Page 9 of Knight's Desire

Brick cleared his throat, holding his friend’s gaze as he spoke. “I meant it when I said you don’t have to tell me a thing. You owe me no explanation for wanting to return to the teams. But something is going on with you. I can see it even if I hadn’t talked to Jay. Whatever it is, you need to come to terms with it before it starts affecting your work and your time with Aidan. He needs his dad at one-hundred percent just as much as we do.”

Sam dropped his gaze to his hands where they rested on the bar. He nodded. “I know. You’re right. Monica blindsided me, and I’m still trying to make sense of it.”

Curiosity burned within him, but Brick kept quiet. Sam would open up in his own time.

“She left. Packed up everything she owned and left a couple of weeks ago. You can’t even tell she ever lived at the house. All I have to show for our time together is a damn note that just makes me confused. I loved her. I still love her. Aidan loves her. I thought she was happy with us. Shit. It’s a mess.”

“I’m sorry, man. Did she say why?”

“Not to my face. In the note, she said some shit like she had nothing left to give. She needed time to herself. She didn’t know who she was anymore. She needed to focus on her needs. God, it’s so stupid. If we’d been fighting, I could probably understand why she would want to leave. But nothing seemed off to me. Everything was normal as far as I could tell. I don’t get it.”

“What about Aidan?”

“She left him behind. She said she wants to work out visitation at some point, but for now, she needs a break. Whatever is going on, she made it clear in the note that she wanted nothing to do with me and only wanted Aidan after she had time to do whatever the hell she wanted without any of the responsibility. Who does that?”

“Maybe you should try and talk to her. If she didn’t feel like talking in person, she might be willing to explain over the phone at least.”

Sam shook his head. “I’ve called. Her phone’s been disconnected. I even had Syd try to find her. It’s like she’s off the grid. She took enough out of our savings account to live off of for a few months, but she didn’t clean it out. That’s something I guess. She could have robbed me blind before I ever had a clue something was wrong. How could I not see this coming?”

“I hate to ask this, but do you think part of it is because of Chloe?”

Chloe Stephens shared a special connection with Sam and his family. They first met her through Sydney when she worked with KSI to take down her abusive ex-fiancé, Emmett Carter. Carter was on KSI’s radar as a sex trafficker before they met Sydney, but once he started harassing her, they provided protection for her and those close to her. As Sydney’s best friend, Chloe had been assigned a security detail, which included Sam most of the time. The two had a bond much like a brother and sister.

The case blew open when Carter kidnapped Sydney and Chloe about the time they realized Carter’s stepbrother, Danny Dawson, masterminded their criminal enterprises. The Alpha Team, including Sydney’s husband, Cole “Panther” Atwood, the Delta Team and the investigators found them, went in to rescue the women and take down the entire operation. They were successful, but not before Dawson raped Chloe.

Though Dawson was killed during the rescue, Chloe dealt with the emotional repercussions of her trauma. Counting her as one of the family, they all offered support to her in the years that followed, but Chloe found healing through her interaction with Sam’s family, especially Aidan. The little boy had them all wrapped around his finger, but Chloe had appointed herself his honorary aunt, content to spoil him and spend as much time with him as she could. Monica had always seemed open to including Chloe in their family, but Brick wondered if something had changed.

“You would think Monica would be annoyed at how much time Chloe spends with Aidan, but no. The irony is she said she finally felt free to leave because she knew she wasn’t leaving me and Aidan without support. She knew Chloe would help. Like I said, it’s messed up.”

Brick exhaled, shock settling in his system. “Sorry, man. I know that’s lame, but I don’t know what else to say. I just…I would never have thought…I mean—”

“I know. That’s how I’ve been too. None of it makes sense. I haven’t talked about it much. I think Jay and Tryst have an idea, but they don’t know the whole story. I’m guessing Syd and maybe Panther know because I never told Chloe to keep it a secret. They haven’t said anything to me though. I guess they’re like you. Who knows what to say right now? I can’t even figure out what to tell Aidan when he asks where his mom is.”

“What about Monica’s parents or her sister? Have you tried reaching out to them? Maybe she’s with them.”

“Nope. They haven’t heard from her either. They’re just as surprised as I am. She never said a word to anybody. Her parents even tried to file a missing person’s report, but you can imagine what the cops said.”

Brick nodded. “She’s a grown woman who left a note saying she was leaving. No signs of foul play. No reason to believe she’s in trouble. Nothing the cops can do. Why don’t you let me put Isobel on the case? You’re too close to this, and she doesn’t have anything pressing that needs her attention. You know she has a way of finding out things that none of us have.”

“I don’t want to tie up company resources for my own shit. Especially when there’s nothing criminal going on here. It’s just my girlfriend getting so sick of me that she disappeared rather than talk to me or try to work things out.”

Brick placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Look, at least let Isobel check into it and make sure Monica is alright. As upset as you are with her, I know you’re worried too.”

Sam nodded. “Fine. Whatever you want to do.”

“How can we help you, man? Do you need to change your schedule to be home more for Aidan? Do you need some time off?”

“Nah. I need to work. It’s the only thing keeping me sane right now. Aidan was already in a daycare, and they’ve been great to work with me. Chloe’s helped out too, but for the most part, she’s giving me space to figure things out.”

Brick studied Sam’s profile. His gaze narrowed as he watched his friend stare unseeingly in front of him.

“Things haven’t been good between you two, have they? I know you didn’t see this coming, but you think you know what made her leave, don’t you?”

Sam sipped his smoothie before pushing the glass away from him. “I asked her to marry me.”

Brick scowled. “What did she say?”

“Nothing at first. She smiled. She said she thought about it too, but she was happy with the way things were. I told her I wanted to take the next step, to show we were devoted to each other, the same as so many of our friends had done. She told me I was being silly. That I was just trying to keep up with the Joneses, whatever the hell that means. Then I just made it worse.”

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