The Mistress: Book Four in The Doll Collector Series

Chapter 24: Maria

The coast was clear. Kris had been gone for several hours, was surely at work. He had come home very late the night before and was up before I could question him. He'd left a pile of his clothes on the floor. They set off a strong stench of salt. There was no woman on earth who would wear a salty perfume, so perhaps he wasn't with another woman.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't question him. Everything had to remain stable.

I bundled Jordan up and left plenty of food and water for Eloise. I'd spent the night before reading up on how to care for a pregnant kitty.

We'd had pets as kids, but they were male dogs and they belonged to Jared and Jordan, so I didn't spend too much time taking care of them. They liked to spend time with me though, because I wasn't spending the majority of my time blasting My Chemical Romance all day until I went to bed. I played it in moderation, and at a proper volume.

When Jordan was securely strapped into his baby seat, I slid into the driver's seat. It had finally stopped snowing and the streets had been plowed. It was finally safe enough to drive with the baby in the car. He played with the hem of his blanket, pulling it over his head and slamming it back down on his lap.

He squealed and cooed all the way to the hotel where Jenny was residing for the time being. It was right on the border of Tulsa and the next town over. I pulled into the parking lot, finding a stall conveniently at the very entrance of the hotel. Jordan fussed as I unstrapped him and cradled him in my arms.

Jenny was on the 15th floor, room 1530. Heat spread throughout the entire hotel, quelling the frigidness from the outside.

The elevator opened up to her floor, and as I stepped off, the elevator right next to me opened up as well. I passed quickly as to not block the person coming out.

A voice called out and halted me. I looked over my shoulder, giving into a giant smile.

"Zach!" I cried.

He returned my expression opening up his arms to wrap me in a hug. Jordan squealed and pushed Zack away with a little balled up fist.

"Sorry." he laughed, grabbing his little fist to kiss it.

"How are you doing?" I asked, as we continued on down the hallway.

"I'm doing great, moving back to Tulsa, actually." he replied.

"Agent Valentine mentioned that, why the sudden move?"

"Well, after some very long talks with my mother and my sisters, I agreed to pay for my sister's college if she agreed to stop using the baby as an excuse for not doing anything with her life."

"Yikes, you didn't say that did you?" I laughed.

"I did, and she agreed. So, here we are back in Tulsa."

"Do you need your house back?" I asked.

"Oh no-no, we have other properties. My mom was big into Airbnb hosting."

"We can leave, we-"

Zach braced my shoulders and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. My mom and my sisters have a home and I would very much prefer to not live with them, so I have an apartment in the city. Everything is perfectly fine."

I nodded, taking a look around. We had made it to Jenny's room.

"Wait, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Agent Valentine called me down here, he said you wanted to see me."

Wow, just putting words in my mouth.