Burning For Claire (The O'Connell Family Book 2) (10 page)

I couldn’t believe what just happened. I think I died and had gone to heaven. I wasn’t ready to admit my love for him because it was too soon, but when he said it with such honesty I just couldn’t hold back what he did to me.

We finally made it downstairs, and I wasn’t a nervous wreck anymore. Something about knowing his feelings seemed to make me feel more secure. We walked into the dining room where everyone was eating breakfast.

“Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” my mother asked as she came and gave me a hug. Her concern was sweet and knowing.

“I’m better, but I have a long way to rebuild my life.”

“In Texas.” I heard Travis mumble under his breath. I looked at him and didn’t say anything. I knew that was going to be a huge possibility.

He pulled me forward and with one arm around my waist, he said, “Baby, this is my sister, Melanie.” He smiled brightly to his sister, then said, “Mellie, this is my woman, Claire.”

“Claire, I’m so excited to me you, but I hoped it would have been under different circumstances,” his sister said as she gripped both of my hands before giving me a hug.

“Me, too,” I said as I pulled back into Travis’s hold. 

“These are my sons, Elias, Jr., Kevin, and Steven.”

“Hi, boys.” I waved shyly at them.

They all said hi, but it was the middle one that came up to me and hugged tightly. “Hi, I’m Kevin,” he said with a windowed grin.

“Hi, Kevin. How old are you?”

“I’m four years old. I like cars, and trains. Do you like trains? Thomas is my favorite, but I also like Pussy.”

“What!?” I said as my face flushed. I was shocked that he would say something like that and who told him how to say that?

“He means Percy, but I’m sure he will one day,” Travis said as he tried to hide his laugh. The whole room tried to hold in their laughter, but my father let out a chuckle and it was too much for the entire room to bear. Everyone, but the children erupted in fits of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” the eldest boy said.

Eli answered, “You’re uncle likes Percy too.”

“Uncle Travis likes pussy,” Kevin said with innocent glee.

This time I turned purple which made everyone laugh harder.

“Kevin, my boy, there isn’t a man in this room who doesn’t like Percy.”

“Cool. Daddy, I didn’t know you liked pussy?”

“He likes Percy a little too much,” Melanie said as she rubbed her slightly rounded belly.

“You adults are crazy. It’s a stupid train,” Eli Jr., said as he shook his head, stood up with his empty plate and left the dining room. He was not amused at all.

“He’s our serious child,” my mother said with a smile.

“I don’t know where he could have got it from,” Melanie said as she pointedly looked right at Travis.

“He didn’t get it from me. He got it from that stick in the mud right there,” Travis exclaimed as he pointed at Eli.

“They’re law enforcement. That’s to be expected,” my dad stated.

“Speaking of, after I get a cup of coffee we can get down to business, Cole,” Travis said.

“And after some breakfast too,” my mother hissed as she glared at Travis with the motherly concern and threatening look.

He stood his ground, though. “I can eat and work at the same time. I don’t want to waste any time on this.”

“Like you didn’t waste enough time already today,” Eli grumbled.

Travis smirked, then boasted, “I don’t call that wasting time.”

“Enough, boys. I’d like to finish my meal without jumping across the table to strangle Williams.”

“Sorry, sir,” Travis apologized.

Travis and I got our plates and came back to sit down. We all talked about the kids who had us smiling naturally at their cuteness. My ovulation wasn’t for another week, and I suddenly felt sad that I was more than likely not pregnant with Travis’s baby. The more I watched the kids the more I wanted a little Travis.

“Babe, you and the women are going to have to chill at the house. Don’t talk to anyone about what happened. In fact, I think it’s best that you don’t answer the phone.”

“What if they need to talk to me?”

“There’s nothing that won’t keep and if there is, I will talk to them.”

“Are you going to try and control me already?” I was a little pissed that he was going to play me like this. I stood up from my chair and grabbed my plate, ready to leave the room.

He stuck his arm out and grabbed mine, stopping me in my tracks. “No, babe. I’m not trying to control you, but I want to make sure we control the situation and what is said. If something gets out we’ll know where it came from.”

I would argue his point, but it was because I called Tad that the girls knew I knew about their theft. “Oh, okay. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. I get that nothing’s in your control at the moment. I’m going to get you another cell phone today. Then we can listen to messages and wait until I give you the okay to return the calls.”

“You will tell me if you learn anything important, won’t you?”

He stood up, took the plate away from me, and looked me in the eyes as he said, “Of course I will. That’s why I don’t want you talking to anyone outside this house. You could accidentally give something away.”

“Thanks.” It was easier to accept his commands when I knew his reasons behind them. If he thought I was going to lie down and take his orders without some questions he was in for a surprise.

“I just learned from Claire that she contacted Tad the night of the fire, right before we went to bed. Then the dumb ass texted the two broads in question.”

“What? Is he fucking stupid? Or was he involved?” Cole shouted in outrage.

“Seemed like he could be, and I was questioning it but after talking to the ass, he’s just a fool.”

“Well, so it could still be the thieves. We need to question them as soon as possible. I want to question all of them, Tad included,” Cole replied.

“I really think it was them, not the ones after Sam. To me it didn’t seem like they had time to act at all three places. Not that it wasn’t possible, but it still seems like a lot to be done in a matter of a few hours,” her father added.

My phone rang and it was the fire chief. “What’s going on sir? Did you find a correlation?”

“No, actually except for you and the O’Connell name tied to either incident there was no correlation. The salon was arson all right. They poured gas all over the entire room, then placed a gas can in the center of the room after plugging in all of the salon tools. The kicker was the Molotov cocktail that went through the front window.”

“That must have been the shattering glass that woke me up,” I said as I had a whole room of eyes on me, anxious to hear what I’d learned.

“Yes. It seems you had two close calls. Although your apartment was a direct attack on you with the grenade.”

“It had to have been two different groups of attackers. The ones that came to the apartment were after my roommate, and they would have be more thorough with getting to her than going after Claire’s place.”

“What do they want with Miss Lake?”

There was some things they didn’t need to know and at this point my undercover assignment was one of them. “That is classified information. I just needed to make sure they weren’t one in the same.”

“Let us know if you need anything else. We want the arsons to stop as much as you do.”

“We will,” I hung up the phone and explained my conversation with the fire chief to the men.

“So it had to do with the theft, then, doesn’t it?” her father asked.

“Seems like it. They had to get into the salon without tripping the alarms and setting up everything without alerting us. I checked when I got the food that everything was locked back up, and I watched when Tad unplugged everything.”

“So someone had to know where to find everything and not make any noise. In the quiet of night, it would have been loud enough for you to hear if they didn’t know where to find everything and were fumbling around. They wanted my little girl dead,” Richard stated.

“It would seem that way,” I growled.

“They wanted my little girl dead,” he repeated. He took a breath and closed his eyes in frustration and pain. “I thought it would be easier to deal with if I knew the truth, but this is worse. If it was the men trying to get even with Rick for Sam and destroy our family property, it would be different. No, they knew she lived upstairs, and they made sure the fire would be too fast for her to wake up and get out safely,” Richard exclaimed.

I heard the heartbreak and anger in his voice. Her decision to ask me to stay had been fateful.

We were all in thought when the door to the room slammed open with Ethan and John O’Connell. 

Richard looked up at his brother and asked, “John, what are you doing here?”

Arrogant as always, John replied, “What? You didn’t think I’d find out, Brother?”

Then Ethan greeted me so sweetly. “Hello, again jackass. Don’t you have work to do? My sister isn’t safe until we find them.”

John immediately jumped to my defense. “Ethan, calm down. The man needs evidence before he nabs somebody.” John looked back at me and asked, “So tell me how Claire is doing?”

“Wait, you know about them?” Claire’s father asked.

“Yes. I knew before you did,” John replied proudly like he’d won a prize or some shit. 

“Really?” Richard said suspiciously.

“Yes, but now is not the time for that. How is she?” he asked his brother

“She’s safe thanks to Travis here,” Richard replied begrudgingly.

“Williams, Cole, I was questioned already today about the Lakes by the local detectives.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Eli said.

“Good. So who do I have to end for this?”

“We don’t know who it is yet,” Eli responded.

John wasn’t letting it go. “But you have an idea. It’s been over a day, already. Unless you’ve become a big pussy.”

I wasn’t in the mood for an interrogation from this asshole. “I’ve got my shit together. It’s the ones after Sam that I need help with. Have you met with any of the other buyers?”

“Only at a party the Lakes hosted two years ago. There were several possible marks there from all over the world. Have you heard from Rick and Sam since you learned of her parents’ murders?”

Richard responded, “Yes. I called them. They are supposed to be back tomorrow. He wanted to show her around some more.”

Ethan leaned against the wall and asked, “Dad, does Rick know of the danger?”

“Yes, he does, and he’s ready to do anything to keep her safe.”

The following day, I met with investigators, Anderson and Kline and the Fire Chief Gordon about the fire at the Salon. They hadn’t found her former employees, Jane and Rita. It seemed that they had skipped town, only adding to the suspicion that they were involved. Tad came in and spoke with them, giving a statement, which cleared him of anything other than being an idiot.

“So, she forwarded her voicemails to you?” the lead investigator asked.

“Yes, let me play one.” I pulled my phone out and played the first one after the fire. It was sent at four thirty-three in the morning.

“Claire, I just heard about the fire. It’s so terrible. What are we going to do for a job? Call me,” Jane blandly said.

“Wow, she sounds overly concerned,” Gordon said sarcastically.

“Plus, what was she doing up at that hour? Tad, her best friend, didn’t even know about it yet,” Anderson pointed out.

“That was my thoughts as well,” I said in anger. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to join the dark side and help John find them.

We left the meeting with very little new information. It was frustrating as hell because we didn’t have any leads yet. All I wanted to do was get back to the house because I missed the hell out of Claire. We were having a fight about moving to Texas and opening up a salon when I had to leave this morning. It wasn’t the move that she had a problem with it was the fact that I didn’t want her to open up her own salon. She was going to lose that fight; although I promised her I’d make it up to her.

It was a nice day. Perhaps, if her family and mine were gone we could get naked and go for a swim.
My thoughts were all about Claire so I didn’t notice the car that pulled up in front of the station. I had just gotten halfway down the steps when out of the car came Sam. I had nowhere to run since she’d already seen me, so I rushed to her like I was overjoyed to see her, instead of the panic I felt.

“Brady!” She shouted as she ran into my arms. I was in deep shit, now.

“Samantha, sweetheart, I’m sorry about your parents.” I hugged her tight because I didn’t want her to be mad at me once she learned the truth about me. I looked at Rick, and he looked ready to belt me, but I didn’t care. I wiped Sam’s tears because she was still my little sister.

He pulled her away from me like I was going to steal her away. They didn’t tell him that I wasn’t interested in anyone else but his sister. Well, he was in for a surprise.

“O’Connell,” I hissed, playing up my hatred for him.

“Williams,” he growled, which I was sure was in jealousy.

“Are you two going to fight?” she asked worriedly.

“Not yet,” I replied. Once he found out I deflowered his sister I wouldn’t put it passed him to want to fight.

“Nope, I will wait until you’re tied to me, before I kick his ass,” he said to her.

“You wish,” I muttered.

Just then the dumbass sheriff walked out. I knew this wasn’t going to go well for me.

“Miss Lake…Mr. O’Connell. I’m glad that you could make it. Miss Lake, I’m sorry about your loss.”

“Thank you,” she muttered. It was clear that there was no love lost there and it gave the sheriff all the more reason to believe that she may have been involved. 

“Yes, Sheriff. We’re here for the interview,” Rick stated.

“That’s good. Travis, please join us as well.” What the hell?! I almost made it out of there without getting busted.

She started to look around for someone else, but she didn’t see anyone, but the four of us. That was when Rick whispered in her ear, distracting her. It was something personal, but nothing to do with me, since she was flaunting a large ring.

I followed behind them. We were placed in the same room I’d just left. Inside was the D.A. Canello, Kennedy, and Cole who’d been in Cole’s temporary office discussing another case. After the murders he took up residence in the Collinsville Police Department headquarters.

They wasted no time questioning her as I stood against the wall.

“Miss Lake, where were you on June tenth?” the sheriff asked.

With no concern for their opinion she answered, “I was on vacation in Greece with Mr. O’Connell.”

“Do you know anyone who would want your parents dead?” Kennedy asked.

I could see her anger ready to bleed out, but she responded calmly. “I don’t know. There could be a lot of people or only a few. Until about three weeks ago, I hadn’t spoken to my parents in over a year.”

Kennedy continued, “Why is that?” What were they playing at? They knew why. They were aware of my undercover work—egotistical assholes.

“Why is that relevant?” Rick growled.

“Because they tried to sell me off like cattle to a man for marriage,” she responded to his question without any feeling at all.

“Was it the only time they tried to do this?” Gordon asked.

“I don’t know, but my mother did set up a date with Mr. Moreno.”

“Yes. We know that.” Kennedy responded, looking at the sheriff like he was interfering.

They were pricks. They knew a lot more than that. I almost choked up as I tried to hide my laugh when she rolled her eyes at them. 

“We have a long list of suspects. When you ran away that was not their first time trying to sell you out. They had offered you up to the highest bidders before. I’m so sorry.”

Rick stood up and said, “Listen, gentlemen, I think that’s enough.” He tried to get Sam up, but she wasn’t budging.

“Tell me all,” she growled, looking directly at the sheriff.

Cole took the lead. “It started about four years ago. Your parents had gotten into a world of financial trouble with some unsavory people, and you were the only thing they had to barter with.”

“But we had priceless things. We already moved into the mansion by then,” she uttered in confusion.

“Yes. They needed to fund their extravagant lifestyle, and you were their meal ticket.” Her face dropped as she realized her true value to her parents.

It was time for the district attorney to speak. “By the time you had run away they had owed more than five million dollars, to all sorts of people, in several different countries. When one of our informants gave us the tip, we sent in Federal Agent, Travis Williams to go undercover for your protection.”
Damn.
They just threw me under the bus—
assholes
.

She looked right at me, and I knew that she was hurt. It was clear she wasn’t going to take my deception lying down.

“I was just an assignment to you. I thought you were my friend.” Her eyes were filled with tears. Rick tried to ease her hurt, but she turned on him next. Oops…she knew he knew the truth about me.

“You knew, didn’t you?! You asked why Travis was leaving my apartment; you thought he was my lover that night. What is wrong with you? With either of you? With friends like you two lying asses, who the fuck needs enemies?! I am done here.” She looked at us both before adding, “With all of you!”

She stormed out and Rick chased right after her. I was going to follow too, but I needed to let these asses know they messed up.

“Thanks for blowing my cover. I was planning to tell her. Now she’s going off the handle. Peace out, you asses.” I didn’t care if they were my superiors or could get me fired. I wasn’t going to let what they’d done go uncontested. I was sure Eli wouldn’t let them walk out without snapping. He was my brother and knew what Sam meant to me.

I could see Rick and Sam talking as I reached the glass doors. I got out just in time to see a car pull up and open fire on them. I called out to them to duck as I opened up fire on the speeding car. I emptied my clip into the vehicle. I managed to hit the shooter, and he pulled back into the car. The other cops came running out the door with their guns drawn as the attackers sped off. I could see the plates were temporary and more than likely fake. John needed to be contacted.

I ran up to Rick and Sam. They were both laying on the ground, and it was clear that they’d been shot. Rick was unconscious and losing blood quickly from his head and chest. I yelled for someone to call an ambulance. My eyes were stinging with tears as I looked down on them. I applied pressure to Rick’s wounds to try and stop the bleeding, while one of the other cops wrapped a belt around Sam’s arm to stop the bleeding. We got them to the hospital, but all I could do was pray they’d make it. Rick didn’t look so good, and Sam wasn’t much better.

I made the call to his father. “Richard, get to Stroger ASAP. Rick and Sam have been shot.”

“What!? I’m on my way,” he roared. I didn’t get a chance to ask about Claire because he hung up. I knew that he’d bring them to the hospital, so I’d see for myself. She’d already suffered enough lately, and it didn’t seem like it was going to end any time soon.