Page 84 of Vetted for Vengeance
Wait.
This isn't about me mentally accepting the re-homing of the dogs.
This is him distracting me from the creepy guy on the phone.
And the worst thing… it worked.
Suddenly I'm not thinking about the man on the phone. I'm thinking about how I'll feel seeing Pumpkin in the office every day and knowing she isn't mine.
“We need to protect our assets.” He will not trick me into letting my puppy obsession relax me.
“Just Honey?”
“What? No, all of them.” I try to pull from his grip, but it just tightens around me. “Oh God, they're in foster homes across the country.”
“Exactly. Where he can't get them.”
“What are you doing?” I narrow my eyes at him. He's distracting me with talk of Pumpkin living under Martha's desk, and Honey being my only dog. Letting me think about all the dogs that have escaped the caller's clutches.
So what is he deflecting my thoughts from?
“Honey. Bunny and Sunny?” He offers.
“You'd let me have three dogs?” Oh, he is definitely hiding something from that call that I missed.
“I'll let Martha bring Pumpkin in every day to see you.”
That would open the floodgates and have everyone requesting a dog. I know all the staff have a secret favorite.
When I said he'd threatened them, Rhys said he was sure they were fine, but we know for a fact that all the dogs are fine. He would have been certain, not sure.
“My parents?” Is that what he's trying to skirt around? “He said about my parents. Do you think…”
His slow nod says it all.
“My parents only went to the car last night. We thought they'd just come back the next morning, but they didn't.” It wasn't Rhys's sexy, dangerous voice that scared them away. It was the Shadow Man. “He threatened my parents, and that's why they left.”
Rhys's face clouds with anger as I slowly realize what he'd worked out in a heartbeat.
“They left… and they didn’t warn me about him.”
The words sit there. Heavy and final.
That hits the nail on the head.
It's not that they were threatened.
It's just that they left me to deal with this alone.
“You are not alone.” Rhys insists, pulling me closer into him. Either he's forgotten about the tear transfer or he's satisfied I've stopped crying. “You have a family here. Everyone here loves you. Which is a little annoying. I wanted to keep you to myself. And you have me. And when it comes to stalkers, it's me you want. Not them. Remember that.”
I'm not sure whether to take that as reassurance or a threat.
“I guess we should tell the police?” I draw a deep breath, as if there is courage mixed with the air. “We know why Frank and Derek ran.”
“They ran?”
He frowns at me like he thinks I've forgotten what really happened.
