Page 15 of Rescued By the SEAL

“You won’t fucking hear it, will you, Heather?” he snaps back without even looking at me. “You won’t allow me to protect you, will you? Your mother was the same, pig-headed and stubborn. Always thought that she knew best, and look where that got her.”

“What… what do you mean?” I stammer quietly. “I thought Mom was sick and that’s why she died?”

There is a brand-new tension in my dad now, one that I’ve never seen before, and it has me on edge. I know that we never speak much about my mother because it hurts him, but I never stopped to consider that there might be a deeper reason for that. I never pursued it because to me, my mom was almost like a fictional character. I’ve always had a massive disconnect withher because I don’t remember her, but this little statement about our sharing a personality trait, even if it’s one that my father doesn’t appreciate, creates a pull inside me. Maybe if I learn to understand her better, I can understand him better too.

“I always told Sandra not to keep getting rides home with her boss. He was a creepy guy and I knew that he had a thing for her.” Dad grips the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles go white. I don’t think I’ve ever been so consumed with ice-cold terror before, not even when Bill had me locked away in that cupboard. “It’s a guy’s intuition, but Sandra always laughed it off and told me that I was being jealous and silly. But I wasn’t, was I? It turns out I was right in the end.”

“So… she didn’t get sick?” The world tips and turns around me. Everything that I thought I knew was a lie.

“Hetookher. He took her from me.” My God, Dad’s face has gone a funny shade of green. “He thought that she belonged to him and he took her home where he… he did things to her that she didn’t want. That I never want to think about.”

Tears prick in my eyes. I’ve always wanted to understand him and his overprotective nature better, but now I’m not sure I can handle it. Everything is being ripped apart around me and I can’t cling to anything.

“I was at work. She was supposed to be at work too, so I didn’t notice her missing. I didn’t know thathehad her.” His words spit out through gritted teeth. The regret pours out with every single word. “I didn’t know what was happening to her. By the time I figured it out and I finally got a squad over to his house, they were both gone. I lost everything in that moment.”

“Dad.” I so wish that I could have some words to make all of this better, but I really don’t. I’m useless.

“He tried to pass it off as a goddamn suicide pact. Even wrote notes that were supposed to be from them both saying stupid shit about needing to find a way to be together even if it meant happening in the afterlife. Well, I knew that wasn’t from Sandra. I knew her handwriting. That was him, the little scumbag. He couldn’t have her, so her forced himself on her and took her from me. From us. Then he didn’t even give me the pleasure of getting justice because he was gone too.”

Holy shit, that sounds more like a script from a movie than the sort of thing that could happen in real life, to my family at that. It’s all starting to get a little clearer now. As soon as my father gets a bad sense about someone again, ofcoursehe’s going to pull us both away from that place to try and keep the same thing from happening to me. My God, I’m heartbroken.

“Anyway, we’re here.” He pulls up outside his home and hastily wipes his tears away. A strong man like him doesn’t want to be seen breaking down by anyone, even if it is over the most tragic story that I’ve ever heard in my life. “I want you to stay here with me for the time being while I investigate Bill Ross and whatever’s going on. I won’t hear any argument on the matter.”

Well, after that story, I really can’t fight anymore. I might be an adult, but clearly, my mother was too and that didn’t work out for her. I can’t help but shudder as I wonder what it must have been like for her, not only being in the middle of a fucking horror movie, but knowing that she should have listened to Dad all along. It’s awful. I follow him inside quietly, trying not to let myself break down any more than I already have. I feel raw and vulnerable in every single way.

“I need to go to work soon,” Dad informs me, his tone strong once more. “So you stay here. I don’t know if the criminals will be able to find your place, but I have the best security ever. There isn’t a chance in hell of them getting in here.”

He’s proud of himself and his ability to protect me right now, so as freaked out as I am, I’ll just have to let him do that for a minute. I don’t feel like I need protecting from Landon like my mother did from her boss, but in his mind, this seems to all be the same. I can’t take that away from him until he has had some much-needed time to calm the hell down.

Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…

As Dad’s cellphone rings out, it hits me that I’m missing mine. My handbag with everything in it is somewhere in Bill’s place, unless he’s sold all the contents. If my boss has tried to be in touch with me, he could have gotten anything.

“That’s going to be work.” Dad seems to see the expression on my face. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve been in touch with your workplace. They know that because they put your life in danger, you won’t be back until I’ve decided what to do for you.”

Automatically, I snap my mouth open, about to argue that it’s up to me what I do, but the story of my mother hits me again and I silence myself. Since I don’t really want to face work at the moment, this is probably for the best, anyway. I need time.

“Max?” My ears pick up as Dad says this name into the phone. That’s Landon’s boss, right? I remember his talking about him. “I thought I told you never to call me again. I’mdonewith your business. I’ve paid you for what you did, but I don’t ever want to hear from you again. I cannotunderstand your logic. Sending in the son of the criminal is ridiculous.”

Dad walks from the room as if he doesn’t want me to hear this conversation, but I tiptoe after him, needing to pick up on every single word if I can. I have to know what’s going on with Landon. I can’t just let this go, whatever Dad’s reasoning.

“I know you have explained it to me, Max. But we’re done. What I hired you for is over, anyway. I don’t really understand why you’re still calling me at all. I’ve made my position very clear. Our business relationship is over. No more contact needs to happen, neither does any of us have to mention there being a business relationship to begin with. I’ll get on with my life, never talking about you again, and I trust you to do the same thing. And if that Landon Ross ever comes near me again…”

I don’t get to hear how that sentence ends because Max interrupts. But this whole event has my mind spinning. Since my father hired Max’s company in the first place, which ultimately led me to Landon, there might be a way that I can find the business’s number in my father’s home. Once he goes to work, of course. I don’t want to wind him up even further.

Iknowthat I should listen to Dad, especially when he was clearly right about Mom’s boss, but I feel like I’m different and Landon is different. I’ll take some time to think everything through properly, I would be crazy not to, but I kinda already know which way I’m going to go with this. I don’t think Landon is a creeper stalker who will kill me and then himself.

“Max, I’m hanging up the phone now and this is the last time that I ever want to hear from you, do you understand? There is no reasoning to be done here. I don’t need protection. In case you have forgotten, I’m a police officer myself. From this point onward, I can take care of everything. I’m sure you have other people who need your help more. Goodbye.”

I race back to the seat I was in before so my father doesn’t spot me eavesdropping, but I’m pretty sure he will be able to hear the hammering of my heart regardless. It’s almost as if my pulse has had enough of me and wants to escape. It wants to burst free from me and start a life of its own, and at this point, I really can’t blame it. I kinda wish that too.

God, if I could run away from this mess, I would be gone in a second, faster than the speed of light, but my heartbeat isn’t going anywhere, nor am I. We’re stuck here for as long as it takes.

“Right, I'd better be off.” Dad shoots me a grave look. “For your own protection, everything will be locked so no one can get in.” He doesn’t say it’s also so I can’t get out, but that is very much implied. He doesn’t want me to escape the prison that he’s set up for me which he believes is in my best interests. “Obviously, you used to live here so you know where everything is. Make yourself at home and eat whatever. I’ll be back in time for dinner and we can talk about our next step then.”

Huh, he uses ‘we’ like I’m going to have any say in my future. It’s ridiculous. But if I start arguing now, I’ll never get rid of him. Then I won’t be able to search the house for this Max’s number. The sooner that I get through to him, the quicker this can get sorted out. Dad might think he knows what’s best to keep me safe, but I really believe that I do too.

Plus, Landon and I are still in love, I’m sure of it. This is a two-way street and I really think that we’ve been brought back together for a reason. Just because bad shit happened before, I don’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to let him go, and I still feel that way. Landon Ross is the one for me. I wouldn’teverwant to let him go.

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