I'm late by forty minutes to bakery where I'm supposed to meet Lauren.
She's probably worried about me.
I still can't wrap my head around what was revealed to me.
I'm not even sure if I should talk to Evan about it.
As I'm about to walk into the bakery I see Lauren exit the place and she doesn't look happy.
She has her phone up to her ear. "She didn't show up, Knox. I'm worried about her."
She's quiet for a moment. "Okay, I'll call if she shows up." She hangs up the phone.
I walk over to her. "Sorry, I'm late, Lauren."
She pulls me into her arms. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Looking behind me I see my brother and a woman that I've seen him with before. "There's something's I want to tell you, but we'll have to talk about it at yours."
She looks behind me. "There's two people in suits watching us. Ones a female and the other is a male."
"That's my brother and his partner. We need to ditch them soon. It's not safe for us to talk while they're close by."
Now that I know some of things that's happening in my life I have realised that I don't trust my brothers.
They have kept secrets from me for years and I don't like that.
We enter the bakery and we order some food to take back to Lauren's.
I don't feel comfortable talking at Evan's place.
He might have listening voices planted somewhere in the house.
After all he's been having hush conversations with my brothers for a little while.
Looking at the entrance of the bakery I see my brother and his partner walk in. "Lauren, do you have diversion to get us out of here."
"Coffees on me all day." She yells.
People cheer and they line up to order their drinks.
She looks at the old lady behind the counter. "I'll be back tomorrow to give you the money."
She nods. "Thank you, Lauren." She opens the counter and lets us through. She tells us how to get out of the building and we thank her after getting our stuff.
Lauren takes my hand. She waves to the lady.
"How do you know her."
She freezes for a moment. "Uh..." she clears her throat. "I met her through my first husband."
"You were married before?"
She nods. "To a lovely man that was kind to everyone. He had lots of secrets too, but I didn't find out about them until after he died."
Oh, no. Poor Lauren.
She places her hand on her stomach. "I was pregnant at the time." She gets a look in her eyes that takes her back to that day and she begins to sob.
I pull her into my arms and hug her.
There's no point in me saying 'I'm sorry, because she would have heard it a thousand times and that won't bring her husband back from the dead.
I rub her back as she cries. I whisper comforting words in her ear.
Lauren pulls away from me. "Thanks," she wipes her face with the front of her hands. "It's been a while since I've talked about him and the baby. I miss them at times and then I start to feel guilty because of the love I have for Knox. He made life worth living again after I lost everything I held dearly to me. I'm lucky to have his kids too."
We stop in front of her car and she unlocks it.
I climb into the front seat.
She looks at me. "What are you going to do with the car you drove here?"
"I was thinking that Knox would be able to send someone to get it. I don't feel comfortable walking around there after what happened to me."
***
At the Moretti Mansion the gates open as Lauren pulls into the driveway.
She waves at a few men as she passes them.
In front of the house she parks the car.
Knox opens the door for her and he hugs her.
My door is open by Evan.
He looks me over. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, but there's something I'd like to take to you all about." Looking at the house I ask. "Is Charlie and Jasper here?"
Knox looks from Lauren to me. "I'm sorry. They're not. Jasper took Charlie away for a holiday."
That's good that he listened to me, by taking her away. She doesn't need to worry about me.
"I didn't think Jasper was going to listen to me."
Knox places his hand on my shoulder. "So, it was your idea for them to leave?"
"Yeah," I look away from him. "I didn't want my sister around while all this stuff went down."
"That's smart. You care about the health of your sister and the development of her child?"
Looking at him I say. "With everything happening here I don't want to worry for my safety and harm herself and the innocent bean that's developing."
Lauren leads the way to the living room. She takes a seat on the arm rest of a recliner chair.
Knox sits in the recliner and his hand is on her thigh.
I am sitting on Evan's lap.
He won't let me sit anywhere, but on him. "I was worried when Knox told me that you were running late to see Lauren."
He's right. It's not like me to run late. I'm usually the one that arrives early.
Lauren look at me. "What happened today?"
"I was supposed to meet up with Lauren at the bakery. When I got there I couldn't park anywhere. So, I had to park in parking lot two blocks away. While I was walking; someone grabbed me and put a cloth over my mouth. I passed out not long after."
Evan moves my hair and he looks at my face. "I'm going to kill the person responsible for it."
Turning towards Evan I say. "You can't kill him." I stand up. "He's an FBI Agent who's undercover. He was hired to kill me."
"What?" Everyone in the room yells.
I hold my hand up. "There's more." I turn to Evan. "You and Knox know stuff that you didn't want to tell us, but now I know everything. So, I will be the one to fill in the missing pieces that you don't know about."
"We know who's trying to kill you." Knox says.
"It's my college roommate. I know that part since the agent told me. It gets more interesting though. It turns out my brother is an FBI agent too. He was there when I woke up and he wasn't too happy about it. He wanted to keep me in the dark like the rest of you. The FBI agent is going to follow me until the party, trying to learn my schedule."
"Do you know when he's expected to kill you?"
"Yeah," I look away from him. "After the party at your parents place. Everything needs to happen the way we planned when we got engaged."
Evan shakes his head. "I don't want to break up with you. I have you where I want and I'm not going to let you go."
"You don't have a choice, Evan. She's going to be at the party."
"I don't care. It will be you and I against the world."
I wish I could believe him.
***