AllFreeNovel
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A few minutes later, we come up for air, panting like we’ve just run a marathon. “Logan?”
“Allie?” I murmur into her neck, not willing to completely remove my lips from her.
She tilts her head to the side giving me better access to the elegant column of soft skin. “I’ve always loved you too,” she whispers.
My head jerks up. Our eyes lock and the intensity within the green depths links my heart to hers forever.
We’ve been idiots, pretending to hate each other for years, when really all along the invisible connection was drawing us closer. The universe was aligning to the right time for us to be together. And that’s now.
Allie shifts her butt higher up my thighs, her intent obvious when she rises. Water and bubbles slosh out over the rim of the tub onto the tiled floor.
Neither of us cares because we’ve just discovered that we love each other and we’re too busy celebrating.
***
A couple of hours later, Todd, Allie, and I are sitting at the table. Allie’s beside me tonight, her hand held firmly in the palm of mine.
Todd looks up from the laptop. “Did you read the report about your mother?” he asks in his deep, smooth, no-nonsense voice. Allie nods, looking calm and strong.
After making love to her in the bath, she told me that just knowing that I love her shields her from the pain of her childhood. And it made me feel like a fucking hero.
Todd bangs against a few more keys on his laptop. “Good. So, you know your mother was having an affair with a man called Roger Walters. At that time, he was an upcoming producer in Hollywood.”
“Yes.”
“Good. Well, last week he was arrested for financial fraud. I need to do a little more digging but based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m reasonably sure he was the person sending the texts.”
“How sure?” I ask because reasonably sure is not enough for a numbers man like me.
“About ninety-five percent. He’s got form. I’ll be flying out to LA after the holidays to meet with the detectives who’ve been working on the case. They agree with my findings to date. I have another report here for you.” Todd pulls another A4-sized brown envelope from his bag and places it on the table. The package is a lot thicker than the last one.
He addresses his next comments to Allie. “Would you like me to give you a summary?” Allie nods, still not saying anything.
“Right! I’ll go back to just after your father’s trial. Mr. Walters lived with your mother at the Malibu house for just over six months, leaving about the time that she was declared bankrupt.”
Allie gasps. “Seriously, they lived in my family home. Did the woman have no shame?”
Todd shakes his head but otherwise ignores the question. “Next, he moved on to a rich widow and was with her for ten years or until she also was declared bankrupt. At that point, he was already working at the studio which became his next target. Last week he was charged with embezzlement and has been in jail since then.”
Allie turns to me. “That’s why there have been no texts since last week.”
Todd nods. “I’ve requested his phone records, but I expect he had burner phones so we may not find any proof. However, the LA cops have identified an executive at the studio that he was blackmailing. There were a lot of similarities in the texts between yours and those.”
“But how did he find Allie?” I ask, hardly able to believe that this grifter was the cause of so much pain.
“Her mother. They gave the details of her new persona to her because at the time she had to sign the FBI paperwork. He must have found it when he was living with her and held onto it for all those years. Waiting. And when you returned to the States, he saw you in the high-profile campaign. I guess he saw you as another money spinner.”
Damn, if Allie’s mother hadn’t done enough damage, it turns out this all goes back to her too.
“Was he ever here in the city?” I ask, needing to know the exact level of danger Allie had been in.
“No. He followed you through social media.”
“So that is where he saw Allie and I together?” I remember now there have been a couple of photos of us together in the press.
Todd begins to pack up, closing his laptop. “There’s a lot more information in the envelope, and I expect following my visit to LA there will be more to come.”
We all stand and when I walk Todd to the door, Allie comes too. Before he leaves, she gives him a hug and thanks him. Todd looks a little uncomfortable at the show of affection but smiles regardless. I nearly laugh out loud because he’s an even moodier dude than I am. Yet Allie seems to have even softened him.
