Complete Bliss (Her Billionaires #5.3)(30)
Author: Julia Kent

“Yes. Him.”

“Uh oh. That’s really weird. I was just mentioning him…”

“You were?” she asked in surprise. Frank wasn’t exactly a common topic for discussion.

“We were talking about how our parents handled learning about Jill.” Laura reached out to touch him, knowing how painful that subject was. “And Joe asked about your parents. I just mentioned you had a crazy uncle.”

Even Mike knew what this might mean. Frank was, in the kindest of terms, a ne’er-do-well. Her mother had kept him at arm’s length after he’d ruined her credit rating when Laura was in high school.

“Yeah. Crazy uncle. I’d just ignore it, but…” She held up the telephone screen and let Mike read the email:

Dear Laura,

You haven’t had any contact with me in so long, my dear, and so I thought I would reach out. I recently came across news footage about your new life and am so pleased to learn about your happy circumstances. And I have a great-niece, from what I’ve read! I should like very much to meet with you, your daughter, and your husbands. Your old uncle Frank doesn’t have quite the exciting, luxurious life you now lead, but perhaps you can find time for me to see my only living niece and grand-niece. Family is so important, and as I age I realize that blood is all that matters.

Your loving uncle,

Frank

“Ah, shit,” Dylan said from behind her. “Is he money grubbing?”

Because it had been so long since she’d seen him—since her mother’s death, when he’d convinced her to hand over part of her mom’s life insurance for his pain and suffering—she hadn’t really talked much about Frank. A few conversations boiled down to the simple point that Frank used people. Mostly for money. And her mother had taught her to keep him at as much of a distance as possible.

And now he was back, with more knowledge about her life than she was comfortable with him having. A cold chill began at the base of her spine and spread up as she reread his words. The thought of him being part of her life, of Jillian’s life, left her with an unsettled, mildly frantic feeling that he knew would reverberate through her, pinging and ricocheting endlessly until this was resolved.

Dylan and Mike could feel it, too. They crowded around her, safe and solid, a big, impenetrable wall of protection.

The threat, though, was so much more than physical.

“Ignore it,” Dylan and Mike said at the same time.

“Delete it,” Dylan whispered. “You don’t have any obligation to him.”

“I know,” she whispered back. Mike set his chin on the top of her head, arm wrapping around her, the warmth a comfort. She was suddenly cold.

And just as instantly, she needed to hold Jillian. Touch her. Embrace her. Be with her.

Protect her.

Frank’s words looped through her head. “Happy circumstances” and “luxurious life” and “blood is all that matters” all set off alarm bells in her head.

Why now? Why was he appearing now? She’d been with Mike and Dylan for two years. They’d been all over the news in the early stage of their relationship, though more the guys than her. Nowadays she was featured in small news articles on blog sites, mostly, talking about alternative lifestyles. No one ever photographed Jillian—all three of them were fierce about her privacy in that respect—so Frank couldn’t know that much about her.

But she bet he knew 2.2 billion reasons why he wanted to reconnect with his niece and grand-niece, dammit.

Laura stood abruptly, Mike and Dylan on their feet in seconds, the three a unit. “Darla,” Laura said, her own words breathless, the panic coming out in her voice. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go. There’s an emergency.”

“Is the baby okay?” Joe asked. Trevor and Darla gave Laura a look of such concern that it made her feel instantly overwrought. What was she so anxious about? It didn’t make sense, but the feeling fluttered inside her. She couldn’t deny it. All she could do was get home and hold her daughter. Then she’d be able to think and act clearly.

Until then? Everything she did was pointless.

“Jillian is fine,” Laura said, more to calm herself than anyone else. That seemed to allay the younger group’s fears. “It’s just, something else has come up, and I need to cut this short.”

She reached for Darla, who stood, and the two shared a deep, long hug. “Let’s do this again, but only the two of us.”

“Yes!” said the men in unison.

Laura and Josie shot them dark looks. All four of them shrugged. It was like a human wave of flesh relief. If Laura weren’t on high alert, so triggered by her uncle’s email as to be in a different plane of mental existence, she would have laughed.

Jillian.

All she could think about was wrapping her arms around that sweet little toddler and taking a long, deep breath.

Mike and Dylan saw the unease in her, and within seconds they were out the door, headed for the parking garage, where Mike’s Jeep would take her to sanctuary.

“You’re shaking,” Dylan said in a clenched voice, his jaw muscles tight, eyes like a hawk’s. “Did your uncle do something else? Threaten you?” They climbed in the car, and Mike peeled out of the parking structure, the squeal of tire on painted concrete making her feel like they were moving faster than they really were.

“No! Oh, no. Nothing like that. I just need her.” Laura’s throat began to close with tears, eyes joining in waterworks. “It seems so silly, I know…”

“Not silly,” Dylan said evenly. He was in the back seat with her, arms enveloping her as Mike drove. “You feel what you feel. And no one can hurt you.”

“Or Jillian.” Mike’s words came out like a growl.

“Or any of us,” Dylan assured her. She felt so safe with them both. Secure.

Fine.

A deep breath helped. Dylan’s warm hands on her hip made his words sink in. This was fine. An email out of the blue could be ignored. Frank wasn’t any sort of threat. In fact, she’d just let a stupid email interrupt a very important lunch date.

“What am I thinking?” she blurted out. Mike was weaving through traffic to snake through Arlington and get to Route 2 and home. “This is silly. We don’t need to rush. Maybe we should go back so I can talk to Darla some more.”

Mike caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “Don’t do that.”

She startled. “Do what?” Dylan was so warm, so hard and secure, like being hugged by a muscled teddy bear. The afternoon’s conversation, the sparring between Madge and Darla, the talks about threesomes as if they were normal and just another way to love, all pinged through her mind.