Chapter 30

When Eva is tucked up in bed half an hour later, I settle myself beside her with a cuppa and my phone. I message Mary to tell her I’m not going anywhere for the foreseeable future and thank her, then pull up my emails to let Marina know not to expect Mae and me after all.

As I hit send, an email from Craig comes in titled ‘urgent.’ And it’s encrypted.

I type in the passcode provided by my app and stare at the screen, scrolling through for several minutes and going back up a few paragraphs to read it again, before continuing on down to the bottom, my brain running off in fifty different directions with the information he’s provided. I glance at Eva sleeping beside me.

First things first: I copy and paste De Luca’s email to Eva and send it to Gary with a note.

I’m hoping the guys managed to get photos but if not, is this enough evidence he received the papers? What was in the envelope he gave me?

I smirk as I reread the line in Craig’s email: she deleted it without replying. And bring her hand to my lips in a sweet kiss. She feels cold, so I pull the duvet up higher and wrap her hand in mine.

I may have found your leak, Craig has written. Luke Chambers contacted E:Vents from his personal computer under a pseudonym (‘Johnny Marks’) to arrange a meeting to discuss a child’s birthday party. Our malware then infected his machine and I found several images and evidence of tracking Ms Adams that aren’t linked to Cactus’s dealings with her. What I can’t find, though, is evidence he’s forwarded them. I can see that he has printed some.

I knew Luke was jealous. I knew he wanted her. But I had no idea he’d taken it so far.

Thanks for the info. Keep an eye on Luke. Let Brad know, discreetly, that we may have found the leak. I’ve got Eva covered.

And then I power down the phone before stripping off and getting into bed beside her.

I lie on my side, my fingers raking through the ends of her hair as my eyelids get heavier and heavier. I’ll worry about it all later. I have my girl in my arms and I’m never going to let her go again.

The following morning, I watch the back view of Joyce disappear up the stairs towards Eva, and snatch up my phone. The thing hasn’t bloody stopped since I turned it on! The WhatsApp group Davey added me to is buzzing like a beehive.

We have a lead. Stand by.

I can hear someone moving around and running water, so I jog upstairs and into the bathroom. It’s Joyce. I close the door behind me and speak quietly.

She sighs heavily. “You know what they say. Nurses make the worst patients.” A chuckle tickles my throat. “I think they came up with that with Eva in mind,” she says dryly. “But she’s on the mend, love.” Joyce lifts sad eyes to mine and I reach out to hug her.

Joyce half chuckles, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “You’ll have your work cut out there. She has an independent streak her father would have been proud of. Not to mention, she’s as stubborn as they come.”

A few minutes later, I see Joyce out with a promise I’ll call her if there are any changes in Eva’s condition, and pull my phone from my pocket when it vibrates again with a message from Davey:

Hunter. I need the laptop and phone. Ten minutes. Woods.

I’m with Eva.

Sid will cover The Nook. I’m not asking.

“Fuck!” I grumble as I dash back up the stairs to let Eva know I have to go out.

I park up on the grass verge and push my way through the hedge with Eva’s laptop and new phone in my hands.

“No, you’re not. I’m near the entrance. And you are definitely not here.”

“The h... why the fuck are you coming in through a hedge?” I can hear his quick footfalls down the phone before I see him running towards me.

“How else do you get in?” I ask, my eyebrows pulling together as I slide my phone back into my pocket.

“The gate is traditional.” He holds out an impatient hand and I pass him the laptop and phone. He kneels down and sits back on his heels as he produces another identical phone and laptop out of his backpack and starts connecting wires and hard drives.

“What gate?” I’ve never seen a bloody gate. I turn my head slowly from side to side, scanning my surroundings, my eyes probing the branches in the direction he came from, but I can’t see anything that isn’t a tree.

“From the house. That gate,” he mutters distractedly, his eyes locked on the screen open before him. “Come on!” he encourages the laptop. “Yes!”

“De Luca contacted her again. We’re going to reply. He has no way of knowing that you’re with her, since he’s hauled up with the only guys left standing. I need to get him out from behind them again.”

“The guy from the train station was working under different orders. De Luca doesn’t know. I’m going to tell him.”

“His family tried to take Eva.” Holy. Shit! “He’ll want revenge. He’ll come out, all guns blazing.”

“Definitely. Tell him she’s hurt and can’t see him yet but arrange for her to meet him in a few weeks. At least as far as he’s concerned.” Davey looks at me curiously, half his mouth smirking.

“I’ll find a trapper who looks a bit like her. Enough to get him through the door. Give her Eva’s top to wear...”

“I don’t think so. He’ll figure out it’s not her pretty quickly. He probably won’t even get near her. But it’ll get us close enough to him again...”

“Exactly. And you might want to let Craig in on some of this. He’s my IT guy. Found some interesting stuff.” Davey’s nose twitches and I nod firmly. “Right. So, two questions. What was in the envelope De Luca gave me?”

“What’s the other question?” Davey drops his gaze and starts disconnecting the wires.

“Look, Will. It’s really simple. Do you believe that Eva is lying to you?” I watch his eyes for a few seconds and push his comment aside.

I follow Davey through the trees for several minutes until a high, brick-built wall comes into view, set with a chunky wooden gate. “The gate,” Davey announces.

When he pushes it open, we’re standing on the edge of a wide, gravelled pathway that runs alongside a vast, landscaped lawn. Surrounding a grand, sprawling house.

“Whose house is this?” I ask, trying to see everything at once: the palms, the water features, the veg patch. The cluster of fruit trees that can only be described as an orchard.

“Whoa! What!” But Davey is already jogging away. He turns, running backwards, and shoos me through the gate. “Go back the way you came!” he calls. “It’ll take you an hour to walk around the outside.”

I arrive at The Nook a few hours later, with bundles of fish and chips burning my hands and curiosity burning my brain. Why does she live here if that’s her house too? I take the food through to the kitchen and am about to go upstairs to wake Eva when I notice the back door is wide open. My heart stutters to a stop.

I run outside and breathe easy again when I see Eva, safe and sleeping in the sun, two empty water bottles on the ground beside her lounger.

I walk across the lawn, the grass swishing against the hem of my jeans, and crouch down at her side. My fingertips gently brush her hair from her face. The swelling is more pronounced today but she’s still bloody beautiful.

She stirs and I lean in and kiss her cheek. “Hey,” I whisper as her eyelids flutter.

When Eva is fully awake and sitting opposite me at the garden table, with a pile of chips in front of her but hardly eating, I know I can’t put off the conversation any longer. It’s time to lay it all bare. Minus Davey of course. For now.

It’s the most excruciating conversation I’ve ever endured, but she has to know, and I need to hear it from her. Did she ever sleep with Gary? I hold my breath and ask a question I’m not sure I want to know the answer to.

“Eva?” I take another breath. “Baby. What happened?” Her eyes drop to the table.

“It’s like you said. He thought I was sleeping with Gary.” She peeks up at me frozen opposite her. “No. I wasn’t. Gary and I were only ever friends. He was Davey’s best friend his whole life. I’ve known Gary since I was Summer’s age. He’s basically my big brother.”

Oh. Thank. Fuck! My body slumps as the weight falls from my shoulders, and Eva continues, “Dan is Gary’s half brother. I didn’t meet him until much later, when Gary introduced us just a few months before my dad died.

“I knew about Gary’s family, in theory. I knew they were bad people, but Gary was fine, right? A lawyer. A good person. So Dan couldn’t be all bad, could he? And he wanted out of that life. He wanted to be a better man. Gary did it. There was no reason Dan couldn’t do the same.

“Davey was on deployment and Mum fell apart when Dad passed. By the time Davey got home for the funeral, I hardly recognised my own life. My dad was dead, my mum may as well have been, and Davey didn’t stay long. Bells was living in Spain at the time and Gary was... I don’t know where. Working somewhere. Dan was the only one who stuck around. Even Mum went travelling for six months.

“I was scared, Will. I didn’t know how to be in the world on my own. And he knew that. He got more and more controlling, to the point that I wasn’t sure I could do anything by myself.” My stubborn, independent wild thing. Broken and vulnerable. And he took his opportunity. Sick bastard!

“I told him I was pregnant. I didn’t know at the time that he’d had a vasectomy. Gary said he had decided he didn’t want kids because he didn’t want them dragged into the family business. I didn’t know that then. And he didn’t know it hadn’t worked. He assumed the baby was someone else’s. I don’t know why he thought Gary’s specifically.”

“Go on,” I encourage her when she stops, squeezing her eyes shut. Why Gary? Specifically? I wonder, and the envelope fills my head before I can push it out again.

“He nearly killed me. It was only when I didn’t show up for work that someone came looking. Another thirty minutes and I’d have been dead. We both would have been. I had more broken bones than a drunken motorcyclist. My jaw was wired shut. My orbital socket rebuilt...” The picture she’s painting fills my head and my stomach twists.

“Baby.” I fall to my knees at her feet, my forehead resting on her lap, silently begging her to forgive me. Forgive me for ever speaking to him. For not ending him when I had the chance.

“Summer was born at home. I refused to go back, even for that. And I never wore scrubs again.” Her voice has grown so quiet, her fingers gentle in my hair as I sit back on my heels, bringing her hand to my lips.

“Baby, please understand. You were never my mark. I own the agency, but I haven’t worked in the field since... since Mae’s mother.”

“She was.” Eva gasps but I can’t stop. The words are pouring from me like a leak. “And I’m glad. I’m glad that happened now, because if I was sitting here telling you I had anything to do with trapping you, you’d hate me. Sweetheart, you...” What are the right words to describe her? My Eva? “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. You are the most amazing mum. The sweetest, most selfless person. Fierce sometimes. And I fell for you.” So did each of my guys.

“You are legendary in Cactus.” I smile at her frown. “The agency. Eva, no one has ever turned down my guys before. If one fails, the next one won’t. All of my guys tried with you. And I have twelve.”

“Twelve.” I confirm with a nod, the idea of more painkillers briefly flitting through my mind. “I watched you for months. I was already falling for you that first time I came to your office. And I had already suspended your file. Baby, I was never there to trap you. You trapped me. The second I saw you, I was yours and I didn’t want to be free. I only tried to make you mine too.” The way she’s looking at me could slice me in two. Like she doesn’t know who I really am. “My heart physically aches when you look at me like that.”

“Like you don’t know me.” Her eyes briefly flick away but are back on mine fast.

“Why were you there? If the file was already closed, why did you meet with Dan?”

“Sweetheart, you know me better than anyone. I’ve never been this close to anyone, even friends I’ve known my whole life. You could kill me with two little words.” I kiss each of her hands. “I’ve never told anyone about my screwed-up family. I’ve never...” Fuck, I’m gonna sound pathetic.

“What? You’ve never what?” she asks quietly, as though she doesn’t really want to know any more. Well, she’ll like this revelation, so I stand and pull her up too, in a fluid motion. Bringing her body close to mine. Reminding her how good we are together.

“I’ve never made love to a woman before.” Her mouth twists and her forehead wrinkles. “I don’t mean sex. I mean making love. I’d never done that before I met you. I’ve never felt that connection before. And I don’t think you have either. I don’t think you could have. I think this is a once in a lifetime love.” A forever and only love. “My wild thing.”

“You love me?” She sounds like I just told her we’ve got it all wrong and the Earth is, in fact, flat.

“Jesus Christ, Eva! Have you not been listening to me? Yes! Yes! I love you!”

She’s watching me carefully, her eyebrows drawn together as though she’s trying to figure something out. I need to show her again. I lean in slowly, giving her the option of turning away while praying she won’t. When she lifts her lips to mine, my breath catches and sharpens. And she kisses me harder.