Page 80 of Falling Into Forever
“The apartment above my garage is the safest place in Hope Hollow, and it’s as close to you as you’ll find around here. They’ll be at least forty minutes away if they stay in a hotel. There’s an apartment next door, but that building has been boarded up for years. It’d take six months to renovate. It’s the only option.” He finishes on a growl, daring us to question him.
“But why?” I ask. This is the most un-Grady-like thing I’ve ever seen him do. He doesn’t like people in his space. Even when his brother lived there, he was an unbearable asshole. My gaze snags on Lilly, who is watching this unfold. Her expression is soft, with a smile playing across her face.
I’m seriously starting to rethink my whole abducted-by-aliens theory, but Grady’s next words send a shard of ice straight into my veins.
“Because no one should live through the fear of losing a child like that. No one should be terrified that the boogeyman is lurking in the shadows. And if his brother”—he hooks his thumb toward Dante—“is as far gone as the blogs say, that’s all that family will ever know until he’s stopped—or dead.”
Silence hangs like the threat of rain.
Lilly and I gape at Grady. Dante vibrates with fury. And we all just stand there, in stunned silence.
Grady’s nod breaks the trance. “Get them here. I’ll make sure the apartment is clean and has everything they’ll need.” He’s already halfway to the door.
“Grady,” Dante calls.
He pauses with his hand on the doorknob.
“Thank you.”
Grady responds with one curt nod, then leaves my bookstore, with the rest of us wondering what the hell happened.
CHAPTER22
DANTE
Saylor stands beside me at baggage claim in JFK Airport, but she’s shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and her neck has an angry red line from tugging on her necklace.
I reach over and take her hand in both of mine. “I’m glad you came with me.”
“I’m not much help. You’re supposed to be worrying about them, not if I’m going to have a nervous breakdown and embarrass you in front of all the cameras.” Her nose scrunches as soon as the words are out of her mouth, and my jaw ticks as I remember the twenty or so men looming behind the glass wall with cameras pointed in our direction.
The pointer finger of her other hand traces a pattern on her thigh, and I’m momentarily struck by the movement. It triggers something familiar—a memory, perhaps. She splays her fingers wide on her thigh when she catches me staring, and I’m dragged back to the present.
“I will always worry about you, Saylor, but not because I think you’ll embarrass me. So, get that shit out of your head right now,” I say, shaking my head. At what point did she lose all her confidence? And how the hell do I help her get it back?
“Unca!” My body relaxes when I hear Poppy’s shoes smacking against the tile floor. I squeeze Saylor’s hand, then release it as Poppy launches herself at me. Lena is right behind her, carrying multiple bags.
“Unca. Unca. Unca. I missted you the mostest.”
“You missed me the mostest, huh?”
The little girl in my arms nods in earnest.
“Yes. I did. Wight, Mommy?” Lena jumps at her name, and she worries her hands.
“Sure thing, sweet pea,” she says.
Poppy’s hands land on my cheeks, and she peppers my face with sloppy kisses, but I speak through it. “You’re safe here, Lena. And we’ll keep it that way even if—heshows up in town.”
Pudgy fingers poke and stretch my face every which way. “I missed you a ton, Lollipop. Not sure if you can beat that.”
She frowns at me, but somehow it still reminds me of sunshine. “Oh, I did. Unca. I so beat you.”
Saylor laughs to my right, and we all track her in slow-motion. She freezes instantly with her hand holding her necklace in a death grip.
Lena moves forward to introduce herself, but Poppy pushes off me with her legs to propel herself at Saylor.
Luckily, Saylor moves quickly and catches my wild little niece before she face-plants on the floor, but she holds Poppy under her armpits and away from her body. What does she think Poppy will do, bite?
