Flee, page 20
“At least you brought the eye-candy with you,” Tabitha teased.
Dawn snorted. “Only you would make a joke of this.”
“You’re a strong woman, Dawn. It’s a true honor to have you as our leader.”
“I think that panic attack proved I’m not as strong as you think.”
Tabitha shook her head and breathed a laugh. “That’s exactly why I said it. Most people would run and hide after a panic attack. Or never have come back here anyway.”
“I’m not letting that fucker win.”
“Good. Then let’s close this last loop. I think we finally found it.”
“No shit.”
Tabitha nodded. “I was about to do it when you walked in. I’ll let you have the honor.”
Dawn stood from the couch, wobbled a bit, then righted herself. She moved to the desk and saw what Tabitha had been working on. “What an asshole.”
Trevor was using their benevolence and pension funds to route his money. Two places that didn’t get a lot of attention because contributions and withdrawals were mostly automatic. Somehow, he set up an account for himself to withdraw funds from both. At a fifteen percent bump from what he was putting into each fund to funnel money and avoid detection.
Dawn followed Tabitha’s directions and severed the connection Trevor had to those two funds. The last two.
“He’s out?” Dawn asked.
Tabitha nodded. “He’s out. And he can’t get back in the same way. He’s done pulling money out of this company.”
Dawn burst into tears.
“Oh, my God! Are you okay?” Tabitha asked.
Zeke and Walker rushed into the room, guns drawn and eyes scanning.
“Whoa! Gentlemen, we’re good. Guns away,” Tabitha barked.
“What happened?” Zeke asked as he holstered his gun.
Walker was a little slower to put his gun away, searching the room and going into the bathroom before he was confident nothing had happened.
“I… I don’t know,” Tabitha said.
The three of them looked at Dawn and waited.
She hiccuped and sobbed, but worked to calm herself down. “I’m relieved. Happy. I didn’t mean to scare everyone. It… We locked him out of our systems and it feels like a huge victory.”
“He was in your systems?” Walker asked. “How?”
Tabitha explained the whole thing to him, from finding money flowing out to the deep dive they went through to find every place Trevor was siphoning money from Davis Developments.
“What else did he have access to?” Zeke asked.
“I don’t… know. Why?” Tabitha asked.
“Because if he was in your accounts, he could also know what projects you’re working on and could be using properties to hide or to move his product or any number of things. And if he was inside everything, we might be able to use the accounts he was pushing money to to track him. Find out where he is.”
“You can do that?” Tabitha asked.
Zeke nodded. “We can. We need to get the FBI here now.”
Tabitha and Dawn exchanged a look as Zeke made a phone call. In less than twenty minutes, an FBI post was set up in Tabitha’s office with a tech expert digging through every transaction that had gone through Davis Developments in the last few weeks.
Dawn struggled to hope it could all be over soon, but there was a part of her that wondered if it was really as easy as this. If it was possible to find Trevor and put an end to all of this with a few keystrokes and some digging.
“Should we have called the FBI?” Tabitha asked.
Dawn shrugged. “It never occurred to me.”
“Me either. Did we screw up?”
“No. We were doing what we thought was best. We weren’t trying to hide anything. They’ll find him. They have to.”
By the end of the day, the team was on the way out and Lorelei was barking orders to everyone. They had a few locations to check and a few bank accounts to shut down.
“Thank you for letting us in here today,” Lorelei said. “Every day we’re closer, but this was a huge help.”
“We didn’t realize it would help. We should have called before.”
Lorelei shook her head. “Not at all. We have this information now. We’ll get him. I’m not giving up until we do.”
“Thank you,” Dawn told her.
Lorelei nodded and led her team out of the office. Without the bustle of the FBI, the office was quiet.
“I think we need a drink,” Tabitha said.
Dawn snorted. “Have one for me. Pain meds and alcohol are a bad idea.”
Tabitha nodded. “I can definitely do that. And when all of this is really over, I’ll buy you a good drink.”
“I’m up for that.”
Tabitha smiled and packed up her things to head home to her son. She waved to Dawn and the others, hurrying before she missed the chance to be there for dinner with her kid.
“Are you ready?” Walker asked Dawn.
Dawn nodded. She collected her things and was about to walk out the door when her phone rang.
She groaned when she saw Owen’s name. She hadn’t heard from him since she forgot to get Savannah. Dawn tensed before she even answered.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Okay? No. You were attacked? You spent the night in the hospital? And you didn’t call us? Savannah is panicking over here. What the hell, Dawn?”
“How did you find out about that?”
“It was all over the news. The new CEO of Davis Developments was nearly killed in a hit and run. Anyone with any information is asked to call the FBI. What the hell is going on?”
“Shit,” Dawn breathed.
“That’s not an answer. What happened?”
Dawn sank to a chair and told Owen the whole story. He knew there was a conflict with Trevor, but not the details. As she shared everything, he said all the right things. And then he said the best thing ever.
“Savannah wants to see you. She saw the news, and she wants to have dinner. Tomorrow?”
Dawn couldn’t stop her smile. Maybe there was a silver lining to the whole thing. “Yeah, I can do that.”
21
Dawn sat across the table from Savannah and smiled. It was really good to see her kid, even if she had to almost die for it to happen. Savannah wanted to know everything about the attack. She was worried. Which was nice after being indifferent for so long.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Savannah’s hazel eyes were lit with emotion.
Dawn nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be okay. It was a close call, but the people who are protecting me are amazing and really good at what they do.”
“Normal people don’t need bodyguards, Mom,” Savannah said, eyeing Walker and Zeke, sitting at a table not far from them and trying to blend in. Trying and failing.
Dawn forced a smile. She didn’t want Savannah to worry more than she already was. “I know. And when all of this is over, I won’t need them. It’s temporary.”
Savannah scowled into her dinner.
“What?” Dawn asked.
Savannah shook her head. Not a good sign.
“I want you to talk to me, Savannah. I want us to have a relationship again.”
“Do you, though?”
Dawn startled at the venom in her daughter’s voice. “Why would I not want that?”
“You always told me actions speak louder than words, Mom. That was what you said. And your actions don’t tell me you want a relationship with me.”
“I’m sorry for that,” Dawn said, lowering her voice in hopes Savannah would do the same. “I am not the person I was eighteen months ago.”
“Are you sure?”
A slap would have hurt less. “How can you ask me that?”
Savannah shook her head. Tears shone in her eyes. She swiped at one as it fell. She rolled her lips in, avoiding Dawn’s gaze.
“Why do you think I haven’t changed?” Dawn asked, hating how desperate she was for the answer. She’d worked hard to not be the person she was when she overdosed and almost died. She never wanted to be that way again. Savannah was her motivation for all of it. Not just making up for what Savannah had to go through, but wanting to build something with Savannah. Wanting to regain her trust.
“Have you, Mom? Really, have you?”
“Well, I think so. I went to rehab. I worked to help others. I stayed away from people who could influence me in that way.”
“Just not from people who want to kill you,” Savannah snapped.
“How can you say that’s my fault?”
“You chose this. You told Dad you knew it was dangerous. But you chose it anyway. You decided to do this. You’re not different. It’s the same thing over and over again.”
“Savannah,” Dawn started, but she trailed off. Was it true? Did she accept the money because she couldn’t resist the risk?
“Why didn’t you say no?” Savannah asked.
Dawn took a minute before she answered. In the moment, it was the right choice. But if she knew then what she knew now, would she have made the same decision?
Dawn knew she would have. She knew she couldn’t let Trevor, or anyone else, intimidate her and convince her to walk away from the people she’d met. They didn’t deserve to be at the end of his wrath anymore than she did.
“The man who left me all of this, Mr. Davis, was a patient of mine. He was kind and thoughtful. He never once made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. He saw me for all of me.”
“You sound like you’re in love with him,” Savannah said with a scowl.
Dawn shook her head. “There are many different kinds of love, and a part of me did love him. He was like a father to me at a time when I didn’t think I needed that. Mr. Davis knew everything. He knew about my mistakes. And he still decided I was good enough to run his company and save it from his son.”
“So you blame me?”
“What? No. When did I say that?”
“You said he thinks you’re good enough, implying you think I don’t.”
Dawn shook her head, wondering how in the world the conversation went so far off the rails. “No. That’s not what I meant at all. I didn’t think I was good enough. I didn’t think I deserved anything. He left me a letter asking me to help, asking me to do this. He had no one else. One son was dead, his wife was dead, and his living son is obviously not a great person.”
“Obviously.”
“I knew there was a risk, but I didn’t know it would be like this. I thought he’d be angry.”
“Angry enough to try to kill you,” Savannah breathed, her emotions coming through in her words.
Dawn nodded, choosing not to tell her daughter that Trevor did kill others. Savannah didn’t need to know that. “There are a lot of people looking for him.”
“What if he comes after you again?”
“That’s why Zeke and Walker are with me. They’re part of a whole team of people that are watching out for me. It’s what they do.”
Savannah was quiet for a minute. She pushed her food around on her plate, not eating.
Dawn waited her out. Her stomach was in knots waiting for what Savannah was going to ask next. What bomb her daughter was going to drop.
“Is that why you didn’t pick me up the other day? Because someone was after you? Dad said you were at work.”
It was an out. A chance to repair a tiny bit of their relationship. But it wasn’t the truth. Dawn debated for half a second, but she couldn’t lie to Savannah. “No. I was at work. I was in the middle of something and completely forgot.”
Savannah’s hopeful expression crumbled. She looked down at her lap and picked at her fingers.
Dawn waited. She wanted the chance to apologize to Savannah that day and didn’t get it. She had to take it.
“I’m sorry I forgot. That I left you there. I had every intention of getting you. I have no excuse and no explanation, but I am sorry.”
Savannah shrugged, feigning indifference. “I don’t know why I would expect anything else.”
“Savannah.”
“Mom, don’t. I’ve never been the most important person in your life. I’m a burden, an inconvenience. I always knew it, but you’re showing me over and over again. And now you have all this money and this big job and this danger, and I’m still last in line.”
“Savannah.”
“No,” Savannah said, sweeping tears from her cheeks. “Don’t try to tell me I’m wrong. I know it’s the truth. If I was important, you wouldn’t have left me there. If I mattered, you wouldn’t have gotten so high you almost died. I had to give you CPR. Do you know how terrifying that was? To think I wasn’t going to be good enough? That I was going to be the reason you died? I still have nightmares about that, and now you’re involved with someone who wants you dead and you have bodyguards and you’re telling me you care about me. But you don’t. You don’t. You just don’t.”
“That’s not true, Savannah.”
Savannah threw her napkin on the table and stood. She shook her head and rushed off.
Zeke was right behind her. Dawn told Owen they would bring Savannah home, and Zeke was likely doing just that.
Dawn didn’t move. She wasn’t sure she could. She felt bruised and broken. Because Savannah wasn’t wrong. Dawn made a lot of choices that meant Savannah wasn’t first. She never put Savannah first.
And it was going to cost her any chance at a relationship with her daughter.
Something had to change.
Gage waited up for Dawn to come home after her dinner with Savannah. He checked the clock for the tenth time in the last five minutes. He thought Dawn would be home already, but he hadn’t heard from her.
Headlights flashed across the living room. The lights pointed at the house for another minute. Someone was in the driveway. The footsteps outside were no more subtle than the bright lights on his house, telling Gage whoever was there was not trying to be sneaky.
The door opened, and Dawn moved to the alarm panel to disarm then arm the alarm system. She turned, jumping when she saw Gage on the couch.
“How was dinner?” he asked, getting up and moving toward her in the hallway.
Dawn breathed a laugh that didn’t sound like it was humorous.
“Did something happen?”
“Savannah thinks I’m a horrible mother.”
“What? She’s wrong. You’re amazing.”
Dawn was already shaking her head. “No, she’s not wrong. I’ve put myself ahead of her so many times I’ve lost count. What kind of parent does that? What kind of parent chooses their own shit over their kid?”
“A real one,” Gage said. He gripped her arms, waiting for her to look at him. “No parent is perfect. And sometimes you have to do what you think is right long term instead of short term.”
“You don’t have kids. You don’t get it,” Dawn said.
Gage inhaled sharply and stepped back. People had said the same thing to him so many times he was surprised it still bothered him, but it did.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did,” he interrupted. “But you’re right. I’m not allowed to have an opinion because I don’t have kids.”
“Don’t be an ass,” she spat.
Gage let his breath out slowly, counting to ten as he exhaled. He didn’t want to blow up at her, but it was getting harder to keep his emotions in check.
“Savannah was pissed, and I’m… I don’t know. I’m just not in a great mood right now. She’s not wrong about the things she said. I almost died, and she had to save me. I chose to do what Robert asked, even though I knew there were risks. Hell, I forgot to pick my kid up from school and left her there alone. Not to mention the hundred times I didn’t put her first. When I didn’t try harder with my marriage, when I let Owen take the lead with Savannah, when I got involved with a man who was wrong for me and let him be around her. There are so many examples, so many times I didn’t do the right thing. And I’m paying for it now. I’m going to lose her, and I deserve it.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s true! Because we don’t get a million chances with people. I might not survive tomorrow, and my daughter will live the rest of her life thinking I didn’t care. That I didn’t care enough.”
“She knows you love her.”
“You’ve never met her. You have no idea what she knows.”
Gage stifled the growl in his throat.
“I need to put Savannah first. I need to change the way I’ve been living my life.”
“What does that mean?”
Dawn looked around the room, not meeting his gaze, and he knew what her next words were going to be.
“I need to go back to my place. I need to stand on my own and do what is right for my family. For my kid. I need to… I can’t be with you.”
She whispered the last sentence like it hurt her as much to say as it hurt Gage to hear, but that wasn’t possible. She couldn’t possibly feel like her heart was torn from her chest and stomped on. She was the one doing the stomping, not him. She was the one choosing to end things.
But he had to let her. He promised her Savannah would always come first. He meant those words, and if she thought the only way to do that was to end things with him, he would let her.
“Okay,” he said without any argument or emotion.
She sucked in a breath, like she expected him to say something else and was surprised by his easy acceptance.
“Do you want me to take you back tonight or tomorrow?”
“I have my own vehicle,” she said.
Gage nodded, understanding she wanted nothing else from him.
“Is it okay if I stay here again tonight, though? I can have Walker and Zeke put a security system in at my apartment tomorrow. Or I can go to a hotel or something.”
“No,” Gage said, more forcefully than he intended. “You can stay here. Stay safe with the alarm and the cameras. We can figure out the rest tomorrow. You can, I mean.”
Dawn nodded. “Thank you.”
Gage didn’t know what else he could say, so he said nothing.
Dawn stared at him for a minute, then pressed her lips into a small smile and went for the stairs.
