Stefan drove Savannah home the next morning, after she’d showered—alone. As much as he’d wanted to join her, he knew it was too much, too soon. Baby steps. Overwhelming her at this point was counterproductive to his slow and steady pace. He wanted to win her heart, not just her body, and rushing her too fast could prove detrimental to all the progress he’d made.
In the end, he’d loaned her a T-shirt because hers had been covered in blood from where she’d hit her head. Some of it had been Bogey’s too. She looked mighty fine in his shirt.
He walked her to the front door, planning to kiss her and head back to the hotel. First thing on his to-do list was to check in with Sully, see if he’d found out anything. Then talk to the boss, make sure Aristides hadn’t slithered away in the night, hiding out in his old stomping grounds. Criminals did love returning to the scene of the crime, no matter how cliché that might seem.
Savannah had other ideas though when he leaned in for a goodbye kiss. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not leaving me to face my mother alone. Count your blessings it’s after eight, or you’d be dealing with both my parents.”
Grabbing his hand, she half-dragged him through the front door. “Mom, I’m home.”
Coming out of the kitchen with a coffee cup in her hand, Mrs. Sloane walked up to Savannah, and kissed her cheek. “What happened to your head, honey?” she asked, touching the bandage on Savannah’s forehead.
“I fell. Nothing to worry about.” During the night, they’d decided not to worry her parents. The last thing her father needed was added stress on top of his heart condition. Hence, the little white lie.
“You’re sure you’re okay? I can get you into the doctor’s office right away…”
“No need. Already went to the emergency room. I promise, it’s no big deal.”
Her hand tightened around his, and he saw the second Savannah’s mother noticed them holding hands. The smile she shot him said more than words she approved.
“Dad’s at work?”
Mrs. Sloane nodded. “Oh, he said to let you know another package came for you. The courier delivered it right as he was heading out the door.” She motioned with the hand holding the coffee. “Let me get you both some coffee.”
The second she’d turned and headed to the kitchen, Stefan pulled Savannah to his side. Apparently, he’d noted her flinch at her mother’s mention of another package.
“I’ll open it.”
“No,” she said, gently pushing against his chest. “Whatever it is, I can handle it. Besides, you’re here with me this time, so whatever Aristides hopes to accomplish, he’s out of luck.”
She reached around him and pulled the cardboard envelope out from beneath a pile of mail, grasping it gingerly by the corner. “Same return address as before.”
“Don’t open it. You know he’s just toying with you, taunting you. Don’t let him have that power. Give it to me. I’ll get rid of whatever it is.”
“No.” Her intense glare hopefully conveyed the message she wouldn’t back down. “I’m tired of being the victim. Of letting Aristides think he’s got the upper hand. Whatever this is,” she waved the envelope, “it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter.”
“Coffee’s ready,” her mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
“Be right there, Mom.” Walking forward, she linked her arm through his. “We’ll open it later. Right now, I want my caffeine fix.”
He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”
Walking to the kitchen, he took a seat at the island, the same place he’d sat before with Savannah, the day he’d found the camera planted outside and they’d shared peanut butter cookies. Too bad Sully hadn’t been able to trace the source any further than the abandoned apartment in Thousand Oaks, though they’d decided to continue monitoring the feed. Savannah knew to be cautious when she stepped into the backyard.
“Now that you’re home safe and sound,” Mrs. Sloane smiled at Savannah, “I’ve got to head to the grocery store. We’re out of everything.” She pointed at Stefan, “And you’re invited for dinner tonight. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’d like that. Thank you.” With that, she grabbed a handwritten list off the counter. “There are fresh cinnamon buns on top of the stove. I expect them to be gone when I get back.”
Savannah chuckled as her mother sailed out of the kitchen, headed for the front door. “She’s like a little general, with her lists and commands.” Handing him a plate with two of the rolls on it, she grabbed one for herself, and sat beside him.
“Now that she’s gone, I guess it’s safe to open this.” She slammed her hand down against the envelope, so similar to the one that started this entire roller-coaster of fear.
“Just remember, no matter what it is, don’t let Aristides get inside your head. He’s manipulating you, playing on your emotions and your guilt. Don’t let him win.”
With a firm nod, she pulled the paper zipper free and tossed it onto the counter. Inside were several typewritten pages—along with a handwritten note.
It was from Aristides.
My dear Anna. Bile rose in the back of her throat at the words. He used to call her that, when she’d been his son’s hostage. Always said in a saccharine sweet tone, but she’d felt the menace beneath his words. She continued reading.
I decided to give you a little present. It seems only fitting that you know more about the man you’ve chosen as your white knight. Turns out, he has feet of clay.
Take a good look, and you’ll know the truth about Stefan Carlisle. No, I didn’t make up the information contained here. I’m surprised you fell for someone with his track record, but then you always were a poor judge of character, weren’t you?
Enjoy my gift. I’ll be in touch soon.
Though it wasn’t signed, she had no doubt it was from him.
“What is it, Savannah?”
“I’m not sure. He says it’s a present.” She handed him Aristides note, before her eyes glanced over the first page of the papers. Stefan’s name immediately jumped out to her.
It was a police report.
She stared at him, then back down at the page. The charge was assault and battery. The next page and the next were all police reports, outlining various charges against Stefan. It felt like a giant fist squeezed her lungs—she couldn’t breathe. Yet she had to keep reading.
Below the police report were pages from a juvenile court outlining the charges and verdict—guilty on all counts.
“Stefan…” How could she ask him if this was true? Yet how could she not? These charges didn’t equate to the man she knew, the man sitting before her with a puzzled look on his face.
“Savannah, you’re scaring me. What the hell did Aristides send you?” Instead of waiting for an answer, Stefan yanked the pages from her hand, and it was her turn to watch the color leach from his face. That alone let her know more than words, everything in those reports was true.
“Did you do those things?”
“Yes.”
Just a single word, but she heard the resignation beneath it, watched the former happiness flee from his eyes, replaced by an anguish so sharp, her breath caught in her throat.
“Tell me.” It wasn’t a demand, though it came out like one. She wanted to understand because the violent person described in those police reports wasn’t the man she’d come to love.
Love? I love him.
The words were a revelation. Though she’d accepted she had feelings for Stefan, she’d never dared dream they’d changed into something more. More than the friendship with its slow beginning after her rape. More than the spark of attraction between two people finding their way. Between their calls and e-mails, between their Skyping and texting, and her seeing him face-to-face, getting to know the man who lay beneath his skin, somewhere along the way she’d fallen in love with him.
He scrubbed his hands over his face, and the longer shaggy waves of his hair fell across his forehead, blocking her from seeing those beautiful blue eyes. That wouldn’t do. She needed to see them, read the truth.
“What do you want me to say? It’s all true. Black and white facts.”
“We both know nothing is ever black and white. It’s never that simple.”
So many emotions raced across his face, but the one that stayed was one she refused to allow. Defeat.
“I, more than most, know there are two sides to every story. And I want to understand. There’s a reason those files still exist, because you’re too good with a computer—if you wanted them gone, they’d have disappeared a long time ago.”
Standing, he moved away from her, his posture stiff and rigid. It almost looked as if he were steeling himself for a blow. Whether physical or emotional she couldn’t tell, but he expected her to reject him—because of his past.
Like hell. She might not be the most observant person in the world, but she’d noted the dates on those police reports, and the court ruling. Everything in those pages was over ten years old. Meaning it had happened when he was very young.
“Tell me what happened, Stefan. Help me understand.”
“It’s not important.”
He stood with his back to her, ramrod straight. Though he was only a foot or two away, the distance felt as big as the Grand Canyon—and she wasn’t going to stand for it. Not for one bloody minute.
“And just that easily, Aristides wins.” Savannah shook her head, letting out a soft sigh.
Walking up to him, standing at his back, she wasn’t sure what to say. But she knew what to do. Drawing in a deep breath to bolster her courage, she slid her arms around his waist, her hands resting against his chest, and laid her head on his back.
The stiff way he held himself scared her. She’d never seen him like this, rigid and unbending. Though she couldn’t see his face, she’d bet it was an icy mask of indifference.
The man she knew—the man she loved—had begun to erect mental barriers to shut her out. She could feel him pulling away, felt helpless in the face of Aristides’ taunting package.
“He didn’t send those police reports to hurt you. I doubt he cares one way or another about your feelings, Stefan. He wants me to see you differently. To be afraid, because of the violence and viciousness you’ve been accused of in the past.”
“I never wanted you to know about who I used to be. But it’s a part of me, of who I am, and I can’t change it. I won’t. That’s why those records still exist. They are a reminder of who I was and the road I was headed down.”
“Except you didn’t go down that path.” She held him tighter, felt a shudder wrack his body. He was shutting down, distancing himself emotionally, and she wouldn’t allow it—couldn’t allow it—because somehow this was a turning point in their newfound relationship, and she’d be damned if she’d let Aristides steal away the one good thing in her life.
“Growing up, things weren’t…good.” He waved a hand, encompassing the living room. “Nothing like this existed in my house. You have two parents who love you, support you. Taught you values and morals.” When he tried to step away, she held on tight, refusing to let him put any distance between them. She was terrified if he walked away now, he’d step out of her life for good. Oh, he’d make sure she was protected, she didn’t doubt that. But he’d do it from a place apart. Totally unacceptable.
“Talk to me, Stefan. I know how Aristides thinks. He sent those reports to drive a wedge between us. He expects me to, I don’t know, maybe toss you out the door. Or think you’re like Danny.”
She loosened her arms and slid around his body to stand in front of him. “You are nothing like Danny Cooper. Do you hear me? Nothing!”
His eyes finally met hers. “But I could have been, babe. I was headed down a dark, ugly path where I could’ve turned out exactly like Danny.”
“Something happened to make you change—because that,” she waved her hand toward the pages scattered across the granite, “isn’t the man I know.”
The man I love.
“Savannah, I nearly beat a man to death with my bare hands.” He held his hands in front of him, staring at them. “There was so much rage inside me, it finally erupted.” Balling his hands into fists, he slowly raised his head. “When they eventually locked me in a cage, it felt like I belonged there. I was no better than a wild animal, so I deserved to be locked away where I couldn’t hurt anybody—ever again.”
Her heart ached for the boy he’d been. It was hard to picture the sweet, caring man she knew with a savage, brutal teenager. She didn’t doubt physically he could hurt somebody. He might work behind a computer screen, but he’d kept his body in perfect shape. She’d seen that for herself last night. Misty-eyed, she remembered the exquisite care and tenderness he’d shown when he’d been making love with her. No—he wasn’t the same person the police reports and court documents condemned. And he never would be again.
“How’d you find your way back?”
“Samuel Carpenter.” She raised a brow at the mention of his boss’ name. The man she’d met once, in New Orleans after she’d been rescued, was the one who’d helped Stefan get his head on straight? Apparently, she owed the man more than she realized.
“How’d you meet him?”
A tiny smile appeared on his lips. “I was in juvie, waiting for my court date. A week shy of my fifteenth birthday, and my court-appointed public defender was fighting tooth and nail to keep me from facing charges as an adult.”
Drawing in a shocked breath, she refrained from speaking, afraid if she did he’d stop talking, and she really wanted—needed—to hear this part of his life story.
“She believed in me when nobody else did. All the facts pointed toward me trying to kill the guy, and between him and his buddies, they made it sound like what happened was a premeditated and cold-blooded attempt on his life. They had no trouble lying through their teeth for their pal.”
She reached to touch him, and he stepped back, and her hand slowly drifted to her side. “Sorry.”
“Dammit, it’s not that, not you. If you touch me, I won’t be able to finish this, and you’re right. You need to know the truth, in all its ugliness.”
Fighting the urge to tell him it didn’t matter, she nodded. “Tell me.”
“My attorney hadn’t been practicing very long. Maybe a couple of years, but she fought hard to make sure they respected my rights. In the beginning, I was a belligerent ass, and wouldn’t tell her anything. Demanded to plead guilty. But she saw something in me, I guess.”
Spinning, he walked to the counter and picked up one of the police reports. “Rebecca Miller. That’s her name. She said she had a friend she wanted me to talk to, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Hell,” he laughed, “I was such a cocky punk. Next thing I knew, here’s this guy, all up in my face. Telling me I’m a coward for not standing up for myself and letting Jake and his posse railroad me straight into prison. Because that’s exactly what was happening.”
“He offered you an alternative?” She joined him at the counter, sliding onto one of the stools. Please, let him keep talking. I need to know everything, and he needs to let it out, so the poison from his past doesn’t destroy any hope of a future we might have.
“All I could think was here’s this dude, not that much older than me, and he’s got an attitude like he owns the whole bloody world. I’d been around enough to recognize the good stuff when I saw it, and he was head-to-toe the real deal. Truthfully? I was jealous as hell and envious. Why’d he get all the good stuff outta life handed to him on a platter, and I got stuck with a single mother who was drunk more than she was sober, and an older sister who was a magnet for every degenerate sleazebag in high school, allowing them to toss money her way for sex.”
The intensity of his stare bored into her, as if he wanted her to see to the depths of his very soul. Did he think she was afraid of him? Because of something that happened when he was barely old enough to defend himself. That’s what Aristides wanted—for her to fear the one man she trusted more than any other. She’d understood Aristides plan the second she’d seen what the pages were. His backhanded attempt to instill a higher level of desperation, because if he drove Stefan away, it would leave her vulnerable, and ripe for the picking.
“Carpenter offered me a deal. He’d arrange for my release in exchange for me coming to work for him until I was eighteen. How’s that for an option? Three years of what I considered indentured servitude to somebody I didn’t know or twenty years behind bars. It was a no-brainer. Carpenter, being Carpenter, performed his magical voodoo and before I could make heads or tails of what was happening, I was released into his custody.”
“What about school or your family?”
“What about them? They’d turned their backs on me long before I got arrested the first time. Pretty sure to them it was good riddance, one less mouth to feed.”
The bitterness in his voice was like a blade penetrating her heart. She’d never lived like that, never had to worry about her family’s love and support. He’d grown up in a home without any of the things she’d taken for granted. It broke her heart.
“Carpenter didn’t take it easy on me. First thing he did was hand me over to Ms. Willie.” He cocked his head, looking at her. “Did you meet her?”
“I don’t think so.” She shrugged, “If I did, I don’t remember.”
His soft laugh warmed her soul. “Trust me, babe, if you’d met Ms. Willie, you’d remember her. Anyway, he moved me into his place, this fancy million dollar house, with Ms. Willie, who was his housekeeper and ran things with an efficiency I’d never encountered before or since. The first day I’m there, he brings in this snooty teacher-type joker who gives me test after test. Carpenter told me not to cheat, to do the best I could on every single one—called them aptitude assessments. The next morning, he marches me into a room and sits me in front of a computer. First one I’d ever seen that wasn’t some ancient relic from the public library.”
Savannah couldn’t help smiling at the picture his words painted. She could imagine him as a young teen, being given something that, to him, was like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter all rolled into one.
“He handed me a manual, a set of tools, and told me to do whatever felt right. Then he turned around and walked out. I didn’t have a freaking clue what he wanted from me, but I picked up the manual and started reading. Before I even realized it, I’d taken the whole thing apart. Stripped it down until nothing was left intact. Examined every circuit board, every cable, and every switch. I didn’t leave a damned thing untouched.”
She chuckled. “Destruction at its finest, huh?”
“Strange thing was, I put it back together—and it still worked. It felt like a piece of the puzzle had finally snapped into the right spot inside my head, and I knew—I just knew—I was meant to work with computers. What I didn’t know at the time was Samuel Carpenter is a sneaky bastard. He’d put me in a room equipped with dozens of cameras and watched the entire thing.”
It was impossible to hold back her laughter. “That’s just not right.” Another snicker burst forth at the look on his face.
“Right after that, he hired a tech guru to tutor me, teach me everything he knew about computers. I swear, I soaked it up like a sponge. Plus, I still had to go to school and get my diploma. In the end, it was totally worth it. The day I turned eighteen, Carpenter put me on the payroll, and I’ve been with him ever since.” Shaking his head, he got this faraway look in his eyes. “I’m not sure where I’d be, or if I’d even be alive, if it wasn’t for him.”
He picked up one of the police reports. “I could erase these from existence, but I don’t. They are a reminder of who I was, where I came from, and where I was headed.” He shrugged. “None of the others on the team know, as far as I’m aware. If they do, they’ve never said a word.”
“Because it doesn’t matter.” She couldn’t fight the urge anymore and reached out, clasped his hand. “You didn’t let your past define you.” Her other hand she slapped atop the pile of papers. “This wouldn’t matter to the people who know and love you. This,” she placed that same hand over his heart, “is what people see. The real Stefan Carlisle.”
Dragging in a shuddering breath, he leaned his head back, eyes closed. She felt every vibration beneath the hand on his chest. Each beat of his heart. Letting out a ragged sigh, he opened his eyes, and the stiffness in his body relaxed.
“I have changed. Meditation helps. Also doing Tai Chi. Got some relaxation techniques from a therapist friend I know. I can’t swear I’ll never have anger issues again, Savannah. But I can promise I will never, ever, hurt you. I’d die first.”
Lifting her hand from his chest, she threaded her fingers through his hair, pushing it back off his face. “I know you’ll never hurt me, Stefan. Never had a single doubt.”
Stepping back, she turned and picked up the scattered pages and stacked them, before stuffing them back into the envelope. “Now, I’m pissed. If Stavros Aristides thinks he can ruin my life with these measly scare tactics, then he’s dumber than I thought. I’m tired of being the victim, having everybody worried about poor Savannah.”
“We’re working to find him, babe.”
“I’ve got a better idea. Let’s take the fight to him.”
Stefan’s brow wrinkled, and she bit back a grin. As cute as he looked, she was deadly serious about getting the threat dealt with, the sooner the better.
“I’ve got a plan.”
With a wicked grin, she began outlining what she had in mind.