to smooth her hand over the sleeping baby’s head. “They could’ve done a thing called a pre-birth parentage order, but they decided not to. Liv and Cane were going to legally adopt her, instead. I guess they just really didn’t want anyone to know until they actually had the baby.”
“They never filed any paperwork?” Farrah asked dubiously.
“No,” Cecilia replied. “I haven’t even sent in the birth certificate yet. Liv hadn’t decided on a name, and I didn’t want it to be something different than what she chose. We were supposed to sign everything this morning. Cane’s attorney was going to come to the house—that’s why I was staying the night there.”
“So the bodies have most likely been found by now,” Casper said quietly. “Anyone else know about all this?”
“No,” Cecilia said, shaking her head. “Only the attorney.”
“We got company,” Cam said from the hallway, his voice low. “Guy’s checkin’ out the front of the house.”
When the doorbell rang a few seconds later, I knew it wasn’t one of my team outside. They might hang back for a minute when they noticed the bikes parked out front, but they sure as hell wouldn’t have rang the doorbell.
“I’ll handle it,” I said. I strode to the front of the house with Casper at my back.
“Don’t like this,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, me, either.” Grabbing the pistol off the table near the door, I double-checked that the safety was on and stuffed it in the back of my sweatpants. As soon as Casper was out of sight, I swung open the door.
“Can I help you?” I asked, keeping my expression neutral as I stared at the motherfucker I’d seen the night before.
“Hey,” he said, smiling. “Sorry to bother you, but I was thinking about buying that place for sale down the street, and I was wondering how you liked the neighborhood.”
“It’s good,” I replied, hiding the fact that I wanted to grab him up by his scrawny neck and choke the life out of him. “Pretty quiet. No complaints.”
“Good, good,” he said, still smiling. “Good place for a family, then?”
“Don’t have a family,” I replied. “So, I couldn’t tell you.” I looked beyond him, wondering if he’d brought any muscle or if he was arrogant enough to come alone. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell. I wasn’t about to put Cecilia and the baby in danger by starting shit when I didn’t know who else was watching the house.
“Alright,” he chuckled. He stared at me for a moment. “Well, thanks for your time.”
“No problem.” I shut the door in his face and shoved the deadbolt home.
“Motherfucker had balls, showing up here,” I told Casper as he stepped into view.
“How the fuck would he know she’s here?” Casper asked.
“No idea, but he sure as hell does,” I muttered, looking out the gap in the curtains. He got right back in his car and drove away, not even bothering to continue the buying-a-house-down-the-street cover.
“He got to the attorney,” Casper said.
“Sure as shit,” I replied. “But how the fuck would he link me to Cec?”
My mind clicked through all the puzzle pieces, trying to find how they fit. Even though he clearly knew who Cecilia was, we hadn’t seen each other in over a decade. It would take serious digging and time to find any link between us. There was also no way that he could’ve known that I was one of the team who’d taken her from the house. Beyond the fact that we’d worn goddamn masks, Wilson had also copied and then wiped the security cameras far enough back that Cecilia couldn’t be connected to the crime scene. So, that left what? What did the guy know and how was he getting the information?
“We need to leave,” I told Casper as I strode back down the hallway. When I got to my room, Cecilia was pacing, the baby in her arms. She looked up at me when I entered.
“Who was it?” she asked worriedly.
“We gotta go, baby,” I told her softly.
“He found us? How?” she asked as I reached her. I pulled her into my arms, the baby tucked between us.
“Don’t know yet,” I said. “But I’ll find out.”
“Is he still out there?” she asked, turning her head toward the window.
“Nope, he’s gone.” I let her go and smoothed my thumb over her cheek. “He’ll be back. We’re leavin’ as soon as we can get packed up.”
“Do you have a bag?” Farrah asked Cecilia.
My lips twitched even as I started switching gears. I needed to call my