for June

30. Stray

A loud crack sounded upon his first step onto the veranda, and he hoped it got her attention. Here goes nothing. Another step, then another, and finally a loud knock on the front door. "Showtime."

Tom scanned the long corridor with a wide grin plastered on his face. "So your mum doesn't live here anymore?" he asked, satisfied the corridor went all the way to the back door. His men could hear this conversation over his earpiece. That bit of information would tell them only two people, Chad and Cassie, were in the house.

"I was hoping to see her again." He backed up out of the doorway, leaving a foot over the threshold. He caught the door handle as Cassie made a move to close it. "Thank you, I'll see myself out. Nice to meet you."

She lingered a moment, and Tom made a show of pulling the door shut, keeping his foot from letting the door latch close. Once he heard Cassie's footsteps retreat, saying, "Some salesperson looking for mum." He made his move.

He quietly pushed the front door open, wedging the nearest thing he could find, an aged newspaper bundle, beneath it. He moved like a ghost towards the garage door, towards the dull light spewing through its open archway. His gun pulled ahead of him. Just because she hadn't had a gun on her when she greeted him didn't mean she didn't have one on her person.

He saw the back door open quietly and his team slowly move in before he peered into the garage to assess the situation.

Cassie's back was to the door, and as Baker had informed, Chad was tied to an old water heater in the far corner, on the floor.

♡

"Let me go, please. You don't have to do this," Chad pleaded, tired and hungry, till something moving in the corner caught his eye. He glanced towards the movement to see a human standing on the other side of that wall, peering at him over the edge of the doorframe.

Tom met Chad's gaze and gave a brisk shake. Don't look. Chad attempted to nod, dropping his gaze to the floor, towards the bit of material under the dirt where she stood.

"You don't really want me. No one wants me in their life, Cassie," he continued with a newfound exuberance. His effort to call triple zero had worked. Tom was here. Tom, the detective who'd made his sister deliriously happy until he left without a word. Under other circumstance, Chad knew he'd be angry at the man for leaving his sister pregnant and heartbroken, but all he could muster was a bucket load of gratitude and a desperate desire to hug the man to death.

"I'm a sloth. I don't clean up after myself." He looked up at her for the first time willingly, and without wanting to throw hurtful words. Her attention needed to stay on him more than ever as more heads appeared by the door. "I disappear for hours, if not days into my study, writing about people that don't exist. Nobody wants to compete with that. Believe me! The last woman I asked to marry me told me no to my face, in front of forty strangers and walked out, while I was still down on my knees. She knew better."

Cassie met his gaze with a shake of her head, and he was glad he had her full attention. "Oh yeah, she turned on her heels and sashayed out of the restaurant as fast as she could. And now she's getting married to some rich Indian bloke her parents fancy."

Cassie let out a laugh, even though she didn't want to. He could tell. It was working.

Tom was moving into the room, flanking her from behind, and Chad needed it to stay that way. "The only two women who can truly stand me are my mum and my sister, and they've been with me my whole life purely because they don't have a choice."

"And June?" she asked, with lips quivering and eyes brimming with hurt. "You have her in your life, so why not me?"

Tom continued moving behind Cassie, his footfalls silent on the dirt. The men were highly trained, and that was a relief at least. He cleared his throat, forcing a laugh out. He could see it intrigued her.