Page 60 of Forever His This Christmas

“Hey,” Lisa said seeing them both in the room. “What’s this?”

“We’re tucking mama in tonight,” Corey told her as Abby crawled onto the bed with her. “Why don’t you girls sleep in here? I’m not tired yet and I want to make sure that Donna’s gone. I told the guard not to leave the airport without confirming that she was on the plane, and it left with her still on it.”

“Don’t stay up all night,” Lisa said, letting him go after he gave her a soft kiss.

“Night Dad, I love you,” Abby said, melting his heart while making him even more adamant about keeping her safe.

He met up with the remaining guards who confirmed the person that was watching the house was still there. They slipped into the house, staying away from the sight of the windows and waited to see what the man was planning to do.

Corey sat up in the chair in Lisa’s room, keeping an eye on the door just in case while one of the guards was in Abby’s and another was in the hallway just down from Lisa’s room. They weren’t taking any chances with his girls’ safety.

It was closing in on four a.m., the rest of the family in bed for the last hour or two, when there was the slightest creaking sound coming up the steps. He moved to the door as silently as possible and held his breath when the sound of movement was heading down the other way, towards Abby’s room rather than theirs. It’s what they were anticipating would happen if the man tried to break into the house.

They would know Lisa would be with him and less vulnerable. Abby was alone with Jazz gone, the two having spent the time Jazz and David were there having a sleepover.

Within moments he heard a yelp and the sound of something being slammed to the ground. It brought Lisa up and awake, her eyes wide as her arms wrapped around Abby. “What…?”

“It’s okay baby, we’re on it,” he assured her, giving her a gentle kiss before moving to the door to check in with security.

“What’s going on?” Edward demanded hurrying up the steps.

“The police should be here any minute. You’ll want to go let them in,” Corey stated as a man struggled against Jackson’s tight hold.

“This is illegal,” he shouted at them.

“Making a citizen’s arrest of a burglar isn’t illegal,” Jackson returned as a knock sounded on the front door.

It was around five as they moved into the sheriff’s station, Lisa moving Abby to stay in the side room with her mom and Aunt Diane.

“He’s not talking,” Sheriff Hayes told them as she and Corey moved back towards the interview room.

“Has he asked for a lawyer?” Corey asked.

“Surprisingly no, he just sits there. We’ve learned that he’s a private investigator, but that’s about it,” he answered.

“I want to talk to him,” Lisa said, not listening when they said it was a bad idea. “Look, he’s not going to tell you anything, me…it’s another story and I want to know how long he’s been following me.”

“Let her,” a new voice said pulling her attention to the door, finding Judge Henry there. “I’m guessing one of the reasons you’ve kept Abby’s existence quiet is because someone threatened you to keep your mouth shut, or that if people knew about her, it’d cause her…biological donor issues. Add that together with someone breaking into your parents’ place, her room specifically, and I’m guessing that person still lives here and doesn’t want it coming out. How am I doing?”

“Pretty good,” she said, taking a deep breath before moving into the room with the bastard that broke into the house. Thank god for Corey hiring the security guards to keep an eye on them. If anything had happened to Abby, she’d never forgive herself.

Right now, she needed to learn if the man was trying to get in to grab Abby, or if he was simply trying to get something with her DNA for Benton. Considering the timing of it, she was guessing it was the former, which meant he’d broken their deal, and now, he was going to regret ever coming near the most precious thing in her life.

Chapter 21

Lisa slid into the seat across from the man handcuffed to the table, glad that he couldn’t put his slimy hands on her. The look in his eyes was far too close to what was always in Benton’s for her to relax.

“You aren’t a cop,” he said with a smirk, his eyes glittering with malice and she drug in a deep breath to calm herself enough to speak.

“No, but you already knew that considering you broke into my parents’ home and then into my daughter’s bedroom in the middle of the night. So tell me, Marcus Shaw, how long have you been following me? Are you the one that took the pictures of me and Corey in New York that I was sent last year? How about the ones from California? How long have you been supposedly ‘working’ for that sick bastard huh?” she demanded.

“I was hired to gather evidence against you, starting oh, a little over thirteen years ago,” he answered making her nearly retch. “Not full-time of course, which is the only reason I never got photos of that pretty little girl of yours until now. Such a shame. I’m sure those would have been some very popular ones, almost as popular as certain ones of you from when you were just a little older than her,” he added making her anger boil over.

“You sick son of a bitch, is that what you were trying to do tonight? Hoped she was asleep so you could take pictures of her to share with the other twisted psychopaths like you out there? That’s how he foundyouto start, isn’t it? Sharing illegal files?” she questioned, her hands balled into fists, her nails digging into her skin to stop herself from jumping over the table and beating him with them.

“You’d be thanking me if that’s all I was supposed to do tonight,” he mocked making her entire body shake with her rage.

“You really are just as sick as him, aren’t you? Is that what he pays you with to follow me around, take photos of me in compromising states within the privacy of my then boyfriend’s residence? He gives you photos of underage girls?”

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