Protecting Her Secret Son Read online

  “You’re looking rather...fierce this morning.” She turned away, starting on breakfast. “Did something happen?”

  “It’s about to,” he said. He put his hands on those sweet hips, turned her around. With a fingertip, he lifted her chin, laid his lips on hers. “There. Now it’s a good morning.”

  Her smile, the slightly startled happiness in her big brown eyes, transformed his day.

  He grinned at the sound of the slamming bathroom door upstairs. Water rattled in the pipes as the toilet flushed, the sink faucet turned on and off again. Then the deliberate footfalls of Aiden coming down the steps.

  Daniel counted each sound, took another gulp of coffee and set the mug on the counter a split second before Tornado Aiden raced around the corner, his eyes bright.

  “You learn fast,” Shannon murmured.

  “Yes, I do.” Daniel caught Aiden as he leaped, gave him a bear hug and tickled his neck with the stubble on his jaw.

  Aiden squealed in delight and grabbed his face. “Good morning, Daniel.”

  “Good morning, bud.”

  Aiden rubbed his hands back and forth along the whiskers. “Can we go shave?”

  Daniel ran his hands over the stubble. “It should probably grow while we eat some breakfast. Give Mommy a kiss so she’ll cook for us.” He gave him a little toss, then handed him to Shannon.

  After Aiden gave her a big hug and a smacking kiss, they decided on eggs and toast. Using the step stool, Aiden put bread in the toaster while Shannon cracked eggs into a hot skillet and Daniel set the table.

  He sat back with his coffee, enjoying the domestic tableau more than he probably should. “Better eat up,” he said when Aiden got distracted with the fire truck he’d brought to sit with them in the extra chair. “Mom says we’re going to work today.”

  Aiden mashed a bite of scrambled eggs with his fork and looked up at Shannon through his long eyelashes. “All of us?”

  She nodded. “I’ll need you to be a good listener today. We have lots to do before the Caldwells can move in.”

  “Will Ed and Lou be there, too?”

  “Yes.” She nipped a bite of her toast. “Would you rather play at Rachel’s house?”

  His pale eyebrows furrowed as he propped his chin on his hand.

  “Elbows off the table,” she said.

  The lower lip jutted out, storm clouds brewing on his face, but he obeyed.

  “We need all hands on deck to get Mr. Caldwell’s house back in shape,” Daniel said. “Your mom is a big help to me. Think you could be?”

  “Can I bring my new fire truck?”

  “You bet.” He spread jelly on his toast and folded it, would have put the whole thing in his mouth if Aiden hadn’t been watching. He took a decent bite instead, caught the jelly with his tongue.

  Aiden scooped jelly out of the jar and plopped it on his toast. Folded it and, taking a big bite, had jelly squirting out, dribbling down his chin.

  “Finish up, now,” Daniel told him. “We have shaving to do.”

  The kid cracked him up, patting shaving cream on his face, mimicking the motions with his finger rather than a razor and making faces. Shaving done, they brushed their teeth. Aiden managed to talk at the same time. Yeah, the kid cracked him up and slipped right under his defenses.

  They decided to drive both her car and the truck over to the site and he laughed as Aiden hauled out a giant tote. He’d packed as if they were moving in rather than staying a few hours.

  Eventually the kid would need to go back to the routine of the sitter, but it didn’t have to be today. If Daniel didn’t need Shannon’s help wrapping this one up, he would have given her a week off paid, assuming Grant could assign someone to stay with her and keep her lousy ex at bay.

  Daniel had to go back to the firehouse tonight and still hadn’t told her about the surprise shift. They needed to make a plan and he didn’t want her to think she wasn’t in the loop. He knew the hang-up was that he wasn’t any more ready to have Aiden and Shannon out of his sight than he had been yesterday.

  Calling out cheerful good mornings, Ed greeted Aiden with a high five and sent both mother and son off to deal with the bathrooms.

  “What’s wrong?” Daniel asked when they were alone. “All this perkiness scares me at this hour.”

  “You noticed?”

  “Ed?”

  “We almost had it,” his lead said, patting his hammer. “I know you wanted to wrap this up before you go back on duty.”

  “We still have a week. What happened now?”

  “No flooring,” Ed explained. “It’s like the order disappeared. I can’t get what you wanted for another two weeks.”

  He looked at the completed ramp, the wider porch. Lou would stain those today, paint the doors and window trim. He’d been making calls for help with the move-in, aiming to have the family back in the house next Sunday afternoon. “Two weeks?”

  Ed nodded.

  “Let’s keep moving on what we can do.” Daniel pulled out his phone. “I’ll figure it out.” He paced away and started making calls.

  No one could give him a good explanation for why his order had disappeared. Worse, no amount of cajoling or bargaining could put a rush on the replacement order.

  Frustrated, tired of banging his head against the proverbial brick wall, he went inside to check on Shannon and Aiden. He was pleased to see the little guy playing with the fire truck on a canvas drop cloth just outside the bathroom they’d enlarged to make it more accessible.

  “I’ve got a problem,” Daniel said. “Care to consult?”

  He walked her through it, flipped through the project binder where he kept track of everything from the opening bids to design to the finished product.

  “I’ve never seen this.” She looked up at him as if he’d invented binders and dividers. “Nice job.”

  “Thanks. Our flooring is delayed.” He flipped to that section of the binder. “I ordered it in plenty of time. Should have been here Thursday and it didn’t show up yesterday per the reschedule.”

  When he said it, he realized his mistake. That glassy fear had settled over her eyes as she met his gaze. “Stop it. This is not related to that.”

  She arched her eyebrows. They both knew he meant him. He refused to go there.

  “I’m asking for an alternative. The suppliers say I can get something closer to this.” He tapped a picture of white oak and her nose wrinkled. “Exactly. Help me out?”

  She carried the samples out into what would be the family room. “You wanted this product for the durability.”

  He marveled at the way she seemed to live on the same page with him. “And easy care.”

  “Mmm.” She paced a little, came back to the binder.

  “While you’re thinking, there’s something else I keep forgetting to mention.” Maybe she’d take it better while she was distracted. “The chief needs me to come in tonight, work overnight.”

  Those big eyes met his over a handful of floor and paint chips. “For a shift?”

  “I’ll be back by Sunday brunch. We can go out, tour a few houses.” He braced for the disapproval, the trepidation, even that flash of excitement that she’d been kissing a man who ran into burning buildings.

  “Are you going back early?” she asked, looking at the samples again.

  “Not if I can help it.” He hooked his thumbs in his tool belt. “I want to be on hand for the rest of this. Assuming we can get the floor done.”

  “If Chief Anderson asked you to cut your time short, it must be important. Ed and Lou and I can wrap this up.”

  “Floor pending.”

  She flipped the binder to a blank page in the back. “Can you give me a list of who you’ve called?”

  He wrote it down. “What are you thinkin
g?”

  She closed the binder and stepped close to him, ran her hand up and down his arm. “I’m thinking you tempt me.” She pulled back. “We both have work to do. If you need the challenge and camaraderie of the firehouse, if they need you, don’t let us stop you.”

  Her acceptance seemed too easy, too good to be true. Then the words crashed over him like a bucket of ice water. “Shannon. You wouldn’t...” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “No.” She looked so startled it gave him hope. “No. I’ve been giving that some thought, too.” And with a soft, sexy smile he wanted to see every day for the rest of his life, she walked back to her tile work.

  Daniel dug in, working up a good sweat, determined to make the most of every minute. Just before noon as he was taking lunch orders for the crew, Detective Hertz called, requesting an emergency meeting with Shannon at the Escape Club.

  Daniel swore, wishing the detective had sounded more upbeat and less miserable about the meeting. Instead, he handed the order to Ed, along with cash to cover delivery and tip, and went to tell Shannon and Aiden they had to leave.

  * * *

  When Daniel parked her car in front of the club, the butterflies in Shannon’s stomach took flight again. Please let them have good news. News that would let her stay.

  They walked up to the front doors and she heard the drum set. Had to be Grant. She’d never considered percussion lyrical, but Grant was doing far more than keeping time or pounding for the sake of noise. She glanced down, smiling at Aiden’s wide and curious gaze.

  “That would be Grant.” Daniel listened and rapped hard on the door between the beats. “He considers the drums a workout.”

  “Do you like it?” she asked Aiden.

  Nodding, he raised his arms. “I wanna see.”

  “Nothing much to see yet.” She let him lean forward to trace the letters on the door, though the shades within the glass panels were down. “You can ask Mr. Sullivan to show you the drums before we leave.”

  As if he’d been waiting for his cue, Grant opened the door with a big smile. “Welcome, welcome,” he said brightly. “Come on in.” Once they were inside, he closed the door and reset the security system. Then he held out a hand to Aiden. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure. Are you Aiden Nolan?”

  The boy nodded, leaned into her shoulder, uncertain as he took in the high ceilings of what had been a warehouse.

  “I’m Grant. Daniel and I are friends.” He pulled Daniel into a one-armed hug.

  “You were there,” Aiden said. “When Daniel found me.”

  “I was. I’m glad you’re here. Your mom’s told me so much about you. She says you’re really brave.”

  Aiden’s grip on her sweatshirt relaxed. “Were you the one making all the noise?”

  “Noise?” Grant laughed. “That was me. Do you want to help me make more noise?”

  Shannon let Aiden wriggle out of her arms to go with Grant. It would be the perfect distraction while she and Daniel spoke with the detective.

  Daniel tipped his head toward the end of the bar where Hertz waited, just out of Aiden’s view.

  “I appreciate this,” Hertz said.

  Unable to help herself, she slid a look back at her son. Grant had everything under control. The place was locked up, the system set against intruders and still she couldn’t quite relax.

  “Have the kidnappers turned on Bradley?” she asked when they reached Grant’s office.

  “No. Both men were found dead this morning.” Hertz closed his eyes as if saying a prayer before he continued. “They didn’t give us anything. It won’t be long before the news stations hear two inmates died overnight.”

  Shannon sank back into the closest chair. With Gary dead, the kidnappers were—had been—the last link to Bradley. There would be no stopping him despite the affidavit Gary left behind.

  “Guess that means you didn’t find him hanging out around the Marburg offices.” Daniel’s voice sounded far away, though Shannon could see him clearly. “No leads at all?”

  “Correct,” Detective Hertz admitted, misery in his gaze. “Informants claim he’s still in town. My counterparts in New York have confirmed he hasn’t been seen there for over a week.”

  “He’s on a revenge binge,” Shannon said. Her ex-husband had murdered his friend in cold blood to satisfy his bruised ego. “And running on bad intel.” She rubbed her palms against her thighs. Which was worse, having her ex on a tear because he thought Aiden wasn’t his or knowing the truth that he’d fathered a child? “I’m next.”

  “Hang on,” Daniel said, his hand solid on her shoulder. “That’s not going to happen.”

  Suddenly she regretted letting Aiden out of her sight, no matter that she could still hear him banging on the drums with Grant onstage. “He won’t stop,” she whispered. She dug deep for courage. “There were times, when I was married,” she clarified. “He could become obsessive over the smallest offenses. He won’t stop,” she repeated. With the benefit of time and hindsight, she could look back at their dating life and see the moments Bradley had hidden his true nature with rigid control.

  “On the surface, I’d have to agree,” the detective replied. “We believe Gary was cutting ties, trying to get out.”

  Shannon nodded. “He said as much.”

  Hertz continued, “So Stanwood flushed Gary out by kidnapping the child he believed Gary fathered.”

  Though she hadn’t faked a paternity test, she would always carry that guilt with her, knowing Gary died for nothing more than being a decent human being.

  “Is it possible he’s learned the truth and wants his son after all?” the detective asked.

  Icy dread trickled down her spine. She stared at the floor, wishing she’d known then what she knew now about Bradley Stanwood. “He doesn’t want Aiden. Not for the sake of being a father. If I hadn’t left him, he would have forced me to abort the pregnancy.” All these years later, with a healthy son, it still hurt her heart to say the words aloud.

  She heard Daniel mutter an oath. “He’d take Aiden to punish you.”

  “No.” She forced herself to say it. The detective needed the harsh facts. “He’s more likely to kill us both to tie up loose ends.” She peered up at Daniel, already grieving for what they’d never have. “We need to leave.”

  He shook his head, mouth set and tears in his eyes. “There’s another way. Another reason he’s in town.”

  Sorrow gripped her. Her only hope was if Bradley self-destructed before he destroyed her. “He’s only after revenge and suffering.”

  “Do you have any idea who might be helping him here?” Hertz queried.

  Shannon lifted her gaze to the detective. “I’ve been out of his life for nearly five years. It wasn’t as if he discussed business with me while we were together.”

  “You have to know something to help us find him,” the detective insisted. “Properties, assets, anything.”

  Her mind was focused on one thing: survival. She knew it was time to move on, to leave Philly and start up somewhere new. Her gaze drifted to Daniel and slid away. Regrets would follow her, despite her best effort to keep her heart safe from wishful thinking and sweet dreams of happy-ever-after.

  From this point forward, to survive and save Aiden, she had to run. Fast and far. Every hour she delayed gave Bradley an advantage.

  Bradley had always considered her disposable. She’d known when she signed the divorce agreement that running would always factor into her life. She’d prepared for it.

  “Give me something,” the detective pressed. “Try.”

  “How about you do your job,” Daniel snapped. “She can’t give you what she doesn’t have.”

  Ignoring Daniel, the detective pleaded with Shannon. “Come down to the station and we’ll show you what we have. It cou
ld spark something. You might not realize how much you know.”

  “Is protective custody an option?” Aiden had just escaped his role as a pawn. She wouldn’t put him through it again.

  “Yes, if we get something solid, hard evidence we can use to prosecute.”

  “What about the affidavit Loffler gave her?” Daniel said. “That has to count for something.”

  Hertz looked at her. “Were you there?”

  “Yes. It was out in the Hamptons as Gary stated.”

  “Did you see anything?”

  She shook her head. Gary had said that she knew, but even after going through the files, she didn’t understand what she was supposed to know.

  Daniel swore again. “She’s an eyewitness to Loffler’s murder. That must be worth some protection.”

  “I’m keeping a patrol car in the area.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “It’s okay.” She reached for his hand. “He shot and killed his friend, convinced I was unfaithful. None of us should have expected him to let me off the hook. If I carry on with my life, he loses face.”

  It was how she’d escaped the marriage. Under Gary’s advice, she’d threatened to destroy the man’s public image while she had plenty of witnesses to back her up. With his coaching, she’d managed to get into Bradley’s head long enough to get out of his reach.

  “You weren’t unfaithful,” Daniel pointed out, ever the champion.

  Her heart warmed at his automatic defense though it didn’t change the dire circumstances. “When Bradley gets this way, the truth is irrelevant.” She closed her eyes, listened to the steady beat of the drum set. “You’re watching the luxury hotels? He wouldn’t sacrifice comfort on his mission to punish me.” To kill me.

  “I’ve got people combing the city. My informants are talking about him being here. No one claims they’ve seen him since Loffler was killed.”

  “House rentals would be the next guess,” Shannon said. “He could give orders without being inconvenienced.”

  “Nothing like that is popping.”

  The idea of starting from scratch put a knot in her stomach. Where could she go that would ever be out of Bradley’s reach? His resources would always outpace hers, even if she claimed the inheritance from Gary. “Have any of your experts found anything helpful from the files Gary gave me on that flash drive?”