Page 46 of The Forbidden Sitter
“Hey, what the hell is up?” Brad asked me with a tersetone.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I got ready to hear a stream of curse words after I said what I had to say. “We’re fine. Your sister is fine. She’s safe. That’s what’s really importanthere.”
“What the fuck happened, Gannon?” I’d never heard him sound like that. It was as if he wasdeflated.
“Someone shot at the house last night.” I held my breath, waiting for theexplosion.
But all I got was a low groan. “God, Gannon. My God. Are you guys allright?”
“We are.” I took a deep breath, knowing I had to tell him more. “The first bullets came through your sister’s window. The next ones came throughBraiden’s.”
“Fuck!” His one sharply said word echoed in my ear. “Why her, Gannon? The threat was against the kid. So why herwindow?”
“I wish I knew. I do know this; my bodyguard got in a shot that caught the gunman in the arm. That’s at least something for the investigators to look for. I’m not relying solely on the police. I have a team of private investigators on this as well. And your sister, my son, and I are staying put in this house until the suspect is found and put into custody. I won’t be leaving them alone atall.”
“Gannon?” Brad stopped, and I knew he was hesitating to say what he had to say. “Fuck. Goddamn. I can’t believe I’m fucking saying this to you. I want you to keep my sister right with you at all times. Don’t let her be away from you at any time. Even when you guys go to sleep. And don’t you dare fucking touch her. You hearme?”
“Loud and clear.” How badly I wanted to let him know that I loved his sister and I’d die before I let her get hurt. I did the second-best thing. “She means more to me than you know. I’d never let anything happen to her. I swear that to you, Brad. I’d take a bullet for the girl. The same way I would for myson.”
“You better.” He sighed heavily. “Fuck this shit, man. All right. I’m leaving. But you keep me posted about what’s happening. And you take care of my baby sister, GannonForester.”
I gulped as I could hear the cracks in his voice. This was killing him. “I will, and I’m so damn sorry, Brad. You can’t imagine how sorry Iam.”
“I know, buddy. I do. I can hear it in your voice. Just take care of her. Please.” The desperation that etched his voice wasevident.
“You gotit.”
After ending the call, I saw Brooke coming to the table with coffee in one hand and the bowl of oatmeal in the other, a bottle of apple juice tucked under her arm. “So how’s my brother taking this?” She put everything down then took aseat.
I noticed she hadn’t brought one thing for herself. And I also noticed Josh had taken off and Samson was on his cell, talking to someone. I hoped like hell they’d find something out today. I was damn tired of the situation and just wanted it overwith.
She went straight to giving Braiden a drink of juice then spooned oatmeal into his waiting mouth. “Is my big boyhungry?”
She was so wrapped up in feeding Braiden that she didn’t notice me. I didn’t know how to cook, not even a little bit. But I knew Consuela kept frozen meals she prepared in advance. She wanted me to have access to food even when she wasn’t available to cook for me. Like at night, after she’d left for theday.
I had no live-in staff. My parents had had some of their staff live with them, but I preferred to be alone inside my house at night. Samson was on guard in his house, so I wasn’t completelyalone.
After heating up a meal of a cheese omelet and some bacon, I plated it and took that, along with a cup of coffee and some apple juice, to her. She’d just about finished feeding Braiden and turned to look at me as I placed everything in front of her. “Here you are, myqueen.”
Her smile lit me up inside. “Gannon, you didn’t have to do that.” Then she looked at the meal a bit more closely. “Wait, how did you makethis?”
With a chuckle, I shook my head. “I’m not telling you.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’m magic. Now eat. I’ll finish up withBraiden.”
She looked at me with a wide smile on her beautiful face. “What did I do to deserveyou?”
I walked around the table to take the seat on the other side of my son. “You’re an angel. I’m the one who has to wonder what I did to deserve you,baby.”
She took a bite, then a drink of the coffee. Pointing her fork that had another chunk of cheesy egg on it at me, she said, “You know what, Gannon? I just keep thinking that woman has to have something to do with this. So tell me what kind of a custody agreement you twohave.”
“I have it; she doesn’t.” I cut a blueberry in half then gave Braiden a bite ofit.
“Okay. In the case of your demise, who gets custody then?” She ate the bite off the end of her fork as she looked atme.
My head swam a bit as I thought about that. I’d read the legal agreement and recalled that it said that in the event of my death, custody would revert toher.
“Brooke, she’d get him. I can’t let that happen.” I looked at my son and knew I couldn’t ever let her get her hands back on him. Then I looked at Brooke. “I have to get that changed. But there’s only one person I’d want to leave him with. And that’syou.”
She looked grim as she said, “That’s not what I’m thinking about, Gannon. I’m thinking she orchestrated everything. The fact that she was going to dump him. The fact that she didn’t want anything from you. She never wanted just child support. She wants it all. Every last bit of it. With you out of the way, she gets her son back and all of your wealth, as he’s your onlyheir.”
