“No one kicks me out of my house.”
“It’s not like that. We figure if everyone is under one roof, with a wall around the property and security patrolling, not to mention the alarm, everyone will be safe.”
Evie crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “Everyone?”
“Well, you, your grandmother, Jackson, Marie and Leigh.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be around.”
“But not staying there.”
“No, I don’t think it would be good for Lexi. Noah agreed.”
“So what you are left out there alone with no protection? I’ll say it again, hell no. I’ll stay with you.”
Sighing, he knew she was going to be like this. “La mia belezza, think about it. You wouldn’t be safe.”
“Don’t you go all sweet talking me, you wouldn’t be safe out there alone.”
“Yes, I will. He doesn’t want to physically do anything to me. He wants to make sure I mentally suffer. I’m safe.”
Shaking her head at him she said, “No, you don’t get it. Think about it. He somehow captures you. I get a phone call from him saying he has you. I’d do anything I could to find you. Then he’d find me. Don’t you think he’d enjoy killing me in front of you? Making you watch the whole thing without being able to do anything to save me?”
He knew she had a point. Maybe he could stay in Lexi’s old house. They were using it as a guest house now but no one was there. They wanted everyone up at the main house, together.
“I’ll see if I could stay in Lexi’s old house.”
“See? Now we’re talking. I’m still pissed about the whole thing, but if you’re there I’ll feel better.”
“I won’t,” Evelyne said from the backseat. “We have our house and things to do there. I don’t want to impose. How long do you think we’ll be there? What if its years?”
“It can’t be that long. We all need him to be caught so that we can get on with our lives.” Anthony said as he glanced at Evie.
“Have you talked to Leigh and Marie?”
“Noah said he’d have Lexi do it. He texted me. They’re on board.”
Pulling into the driveway at Evelyne’s house he turned to them. “Please, let’s do this, at least for now. Besides, we all need to go over a lot of information. Maybe something will come of it.”
Evelyne leaned forward so that her head was between theirs. “Do we get secret agent names? Can I be Hot Snatch?”
Anthony was so happy nothing really bad happened to her. You never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. It was a refreshing change to be around women who spoke their mind, even if some of the things on them were a bit disturbing, especially considering their age.
He watched Evie lean over and kiss her grandma’s cheek. “You can be whoever you want.” The love and devotion she had for her family and friends was something he admired.
“Okay, ladies, let’s get your stuff and get out of here. I want to make sure we are to Noah’s before dark.” As they approached the front door he asked, “Do I need to rent a truck so that we can get all your stuff over there?”
He was rewarded by a backhand to his stomach from Evie. Smiling, he was happy his plans were working out so well.
*
After everyone was settled into their rooms, they all met in the kitchen to snack on the food that Martha put out for them. Sam was mysteriously absent. Evie felt it had to do with the fact the Troublesome Trio was in the house. She felt bad, knowing the next days or weeks were going to be hard on him. Lucky for him, there were young, built security guards all over the place. They all knew the score and most of them had fun with the ladies. The ones that didn’t were scheduled to work along the wall.
There were papers and food spread over every flat surface in the area. Anthony and Evie brought everyone up to date with what they had found. They spent hours going over ideas and looking through paperwork. Everyone had lists of flight manifests. There were more than anyone thought.
Needing to rest her eyes, Evie walked over and sat on the edge of the couch next to her grandmother. “What are you whispering about over here?”
“I have no idea what you could be talking about,” Marie said as she smoothed the wrinkles on her pants.
Giving them a look, she crossed her legs and rested her chin on her hand. “I’m waiting. Come on, I’m tired and stressed, just spill it.”
“Oh, honey, you should get some sleep.” Leigh said. When Evie didn’t reply, she continued, “Fine, we were just commenting on the hotties in the room.”
“Well, I was commenting on two of them.” Evelyne pointed over her shoulder. “These two horn dogs were going all out.”