Page 34 of Not the Bodyguard's Baby
“I’ve seen the video of her brilliant move. He had to weigh what she did twice. I asked her to teach me the move a few months ago. I think I have it down. Can’t wait to use it.” Deidre pushed the chair under the desk and stood. “We got the Uber driver switched out and should know where he is the rest of the day.”
Adam headed to the tech room. “Come on back. Let’s go over the footage with Alan. The guy’s not too bright. Threatened me and September as well as Harmony.”
* * *
Hearing the garage door slam, September stopped folding clothes. Melanie came in and set a bag and a large manila envelope on the table. “Your house is secure. Deidre’s team switched over the monitoring system.”
“Thanks for grabbing me more clothes.” September folded the little pink jumper Harmony wore earlier in the week. Already it was too small. She couldn’t believe how fast time went. She bit her lip before asking, “Has anybody heard from Sven or Shyla?”
“Sven visited the office earlier today. The meeting went as well as we expected. He attempted to bully Adam.” Melanie smiled.
“Any chance they got the conversation on video?”
“I’m sure they did. But I also don’t think Adam will show you the video.”
Once the protector, always the protector. “Probably not.”
“I spoke with Deidre. They put a tail on Sven, and he doesn’t seem to have much of a plan. He did give up the Uber for a rental car. He keeps getting lost.”
“Sven isn’t much of a planner. At least not the way Adam is, where he sees all the possibilities up front and plans for them. Sven always has one plan, and if it doesn’t go his way—” There was no point in expounding. She didn’t want Melanie to know how bad things could get if Sven’s plans didn’t go the way he expected. “I’ve been trying to not think about him. It makes me mad that I ever even thought he could be anything like Adam.”
Melanie wrapped her arms around September’s shoulders, and September turned into the embrace. “At some point, you will need to forgive yourself. We all make mistakes, choices we wished we hadn’t. We clean them up the best we can and move on. I don’t look at Harmony and see the mistake. I see a little bundle of joy.”
“We keep talking about this, but I keep feeling so stupid over it. Especially now.” September wiped a tear away. “Sven is threating Adam. Shyla is coming, and I will have to face her. She deserves to know the truth.”
Melanie picked up a onesie and folded it. “Let’s get this stuff put away.”
September put the last item in the basket. When Melanie’s phone rang, she held it up so September could see the caller. “Shyla.” Melanie put her finger to her lips and answered on speaker.
“Hello, Shyla, did you have a nice flight?”
“Peachy. Whoever said Hades was hot never visited Chicago in February when Hades freezes over. It is ten times worse.”
“I thought Jethro told you there was no need to come out here. We aren’t known for our pleasant winter weather.”
“Enough chitchat. Where is she?”
“Where is who?”
“My client.”
Interesting Shyla wasn’t using September’s name. She must be in a public place.
“I’m not sure who you mean.”
“Melanie Hastings, I am tired of your games. I give you full kudos for the escape in the Seattle airport. The handing out of Cubs hats with a twenty-dollar bill to wear them was absolutely brilliant. How much did you spend on that little stunt?”
September covered her mouth. Melanie’s ploy must have worked as planned. She’d hired a couple of locals from a temp agency to hand out dozens of Cubs hats along with a twenty-dollar tip for a “publicity stunt” on the concourse. Since September had gone into the bathroom with a Cubs hat on, to the guard watching her, the hat had to be the easiest part of her to spot. Who would watch for a gray-haired old lady in a red flowered muumuu and her pregnant friend returning from a trip to the islands?
“Shyla, by now you should know I don’t do stunts. I protect my clients.”
In the background, a car door slammed, and the change in audio carried the hollow sounds of a car system. “Whatever. If you don’t have her, I have been working overtime to generate a story to keep her safe and out of Sven’s way for nothing. She is better off with you. I don’t think September could have lived with herself if she’d ended the pregnancy. I wanted to give her a chance to start over and hoped she would go running to you. I hadn’t realized what I had done until it was too late.”
“Wh—” September covered her mouth.
Melanie shook her head. “I think I am lost here.”
“Surely he told her. I paid Sven to help her forget Adam.”
