Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (24 page)

Mr. Banaan

waited years to make this phone call, hoping the day would never arrive. I couldn’t ignore this situation, though. They were here, just like he said they’d be—or just like
she
said they’d be.

Mrs. Crawford was very specific about the arrival date of the runaways, though I never knew how she was so sure these kids would escape here, on a specific date… or that they’d escape at all.

That’s why I put my son in charge of the property while he vacationed in Longboat. That, and the Crawfords
gave
me Silver Sands with the requisite that I’d check the building daily, but I’m a busy man. Time for inspections didn’t exist in my schedule, especially for such low profits.

I punched in the code on the safe and then pulled out yet another, smaller safe. How I remembered the combination, I have no idea. The lock popped, and I took out a thick manila folder labeled Derick and Abby. Adam Crawford wrote his phone number across the front so I wouldn’t have trouble finding it.

With trembling hands, I dialed, then listened to the ringing.

I’d never been this afraid in my life, and I had no explanation as to why my heart ran wild.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Crawford?”

“Yes.”

“This is Mr. Banaan. Derick and Abby—”

“Don’t say another word. Don’t ever speak another word about them to anyone but me or my wife. Do you understand?”

Some days I regretted my decision to take their property. Nothing in life is ever free. “I understand, sir.”

“Where are they?”

“My son found them on the beach yesterday.”

“Your son?” He sighed. “No. No. This isn’t right. Lillian!”

“Mr. Crawford?”

“Eh-hem.” Debby stood at my office door, pointing at her shiny gold watch, a wide grin on her ass-kissing face. I had a six-o’clock, and she must have thought she earned the ‘good job’ sticker for being the one to remind me.

“I have a meeting, Mr. Crawford,” I said.

“You have to cancel it. This is a matter of life and death.”

“Life and death?” I waved Debby on; she’d figure out a good excuse. If not, I’d fire her. “I know they’re in some trouble, but—”

“Mr. Banaan’s son, not Mr. Banaan, discovered the children on the beach.”

“No.” Mrs. Crawford’s gasp came through the phone loud and clear. “Did he recognize them?”

I almost laughed. “I’m sure he did. Their faces are plastered all over the news. How could he not? My son lives in the same town. For all I know, they probably go to the same school.”

Mr. Crawford conveyed what I said to his wife, his voice dull and lifeless.

“Specifically. Did he specifically say he knows them?” she asked, her voice muffled as she wasn’t the one actually talking on the phone. Odd people.

“No. Just that they looked familiar.” I flipped a pencil between my fingers. “What’s going on?”

“Aedan will do anything to get to Abigail, spare no one who has feelings for her, Adam. Will has always carried a torch for her. If he sees through the Safe Zone, if somehow they spend time together and anything happens that upsets Derick… no, we must stop this. Mr. Banaan’s son poses a threat to Derick and Abby’s safety—and his. The less people involved, the better.”

“What about my son’s safety?” Never mind how she knew Will’s particular interest in young women.

“You’re a damned fool, Mr. Banaan. We gave you explicit instructions, gave you a building for free, told you how important it was for
you
to monitor that building’s tenants—”

“Yes, but—”

“But now you’ve interfered with matters you’ll never understand, put your son’s life at risk.”

I slammed my fist against my desk. “I’m calling the police, Mr. Crawford.”

“No, you’re not.”

A strange calm washed over me, and a memory of Will running around our private beach flashed through my head, a carefree smile on his cheeks, tossing shells into the crystal clear surf.

“When you bought that vacation property in Longboat, you promised it would be a retreat for the two of you, you promised to always be there for your son, and now you’ve let him down in the worst possible way. Not only could he come between one of the most important relationships of our time, he could get himself killed in the process.”

How did he know what I promised my son? How did he know—“Did you say most important relationship in the world? What does all this mean? Who will kill him? Who is Aedan?”

“So you do still care.”

Mr. Crawford tested my patience. How dare he insinuate I didn’t love Will.

“How dare I, you ask?”

Did I say that aloud
?

“No. You did not. Do I have your full attention now?”

I wiped my hand over my face and wished I never took that building from the Crawfords. A meeting with Debby—the do-gooder—would have been better than this. “You do.”

“Derick and Abigail are in the middle of a transformation I cannot explain to you. If your son comes between them, between their bond, there is no doubt their happiness will falter—”

I snapped the pencil in half and chucked the pieces into the trashcan across the room. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

“Should I read your mind again, or are you going to be intelligent enough to hear me out?”

I liked his fire, but he sounded like a lunatic. “I’ll listen.”

“If their happiness falters, the men who kidnapped Abigail will be able to find her again. Her life protects all life on Earth.”

“Okay. I’ve heard enough.” I flung the files back into the safe, then twisted the dial. “You’ve played me a fool for too many years.”

“26-19-37.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s the combination to the safe you just tossed my file into.”

My heart raced at a beat that would surely land me in the hospital. “Do me a favor, Mr. Crawford, and talk in bullets. I don’t want too many details. Just tell me what I need to know and what I need to do.”

“Your son is a threat to my son and Abigail. Keep Will away from them and you’ll keep him safe, too.”

“Done. I’ll take the first flight home.”

“And Mr. Banaan?”

“Yes?”

“We gave you that building with more than one requisite. Do your part in guiding them. They are young and in love and need to trust one another to remain safe. Keep him away from Abigail.”

Loosening my tie, I propped the phone on my ear and pulled up a travel site. “Anything else?”

“A lot of work went into ensuring my wife and I would forget the location of the condo on Longboat, which is why we gave that building to you, Mr. Banaan. And shortly after this call ends, the spell will make us forget you exist, too. But if you fail and our children are harmed, you won’t be safe from our memory. Do I make myself clear?”

Was he threatening me?

“Yes. I am. Now, do I make myself clear?”

I hit confirm on the travel site for a morning flight home, then closed my laptop. “Perfectly.”

I dialed my assistant.

“Yes, sir?”

“Get Sgt. Aarons on the phone for me.”

I hung up before Debby could say another word.

No one threatened me.

Derick

knew Abigail better than she thought. I knew her so well that when she tried hiding something from me, she got this little glint in those chocolate brown eyes that gave her away. She hated herself when she lied.

She hated other people when they lied.

But I refused to ask her again.

Whatever sat on Abby’s mind and tormented her wouldn’t reveal itself until she was ready to tell me.

In the meantime, I’d try figuring out what sent her emotions spiraling out of control.

We couldn’t afford unhappiness, and too much lying would knock her down fast.

The faucets squeaked, and the metal hooks squealed as Abby pushed aside the shower curtain. I propped the stupid book on my knees, then flipped page after page, searching for whatever Guardian secret she mentioned or for the section talking about love and those numbing sensations we felt in our chests.

But finding specific answers in this book required time and patience, neither of which I had at the moment.

Powers, Elders, the beginning of time… these things I understood. But no matter how many pages I skipped, or chapters I searched for, I couldn’t find anything that Abby had. Like the book kept something from me that it didn’t keep from her.

Like magic possessed the pages.

“Are you magical?”

Maybe island fever infected my brain. Or maybe I was a complete idiot.

“Hey, Derick, can you grab me a fresh towel?”

Slamming the book closed, I jumped to my feet then dashed down the hall.

The last thing I wanted to do was have her catch me talking to a
book
.

I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and snuck into the bathroom.

Abby turned off the water and peeked around the curtain. She screamed, nearly toppling over in the tub. “When did you get in here?” Her eyes widened. “You weren’t in the bathroom the whole time, were you?”

So innocent… and so beautiful with beads of water sliding down her cheeks.

Turning my head, I suppressed a laugh. “Oh, I was in here the
whole
time, staring at your outline through the curtain, stalking you. That’s what I do, you know. Stalk women—especially young pretty ones like you.”