Page 73 of The Attraction

“Sorry, I’m the one who has to listen to you talking out loud and laughing at that crazy podcast about sex.” I take a strawberry off her plate that is still sitting there after she finished eating her pancakes. I mean, what else do you have for a special birthday breakfast.

“It’s not just sex.” She slaps my hand just as I’m about to dip the strawberry in the leftover chocolate sauce on her plate.

“Oh my God, do you listen to Trinny, Veronica, and Christina on that podcastThree is Always Better,too?” Tori yells at Harper across the table.

“Me too!” Elouise starts laughing. “I listen on my AirPods when I’m up in the middle of the night nursing or during the day when the baby is sleeping, and Blaise is at school. It’s not a good idea for a woman who has recently given birth and her pelvic floor hasn’t quite recovered yet, to be laughing that much. But seriously, they make my day.”

“Best way to start the day.” Harper is laughing at the girls’ excitement.

“I thought I was the best way to start the day?” I whisper, winking at her, which brings a little blush to her face. Just a hint of pink but enough for me to notice and make me smile.

“What am I missing out on?” Cherie asks.

“Oh, sister, you need to get on to this shit. It’s the best comedy relief you will ever get.” Elouise shows Cherie her phone to point it out to her.

“Yeah, you too can listen to stories about some man who thought avocado was the best lube he could get,” I throw out there, and poor Nic, who had just taken a mouthful of coffee, starts to choke.

“What the actual fuck are you girls listening to? Baby, are you on this too?” Flynn turns to Felisha who has a smirk on her face.

“When I get time, it’s hilarious,” she replies to him, while Tori is still thumping Nic on the back to settle his coughing from choking on his coffee.

“Sorry, buddy,” I call across the table to Nic, when I see Rem pick up his phone off the table, and his eyes fix on me in a way that I know means there’s trouble. The slight chin lift tells me to follow him inside as he excuses himself from the table to take the call.

“I’m just going to bathroom,” I quietly say to Harper. She nods that she heard me and continues the conversation with the girls, and I can hear Flynn asking plenty of questions. He will regret it when they start giving him the answers.

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with this guy. It’s like he just won’t let it go,” I hear Rem saying, and I know without asking that it’s about Harper.

It was stupid of us to think he would leave her alone with how hard he has been searching for her.

There is silence while Rem is listening, and I want him to put the call on speaker, but I know we can’t risk Harper or any of the girls hearing the call. It’s Harper’s birthday and I want it to be perfect for her.

“Like we told you when you were here, we will pay whatever it takes to have eyes on this guy 24/7. There is no way we are letting anything happen to her, or her family.” Rem stops talking, but his body language is stiff, and I don’t like that at all. “Yeah, she’s still living with Forrest. And that won’t be changing anytime soon, if ever.”

Too fucking right. If I have my way, she won’t spend another night away from me. I don’t care where we live, her newly renovated apartment or mine. I just want her in my bed at night and letting me feed her breakfast every morning.

“Okay, thanks, we truly appreciate you watching him. I know you are busy on another case, and this was just a side thing, but if it wasn’t for you, we would have had no idea she was in danger.” Rem is winding up the call. “I’ll be in touch once we get a plan together.” Just a small pause and then he says goodbye and ends the call.

I feel like I’m about to climb out of my skin.

Before I even get to open my mouth, he places his hand on my shoulder and guides me further into the villa into a quiet bedroom and away from anybody else.

“Don’t lose your shit, just let me talk.” Rem stops in front of me.

“Get on with it then,” I growl, because I’m hanging on by a thread.

“Chester has started searching all of Harper’s family now, and Ashton’s team saw him exchange a bundle with a guy who is known to be associated with the dark and corrupt underworld in Chicago. We don’t know what was in that bundle, it could’ve been drugs, but it could’ve also been a passport. Ashton is trying to find that out, with the help of his people on the ground.”

Rem is looking at me with concern, and I’m sure it’s because of the rage he can see on my face.

“If he steps one foot in this country, then he will have to face me. I told you that getting a fake passport would be easy. Christ, if Harper could manage to get one for Felisha, then a guy who’s spent seventeen years in prison with men who know all the wrong people, then surely he can too. Even if this package wasn’t a passport this time, the next package will be for sure,” I bark in a low voice, even though I want to yell really fucking loudly.

“Calm the fuck down. Ashton won’t let that happen, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be on alert. I’ll talk to the others and Sandon, but for now, it means that she can’t be alone. Ashton is working on a way to get Chester to step out of line so he can get him locked up again. Alleviate the problem.” I’m hearing Rem’s words, but it doesn’t mean I’m taking them in. Sure, having Chester back in jail would solve our problem, but I will never rest knowing that he is out there wanting a piece of Harper and her family.

“That’s just a temporary solution, until he gets out the next time. Locking him up on a petty crime isn’t going to keep him in there for long. A guy like this has waited seventeen years. Who’s to say he won’t wait another five years until he is released next time and then strike again, when none of us will know it’s coming. We got lucky this time.” Taking a breath, I say something I didn’t ever imagine I would. “What if we pay him the money his family lost?”

“No fucking chance! That will just put Harper in more danger.” I know Rem’s right, but it doesn’t stop me from wishing it were that easy. I have the money and would do anything to make this all go away.

“Plus, you know it would just make him come looking for more. Giving him money is like you are acknowledging you owe him something. The guy’s unstable, who knows what he thinks his seventeen years in jail are worth. Don’t be crazy, just let us do our job.” Rem’s voice is now just as agitated as mine.

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