Page 6 of Gentle Fox

Okay, maybe not right in my face, but there was no denying she found what I said to be funny.

"Uh, no. As much as my father loved me, he adored my stepmother and stepbrother. Sure, he would sometimes complain that Dennis could be lazy but otherwise he loved them. My mother died when I was eleven and my father met Seraphina two years later."

And according to the bio I had on her, Annalee was forty-one. She didn't look that old, and at first glance, I would've assumed younger. Life had treated her well so far. Her chocolate-brown locks had hints of caramel throughout and her face was devoid of age lines around her jeweled green eyes.

"So then why did he cut them out of his will?" I circled back to the second question I asked but never got an answer to.

"No idea, and considering his lawyer didn't say when it was changed, I have no way of knowing what happened. The will was only read this week. My father gave explicit instructions that he needed to be dead for sixty days before the reading could occur."

The more Annalee told me, the less I liked her current situation. It was obvious something happened right before her father died if he sent her that note. But did the same thing have to do with changing the will?

There was only one way to find out.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my teammate.

"I told Mav I was on my way. No need to check in. I'll be in Baton Rouge before nightfall," Lex grumbled.

"Change of plans," I rushed out before Lex hung up the phone. The man hated technology more than most people our age. Even if we relied on it heavily in our line of work.

My teammate sighed. "What now?"

"I found Annalee but her place isn't safe. Send me your location. I'll find somewhere we can meet up. I don't think there will be trouble heading back to Willow Creek, but just to be on the safe side."

I ignored Annalee attempting to get my attention. I knew what she was going to say, and I didn't want to hear it. Her father wanted her out of town and that was exactly what I planned to do. Even if it meant tying her up in the process. She would forgive me sooner or later once she was safe.

"Fine." One word and Lex clicked off. It was what I expected from my friend. In all the years we worked together I rarely heard more than a handful of words at a time. The way he answered the phone was the exception. The man only spoke when necessary and used as few words as possible to get his point across.

Now that I no longer had the phone up to my ear, Annalee let me have it. "I told you I changed my mind."

"Well, now we're changing it back."

"What happened to me making my own choices?"

"That was before you told me what happened. You said your father wanted you out of here, so that's what we're going to do." My gut was telling me something was off about her father's death, but until I could look into it more, I didn't have more than instinct to go on.

Annalee sputtered and maybe it made me an asshole, but I kinda liked that I had her flustered. I just wished it was under different circumstances. "That was before I heard my father's will."

"And?"

"And . . ." She fumbled for an excuse but I was sure there wasn't one. At least not one that justified her staying. "This!" Annalee motioned to the destruction that was her apartment.

"My point exactly. This is why you need to leave. Dennis is clearly unstable, and based on the timing of your father's letter, he knew what would happen and wanted you far away from it."

I watched realization settle in her beautiful green eyes. I could tell from the first time I spoke to her that she was smart, but trauma had a way of screwing with people.

"He's going to follow me no matter where I go. I can't bring that to your company's door."

"Let me and my team worry about that. We didn't get into the security business to sit around and watch shopping malls. Now, why don't you look around and see what's salvageable while I make a few calls. I want to get on the road sooner rather than later."

I didn't give Annalee time to object. My phone pinged during our little hash-out with Lex's location. If I rerouted him and went two hours north, we could meet up instead of us having to spend more time in Baton Rouge than necessary. I sent Lex the meeting place before calling Maverick.

"How you making out?"

"I found her. I'll explain the situation when we get back in town but I'm going to meet Lex on the road so we have extra protection."

Another string of curses. Either Mav no longer cared about his image or he was seriously pissed about having a problembrought back to our new town. I hoped it was the former because either way, Annalee was going to Willow Creek.

"I'll make sure the team knows to expect trouble."

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