I washed her off and towel-dried her before lifting her to sleep naked in my bed. She was so beautiful against the black silk sheets of my bed, her body pale like snow, her skin flawless and soft.
I fell into bed next to her under the sheets and said, “I know you’re just 18 and I’m just 18, but I don’t want to leave anything off the table. I love you, Haven. I can’t live without you. You’ve been on my mind since I first saw you. You’ve been in my heart since I first knew of you. If you would accept me, I want to be with you forever. Please marry me. Marry me, Haven.”
She must have been exhausted. She didn’t hear a word I said, especially my proposal to her. She was fast asleep, her worried expression now in peaceful rest.
I kissed her on the nose and sat up in bed to check my phone messages. There were a few from the Tritons.
“Still can’t trust me with Haven?” I said to myself.
I looked over at Haven’s angelic face. “Too bad she’s mine.” I looked at Tristan’s angry text to me to keep my hands off Haven and my dick to myself. If he finds out that I fucked Haven, he’ll kill me.
“Tough shit,” I said. Haven asked me to make love to her. She asked me to.
“Everything would have been so much easier if Dr. Hillshire didn’t marry Terrence,” I said to myself. She had to marry a Triton and get in the way.
It was a good thing that she wasn’t there in her office when I dropped by yesterday before I saw Haven walking out of the library. I knew Haven had visited her mother there, and I was still looking for Megan’s purse when I dropped by Dr. Hillshire’s office, seeing if Haven had left it there.
It was also a good thing that the red brick building was one of the last Main Street buildings the Bradshaws still owned too, which meant I had access to all the surveillance cameras, locks, doors, and offices. I was free to enter and search for anything at any time.
And to change out the surveillance cameras’ footage with another time of day’s footage.
I smiled, looking over at my beautiful future bride. Haven Hillshire would be mine. The Hillshires’ fortune would be mine, and if things go according to mother’s plans…so would the Triton’s.
Chapter 6
Tristan
As soon as Haven left Dr. Hillshire’s office with Max, Detective Holmes wrote down something on a piece of paper before passing it over to Dad, who immediately raised the paper up high so I could see it, and then Drake and Dillon.
The room was bugged, and someone was probably listening in to what we had said.
Detective Holmes continued sweeping the room for bugs, and found a few more before he took a heavy bookend and smashed them into tiny pieces.
“That should be it?” Dad asked.
Detective Holmes finally said, “I did a complete sweep, and this whole place was crawling with them. I think I found them all, but just in case. Say only what you are comfortable saying. In other words, if you want to find whatever news you want to pass along to the rest of the world, just feel free right here.”
“Got it,” Dad said.
Drake said, “Isn’t that part of Dr. Hillshire’s therapy sessions? I’m sure she must record them so she can have a record of them. Most doctors have a record of a before and after so they can see how their progress goes.”
“Yes,” Detective Holmes said, “The bug I found could have been a way to record a client’s session without being intrusive, but it isn’t the normal bug. It is the kind used by professionals in intelligence. Not a psychologist, relationship expert.”
Drake nodded in acknowledgement and agreement. “So whoever has been listening in on us must be some real pervert who gets its kicks listening in on juicy tidbits the good Dr. Hillshire gets to listen to from her clients!”
“Yeah, and is too coward to show your face,” Dillon said. He bent over and flash his butt into the air.
“Dillon…” Dad said. “Really son?”
“I bet the pervert doesn’t just listen in on what goes on here,” Dillon said, “but has a couple of cameras here so he can see. What a loser.”
With that, all of a sudden, everyone’s phones started ringing.
I answered mine at the same time Drake, Dillion, Dad, and Detective Holmes answer theirs.
And the muffled voice at the other side of the phone said the same thing to each of us.
“Like to play with cameras? I do. Take a look at the tv screen in Dr. Hillshire’s room.”
We all looked at the television which suddenly switched on and was showing a black and white screen. When it stopped being blurry, the screen was showing all of us as we are, looking at the television screen.
“Looks like you’re on television!” the muffled voice said.
Then the image of us disappeared and was now showing a feed of an empty room that looked like a warehouse. Concrete floor, some sunlight but mostly dark. In the middle of the room was someone sitting in a chair, slumped over. The cameraperson had walked up closer to the slumped over person and began filming. With black gloves, the person on the other side of our phones tapped the shoulder of the person, and lifted the person’s head. Long blonde hair tied into a ponytail, but still attractive… just like her daughter Haven.
“Dr. Hillshire!” Dillon said.
“Pamela,” Dad said.
“You see,” the muffled voice said, “Dr. Hillshire is still alive. It’s up to you to keep her that way. If you be good children and obey my orders.”
“What do you want?” Detective Holmes asked
