Assignment: Second Chances Read online

  “The office for the moment,” Nathan told her. He turned in his seat slightly to look at her as he put his cell up to his ear. “Need to drop the letter off. Yeah, Michael it’s Gordon. Olivia got another letter. I need Timmons to do a check on something from it, and we need flights out as well. We’ll be at the office in twenty, given Jacobs is driving the speed limit finally. Oh and if you happen to get a couple red light camera tickets, all him. Yup.”

  She saw Lee shoot Nathan a nasty look as the other man hung up the phone.

  “I am not taking the blame for those tickets just because you decided to break all land speed records to get to her. Fuck that noise,” he muttered, putting the phone away. “After we drop the letter off we’ll have to run past both of our places to grab our go-bags. By which time we should have an idea if we can get a flight out, or if we need to crash at the last place for the night to wait it out until morning.”

  “What do you need from the letter?” Olivia asked with a frown. “It’s pretty clear what happened, and when you add the images as well—” The letter had been from the cemetery where her son had been interred, she knew that it was real and the gravestone that had been in the image was her sons as well. The stone had cost her a small fortune, but her son deserved nothing but the best.

  “Mostly the picture of what was, and wasn’t around the gravesite. Thankfully the company that runs the place sent more than one picture. We’re going to be looking at it all very carefully,” Nathan told her.

  “I really hope that you are able to figure out why they did this. My son should be above all of this. He’s the only true innocent in all of this,” she whispered and brushed at her tears. “I won’t let this get me down. I didn’t let them break me when I was held captive and I won’t let them break me now,” she whispered more to herself than the men in the SUV with her.

  Strangely enough it was Lee that passed her a couple of tissues. “We’ll send more pictures back once we’re on site, and if possible get the police to do a full examination, and reconstruct the headstone there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they will have left us more of a clue. Unless it was only vandals, but I don’t think it was.”

  “I don’t think that it was vandals either.” She didn’t know how they would know where her son was buried though. Yes she had talked about her child while held captive, but never would she have believed that Phyllis would be part of that horror she had lived through. “It’s far too personal for it to be vandals.”

  “Understandable,” Nathan said. “But we can’t be sure of anything until we see it all with our own eyes. We don’t know if this was the only headstone destroyed. If it wasn’t than it was likely the work of vandals. If it was, then we will have our answer. Until then it’s all supposition on our part, and getting us nowhere.” He turned a little more to look at her. “I do have to admit to being curious about something though. You don’t have to answer the question of course, but I’d be grateful if you would. You were born, and raised in Florida, and yet you are now here. Why?”

  She couldn’t tell them the truth. The truth was that she had moved to Annapolis when she found out that Lee would be stationed in Florida, or so his mom had thought. She had wanted to move far away, but she loved the ocean so she didn’t want to move too far from it, so she moved to Annapolis and started her business less than two years after she lost her son. “A change of scenery,” she said finally.

  Nathan didn’t look like he believed her, but he nodded. “Huh,” he grunted. Turning in his seat he settled down again, an elbow up on the door. “Well you definitely got that. Though I’d have figured somewhere warmer given where you’d grown up would have been a better plan. No one willingly plans on moving somewhere you can freeze your nuts off for half the year.”

  She could see Lee rolling his eyes in the rearview mirror. They were pulling into the Nightshade offices parking lot, and into a spot a moment later. Both men slid out, and Nathan opened the door on his side of the truck for her to slide out.

  “I happen to love it here. Where we grew up it was far too hot. There were two seasons. Hurricane season and Hades. So I’m much happier with this place because at least I get a spring and summer as well as fall and winter. Life is good.” And it was far from home, far from the place where she had lost all desire to live for a time.

  Shutting the door, he nodded. “Good point. Though I could do without the blizzards, and those nasty cold days. Other than that it’s actually pretty around here during the other seasons. And they are very distinct seasons at that unlike some places I’ve had the displeasure of being over the years.” He walked at her side as they went up to the doors, before moving to pull the main door open for her to enter. She knew that Lee was on her heels, could practically feel the weight of his eyes on her back.

  “So see, that’s why here instead of there.” Although to be honest, right now Florida was looking better. Now that she knew just how close Lee was to her she wasn’t sure that she could continue to live in Annapolis. It was a large city, yes, but it was also a very small city at the same time, and once she was no longer running on adrenaline from the past, she didn’t think she could handle the collapse of herself when she saw him again. After. Once she was safe.

  Nathan was watching her closely as they walked through the lobby of Nightshade. He made an indecipherable noise in his throat as they all headed up the stairs. At the top he turned to look at Lee behind her. “I’ll get the note, and photos to Michael. He’s got a guy that will be taking a closer look at the images to see what he can determine.”

  “Meet you out front in ten,” Lee said. Then she felt the slightest brush of his fingers to her arm. “Come on. I’ll get you a cup of tea, and then I’ll get changed,” he told her.

  “Sounds good.” Only then did she realize he was in workout clothes. It had registered when he walked into her home of course, but now it fully hit her. “Oh God,” she whispered in absolute horror. “I didn’t mean to pull you out of your workout. That’s why the tape. You could have at least taken care of yourself before you came to me. I’m nobody and you need to take care of yourself,” she whispered softly to him. That was how she saw herself, she was nobody. Only being protected because she survived hell with Clara Smith, the now fiancé of two of their co-workers.

  The sound he made was like a growl, but more. She didn’t have anything to base it against, so even in her own mind she couldn’t quite grasp it. “You are not nothing, Olivia. I was pounding on the heavy bag when you called. Not exactly anything of any great importance. Your life is worth more than that, not that you seem to care all that much.” Shaking his head, he moved up the hall. Stopping by a door, he looked back at her. “Are you going to stand there, or are you coming?”

  Oh she was coming all right, she had a piece of her mind to give to him. She stomped toward him, the anger all but radiating off of her, as well as hurt. Slamming his office door closed behind her, she twisted the lock with a brutal flick of her wrist and narrowed her gaze at him. “You sure as hell didn’t make me think that I was worth anything when you up and just left me ten years ago. You wouldn’t take my calls, return my letters, and refused to talk to me.” The tears streaming down her face were from anger, not hurt, she kept repeating to herself, trying to make herself believe that falsehood. “You wouldn’t even listen to me. Not once.” She was so angry that she blanked out and just spoke. “I went through so much, and you didn’t even care. I survived the morning sickness, the swollen ankles, the hurting back all alone. In a time when you should have been there you weren’t and then.” She gulped, her mouth having verbal diarrhea at the moment. “When I needed you most, when our son needed you, you didn’t care. You turned your back on me, Ulysses Jacobs, not the other way around.”

  That’s when it hit her. The look on his face had her realizing what she said and she sobbed. She twisted the lock and tried to run, god she really did, but it was as if she were stuck in mud. “And through it all I had still loved you. I’m seriously twi
sted that I would still have feelings like that for someone that made it clear how he felt for me.” She then straightened her spine and finally walked out. Where she was going she had no idea, but being that close to him after dropping that bomb she hadn’t intended on dropping was just not good. She hadn’t ever meant for him to learn of the son that was lost so long ago, especially not in an anger and hurt fueled rage against him from her.

  A strong arm wrapped around her waist suddenly, and yanked her back against a hard body. A second later her feet were off the floor, and she was carried back into his office. Lee kicked the door shut and put her back on her feet to spin her around until her back was against it, and he loomed before her. With his arms on either side of her, she was effectively trapped. “Say it again,” he said in a low tone and she could hear rage simmering within.

  “Say what again, Lee?” she asked and sighed. Closing her eyes she thumped her head to the door three times. She was so bloody damn stupid and once more let her anger fuel her mouth and overrun her brain. “He was so perfect,” she whispered with a shrug. “Except for his little foot. He was so beautiful.” He had looked just like Lee’s baby pictures. The small child had been everything she could have possibly hoped for in a child. He had been hers. “But he’s gone now.” Sadly she had wished it had been her taken, not her son. She had no idea what he wanted from her, she had known when they were kids. She had known him as well as she had known herself, but not now. She didn’t know this version of her Lee. She didn’t know Ulysses, so when he asked her to say it again she was at a complete loss on what he might want.

  He let out a harsh breath before she felt his skin touch hers where he rested his forehead. His eyes were closed tight, and a look of agony was on his face. The mask was gone for once and she could see everything. Finally he lifted his head and pushed off from the door. “Thank you for telling me,” he whispered in a choked tone. “I’ll talk to Michael, and see if one of the others can accompany you to Florida. I know you don’t want me around, haven’t from moment one, so I’ll see what I can do on short notice.” Turning, he walked to another door and slipped inside without turning on the lights.

  He walked out on her again, that’s the only thing that rushed through her head when he pulled away from her. She had no idea what she had done in this life or any other life to have her heart and soul torn to shreds so much, but it was obviously huge. Maybe she was Hitler in a past life and this was her paying for those crimes?

  She had lived with him walking out on her once before, so she would have to survive this one. She roughly wiped at her eyes and straightened her shirt. She left his office and thankfully found the bathrooms before anyone could say anything to her. She was too broken, she knew that. She was too damaged and had too much baggage, so of course he would walk out on her, again.

  Shaking her head, she washed her face and then took many deep breaths before walking out of the bathroom and found her way to the front waiting room to see who was going to take her to Florida or if she was going to go alone.

  Nathan was there when she came down the stairs. He blinked at her and pushed up to his feet with a frown. “Olivia, what’s wrong?” he asked, moving to her. He put his hand on her arm, sliding it down to take her hand in his, and pulled her toward an area away from the receptionist desk. “Talk to me, and no going around in circles in your head before you give me some modified, stunted answer.”

  “Just the past rearing its ugly head once more.” She gave Nathan a sad, watery smile and nodded. “Just lots of reminders. That’s all. Now, I’m ready to go. I need to ensure that everything is put to rights with my son’s grave. They won’t touch it until I’m there. The stone alone is worth more than my shop, so they refuse to touch it.” The stone had gold, silver, and other mineral veins in its heavy slab. She had ensured that her son had the best, no matter the cost to her.

  “We aren’t going anywhere yet, we can’t get a flight out until morning. We need to wait on Jacobs anyway, unless there’s something you’re not telling me?” he said with narrowed eyes.

  Heavy boots came down the stairs, causing Nathan to turn. Michael was looking around, and when he spotted her he came right at her. He had a look on his face that spoke of an anger he was barely holding on to. “What the fuck did you say to him?” he demanded of her.

  Nathan shifted to slip between her and the other man. “Michael, back off and calm down. Who are you talking about?”

  “Jacobs. He just handed in his resignation, which I refused but he said he didn’t give a damn. He was done. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He fucking looked broken, and I know you had something to do with it Olivia. So what the fuck did you say to him to do that?”

  Of course it was her fault, it always was. It was her fault he left her so long ago. It was her fault, according to his parents, that he joined the Marines. All of it was her fault. She just shrugged. She refused to answer, she didn’t owe them answers, she didn’t owe any of them anything. Instead, for the first time in her life, she got it.

  Sometimes walking out was easier. That’s why Lee left her ten years ago and ten minutes ago. It was easier. “I’m done,” was all she said before she pushed her way past the men and toward the door. If she was caught and killed, whatever, she was done. She was broken, it hadn’t been just Lee that had been hurt, it had been her as well. She was tired of taking the blame for everything, and more than that she was sick of being shown just how important she was to someone by them leaving her. Yep, she was done.

  A hard hand caught her arm and spun her around. “Not until you tell me what the fuck you did.” It was Michael who’d caught her.

  “Get your fucking hands off her.” She recognized that hard tone. Michael was wrenched away from her, and Lee put himself between her and his boss. Or maybe it was former boss if he’d actually resigned. “You have no right to talk to her like that, let alone touch her.”

  “She’s the reason you’re quitting, so damn right I do. I want answers.”

  “She’s the reason I’m even standing here at all, you asshole,” Lee said. “We have a history, one I’m not going to even get into, but the only reason I’m alive today after what those assholes did to me was her. The hope of one day coming back and apologizing to her for being an idiot, getting drunk, and fucking enlisting in the Corps. If not for her I’d have given up in that cave in the middle of fucking nowhere when they were slicing off bits of my skin for the hell of it. I’d have given up when they were having fun cooking my flesh in the hopes I’d scream and make their day. She is the only fucking reason I survived all those surgeries, all that physical therapy, and why I was able to get back out in the field. The hope that one day I’d fucking find the bloody words, and the balls, to apologize to her. So don’t you ever fucking lay a hand on her. Because friend or no friend, I’ll fucking beat you down into a pile of bloody entrails and goo.”

  She placed her hand on Lee’s back and then her forehead. It was too much, all of it. She was crying, a-freaking-gain, and knew that she would not be able to handle much more of this. “I just want to leave,” she whispered. “Can we please just leave?”

  Turning to face her, Ulysses gathered her in his arms and stroked her back as he held her close. “Shh,” he whispered against her hair. “I’m sorry, Olivia,” he said. He kept rocking her back and forth as he whispered soft and soothing words to her in an attempt to calm her down. “We need to talk, little one. I know you don’t want to, but I need to tell you some things if you’ll listen. After that, if you want to go without me to Florida, I’ll let you.”

  “I’m listening.” She didn’t know if she could move right now, not having Lee right there before her and if she wasn’t mistaken, Nathan at her back. “I think that this is a conversation that should be held in private though, don’t you?”

  He lifted his head, and gave a nod. “Yeah, but not here,” he muttered. Throwing a dark and deadly look toward Michael, he waved toward the main doors. He’d changed at some point she cou
ld see from the fact he was covered from his neck to his toes again. Putting a hand on her back, he gave her a gentle push to the doors and then through them when Nathan held it open.

  “I’m going to my place to pack on the off chance this is still a go,” Nathan said when they all reached Lee’s SUV. “You two obviously have some serious history to sort out, so I’ll leave it to you. But call if you need anything, either of you.” He passed her a card with his number scribbled on the back before turning to go across the lot to another vehicle.

  Olivia nodded and tucked the card into her back pocket. “Thank you, Nathan.” She followed Lee dutifully, not stopping to talk to anyone and not hesitating when he pulled open the door of his SUV. She buckled up and waited now for him to take her wherever they were going next.

  He drove them through the city, but never said a word. When he finally pulled to a stop, it was in front of a condo building. After parking he got out, came around, and helped her down. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before putting his hand on her back. Then they walked into the building, to the elevator and rode up a couple of floors. Finally they were inside his home and he led her deeper inside. After one quick stop in the kitchen to get some water for them both, he led her to the sofa.

  Once settled, he rolled his bottle of chilled water between his hands as he stared down at his booted feet. “I shouldn’t have walked out,” he said softly. “I know that now. Hell I knew that about an hour after I did it, but by then you weren’t there anymore. Then I got mad, hit up a bar, and shit went sideways fast. Got to talking with some guys, bunch of bullshitting occurred, and the next thing I knew I was contracted into the Corps. I tried to call you a dozen times before I had to get on that bus, but your mother said you weren’t interested in taking my calls. She told me to stop calling because you were finally doing something right for once, and leaving me in the gutter where I belonged. Not that I was buying it, she’d never liked me, I always knew that. So I kept calling, and calling, and calling. No one ever picked up again, and then it was too late.”