Protecting Her(30)

My eyes are fixed on the now lifeless body lying on the ground. That man tried to kill Rachel. All because of a mix-up. Because Royce f*cked up his assignment. But how did this man get my name? How did he know where I live?

I go back to the car and press nine on my Dunamis phone and wait. Nine is the autodial for clean-ups. A man answers and I give him the address.

Within minutes, people will be here to take the body and get rid of any evidence, including the man’s car. I don’t know who the clean-up people are, but they’re very good at their job. They almost never leave evidence behind. And in the rare cases when they do leave evidence behind, we get rid of it before the police can do anything with it.

I take out my personal phone and call Royce. He’s on his way to New York so he’s probably in the back of a limo right now.

“What the f*ck did you do?” I ask him when he answers.

He softly laughs. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

“You gave him my name. You told him I was you.”

“It’s for your own good. You were getting too complacent. Letting your guard down.”

“Are you insane? If I’d arrived here a minute later, he would’ve killed her!”

“Killed who? What are you talking about?”

“He came after Rachel! He almost killed her and Garret.”

“Oh.” He pauses. “I thought he’d come after you. Not her.”

“You wanted him to kill me?”

“No. Of course not. I wanted you to kill him, which I knew you would. You have the best aim out of anyone. Remember when we used to go to the shooting range and—”

“Royce! Listen to me. Despite what you think, today was not a game or a test or an assessment of my shooting skills. This is real life, and my wife and child were almost killed.”

“That was not my intention. I didn’t know he’d come after her. I told you, I thought he’d come after you.”

“And we’re supposed to be friends?” I let out a harsh laugh.

“It’s a thin line between friends and enemies.” His tone becomes darker and his voice deepens. “And as for the little incident today, it was a warning. You stay the f*ck out of my business, or I promise you, I will get in yours. Keep your mouth shut about Sophia. And if you tell anyone about my bastard child, I will kill her mother. Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes,” I say, gritting my teeth.

“Good.”

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, Royce, but you’ve changed, and we can no longer be friends. I need you to stay away from me and stay away from my family.”

He chuckles. “Pearce, don’t be so overdramatic. You and I will always be friends, just like our fathers are friends. The Kensingtons and Sinclairs have been friends forever. That will never change.”

“Goodbye, Royce.” I end the call, then get out of the car and go around to the trunk. I hide my gun back in its compartment. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a white work van driving by. It’s the clean-up crew, coming to take the body.

I shut the trunk and walk past the tennis courts, across the grassy field to the bench where Rachel is sitting, holding Garret.

“Pearce.” She smiles and gets up as I approach. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d take you and Garret out for an early lunch. I checked at home and you weren’t there, so I assumed you were here.” I smile as if nothing happened. I didn’t just shoot a man. That was someone else. The other Pearce. Now I’m back to being the real me. A husband. A father. The man with the normal life.

“We’d love to have lunch with you.” She hands me the baby.

I hold him tightly with one arm and pull Rachel against me with the other. He almost killed her. He could’ve killed Garret. He could’ve killed my whole family.

“I love you,” I whisper to her.

She smiles at me, completely unaware of what almost happened. “I love you too.”

“Let’s go.” I walk her to her car and put Garret in his car seat and tell her to meet me at home. Then we go out for lunch and I take her back to the house.

Before I return to work, I say to Rachel, “Don’t go to that park again.”

“Why not? I love that park.”

“The news reported that there have been several assaults there. It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you going there.”