Page 54 of A Little Naughty

“Have a great day, and maybe we can do something fun after school, okay? Anything you want.”

“Okay.” Her voice is quiet, but she steps forward and gives me a hug.

I wrap my arms around her, closing my eyes and hugging her with all the hope in my heart.

Then I let her go.

* * *

“You look different today.”Piper’s at the front desk when I arrive at the office again, and she shoves her glasses onto her head. “Is something wrong?”

“Everybody’s commenting on my looks today.” I hang my purse on the coat rack at the door. “I have an idea. Let’s normalize not commenting on people’s appearance.”

Piper squinches her face and crosses her arms. “That’s pretty rich coming from you, Gossip Girl.”

I exhale a little growl, stomping over to the front desk. “Okay, something did happen, and I need your help with it.”

Her arms drop, and she comes around to stand beside me. “I’m all ears.”

“When I was riding back from the distillery last night, I had a very dangerous surprise visitor.”

“Raif?”

“I’m going to pretend you, as an objective newswoman, didn’t just say that.” My eyes narrow, and she holds up both hands.

“Sorry.”

“I’m talking about Bill Wolf, the man I took Nikki from. He tried to run me off the road, and then he threatened me. He said he’s going to take her, and when I threatened him with Aiden, he said he’s coming back.”

“Shit.” Piper’s eyes are wide. “Cass was worried something like this might happen. She said you can’t just take a child and expect no one to come looking for her.”

“She never said anything like that to me.” I think about the other night. “Is that why she called the sheriff on me?”

“That might have been a bit of an overreaction.” Piper has her phone out, and I watch her thumbs flying over the screen as she texts. “We didn’t want to make you nervous, but we’ve been keeping an eye out for suspicious characters.”

“Well, you missed one.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my tone, especially after that Raif crack.

“Aiden’s on his way. I’m sure Britt’s coming with him.” Piper chews her lip, looking towards the door. “Cass will be upset she’s not here, but she has school.”

“You called Aiden?”

“If this guy is here and threatening you, Aiden needs to know. We have to come up with a plan to keep you and Nikki safe.”

Frowning, I walk to the window and look out at the small house behind the office. Drumming my fingers on my arm, I try to think about this. I have a plan of my own, but I guess I can’t execute it without the help of law enforcement.

Britt is the first to appear, walking fast up the sidewalk, but Aiden is right behind her. My eyes land on the flower boxes lining the house, and I notice tiny green stems poking up through the soil.

“Looks like your flowers are coming back.”

She steps up beside me at the window. “I never planted flowers in those boxes. Mom always said I should, but…”

Her voice dies out when the front door opens. Britt leads the way, worry lining her expression. Aiden steps inside tall, frowning, and dressed in a tan uniform with a big gun on his hip.

“Are you okay?” Britt’s blue eyes are wide. “Tell us everything that happened. Don’t leave out any details. You never know what might turn out to be important.”

I feel slightly overwhelmed, then I remember she’s a forensic investigator. Her job is to obsess over every detail looking for clues. It’s partly why she owns a bloodhound.

“Okay…” Blinking up at the ceiling, I try to recall every little thing. “I was riding the bike, he was in a truck. I pulled off the road and started to run, but he caught me…” Aiden makes an irritated noise, and my eyes fly to his. He looks seriously pissed, but I continue. “He showed me a piece of paper he claimed was signed by Nikki’s mom, but it was too dark to read it. I told him I didn’t believe it, that I was going to adopt her, and I told him Aiden wouldn’t let him take Nikki. That got his attention. He let me go, but he said he’d be back.”

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