Page 38 of Perfect Order

So, I’ll continue to give it to them.

She whirls around, shock on her face. “Why, I never thought about that before. Oh, honey, was it someone you knew as well?”

“I know Beckett’s friend, not her sister,” I explain, hoping she leaves it at that.

She studies my face before turning back around to fry her heart out. I let out a relieved breath. Turns out to be too soon when she probes, “And it’s not bringing up anything I need to worry over?”

Damn, my mother sees too much. Part of me would resent her for it if it wasn’t for the fact it’s completely out of love. “She reached out—Brit did.”

My mother’s arm, lifting the next batch of chicken out, stills. “Oh? When?”

“The night Erzulie’s sister died. Said she needed more time. Sent me a picture of Maddie.”

“She’s healing as well.” She pauses before announcing, “She’s dating. Local man. Widower. Zak Johnson. You might remember him.”

I do. And I don’t feel the punch to the gut knowing Brit’s moving on with her life. She should. She and Maddie deserve all the happiness out there after their lives were destroyed, and the extent to which they were. “Good guy, as I remember. Though now I feel like I have to run him.” The second I mutter as an aside.

That earns me another smack on the hands by the wooden handle. I grin.

It’s good to be home where the good, the bad, even the hellacious never affect the love. And I soak in every ounce of it before I go back to New York, knowing exactly how precious it is.

And how quickly it can change.

Knocking on the doorframe to Beckett’s penthouse a few days later, I wince. Christ, no wonder Mitch sounded so pissed. The place is completely trashed. “What in the fuck happened here?” I demand.

I’ve come straight from the airport. Beckett is en route from Memphis. Mitch—who was also off this weekend and spending time with his family—happened to see a social media post. “The alarm went off, but it was shut off in a matter of seconds.”

“That’s supposed to be impossible. We installed a server room to lock up his security equipment,” I reply hotly.

“That isn’t even the worst part,” Mitch says forebodingly. He steps over broken pieces of art to hand me a tablet.

I unlock it and find the police report. I’m incredulous. “The cops were called?”

“Yes.”

“And as the head of Beckett’s detail, no one saw fit to call me?”

Mitch opens his mouth and then smartly closes it. “That was a mistake.”

“A huge one. There’s nowhere on the planet where I’m that unreachable.”

“Understood. That was an error. We thought we had things under control.”

“A huge one. Has anyone called this in to Keene or Caleb yet?” I’m sorely tempted to hurl the device in my hands, but I’m going to need it to take pictures, and I’m not certain if I can rely on the servers in Beckett’s place to still be in working order.

Mitch winces before rubbing the side of his head near his ear. The corner of my mouth lifts just a bit. “Got an earful didn’t you?”

“That’s an understatement,” he admits. Then his face turns chalky. “Oh, God.”

The tension in the room goes electric.Honey, I’m home. The old whimsy floats through my head as I turn to face an enraged Beckett Miller. His voice is eerie. “Tell me I’m hallucinating from drugs I’ve never done.”

“I wish I could.” My eyes sweep the room. God, what a disaster.

His eyes lock onto mine. A muscle ticks in his jaw as his phone rings. Slipping his phone from his pocket, he answers it. I use the reprieve to check out the door to the server room. I hear his furious voice and a feminine one I recognize as Carys Burke’s responding. Despite the disparaging comments he’s making, I’m grateful for it. She’s deflecting the anger he’d be justified in tossing in my direction, but it’s freeing me up to help the team figure out the how and why.

I slip a pair of gloves out of my wallet and make my way to a closet. Along the way, the stench of the party permeates my nose, but it isn’t until I spy the broken handle of the server room door that I feel nauseous. Because lying next to it is the broken pieces of Beckett’s Grammy.

And when I line them up, the bell and base match the gouges next to the keypad perfectly.