By four pm that afternoon we were back on a plane and flying home to Chicago.
“She wasn’t easy,” I huffed in reference to the model.
“The professional ones never are.” Hunter opened his laptop, his fingers rapidly punching keys.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” I leaned over and started working the tight muscles of his shoulders.
“No, just trying to stay one step ahead of JW. I have guys keeping their eyes open, guys he knows and trusts.”
“What happens if we don’t catch him first?”
“We?” Hunter’s eyes flicked to mine and lit with merriment. “You’re cute.” His finger tapped my nose before he placed a soft kiss on my lips. “If I don’t catch him first…I don’t know what happens.”
“Hunter?” I paused, working over something JW had said back at the warehouse. “What he said about your mom…do you think it’s true?”
I watched Hunter take a slow swallow before his gaze glanced out the window. “Probably.”
“But, that means–”
“I know what it means, Erin. It means shit. She’s long dead, nothing good can come of revisiting that file.”
“But he just flaunted it–“
“And I’m sure he was waiting for the right time, after all the evidence was lost, the case long forgotten. My mom was a nobody, Erin. I am a nobody, JW saved me and then he ruined my fucking life. I’m getting us out, and getting out means we don’t look back.”
“But that seems so wrong. What about justice?”
“Justice is an illusion, babe. Along with safety and privacy. Don’t dig up old skeletons. He may have done it, or maybe he just said that to get to me. He knows all the right buttons to push…”
“Family always does,” I said, curling against Hunter’s broad shoulder, my eyes falling closed as I finally allowed exhaustion to overtake me.
A few hours later we were taxiing down the runway at O’Hare and stuffing our few weekend bags into a car. Tucked under Hunter’s arm, we rode the fifteen minutes to his house in silence as I thought maybe tonight was the time to tell him. My stomach had been on the verge of upheaval for much of the weekend, as if the little life inside me was nagging me the only way he knew how, via morning sickness. I had to tell him. I could light candles and maybe we could take a bath and I would confess to Hunter what the nurses had confirmed at the hospital. Congratulations, we’re expecting!
I glanced up at his rugged profile as we sped through the evening light and wondered how he would take the news. Fear that he’d be angry had been my first worry, but looking into his verdant green depths, I had faith that he would save us.
“You look beautiful,” Hunter pulled me from my thoughts.
“Thank you.”
“I can’t wait to get you in my arms tonight in our bed.” His fingers locked with mine.
“Our?” I grinned as my heart swelled.
“Couldn’t imagine a night without you in it.” Hunter kissed my nose before the car pulled to a slow stop at his front door. “Welcome home, Princess.” Hunter’s rasp licked at my insides and had me more excited than ever to get our things unpacked and into a warm tub with him.
He pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Ladies, first.” Hunter winked and slapped at my ass as I walked by. I giggled and turned as I backed into his foyer, wrapping my arms around his neck, ready to kiss him until my lips were bruised.
His body stiffened, his hands sliding to my shoulders where he tightened painfully. “Hunter?” I backed away from his punishing force. He never recognized his own strength. “What’s wrong?” I turned to see his home exactly as we’d left it except for the closet door next to his office thrown wide open, boxes and paperwork spread across the floor.
“What’s wrong?” I asked again before Hunter was striding across the hallway, his eyes intent on the small closet that he always kept locked. Hunter hunched and began rifling through boxes as I approached. He turned and I was startled to find an automatic weapon clutched in one hand.
My mouth dropped and fear stung my eyes as I looked from the glaring gunmetal to Hunter’s angry eyes, then to the closet. More weapons stacked against the wall, boxes and electronics of all sorts, a Kevlar vest hung on one wall, well-organized shelves of surveillance items on the other. I took another step towards the closet as my eyes focused on photos pinned to the back wall hidden in shadow.
“Don’t go in there.” Hunter’s voice, thick with warning, boomed from behind me.
But it was too late. Fuck his warnings. Fuck all his talk of safety and protection.
“Hunter?” I choked on the one word running through my head at lightning speed. “How could you?”
Staring back at me were dozens of surveillance photos of myself. Some from just days ago as I was out running errands around the city. I recognized another from the morning we’d met, many of my mom and I at lunch, more of my mom alone, at her house and out, and me. Me. I was everywhere. “What the fuck is this?!” I shrieked as I stepped in, disregarding the tight grip at my elbow.
“Erin–”
“What is this?!” I tore the photos off the wall, another large stack falling from a box to my feet. More of me at the coffee shop, the library, shopping, my lawyer’s office.
Every single step the last few months he’d been watching. He’d been with me every minute of every day and I’d never even known. Fuck, I’d been such a fool. I thought he’d only been keeping tabs on Brant, and if Brant wasn’t in town, Hunter was off the clock. “You’re a bastard.” I yanked a stack of photos off a shelf and threw them at his face before I turned and rushed around him, sprinting down the hallway. Pulling my bag from where I’d dropped it at his front door, I barreled out onto the sidewalk. I had to leave, had to escape. He’d been a liar the entire time, following me. Watching me. Stalking me.
Without knowing where I was going, I bolted down the sidewalk to a taxi idling at the curb.
“733 Colfax,” I sobbed as I locked the door behind me, twisting to find Hunter bolting down the path, a desperation ravaging his beautiful face. “Go, please hurry,” I urged before the cab driver caught my frantic gaze in the mirror and gunned it.
“You need to go to the hospital?” the driver questioned with concern.
“No, no, I just need to go home,” I squeaked and pressed my hands at my stomach as bile churned and threatened to expunge itself. Such a fool. Hunter had heavy artillery, top notch security, surveillance capabilities that rivaled any major military, and he had photos of me. I had been his target.
