Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“—then we are going to the shooting range. I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with a gun. We’re going to protect ourselves, Juni. No arguments.”
“Okay, fine. No arguments. But let’s slow down and have some coffee.” I take his hand, pulling him into the kitchen. “Who are you calling?”
Callum has his phone out again and I move over to the coffee pot to pour us each a cup. It’s going to be a long day.
“First… added security,” he says and dials a number. “Van… hey. I need your brother-in-law or someone from his company to come to my house ASAP.”
I listen as Callum talks to Van Turner, one of the Titans players. His brother-in-law, Malik, works for a renowned security company and although we have an alarm system and a camera on the doorbell, I suppose Callum will want an upgrade.
When he hangs up, he immediately dials another number. I push his cup of coffee across the counter toward him, but he ignores it.
It’s clear who he calls when his first words are, “Do you know where your piece of shit son is?”
Preston Willard.
I have no clue what he says to Callum, but the scowl on his face tells me it’s bullshit. “He’s not in Vegas. He’s here in Pittsburgh. He confronted Juniper yesterday and this morning left a strangled, dead cat in my newspaper box.”
Silence as Callum listens to whatever Preston is saying.
“You pass a message on to him and you make sure he understands it loud and clear. You tell him if he comes near me or mine—and yes, Juniper is mine—he’ll get shot.”
I swallow hard because Callum isn’t kidding.
Preston must bait him because he says, “That’s not a threat, Preston. It’s a promise. Unless you want your son shipped home in a body bag, you better make sure he backs the fuck off and leaves Pittsburgh.”
And with that, Callum disconnects the call.
CHAPTER 26
Callum
It’s been four days since the cat incident and I’m still uptight as fuck. Juniper tells me I don’t need to be because a lot has happened since then to calm matters.
Yes, we went shooting and yes, Juniper can still handle a pistol.
Yes, Malik Fournier came by with a crew and upgraded my security system, including cameras around the house and supersensitive motion detectors that reach out to the edge of my property.
And yes, I unlocked my gun cabinet and placed guns strategically throughout the house just in case.
All of this is overboard to Juniper. Maybe it wasn’t when I first put things into action, but she feels Joshua is no longer a threat. She’s bought into the idea that his father leaned into him hard because he’s back in Incline Village—confirmed by both Preston and more reliably, my mother.
More importantly to Juniper, Joshua finally hired a lawyer who is in contact with Julia. The ex-douche is apparently cooperating on the divorce. While he hasn’t turned over all the information Julia has requested, his attorney has promised that they are working diligently on getting it together.
In Juniper’s mind, Joshua has given up. Her rationale is that he’s a coward at heart anyway. His game was always intimidation, and he was successful at it because she always backed down. Played the part of submissive. When he came blowing into Pittsburgh, hoping to cow her back under his control and it didn’t work, he gave up.
I don’t buy it though. Juniper probably knows Joshua better than I do after having been married to him for so long, but I’ll never be swayed to believe that narcissist is willing to admit defeat. He always had to have the best and was covetous of his belongings. He always wanted to be better than me. The fact that he’s the most self-centered asshole I’ve ever met tells me he does not give a shit what his father has told him and he’s arrogant enough to not be fearful of my warnings.
But what fuels my unease the most is that look he gave us in Incline Village outside the attorney’s office. When his face went blank, I could see there was no conscience residing within him.
No, I don’t think Joshua is giving up. I think he’s plotting.
A hand comes down on my shoulder, jarring me out of my darkness. “Penny for those brooding thoughts.”
It’s Brienne and she offers an assuring squeeze before handing me a fresh bottle of beer. I take it and in exchange, she retrieves the empty one I’d been clinging to.
“It’s a party, Callum. You need to snap out of it.”
I give myself a mental shake and offer her an apologetic smile. “Yeah… I know.”
Brienne doesn’t need to offer me that penny in exchange for the brooding intel she asked for. This week we’ve had a handful of conversations regarding my concerns about Joshua. Of course, I worked from home every day, not willing to leave Juniper alone, and she refused to come sit up at the arena with me. I even accompanied her each day she went to see her dad, sitting in the room and working on my computer while she chatted with him, stepping outside the front doors when I had to take a call.