The voice broke through the fogginess in my head. But I wriggled away from the hand on my arm.
“Leave me alone. You destroyed my family.”
“Heston. It’s me, Devyn. Open your eyes.”
Devyn. That name was kindness, warmth and love, the very opposite of my step-father.
“Devyn!” My eyes snapped open. It was dark, so dark, and there was a shadowy presence hovering over me. I shrieked and an unseen hand turned on a bedside lamp. “Devyn.” I gulped and he lay beside me, taking me in his arms.
“I’m sweaty.” I kicked off the covers and my mate gave me the water bottle I kept beside the bed.
“Wanna share your dream?” He took the bottle and replaced the lid.
“That was no dream. A nightmare.” Anything with Sebastian was a nightmare times ten.
He’d been haunting my nights when I should have been in a deep sleep while nurturing my baby. He hadn’t been apprehended, and it wasn’t until I pieced together the story that it hit me; my father-in-law didn’t call the police. Instead, he’d declawed Roy and left my step-father to his own fate.
Sebastian had taken off with not much money. We’d hired a forensic accountant and his credit cards were maxed out and he’d already spent most of the available cash from the company. He’d been draining those accounts for months. And he’d sold what he could from the house.
What he hadn’t done before he disappeared was temper his lifestyle.
Knowing he was out there somewhere irked me. Maybe he wasn’t living the life he thought he was accustomed to. But he wasn’t behind bars. Even Roy had been punished; a punishment that would last a lifetime according to Devyn.
“This issue of Sebastian is distressing you and that’s not good for you or the baby.” Devyn stroked my brow. “What if we hired a private detective to find him?”
“And what?” There was no case because my father-in-law hadn’t notified the police. What were we going to do if we found him? Terrify him with my mate’s wolf? Now I thought about it, that sounded like a great idea.
But would the stress of waiting weeks, months or years until he was found be worth it? I couldn’t answer that. And he might elude anyone looking for him.
There was a knock at the door, followed by Dad’s concerned voice asking if everything was okay.
“I’m fine, Dad. I shouldn’t have eaten so many pickles at dinner.”
Devyn got up and made sure Dad got back to bed. He needed rest too and should be concentrating on his own health, not be worried about me. But I didn’t know how to get past my fixation on Sebastian. Perhaps therapy would help.
The next morning as I was having breakfast with Dad on the terrace, my phone buzzed. It was an unknown number and I almost ignored it. But maybe it was someone telling me I’d won the lotto.
In the years when we’d struggled for money, I never bought a lotto ticket, figuring we couldn’t afford it. But now money wasn’t a concern, I got one every week.
“Hello.”
“Is this Heston Davidson?”
“Heston Maverick Davidson, yes.” My heart sped up and I rubbed my belly as the baby kicked. Dad gave me a curious look and his hand holding a piece of toast froze half way to his mouth.
“We have your step-father in custody.”
Air whooshed out of me and I leaped up, bumping the table and sending dishes and cutlery flying onto the floor. I stood, surrounded by broken porcelain and bits of egg and toast, my palm sweating as I gripped the phone.
“Oh.”
“He was arrested for stealing from a convenience store and we found stolen credit cards in his possession.”
The detective continued listing what they had charged my step-father with. None of it was directly linked to my father’s company though Sebastian had been up to dirty tricks for years.
“Do you want to see him?” Devyn and I were in our bedroom and Dad was resting. After speaking with my dad, he said it was up to me if I wanted to be face to face with Sebastian but he wanted to speak to the man.
“I need to tell him that it takes two people to have an affair so I can’t put the blame solely on him, and your father was a grown man who could make his own decisions.”
