Claimed by Three (29 page)

She knew this was only the beginning. They had to contact Cooper. Cooper would find another place to shelter her. She’d be moved again. Before that, she’d probably have to sit through another extensive interview with the police.

Sephanie didn’t know what to tell them. The only person who could be considered her enemy was Lillie. If Sephanie hadn’t been dating Berenger, Kassius, and Teague, she doubted the other woman would focus on her at all. She mentioned that to the police but didn’t know if they believed her.

“Now we call your brother, before he gets word through one of his commanders or the police in Cassid.” Colby led her over to the holo-comm on the desk.

He sat down and gestured to her to take a seat next to him. She pulled over a chair and waited while he tried to connect with Cooper. Cooper didn’t answer. Sephanie frowned, and a heavy weight settled in her stomach. She bit her lip.
Where is Cooper?
He’d responded immediately to their calls ever since he’d sent her here. What kept him from answering this time?

Chapter Twenty-Six

Berenger stood outside the barrier that separated the public from the danger of the fire consuming a warehouse. One of the warehouses where Kassius stored liqueurs burned, orange flame licking out of the narrow windows high on the walls.

Luckily, this storage building was almost empty at the moment. In a couple of months, it would have been full of cases of wine and other spirits. That would have made the fire much worse. As he saw the walls collapsing inward, he didn’t want to imagine what it would have done with extra fuel.

The fire shouldn’t be this bad. In fact, it shouldn’t have gotten much beyond a small blaze. Kassius had put a top-of-the-line fire-response system in that building. At the first flare of extreme heat, a deluge of water should have cascaded in the area of the high temperature. The water would be followed by suppressing foam if the heat increased or spread.

Watching the blaze, he knew this wasn’t some accident or fault in the system. The brick-and-stone building wouldn’t be destroyed by a normal fire. A few of the responding firemen muttered about the intense heat and the difficulty in getting the fire to die.

Kassius, Teague, and Berenger had been called because Kassius owned the building. Soon they’d leave for the police station to talk about whom they suspected or probable motives. He didn’t doubt there would be more questions than that. The police and fire department would need information on the contents of the building and personal specifics.

Berenger would bet the person behind the previous vandalism and attacks had caused this destruction. The police suspected two people behind the attacks because of the differences in the crimes. They’d tried to draw the least disciplined person out by staging a “date” with an undercover female investigator. Nothing had happened at the time.

And he had a good idea who one of the people was, but they couldn’t find any damn proof. Derek Malone apparently covered his tracks well.

“You know this isn’t an accident.” Teague glanced over at Kassius.

“I know.” Kassius stared at the fire. His jaw flexed as he watched the flames.

“Again, we don’t have proof, even though Malone’s probably behind it.” Berenger turned his attention back to the blaze. Malone was a respected businessman, but he also had a ruthless reputation.

Berenger turned when he heard his name being called. He saw Paine and Lawson standing some distance behind them. They’d called Cooper to see if he or one of his partners could pick up Kassius’s skimmer. Berenger had his skimmer here. They’d use that to get to and from the interview with the police.

“We’re here.” Berenger raised his hand.

“We received the message you left for Cooper.” Paine stopped in front of them. “We’ll take Kassius’s skimmer back to your place.”

“Thank you. Where is Cooper?” Berenger glanced back at the fire.

“He was called in early this morning by his commander. I have a feeling he’ll be shipping out sometime soon.” Paine scowled.

“He shouldn’t be. We’re on the same rotation. Are you sure it doesn’t have something to do with Sephanie?” Teague turned around to face them.

“We’d all get called in for that. It was your commander on the com, because I answered it.” Paine’s shoulders lifted in a shrug.

“He’ll tell you about it after he gets out of the meeting, but I doubt it’s anything like an early deployment. He wouldn’t be the only one called in for that.” Teague touched Paine’s shoulder.

“It leaves a lot of questions about this person’s goal, if it was the vandal. While we know this is one of Kassius’s secondary warehouses, perhaps your vandal didn’t realize it would be empty.” Lawson stared at the destroyed building.

“Let me give you the details on the skimmer, because that man walking toward us is one of the officers who said they needed to talk with us.” Kassius strode forward and gave a code so one of them could pilot it back to his home.

“Do what’s necessary, and hopefully there’s some way to find out who did this to your building.” Lawson nodded.

Lawson and Paine left. They went and were interviewed separately. Berenger understood the investigators had to cover every possibility, including arson committed by the owner. Still, he wanted them focused on the important information, and the unnecessary questions irritated him.

The interview took much longer than he’d expected. The investigator went over every incident, as well as everything that had occurred in the past few months. Berenger didn’t begin to get upset until the man implied Sephanie might somehow be involved, because the police couldn’t contact her. Berenger knew he probably shouldn’t have yelled at the investigator, but the man knew little about the vandalism, much less the sabotage on Sephanie’s skimmer. Berenger wouldn’t let the officer think she had any role in the fire when she’d been sent away because of threats against her.

* * * *

Sephanie paced while she waited to see if she and Colby would get a response this time. She’d never expected to be trying to contact her brother long after the police left. The sun had set, and she’d spent half a day wondering why her brother hadn’t responded. She’d talked with Paine and Lawson, but they hadn’t heard from him since he’d gone to a meeting earlier. He was on the planet. He wouldn’t have left without telling her. She had to know who to call in an emergency.

The clear screen above the holo-comm flickered as finally someone acknowledged and answered the call. She froze. Her gaze locked on the flickering display. Her brother’s image solidified on the screen. She exhaled softly while relief washed through her. Her muscles relaxed as she looked at him. Shapes moved behind him, revealing a light brown wall. She realized those moving, unfocused shapes must be people. Lawson and Paine, probably.

“Cooper, are you all right?” She paced forward and took a seat at the desk next to Colby. The question might be dramatic, but being scared followed by not being able to contact him had left her off balance. She felt lost. Even though she wasn’t alone, the circumstances reinforced her loneliness.

“I’m fine. I’ve been in a meeting for the entire day and had no access to my comm. Paine and Lawson tried to get through to me, but they weren’t able to convince the officials the situation was important enough to interrupt the discussion.” Cooper sat at a table, but she could see the tenseness in his shoulders and the line of his jaw. “Now, how are you?”

“Confused. I don’t understand why these men came here.” Sephanie ran her fingers through her hair and relaxed into the seat. “If Lawson and Paine didn’t get to you, who found a way through the bureaucracy?”

“The police. They were able to work their way through the channels, although not fast. They brought me down to the station and asked me a few questions on who I told where you were and if they would tell anyone else.” Cooper’s lips pressed into a straight line. “It’s a short list. Lawson and Paine don’t know exactly where you are because they’ve never been there.”

“So the police have no idea who’s behind this?” Her shoulders fell. She’d hoped they would find something.

“It’s too soon to have that information. The police will find out who leaked your location and who wanted it.” Cooper leaned forward.

“So will I have to move again?” She took a deep breath and waited. Even though she would prefer the company of someone she knew, she realized more attacks would probably follow. Nothing had changed. Whoever sent those men could pay more people to come after her.

“Yes, I’m looking into a couple of places for you.” Cooper nodded.

“You’re coming back here, and you’ll be staying with us.” Teague’s face moved into her view, and he nudged Cooper to the side.

Sephanie stiffened. What the hell was he doing there? If Teague was there, who else was?

She planted her hands on the desk. Excitement and a sweet delight swelled within her, but the lancing pain of betrayal followed as she remembered how they’d sent her away. They could have avoided all of this pain and suffering. Well, at least the part that came from the way they tried to keep her safe.

“Not if you were the last men on Darmain who might have a chance to keep me alive.” She shook her head but couldn’t deny the hope. This wasn’t the time to wade through the mess between them. “You sent me away and didn’t trust me. Now, go away and let me talk to my brother.”

“I have a few prospects. I’ll make the arrangements, but you will go somewhere else. In spite of their wishes and the fact there are problems to work through with your relationship, you need to be away from Cassid. It would be dangerous for you and anyone close to you if you were in the city.” Cooper shoved Teague and moved back to the center of the table.

“There’s something to work out with men who didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth? It might have been for my protection, but they were wrong.” She had enough trouble sorting through her emotions and couldn’t deal with their relationship at the moment.

Part of her would like to turn and walk away from any possibility of a relationship with them, but the other part wanted to hold on to it. Hope flared in her, making it difficult not to think there was a way to rebuild their relationship. She loved them. They’d been her dream. One she’d thought unattainable at one time. How could she give that up without fighting for it?

“We told you before, Sephanie. You’re our woman. After this is over, we will be back in your life. Try to come to terms with that.” Teague leaned back into view. His words were strong and confident.

Her heart slammed faster as she tried to push down the excitement. She couldn’t let the feelings sway her. They couldn’t hide important information again.

“It will take more than a simple apology or ‘you’re our woman’ to persuade me.” She realized what she’d said and drew in a quick breath. “If I let you back into my life, that is.”

“I’ll see you soon, baby.” Teague laughed. “When we wrap up this mess with the vandalism, we’ll start working on that more.”

“What vandalism? What are you talking about?” Sephanie leaned forward.

“Someone tried to destroy one of the harvesters before we began dating you.” Teague’s expression became more serious.

“You brought it up now. Has something else happened?” She couldn’t think of any other reason for him to refer to the destruction.

“Yes, there was a fire at one of Kassius’s warehouses. I look forward to holding you soon, baby.” Berenger popped his head in and was quickly shoved out of the picture

Overconfident ass. Oh yes, it would take so much more than a simple apology. This time, they would pay. Her jaw tightened so much a headache began to build.

“What are they doing there, Cooper? Who else is there? What’s the plan, and how soon do I move?” She focused on her brother. She couldn’t make any snap decisions about trying to reestablish a relationship with them. The person behind this still had to be caught. If that didn’t happen, then she might as well continue dreaming.

“They were here answering some questions. Lawson, Paine, Kassius, and police officers are here. I’m at the station in Cassid. I haven’t made any arrangements yet, but the move will take place in the next day or so.” Cooper narrowed his eyes. “We’ll talk later.”

“I had to make sure you were all right since we couldn’t get you right after the incident.” She gave her brother a smile. He would contact her later, but it wouldn’t be a direct link such as this one.

“Stupid meeting was basically about nothing. It wasted most of my day and made it impossible for people to reach me.” Cooper waved that away. “Keep her safe, Colby.”

“Will do. She’s been sweet and not a problem at all. I didn’t think she had an attitude up to this point.” Colby gave a single nod. “Do what you need to do.”

Sephanie rose and wandered away after he ended the connection. She wished she could go home, but she wouldn’t get to see her family, even if she was in Cassid. She had to stay out of sight.

“So how much do you plan to make them suffer?” Colby turned in the chair and looked over at her.

She bit her lip. “Sometimes, I feel pulled in two directions. I trust them, but, at the same time, I don’t.”

“If you want to know if you can trust them, you’re going to have to give the relationship a chance.” Colby nodded. “We’re moving you to another room until we know what your brother plans.”

* * * *

Teague stared at the blank space above the holo-comm. She’d been wearing the necklace he made. That had to be a good sign. He’d also noticed that slip of the tongue. She wanted a relationship with them, even if she was angry.

He turned to Sephanie’s brother. Where had Cooper sent her, and who was she with? More important, how much danger was she in?

He’d seen Cooper, Lawson, and Paine in an open, muted brown interview room as he, Kassius, and Berenger had walked through the hall. If an officer had been with them, he’d have gone on his way, but they were alone. Teague hadn’t been able to resist ignoring the officer escorting them. Teague had to see if Cooper would tell them anything about Sephanie. He’d been surprised to see her image on a holo-comm when he’d gotten close.

“How did they find her?” Teague clenched his jaw and struggled to keep his tone even.