Going to New York and meeting Luc brought me back to life. He made me hope again, and now he blessed me with the life growing inside me. I felt overcome by loss that he wouldn’t share in my joy. No, no, I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t keep the knowledge of this child from him. He would want to know. I needed to tell him. I suddenly wanted to send him a text message and tell him that we needed to talk. Since I had no pockets in my skirt, so I had left my cell phone in the cup holder of the Tracker. As I turned the corner of the court to head back home, a black Mustang came speeding down the road. Of course I knew it was a Mustang because Jamie taught me everything about cars. The engine was loud and I wondered if it could be Jamie coming back, only I knew he wouldn’t be driving down the street like a bat out of hell. The car slowed in front of my house. I watched the two men in the front seat looking at the house without cutting the engine. Then one of the men looked straight ahead. He made eye contact with me and my stomach dropped. The Mustang came full speed ahead, straight for me. I thought they were going to run me over, and I jumped from the pavement onto one of the neighbor's lawns. I picked up speed, needing to get away, while a sinking feeling told me that these men were after me. The Mustang skidded to a stop scraping the side of the curb. I gasped and began to run toward the neighbor’s house, but the two men quickly got out of the car. One man grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth.

“Don’t fight this. sweetheart, you will only make matters worse,” he snarled. He had the same accent as Luc. He had a French accent. Shit, this is why Luc was drinking. This is why Luc pushed me away. His family must have contacted him. His family knew about me. I was their leverage, or I was going to be used to hurt Luc. As panic surged through my body, I thrashed about needing to flee. One of the men pushed my head down and shoved me in the backseat of the car. I knew these men were too strong for me, so I stopped thrashing while trying to use my head to figure things out, but I was consumed by fear. My heart beat so fast that I could hear each thump in my ears. I didn’t even have a cell phone to secretly send a message. I had nothing. The Mustang rounded the corner of the court briskly, squealing its tires and sped past my house. As I looked at my home with wide lost eyes I noticed Joe whipping the door open and running out to the front lawn.

Chapter 25

Joe

As I flung the door open, I saw a black Mustang speeding down the street like a bat out of hell. The first thing that came to mind was, ‘stupid motherfucker, there are kids walking down this street all the time,’ but then I thought I saw Vicky in the backseat and I didn’t understand. She seemed okay to be walking with Jamie and I had thought I heard him take off in his car a few minutes ago. Then I remembered that Jamie’s car is a midnight blue and that Mustang was black. Who the hell would she have to pick her up? Why would she ditch our houseguests now and leave me to face this on my own? Something about her behavior didn’t add up.

I was DEA, Vicky didn’t know that yet, I returned to university to finish my kinesiology degree, but then I had no interest working in the field. I had gone to university because it was important to Mama. I had always wanted to get into law enforcement. I always spoke about the Secret Service but that always made Mama nervous. She was scared of me dying, so I put my dreams on the back burner permanently until she got sick and passed away. Then I realized that none of us have control over our destiny, so we might as well make the most of our lives while we have the time. If Mama’s death taught me something, it was that life could change or end in the blink of an eye.

After wandering around South America for six months, I came home and signed up for the police academy. Only I didn’t want to stay in Canada, let alone Thunder Bay. It was a small town, and it was hard to escape the ghosts that haunted me there. I graduated from the police academy at the top of my class. I applied for a green card and sent my application to the FBI. The FBI wasn’t known to recruit internationally, but I was fluent in Spanish and Italian and I had skills. They recruited me and did my papers faster than I could have imagined. Only I didn’t realize I would be sent to the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration. I didn’t protest though. I was good undercover and grateful to get away from Canada. I didn’t care about getting killed, and I got results. My little sister may not have known where I was, but I knew where she was. I had sources everywhere. I was going to come to New York and reunite with her when Marie called to say that my father was going downhill. I thought I would come home and take care of it myself; only I was a coward and spent a few extra days in Toronto wallowing in self-pity. There are details of my relationship with Eva that I left out when I told Vicky where I had been, but I didn’t want to freak my little sister out. Especially since she just found out she was pregnant. I also couldn’t let on that I knew everything about her life for the past six months. I knew she was working in New York, and I knew she was dating a guy linked to the Blanchard family. The fact that she took off that way was sending all kinds of alarm bells in my mind.

I stalked back into the house headed straight for Marie. She was in the kitchen talking to one of my parents' old friends. “Ah, Marie, sorry to interrupt but can I speak to you for a second?”

She looked at me warily but followed me out of the kitchen into the main hallway. “Marie, what do you know about Vicky’s trip to New York?” I asked calmly.

Marie became tense and fidgety. “Hon, I think it’s better she tells you,” she said placing a consoling hand on my shoulder.

“Well, that’s it, Marie, I think she is in trouble so I need to know now, I don’t have time to explain, just talk, Vicky told me about Bryce Andrews. What else is there?” I was a little too demanding and Marie was a sweet woman, but if something has happened to my sister I needed to know.

“We know the same thing then, Joe. Your sister hasn’t been in touch with me. She just said that things have been good with her father. Oh, I’m sorry, honey,” she said patting my shoulder. “You know that Tony will always be considered her father, but this was a missing piece to her own puzzle.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I knew Vicky loved my father like her own and he loved her but the knowledge still hurt. “How does her boyfriend fit in the picture?” I asked.

“I don’t know, hon, Vick only spoke to me briefly, but she said he was smart and handsome and worked for her father. She was so happy in New York, Joe. Things started to look up for her and now with your papa’s death…well, I’m worried for her. Will she be okay? Where is she?” she asked, turning her head around looking for her.

“I’m not sure, Marie, but I need to leave, can you take care of the guests?” I asked. She nodded and I gave her a peck on the cheek. She had been my Mama’s best friend since high school, and she was the closest thing we had to a caring guardian.

I made my way out to the Tracker to make a phone call. I didn’t want the other guests to hear me because no one here knew what I did. As I began to dial a number, I saw Vicky’s cell phone in the cup holder and my stomach sank. I continued to dial the number knowing time was of the essence. “Yeah, Angel, I need you to track a Luc Blanchard…” I bit out.

“I thought you were on vacay, Joe…” Angel laughed into the phone.

“Angel, please, I need to track him, look for credit cards, airports, anything please… this is about my sister,” I explained, as my voice filled with panic. Angel was our in-house computer hacker. If there was someone we needed to find she was the go-to person. “Can you also find out his cell number, I will call him myself.”