Love Deserved, page 10
Refocusing on the box, I read the shipping label but didn’t notice the sender’s address. The package wasn’t so heavy that I struggled to hold it, but it wasn’t light. “Wonder what this could be.”
“You weren’t expecting anything?”
“No.” I placed the box on the golf cart and tore at the tape. “It must be something my mom ordered, so I would say it’s something for the baby.”
Mia’s face lit up when I mentioned our child. Her smile was contagious. I loved seeing her happy.
“I have a feeling your mother will spoil our baby.” She patted her baby bump as she waited for me to open the package. It was impossible to focus on anything but her sometimes. This was one of those moments. I could see her curiosity and excitement.
As the tape peeled away, I opened the flaps of the box. Inside was a metal container. I pulled it out of the package, noting the tiny holes lining the top.
“What in the hell?” I mumbled the words and studied the object. “Whatever it is, it’s locked.”
“Look. There’s a key taped inside the box.” Mia removed the tape and lifted the key. After she handed it to me, I pushed it into the lock. Why would my mom send a sealed gift?
Once it clicked open, I pulled it from the container and grabbed the lid. It was off within seconds. Yet, when I looked inside the hollow cylinder, my heart sank.
Grabbing Mia’s arm, I jerked her back and placed her behind me. She tried to protest and ask what I was doing, but I shook my head at her and motioned for her to be quiet. Then I kicked the container off the golf cart.
“Ayden, why did you…?” Her voice faded. She gasped a second later. “Oh my God!”
She clung to me as I backed us up a few steps. A moment later, a giant snake slid out of the container. After a couple of feet, it stopped moving. One of the security guards noticed. The instant he saw the snake, he radioed one of the maintenance crew to bring a shovel. When he finished, he motioned to Mia and me.
“Stay put. The less movement we have, the better.”
I signaled an okay sign to him and turned to wrap my arms around Mia. Her gaping mouth spoke of her terror. Once I pulled her to my chest, she looked up.
“What kind of snake is it? Please tell me it isn’t venomous.”
“I’m not sure what it is, but it looks like a copperhead.”
“What?” Her voice shook as she cringed. “We don’t have them in this area.”
“We have them in Tennessee. Still, I don’t know anyone who would send this to me.”
Mia eased away. She scanned the grounds like she was looking for something—or someone. Then she glanced at me. “I know who would send it. Izzy.”
She made a valid point. Izzy and I had lived together in my home state. I don't know what she knew about the wildlife, but she was intelligent enough to research the information. As strange as her behavior had become, I wouldn’t put anything past her. I couldn’t.
“Izzy needs to leave. I won’t risk her hurting us, especially you two.” I placed my hand against her belly. “We could have opened that package in your suite. This could be a lot worse.”
“I know.” She folded her hand over mine. “Maybe we should leave for a while. My dad said he would return and help Andi run the business.” Her eyes lowered to my chest as she played with the button on my shirt. “We could go someplace private. You could write new songs. We would have time to ourselves.”
The more she talked, the fewer reasons I had to argue. We didn’t have any tours scheduled. Aside from whatever Doug found for the band, our next big mission was to create a new album. The guys could do promotional stuff while I was away. There was no reason not to leave.
“So when should I pack? It won’t take me long.”
Mia’s lips curled up. Her hand rested on my cheek as she said, “I can get us out of here within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Tell me where you want to go.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll follow you wherever, even to the ends of the earth.”
Before she could reply, a maintenance member arrived. It didn’t take him long to corner the snake and maneuver it into the canister. Once he captured it and placed it in his work truck, a sense of relief filled me. The snake was secure. Soon, Mia and I would be too. After we left Music Haven, we would stay in a secluded spot for a while.
I didn’t care where we traveled, or how long we stayed. I looked forward to being away from Izzy’s prying eyes. Her instability worried me. She would do anything to keep Mia and me apart.
The second the maintenance guy drove through the community gate, I spotted Izzy standing a few feet away. It wasn’t the way she narrowed her eyes at me that sent a chill down my spine. It was the way her lips lifted in a sinister smile.
Chapter 11
~Mia~
Being pregnant meant being tired every second of the day for me. I hadn’t intended to fall asleep while waiting for my father to arrive. When I woke earlier and texted Andi to see if he’d made it, I hadn’t expected to hear he had. She’d caught him up on recent changes around the grounds and other information he needed.
After learning my dad was there, Ayden and I headed toward the arena. As soon as we passed through the gate, I spotted Andi and Bentley. Both stood next to my dad as he spoke with Tommy from security. I caught the end of their conversation as we approached.
“Did you check the security footage to see if he was on it?”
“Yes, sir. We’re waiting on a call back from one of the local delivery agencies.”
“Good. Keep me posted.” As soon as my father noticed me, he paused what he was saying and smiled. Then his gaze shifted to Ayden. “We are trying to locate the person who delivered the package.”
“What do you know so far?” Ayden asked.
Andi rubbed her forehead and answered. “The guy claimed he was working for a new courier. I’d never heard of the company, so I did some digging. Turns out, this company doesn’t exist. Just to play it safe, I called the other delivery services. They didn’t have any packages scheduled to be delivered, and they don’t ship live animals.”
“Sounds like this was a setup.” Ayden’s assumption matched mine. We both knew who was responsible. All we needed was proof. Hopefully, my father would find something.
“Andi, keep me posted on any information you receive. And thank you for catching me up with the business. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“It’s great to see you, Shane. We’ve missed you around here.” She hugged my father before she and Bentley joined hands and waved to us. Once they headed for the arena, I became the center of my dad’s attention.
“I’m happy to see you, princess.” My father crushed me to his chest in a tight embrace.
A lot had changed since we last saw each other. We wouldn’t have time to catch up since I was leaving. Still, I sensed both excitement and anxiety in my father’s energy. I didn’t know where he was directing his conflicting emotions.
As my dad eased back, his lips tightened, then he lifted them in a smile. “I still can’t believe my baby is having a baby.”
“Dad,” I enunciated the word as I placed my hand at my waist. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine.”
Ayden hadn’t spoken. He stood behind me, leaning against one of the large cement flower planters in front of the arena. I knew he was nervous about my father’s reaction. The first time they met didn’t start well, but Ayden earned my father’s respect before the night ended.
Now he’d gotten me pregnant. Regardless of how happy the news made us, Ayden worried my father wouldn’t feel the same. He knew my dad would stress over me.
My dad rubbed my arm, then stuck his hand out and shook Ayden’s. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Ayden. Thank you for watching over my girl.”
“No need to thank me, sir. I would do anything to keep her safe.”
“As would I.” My father touched Ayden’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “You understand this on my level now, don’t you?”
Ayden nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Fathers put their children first. They protect them. I know you feel the same about your child.”
“Absolutely. It’s why we’re adamant about leaving for a while.” Ayden reached for me. He clasped my hand and laced his fingers with mine. The heat of his body warmed my arm as I leaned against his chest. “I appreciate you filling in for Mia so that we can get away.”
My dad chuckled. “Trust me, son. I appreciate you getting her away more than you can imagine. She’s needed a break for a while. Now it’s dire.”
Squeezing me tighter, Ayden nodded. “How will you deal with Izzy?”
His question left my stomach in knots. While I couldn’t deny that I worried about what Izzy might do to our father, my dad assured me he wasn’t afraid. If anyone could get her to be rational, it would be him. He was the biggest reason my grandfather never made Izzy leave. She always left on her own accord, but not until she caused enough chaos.
My father lowered his gaze to the ground as he shook his head. He adjusted the cufflinks on his shirt, then moved to his tie. Once he tightened it, he looked at Ayden. “Don’t worry about Izzy. Leave her up to me. Get my daughter to a safe place and take care of her. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Trust me, Shane. I give you my word that I will protect Mia with my life.”
“Good.” My father’s voice hit a gruff tone. His face looked like it had aged twenty years. He looked past me to what I assumed was the water fountain in the distance, the one he dedicated to my mom. “Mia’s the only thing left of my Morgan.”
I held my breath when my father mentioned my mother. The pain in his voice was clear to me. It was always there whenever he brought up the subject of her.
“Dad, I’ll be fine.” I left Ayden’s side and folded my hands over my father’s. “You won’t lose me. In fact, next year, you will gain another part of me. You’ll have a grandchild.”
He grasped my hands and patted the top of one as he nodded. “I know you don’t understand my fear. I’ve never told you what happened to your mother when she was pregnant with you.”
As his words repeated in my mind, my skin pimpled. I glanced at Ayden, but the way his brow rose said my father’s response confused him. “What are you talking about, Dad?”
My father turned to the planter and played with one of the flower shoots. “When your mother was about eight and half months pregnant with you, she flew to Phoenix to meet with an old dance instructor who trained her in New York. She wanted him to work with our choreographers. I didn’t accompany her on the trip because a band I was trying to sign was giving me grief.”
“Did something happen while Mom was away?”
I leaned against Ayden as I waited for my father to answer. He nodded, but he never looked away from the flowers.
“She was supposed to return home the next day. Unfortunately, she never showed up at the airport. The pilot alerted me to the situation, so I told him to stay until she arrived. I thought she was running late or stuck in traffic.” He glanced at me briefly before turning toward the fountain again. “When she didn’t show up that afternoon, I knew something was wrong. I left instructions with the airport personnel to call if she arrived. Then I asked the pilot to return for me.”
“Did she ever arrive?” A chill spread down my spine when he shook his head. Ayden’s arms wrapped around me as we both listened to the story my father was telling. “What happened, Dad?”
“By the time I arrived in Phoenix and checked into the hotel where your mother stayed, it had been twenty-four hours since I’d heard from her. I retraced her steps, met with her former instructor, and talked to everyone who saw her that day. No one knew where she was.”
“So mom disappeared?”
“That’s the way it looked. The cops weren’t much help, so I stayed for a week, searching for her. Then I came home. I thought your mom had left me and it devastated me, but that wasn’t the case.”
Ayden shifted his weight to his other foot before pulling me closer. He must have felt me trembling. I couldn’t help it. The thought of my mom disappearing concerned me.
“A couple of days after I returned, I received a phone call. The person had a distorted voice. I thought it was a prank until the person said they had your mother. I heard her crying in the background.”
“Someone kidnapped my mother?”
My stomach knotted when my dad nodded. I gripped Ayden’s arm as I faced him. I tried to speak, but no words came out. He couldn’t talk either. All he did was rub my arm and look at my father again. Once I did the same, I noticed the tears in my dad’s eyes.
“I told the caller I would pay any amount of money they wanted to get my wife back. They said they wanted to make me suffer. When I begged them not to hurt your mom, they hung up the phone.”
“What did you do?”
Wiping at his eyes, he pulled a handkerchief from his slacks and blew into it. “Your grandparents and I involved the cops, but it didn’t do us any good. I would get a call every day. All I could hear was your mother crying and begging someone not to hurt her baby. This dragged on for two weeks straight.”
“How did this not make national news?” Ayden asked. His hold had tightened around me to the point I could barely move. What my father was describing had to be a husband and father’s worst nightmare. I could only imagine how Ayden would react.
“We were working with the Feds, but my father knew many people. If he didn’t want the media snooping around, they didn’t. He was an influential man.”
I always knew people respected my grandfather, but I didn’t know he could pull strings like this. I’m sure he did it to protect my mother’s life, as well as mine. The media sometimes made matters worse.
“You said this lasted for two weeks. What happened after that?” Ayden had taken over asking questions. I couldn’t. My mind was so blown that processing the information was a challenge.
Once my father put his handkerchief away, he took a deep breath and released it. Then he gazed at me. The memories racing through his mind were causing him pain.
“The Feds finally located where the calls were originating. When we arrived at the location, we passed a car. Another one was about to leave, but they caught the driver. He had you in his arms. I did not know it was you until we found your mother. She was in the basement, half-naked and delirious.”
He gazed into the distance and laughed half-heartedly. I wanted to remind him that everything turned out okay, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if my mother had ever fully recovered from this horrible incident.
“This is unbelievable,” I mumbled.
I wasn’t sure if my dad even heard me. He didn’t acknowledge what I said when he began speaking again. “While the medics accessed your mom, I left to find you. Another medic was checking your vitals. Once they cleared you, they bundled you up and placed you in my arms. I held you as I watched the cops cuff the man and throw him in the back of the police cruiser. I found out later that I had just missed your birth by an hour.”
As I stood there, every nerve in my body throbbed with the beat of my heart. The revelation blew me away. No wonder my father was worried about my safety.
“What about the car that pulled out when you arrived? Who was in it? Were they involved in Mom’s kidnapping?”
“I didn’t get that answer until after your mother passed away.” My dad shook his head. He glanced at the ground as he mumbled something under his breath. When he gazed at me, anger entered his eyes. “The tire tracks were the reason I found out. The police never located the car, but the tracks matched up to another case about eight years later.”
There was something else he wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t sure what, and part of me was afraid to ask. It was difficult for him to talk about my mother. Not only had he done that today, but he also shared a painful memory as well. Still, I had a feeling I needed to know the truth.
“So who was it? What other crime did this person commit?”
My mind raced with so many questions. I thought I knew everything about my mother. Turns out I was wrong, and that simple fact angered me.
“The person responsible for your mother’s kidnapping also caused her death.”
The world around me spun. I clung to Ayden, trying to ground myself. No matter what I did, disbelief racked my body. “Are you saying…?”
“Yes, Mia. Selena Giles kidnapped your mother. Izzy’s mom is the reason I missed your birth.”
Chapter 12
~Ayden~
I made Mia a promise the moment we stepped on her family jet. If we went to Tennessee for a week so she could meet my parents, we would go to her family cabin for Christmas. This trip wasn’t just about keeping her safe. It was about getting her to relax and have a stress-free pregnancy. It’s what she deserved, not what she’d received.
From the moment our relationship began, we’d dealt with some level of stress. From fighting our feelings for each other to hiding the fact we were together, we worried about things we shouldn’t have. It only grew worse upon Izzy’s arrival, but Wesley played his part in all the chaos. Mia and I thought getting rid of Wesley would make things easier for us. Wrong. We’d gone from two meddling exes to one deranged ex who couldn’t let go.
If Izzy was behind the jacked up steps or the snake that was shipped, I wouldn’t stop until she paid for her crimes. She wasn’t escaping punishment this time, not after the damage she’d caused.
To top things off, Mia’s father revealed a secret about her birth just an hour before we left. His admission messed with Mia’s mind, and it did the same to mine. As if I wasn’t worried enough about her safety, especially after Izzy threatened her, it was disturbing to learn Izzy’s mother had kidnapped Morgan Brooks. If the police hadn’t discovered the house, would Mia and her mother have survived? I shuddered at the thought.
