Page 24 (2/2)

"Well, I think an email would have sufficed here Goodbye, Denise" The click of her hanging up the phone causes me to jump I can’t seem to remove the phone from my ear The shock that she didn’t even react, not once, when I finally let her knohat I think about her, is overwhel

I should be sad Maybe shed a tear or freak out a little, but there is nothing Nothing, but the heavy weight of the pain that they’ve caused me over the years, as it vanishes fro and take a long s, enjoying the burn of the whiskeyaway from my mouth and feelis finally okay My life is finally perfect, and there isn’t anything that can take this feeling from me

By the ti lunchtime Beck’s already called twice to check on me, and the last tiain I love hi toback to norether

After a quick lunch, I sit down to start answering emails I’ve enjoyed et back on the wagon, so to speak The first order of business is to start cleaning shop with the North Carolina branch I spoke with Chelcie the other day about selling the business and having herwork

"Hey, Chelc, I was just thinking about you" When I hear her soft sob, the s?"

"Oh God, Dee I thought it was over, you know? Things have been so quiet around here, but you… you got a letter today" She sounds terrified, and all it does is fuel the dread slowly closing in on me

"Chelcie, what did it say?" I’ a lot calulps to calm myself and wait for her to speak

"There are pictures, Dee They have pictures of you, and they have pictures ofout of control Ohelse?" Tears are strea so badly that I have no idea how I’e," she whispers back

"And?"

"It said… God, it said that if you don’t deliver Adam or two hundred thousand dollars by the end of theto clear the debt owed in other ways Dee! What the hell does that

I giveto come up with a fix

"Chelcie, listen to ht home Lock the door and do not answer for anyone Pack as et down here I need to call Beck and let hi on, but I want you here where I know you will be safe"

She’s silent for so long that I have to pull my phone away to make sure she didn’t disconnect

"Chelc, do you understand?"

"Yeah, Dee I’ll be there by tomorrow Promise me you’re safe?"

"Don’t worry about oing to be okay Make sure you bring everything they mailed you and try not to touch it, okay?"

"I’ll be there"

I quickly hang up the phone and immediately call Beck After I fill him in, he tells me to check every door and stay away fro to hide it so it doesn’t freak et home okay?" I don’t think I realized until that o I’m worried, buthappen to ets down here, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop the feeling that I have no way of controlling what happens here

I check all the doors andmy way back upstairs The only place that I know I’ll feel one hundred percent safe is in Beck’s bed, where I can pull the covers around me and let his scent surroundup with Dee, I gather the rest of the guys in the office so I can fill the on

"She doesn’t know if there’s more The letter didn’t come here, which makes me think that he wants her to believe he knows more than he does There’s a reason he sent it to Chelcie at the office and not here"

Axel looks around for a second, thinking about all the facts that we have Which is basically is a whole lot of nothing "I don’t like this How is it possible for this Ada?"

"We need the letter Maybe we can pull soht now, it’s all we have" Coop sits down and for once doesn’t end a sentence with souy has us all by the balls, and it’s not sitting ith any of us

"You need to get home to Dee Let us worry about the shit we can do here" Maddox pushes off the wall after giving ainst the wall in his haste to leave the room