Lachlan
“Is she okay? Julia? Imogene? How are they?” Nikko asked frantically when I answered the phone later that morning, not even allowing me a chance to say anything in greeting. “How did this happen? I called the second I could. My god, bruh. What the fuck?”
“They’re fine,” I assured him, glancing toward the kitchen from where I sat on the couch in the living room. My heart warmed at the sight of Julia walking from the island to the oven, a tray of muffin in her hands.
It didn’t take long for her and Imogene to settle into my place, making it feel like a home, not just somewhere I slept whenever I was in town.
Within minutes of arriving, Imogene claimed one of the guest rooms, immediately ditching the décor I paid an interior decorator an obscene amount of money to design in favor of some of the things from her home that brought her comfort. And, as expected, Julia took over the kitchen, stocking the pantry with everything she needed. I told her she didn’t need to cook, but as I recalled from Hawaii, baking was her happy place. Her stress reliever.
And that was precisely what she’d spent most of the morning doing.
About an hour ago, Wes and Londyn had stopped by to make sure Julia was okay. And probably to get a break from the cops stationed to watch their house, as well. It was obvious the situation caused Londyn quite a bit of unease, as it did all of us. All we could do was hope we’d soon get a phone call informing us Nick had been caught. It gave us some comfort to know Agent Curran had been asked to assist in tracking him down. Besides Nikko, he was one of the few law enforcement officials I actually did trust. When he vowed to do everything in his power to find Nick and keep Julia and Imogene safe, it wasn’t an empty assurance. He would gladly risk his life to protect them.
Just like I would.
Taking a sip of water, I shifted my eyes to the sliding glass doors, watching Imogene and Eli kick a soccer ball around.
“They’re safe. I moved them all over to my place for the time being.”
This caught Nikko’s attention. “You’re in Atlanta? But you’re supposed to be in California.”
“One second, cousin,” I said, then met Julia’s gaze in the kitchen, Londyn sitting on one of the barstools, Wes beside her.
I knew they hadn’t told Londyn a lot of what was going on regarding the possibility of a copycat mirroring Nick’s kill cycle. Because of that, this wasn’t a discussion I could have out here.
“I’m heading down the hall to talk to Nikko for a second. You okay?”
Julia smiled. “I’m fine. Just another Saturday,” she tried to assure me, although it was anything but.
“Another Saturday,” I repeated, walking toward her and kissing the top of her head. Giving Londyn and Wes a smile, I made my way down the hallway and into my office, closing the door behind me.
“Sorry. Didn’t want to have this conversation in front of an audience.”
“What’s going on?” he pressed.
“A lot.”
I sighed, falling into the chair. I didn’t even know how to begin to explain the events of the past week. “Remember how I mentioned Agent Curran had learned Claire had visited Nick on several occasions in the weeks leading up to her death, including the day before?”
“Of course.”
“Ethan had been trying to figure out what they’d discussed. Combed through her notes and files. Unfortunately, he came up empty. So Curran paid Nick a visit himself.”
“And what did he say?”
“That he’d share what he and Claire discussed… But he wanted something from Curran first.”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what he asked for?”
“Because I think you already know what that is.”
“Julia?”
“He wanted her to visit him. I was against it. As was Wes.” I shook my head, rage bubbling inside me at the reminder of everything I learned about Nick and Julia’s relationship this week. All the messed-up shite he did to her…
“But Julia wanted to do it, didn’t she?”
“She thought it might help. I tried to get her to see it was just Nick trying to manipulate her again. We got into a pretty heated argument over it. Even broke up for a bit. At least I think we did. Suffice it to say, it was a rough few days. So when Wes called to tell me when Julia planned to visit Nick…” I pushed out a breath, running a hand over my face. “Part of me regretted the way I’d left things with her. I thought if she was willing to confront her demons, the least I could do was be there for her. So I hopped on a flight back here.”