Page 14 of Operation: Unify

Dad laughed, breaking the tension in the room. “She’s my favorite daughter-in-law, that’s for sure. Then again, I’ve never met the others.”

There, an opportunity to change the subject. “I spoke to Paul yesterday.”

Dad tilted his head in confusion. “You did? Why?”

“Paul, Kevin, and Hunter haven’t met Ferd. I figured they should, and she should get to meet them. I knew it was more likely the others would come if I could get Paul to agree. He said he’d talk to them. The plan is for them to come Christmas Day.”

“Oh, I suppose I should go shopping.” He stood slowly and leaned on the arm of the chair. “They’ll need gifts.”

“They won’t. This is just a reintroduction. A chance to clear the air and meet Ferd. Let’s keep it light. It will be awkward anyway with Gloria since they knew about Gloria this whole time.”

Dad sucked in a deep breath. “I wouldn’t have expected that. I guess that explains why we didn’t hear from them all this time. I’m sorry, Connor.”

The hurt of his brothers had dulled a long time ago. “They made their choice. So did I.” Or his mother had. She’d chosen to leave him behind and never tell him the truth. He still wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve that.

“It will be good to see them, but I won’t dare hope that this will lead to anything more.”

“I think that’s a good idea. If they want to keep meeting or talking, we can. It’s been so long though.” His cellphone vibrated on his desk.

“That’s Lacy. I’ll let you talk with her. Let me know if there’s anything else I need to do.” He waved as he slowly made his way out of the room and closed his door.

Connor pressed the phone button and immediately put her on speaker so he could hear her better. “Lacy.”

“Hey.” Her voice was quiet, like she was whispering. “I know it’s really early, but this was the only time I could talk to you without disturbing Melinda.”

“You know I’m an early riser. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Melinda’s husband is a real piece of work. He’s trying to convince the cops that she’s abusing him, but I’ll give you one guess who was actually doing it. She thinks his plan was to murder her and make it look like self-defense because he has these documented domestic dispute visits. The police barelybelieved her when I told her to file a report. That’s not the worst though.”

“There’s more?” Domestic violence was terrifying because often the people who fell victim to it believed they somehow deserved to stay. They clung to the hope that things would improve.

“Yeah. We were going to go to her Aunt Joy’s house to stay with her until Melinda could get on her feet. When we got there, Aunt Joy was dead. Murdered. I saw him drive down the street before we went in.”

Connor held in a groan. This was exactly what he didn’t want her getting into. Especially without him there. “Lacy, do not get in the middle of a domestic. Seriously. If you have to, get her out of there. Come here to wait it out.”

“I can’t. The police have decided she’s a suspect since we had to break into her aunt’s house to get away from her husband Tod. If we leave now, she looks like she’s skipping town. Just pray for me. I think we’ll be okay as long as we stay here at this hotel. Oh, I wanted to tell you. I had to use my credit card on the room. Do you think Viceroy’s men could put a trace on my credit cards? Should I be worried?”

He raked his hands through his hair. He would not sit by and let her possibly put herself in double danger if he could do something about it. “Send me the hotel information. I’ll pay for the room with our business account. It has a higher level of security.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks, Connor.”

“You’re welcome and, Lacy?”

He heard her slight intake of breath as she grinned. “Yeah?”

“I care about you. If you find yourself in need, call me. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” And he meant it. He’d book a flight or drive as fast as he could, but he’d get there.

“Thank you. I know. You’ve never let me down.”

She hung up the phone and he was left wondering why, if that was true, she needed time away from him?

Lacy stared at her phone,letting a feeling of peace wash over her. Connor missed her but asking him to come and be at her side would ruin what she was trying to accomplish. How would he ever see her as the woman who would always return to him, no matter what, if she asked him to come after her?

She could handle this. Melinda was safely away from her husband in a hotel. No one except the police knew where she was. If Tod filed a missing person’s report, they wouldn’t start looking for at least twenty-four hours because Melinda was an adult, which gave Lacy some time to figure things out.

She braced herself before taking a sip of the coffee she’d gotten from the lobby of the hotel when she’d forced herself to wake by 4 A.M. so she could talk to Connor without Melinda hearing. Melinda already had a heightened sense of guilt and Lacy wanted to avoid making her feel any more than she already did.

A man in dark pants and polo shirt approached where she sat on a sofa in a small alcove at the end of the hallway. A vending machine filled with snacks and another with beverages glowed a few feet away. He glanced at the offerings, then sat on the opposite end of the sofa.

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