Page 27 of Bren

“Look at me, baby,” I tell her.

Bren lifts her head to look at me, and my heart hurts when I see her tear-drenched eyes.

“Today’s a fresh start, okay? No more apologies, just the two of us building an unbreakable relationship—not for Lexi, our parents, or anybody else, but for us.”

Bren stares at me for a long minute before she speaks.

“Okay,” she agrees, leaning forward to kiss me. I moan as my cock slips out of her warmth. She laughs softly; we lie for a little longer, but we both know we’re on limited time because Lexi will be waking up soon.

“Shower with me,” she invites.

“I’d love to,” I accept, lifting her off me and getting out of bed. As we wash the evidence of our tears away, I can’t help but be grateful I’ve been given a second chance. This time I’d do my best not to fuck it up.

Chapter 14

BREN

It’s been two weeks since that morning. I wasn’t sure what had changed for me, but I was tired of fighting with Alec. I could admit to myself that he’s always been the one for me and more than likely always would. We’ve settled into a routine, and I can’t say that I hate it.

This Alec was so different from the Alec of the last few years. I wasn’t sure what to do now that Lexi and I were his sole focus. It was like he’d done a complete one-eighty. Both Sam and Ben had told me that he’d been the one to organise my security even though Dad had already been working on it. He’d gone to Dad with a secondary plan. Not that Ellie or I’d argued about the security. We were by no means defenceless; our family had made sure of that, but I wasn’t going to say no to additional eyes, and the guys had more muscle than we did.

That being said, both Ellie and I wore our boots with the hidden knife compartments that Aunt Noni had had custom-made for us years ago, and we each wore our bracelets that could be used as a garrotte if needed or to tie someone up. Our trackers were working; Ellie checked them daily. We were as prepared as we could possibly be. Carly had upped our training again, much to my dismay. She knew how much I hated it, but I also knew that I needed to keep it up. The bonus of having to get sweatythree times a week was that my body was firming up nicely after having Lexi.

“There’s another one,” Ellie says quietly from her desk in the office we’re sharing. We’d taken over the spare office in Beau and Bella’s company. Not only were they in the middle of the village, but they had a security system, and Beau was in the office with us. I looked over at Ellie when she spoke, pulled out of my profit and loss spreadsheets.

“Did you say something, Els?”

Ellie nods towards the TV that was hung on the wall in the reception. Usually, it shows the different currencies and FTSE index. When the news comes on, it switches over. There’s a breaking news banner running along the bottom of the screen. Standing up, I walk into the reception, picking up the control; I adjust the volume to listen to what the reporter was saying.

‘There has been another body discovered in the New Forest. The police are still investigating, but early reports are showing that the body was found in a similar condition to the previous victims. So far, the police are not releasing anything further. We’ll keep you updated as more information is revealed.’

She ended her report, and the cameraman panned out so that we could see the entire scene.

“How many is that?” I ask.

“Four in two weeks,” Ellie replies from behind me. There’s something in the tone of her voice that has me turning to look at her.

“What’s wrong?” I want to know. Going towards her, I wrap my arm around her.

Ellie shivers slightly. Beau walks out of his office into the reception. Switching off the telly, he asks, “What’s going on?”

“There’s been another murder and something about it has upset Ellie,” I answer him.

“What’s bothering you about it, Els?” Beau asks gently. Taking her hand, he walks her over to the couch in his office and tucks the blanket he keeps on the back around her. The action surprises me; I didn’t think that Beau cared much about anything but his spreadsheets, but it seems like all of us, he has a soft spot for Ellie. He doesn’t wait for her answer, though; instead, he disappears once he’s tucked her in and I can hear him knocking about in the small kitchen.

Ellie hesitates before she speaks, “I don’t have any proof, okay, just a feeling.”

Sitting on the edge of the couch, I put a hand on her leg and squeeze her calf, “Ellie, you know I’ll believe whatever you have to say.”

Beau comes back in with a mug of tea that he hands Ellie, “Here, it’s camomile,” he tells her before sitting on the coffee table as we wait to hear what she has to say.

Ellie cradles her mug of tea and still looks uncertain when she says, “I think it’s Christian Helmsworth killing those girls. I can’t prove it. It’s a feeling. Whenever the news reports on murder, I get that same oily feeling I had when we met with them at the factory that day.

“I also don’t think these are the first murders he’s done. I think there are more, but the police haven’t connected the dots.”

“We need to let Reaper know,” Beau says, taking his phone out of his pocket. “Maybe he can get Greg to give him some information.”

“Good idea,” I agree. Greg has long been a friend of the family and was our local contact in the police. Patting Ellie’s leg to gether attention, “I have a feeling you’re right, Ellie. It just means we have to be extra careful, okay?”

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