve become a little overprotective after everything that happened, and I can hardly blame them.
“How is Dr. Gavin?” Caleb asks as we settle onto the couch to relax. Bastian clamors around in the kitchen, trying a new cooking experiment. They closed the bike shop since it never brought in much money, and he decided to take up all the household duties for now.
“She’s good,” I say, resting a hand on my bump. “She says that next semester I can start lecturing.”
Dr. Jordan Gavin is the head of the Psychology Department and my academic advisor and boss. I got a job working for her after Rich’s death. She was impressed by my research and mydepth of knowledge and admitted me into the graduate program as well as offering me a job as her assistant.
Things are going pretty well for us right now, and when I get to share the news, I know that it will be even better.
At five thirty on the dot, Dominic arrives home, pulling off his tie and discarding it immediately.
“He’s here!” Caleb calls.
Bastian appears from the kitchen, wearing an apron with “Kiss the Cook” written across the chest, the tantalizing aroma of barbecue filling the air, making my stomach rumble in anticipation.
“That means we get to hear the news about the baby now, right?” he asks, excitement in his tone.
“There’s news about the baby?” Dominic asks, brow raised as he leans down to kiss me.
