Page 100 of The Moments You Were Mine
“Maybe Fallon should take off for a while also,” Teddy said. His face was grim. “If this guy was responsible for Lauren…” His hands clenched into fists, eyes dark with fury.
“I don’t think she’ll leave,” I said, imagining the fight I’d have if I tried to convince her it was the right thing, but I’d still give it a go. “Having fewer people on the ranch will make it easier to identify whoever it is that’s behind this and if anyone else besides Chuck has been helping them.”
I made a point of saying it and meeting the eyes of each of her staff who were in the barn. I hoped to hell and back one of these people hadn’t betrayed Fallon in addition to Chuck. It would devastate her. She’d been through enough loss and betrayal, but I wasn’t convinced a pimply teen was the only one who’d given this guy access to the ranch. Someone had knownthe schedule of the security team in order for the shooter to get into the gun locker, take the rifle, and get out undiscovered. And someone had known the schedule had changed at the last minute and that it was Fallon and Chuck leading that ride yesterday morning.
“We’ll handle things here,” Kurt insisted. “You just take care of our girl.”
I cringed inside at the term girl, knowing what he meant but equally frustrated that all of us, me included, had seen Fallon as just that for way too long.
As I walked out of the barn with Cranky and Sweeney, discussing plans to meet up later for a follow-up strategy session, Andie joined us. She offered to show them to rooms in the hotel. With most of the guests having departed already, they’d have their choice.
By the time I finally got into the truck, Fallon’s eyes were closed, her head resting on the seat back while Theo chatted away behind her. My concerns grew when she still didn’t scold me for my high-handed command in sending her out of the barn, and they continued to expand when we got back to her place, and she went straight to her bedroom without a word.
I set Theo up at the coffee table with some toys and coloring books. Then, I turned a dog show on the TV so that it would mask some of my conversation with Dad.
He answered on the first ring, and I caught him up on what we’d found out this morning.
“I’ll contact the prison this morning and see how soon I can get in to see Ike.”
“I want to be there.”
“I’d feel better if you stuck with Fallon,” he said.
I didn’t want to leave her either, but maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. If I took her with me to Las Vegas, she’d be away from the ranch and out of the bull’s-eye for at least a day or two. “Make the arrangements for Fallon and I both to see him.”
“No. Absolutely not,” Dad snapped. “He’d get off on that.”
“Just listen. Someone needs to visit Adam Hurly in Tennessee and make sure he isn’t the one pulling the strings. Chuck said the guy was talking about money stolen from him.That’s fucking Adam. If you head back east, Fallon and I could meet with Ike. If it’s Ike who’s targeting her, seeing Fallon show up in his space will provoke him. We’ll get a reaction, one I’m good at reading, Dad.”
The line was silent for a minute as my father considered all the options. Instead of answering me directly, he asked the same question I still couldn’t answer. “Why wait ten years?”
“I know. It doesn’t make any sense for either Adam or Ike to come at them now. And why come after Fallon and not Rafe? We’re still missing something. But if Tony Cantori was working for the same men Ace Turner is, it was absolutely not a coincidence and most likely led to his death. I’m not sure we can rule any of them out. Not even JJ.”
“Honestly, I can’t see it being JJ. Not only does he not have the skills orcahones, but what would he get out of it? She really had nothing to do with his arrest. Ace, on the other hand, didn’t hide how pissed he was.”
“And his wife, Celia. Have you found her yet?”
“Not a trace.”
“So we’re nowhere,” I said, frustration blooming.
Dad’s voice held the same exasperation I felt. “We know what happened to Lauren wasn’t an accident, and we didn’t know it was related before this. We can spiral back, pull in all the data, and we’ll find an answer, Park. In the meantime, I’m sending someone to protect Lauren at the rehab facility, and I’ll get Rafe up to speed.”
“Keep him away, Dad. We don’t need him showing up with Sadie and the kids and putting them at risk too,” I said. “And you and I both know Sadie won’t let him come on his own.”
She might not put her kids at risk by bringing them to the ranch, but Fallon’s stepmom wouldn’t leave Rafe’s or Fallon’s sides if she thought they were in danger. She’d proven just what lengths she’d go to in order to protect them when she’d taken a beating for Fallon and shot Adam in the shoulder before he could hurt either of them further. Sadie was a fighter. She fought for the people she loved with every fiber of her being. I respected the hell out of her for it.
The guilt of that day still hung on me. It should have been me who’d taken the beating, not them. Rafe had sent me with Fallonand Sadie specifically to protect them, and I’d left hours before my replacement had arrived. When I’d found out Fallon had been hurt, almost killed, I’d questioned my ability to be a SEAL. I’d left someone unprotected, and they’d almost died.
It was the one and only time I’d considered leaving the Naval Academy and giving up my dreams. It had been Will who’d talked me into staying. When Fallon ended up at the University of San Diego with me stationed there, it had felt like a second chance to redeem myself, to protect her when I’d failed before. But I hadn’t. I’d let JJ close to her for three years when I could have done something about it. I could have done exactly what she’d wanted the night I’d found her at the bar and taken her home.
If I had, she would have been mine and not his.
None of this would have happened.
That ate me up from the inside out.
I’d wasted so much time with her and caused her untold amounts of anguish.
