Derek

As elated as I was when I went to bed last night, I woke up with a terrible feeling in my chest. Something felt off and when I looked at my phone, I realized why.

Robby had been released. They claimed there wasn't enough evidence to make the charges stick.

From the beginning, I knew this was a possibility. The corruption in the police department, especially with high-profile figures, was disgusting. A lot of units were just as bad as any organized crime group I'd come across, and this was just another example of that. I had backup plans, of course, but this was more irritating than I expected. I watched the peace wash over Camryn when she knew he was in custody, and I couldn't bear to break the news to her that he no longer was. We were safe here, but in her mind, every second he was still on the streets, he was a threat.

I took a quick shower and then called Will, but he didn't answer. I tried two more times but still nothing. With me being gone, I knew he was busy, and this wasn't the only thing we had happening right now. Our stolen money was still MIA, and he was doing good best to track it, and whoever was responsible, down. Eventually, I would have to go home to deal with that, and I had to be sure Riley and Cam would be okay when that happened.

When I got out into the kitchen, I could see the two of them sitting on the balcony watching the ocean. I opened the door to join them, and Cam glanced back. One look into her eyes and I was immediately transported back to last night.

Camryn was far from the first woman I'd been attracted to, and I had plenty of sex over the years, but I had experienced nothing as pure and passionate as that one simple kiss. That type of thing was usually just for physical pleasure for me, but last night was unexpectedly emotional, and that scared me a little. I was getting attached to both Camryn and Riley, and that was a difficult position to be in, no matter how slow we were taking things.

"Good morning!" Riley grinned as soon as she saw me. "We made waffles!"

"Wow! How lucky am I?" I laughed, leaning against the railing.

"Verrrry lucky." Riley beamed. "Mommy even put chocolate chips in there!"

I widened my eyes. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Riley giggled and jumped out of the chair, racing inside.

"It's a good thing you got up. You would've thought I was torturing her by making her wait." Cam smirked.

"Well, you dangled chocolate chip waffles in front of the girl. I don't blame her." Careful that Riley was distracted, I lifted Cam's chin and gave her a gently kiss. "Is that still okay?"

"Still very okay." She looked up at me through her dark lashes, eyes dancing with a calm I'd never seen in her.

"Just making sure." I took her hand, following Riley inside, and Camryn served both of us pancakes. They were heavenly. Better than any I'd ever had before, which was saying quite a bit. Breakfast food was my favorite, and I tried it everywhere I went.

"So, can we go find some more whales again today? Mommy and I found this cool website that shows you where all the whales swim and it even gives them all names! I want to find Charzard. He's named after a Pokemon."

I shifted my weight a little. "Actually, I was thinking we could hang out at the apartment today. Maybe make some popcorn and watch movies? I can make a mean pillow fort." I offered, not wanting to let on that anything was off.

Cam noticed right away, though, and her expression soured.

"Riley, why don't you go change into your clothes and I'll be in to brush your hair in a few minutes?"

"Okay!" She skipped off.

Cam immediately turned to me. "Why don't you want to leave the house? Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"Relax." I put my hand on her forearm. "Just take a deep breathe, okay?"

"Tell me what's going on." Her voice cracked.

"Robby was released this morning. Apparently, the police didn't find sufficient evidence to hold him."

"Oh god." She slunk back into the chair, every bit of contentment fading from her as she put her head in her hands. "I should have known this would happen. They're never going to charge him. He's going to get off scoff free and he'll hunt us down forever. He won't stop until..."

Kneeling down in front of her, I put my finger to her lips to silence her. She was spiraling, and she was going to work herself into a panic attack if I didn't step in. "Camryn, stop."

"But..."

I shook my head. "Do you trust me?"

She sighed, biting her lip.

"I said, do you trust me?"

"Of course, I trust you." She huffed. "I let you take my daughter and I out of the country and try to blame our murders on my husband. But this is different. We're never going to outrun him."

"First of all, I didn't try to blame your murders on him. I am going to succeed in that. I knew this would probably happen, and so did you. He works for a corrupt force. If they weren't, he would have been gone long ago. I fully expected to hit a snag like this and it isn't going to affect anything."

She frowned, not even slightly convinced.

"And second of all, the Hastings have a wide reach, but believe me, mine is wider. I have contacts in more countries than I can count and if it comes to it, I can send you and Riley to a place so remote that it doesn't even exist on a map. He will not find you, Cam. You're done with Robby. You don't have to worry about that anymore. I wasn't even going to tell you about this because I've already got the next step in our plan in motion."

"Which is?"

"Which is something you don't need to be concerned about. He has already occupied too much of your life with fear and worry, and I want you to give that to me now. I can shoulder it, and when there is something I think you need to know, I'll tell you. Until then, enjoy this time with your daughter, and try to relax."

"You think it will really be over soon?" Her eyes welled up with tears.

"It already is over." I said. "Your part is over. Please don't worry about this anymore."

"It doesn't seem over if you're worried about us leaving the apartment."

I let out a sharp laugh. "Cam, I don't want you to leave because I asked an old friend of mine to stop by today. She didn't say when she would be coming and I don't want to miss her."

"Her?"

"Are you jealous?" Why did I like the idea of that so much? Cam was immediately piqued when I mentioned my friend was a woman and Jesus, did I like the thought of her being jealous. It meant she was feeling the same way I was, and our chemistry wasn't all in my head.

She pursed her lips, eyeing me carefully. Even if she was feeling jealous, she wasn't about to admit it to me so freely.

"I'm sure Mrs. Leonard was quite attractive in her day, but she's in her sixties now. I'm all for a little cougar action, but that's a little too old for me."

Her face twisted in frustration.

"I'm kidding. She was my nanny when I was here as a child with my grandparents and I asked her to come over to meet you and Riley. She is completely vetted and trustworthy and she can homeschool Riley until you feel steady enough to send her to school. I thought you might need a little time for yourself, or you know... with some else."

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Camryn had never experienced anyone truly caring for her and the idea that I did seemed overwhelming to her, like she almost didn't know how to react to pure and genuine affection. It broke my heart that Robby had beaten her down that way. The scars he left on her weren't necessarily visible, but they were beginning to show themselves.

"I'm sorry, I just..." she trailed off. "Some time away from Riley sounds nice. Thank you for setting that up."

"You don't need to be sorry. I get it." I assured her. "We're just going to take this whole thing one step at a time. And I'll be here for whatever you need. Protection... comic relief... the occasional kiss..."

"Occasional?"

"Or frequent." I chuckled to myself. "I'm open to whatever you want."

A few seconds later, the doorbell rang.

Mrs. Leonard was the sweetest woman, and I just knew Camryn would hit it off with her. She had been on my family's payroll for years and always worked with the utmost discretion. As much as I wanted some alone time with Camryn myself, I knew it would be good for her to spend some time on her own. She needed to figure out how who she was again, and I could only help with so much of that. Having Mrs. Leonard as a trustworthy option would let her get out of the house and feel safe, and that was so important to me.

After a while, I left the two of them chatting and headed back to my bedroom to call Will again. This time, he picked up.

"Hey man, I've been trying to call you all morning." I said, sitting down on the bed.

"I know, I'm sorry. Things have been...hectic. We had another account hijacked."

"What?" I stiffened. Two in such a short amount of time was highly unusual.

"Yeah." he sighed. "I'm knee deep in shit trying to get to the bottom of it. About a million, so less noticeable, but it's definitely disappeared. Cashed out actually. I'm working on getting that footage now, but it's taking longer than I wanted."

"You think someone is leaking the information?"

"I don't want to jump to that yet. These guys are calculated and professional. This isn't the first time they've done it and I've got guys combing any heists in the area that might be related. I've also got a lookout on the market to see if any of our serial numbers get distributed."

"Thanks, Will. I owe you." Usually this would be my job, but since I was off playing house with Camryn, it fell on his shoulders.

"It's not a big deal. I'll get it figured out. How are things there?"

"They were better last night when Robby was in jail."

"They released him?" Will was completely blindsided.

"You didn't know?"

"Fuck." He sighed. "No, I had no idea. I've been so occupied this morning I didn't even see it. How the hell did that happen?"

"Insufficient evidence."

He let out a sharp laugh. "Derek, there is no insufficient evidence. I fabricated that scene myself. There is so much DNA and blood in there that there is no question what happened."

"Right. But we can't forget who we're dealing with here. The entire force is corrupt."

"So we move to Plan B."

"Yep. As soon as possible."

Plan B entailed leaking all the evidence ourselves. Will would hack the system and release the crime scene investigator's reports, plus some additional receipts and security footage so that the public saw the evidence. Once it was out there like that, there would be no way for the force to cover for him.

"Consider it done. She holding up okay?"

"For the most part. Just ready for this nightmare to be over." I said, glancing back out into the living room.

Camryn was handing Mrs. Leonard a cup of tea and they were chatting as if they'd known each other all their lives.

"You're not getting too involved, are you?" I could almost hear him smiling on the other end of the phone.

"Define too involved."

"I fucking knew this would happen." He let out a sharp laugh. "Just don't lose sight of the end goal here. If you get too attached, you might not be able to make rational decisions."

"I didn't ask for your opinion. I know what I'm doing."

"Good. I've got things covered on this end. We'll talk soon."

"Bye Will."

I hung up the phone and ran my fingers through my hair. There were so many things that needed my attention right now. Maybe he was right. I should be back in New York dealing with the hijackings and making sure the information was released myself.

Maybe I was getting so attached I was losing sight of the job, something I swore I would never do. For the first time in my life, the pull between my head and my heart was all too real.

___________________________

***If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, please reach out to someone in your community. In the US, that number is 1-800-799-7233**