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“Hello, Traci. I’ve been waiting for you. For a long, long time.”

Reagan’s gaze shifted from her mom to the man in the chair. Finally she settled on her father’s old partner.

“Terrence, what’s going on? Why are you and this guy targeting me and my mom?”

Terrence opened his mouth to reply, but the older man silenced him with a wave of his hand. “This isn’t about you, Reagan. You were a means to an end. Both of you, come and sit down. Let’s visit. Traci and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, TJ. My daughter and I are walking out of here, and you’re going to let us. This isn’t you. You’re not a criminal. And Terrence, neither are you.”

“Traci, I would sit down if I were you. You, too, Reagan. My dad is not joking.”

“Your father?” Mother and daughter parroted the two words, both of their eyes widening in surprise.

“Terrence, shut up! Do not interfere.” The man her mother called TJ raised a hand, and Tall-dark-and-dangerous and Short-and-stocky moved forward from the shadows, waiting for their orders from TJ. “Please help the ladies to their seat.”

“We’re not staying.” Reagan found her voice and her anger. “I don’t know who you are, but you have no right to keep us here. If your goons do anything, they’re going to show us the door so we can go home. You don’t want to mess with us.”

The man smiled, only there was no friendliness or amusement behind it. Reagan recognized the eyes of an unstable man, and her gut churned when she wondered if she pushed him too far.

“She doesn’t know.” He directed his statement to Traci. “I think it’s time you tell her about me, don’t you, Angel?”

“Angel? Mom, what’s he talking about?”

“Reagan, this man is Thomas James Terrell III, or TJ to those who know him well. He was my first love.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Reagan couldn’t have written a more disturbing scene if she tried. Forced by the Tall-Dark-and-Dangerous and Short-and-Stocky to sit in the most uncomfortable chair she’d ever sat in, she was made to wait while a housekeeper brought refreshments as if they were having afternoon tea. Her emotions teetered between anger, fear, and incredulity while her mother seemed perfectly calm. Traci’s eyes never left the man she called TJ, and Reagan couldn’t be sure if it was because Traci was infatuated with the sight of her first love or if she didn’t trust him enough to let him out of her sight for a moment. Reagan prayed the latter was true.

Terrence sat beside his father and also watched him closely, but Reagan detected concern in the man’s eyes. She still didn’t understand Terrence’s motive or role in all of this. She didn’t understand a lot of what was going on. Should she fear this man? Should she stand up to him or play it safe and stay cool with him?

Once the tea was poured, Reagan followed her mother’s lead and held the delicate cup in her hands.

“I think it’s time you explain yourself, TJ.” Her mother spoke as if she was addressing a child, and the man seemed more amused than angry at the condescending tone.

“What do you want to know?” he countered, and Reagan fought against rolling her eyes at the game he was playing.

“Don’t be coy. I want to know why. If you wanted to see me, you could have shown up at my house. You didn’t have to kidnap me and my daughter.”

“It is good to see you, Traci,” he deflected. “You’re as beautiful as ever. And just as sharp and charming. It’s good to see you haven’t changed.”

“You mean since I hoped to receive a proposal from you? I have actually changed quite a bit.”

Reagan’s eyes bugged out of her head.Proposal?

“I made a mistake. I knew it the moment you walked out of my life, but my attempts to win you back were thwarted.”

“It was futile to try. We were never meant to be together, and I moved on. I thought you had too,” Traci told him calmly while Reagan experienced a strong freak-out.

“Mom?”

Traci looked over at her, and Reagan saw in her mother’s eyes that Traci wanted her to play along.

“Honey, I’m sorry. I should explain. Or maybe TJ would rather explain.”

“I met your mother when we were in college. She was a volunteer at a blood drive, and I was a donor. I was so enamored of her that I asked her out for coffee. Coffee led to dinner, and we were inseparable. We were together for two years. I wanted to marry her,” TJ admitted. “But I was a year ahead of her in school. I had a job offer in Chicago, and I erroneously thought I needed to sever all ties to my life in order to make the move.”

“I never heard from you after you moved,” Traci said. “You broke my heart, TJ. I buried myself in school and work. It took me several years before I was able to open up my heart again. If you regretted the decision, why didn’t you reach out?”