Control (Harper Security Ops #18)

Twenty-two

TWENTY-TWO

Alana

Two weeks later

“Months of unanswered questions came to an end nearly two weeks ago when the man responsible for the death of Steel Ridge’s bright light, Annette “Annie” Sanders, was arrested and charged with murder. We brought you the story then, sharing the details about how it was all thanks to the selfless act of one woman brave enough to come forward with evidence that police were able to arrest that man. Jackson Taylor is now behind bars and awaiting trial.”

“We’re here just two days before Christmas, in the season of giving, and the news should help bring peace. While it’s certainly given closure to many who were hoping for answers, there’s no question of the long road filled with grieving ahead of us. We will miss Annie Sanders and the light she shined on this community. There isn’t much that can be done to alleviate the pain we’re all experiencing, but on this week’s podcast, we’re hoping a look into the legacy Annie left behind will help.”

The edit I’d done had the camera cutting away from me and turning to the piece I’d put together on Annie. A montage of images of the places she’d helped over the years, snippets of kind words and praise for her from those she’d supported, and even a short segment with her family—her mom, dad, and brother.

As I watched that part, I recalled how it all had happened. Following the arrest of Jackson Taylor, I’d received a call from Annie’s father. He’d heard about what I’d done to help get answers regarding his daughter’s murder, and he’d asked me to come for a visit to talk.

I didn’t hesitate.

And once they’d all learned about what I’d been doing from the start, how it had morphed into more than just an investigation, they were all prepared to help. Even Reed.

There was no question that Reed and his sister had a tumultuous relationship, but I’d learned that his attitude toward me following her death had been about far more than his distaste for reporters. Like Annie’s ex, Reed was dealing with mountains of guilt. He recognized how badly he’d treated her when she was alive, and to a degree, it had been easier to stay mad after her death.

But once the truth of how she was killed had been revealed, it seemed things changed for him. That was all it took for him to break down and let go of the bitterness he’d been holding on to.

Something else that might have attributed to that change was his relationship with Bethany. Apparently, they’d finally shared the truth with those closest to them. This was something I’d learned from Bethany when I met with her and Clover once again for the piece on Annie’s life.

When the segment ended a few minutes later, the edit went back to me sitting at the desk behind the microphone.

“What else can be said about a woman who gave so much of herself to her community? It’s at a time like this when we can only hope that the impact one individual had on those around her was so profound it’ll move others to act accordingly and follow in her footsteps.”

“The world will miss Annie Sanders, but her legacy will live on for many years to come if everyone steps up and does just one kind thing each day for someone else. And to help inspire that change, to help Annie’s legacy live on, join me next week, when I’ll be talking to the man left brokenhearted by Annie’s death. Mark Watson will be sharing his plans for continuing Annie’s good work in Steel Ridge alongside her family and friends as we close out this year and this heartbreaking story of a woman gone far too soon.”

The outro played and the recording cut off.

I looked to my left, smiled, and asked, “What do you think?”

Yasmine had tears in her eyes. “This is incredible, Alana. I can’t believe everything you’ve done over all these weeks.”

“There are so many reasons I’m glad I had the chance, the biggest being that I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my life,” I told her. “But I hate that the only reason it happened is because of what they did to you.”

Yasmine was well on her way to making a full recovery. It was going to take time, and she still had some work ahead of her, but she was making progress.

The only thing that remained unknown was the specifics of her case. While Yasmine recalled being approached in the parking lot by the men, she didn’t remember anything about the attack or the guys who did it. It was our hope that those men would be found—Jackson Taylor happened to own that restaurant. So, there was a chance the employees there were involved in carrying out his dirty work.

Perhaps, if he attempted to work out a plea deal for reduced sentencing—he was likely never going to get out—he might reveal who carried out the attack on Yasmine. Even still, he had been the ringleader, and we knew he was the one who was ultimately responsible, even if he never laid a hand on her.

“It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it’s over now, and I’m grateful to you for not giving up, even when Dale took away that option at the station,” she said. "I still can’t get over that. Why would he not allow you to do your job?”

I shook my head. “I tried, Yaz. He refused. But now, I don’t need to worry about it, because I’m doing this. I’m going out on my own, and I’m going to be in control of the stories I cover.”

She smiled at me. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I want you with me,” I blurted.

“What?”

I returned the smile and explained, “I know you still have a long road ahead of you, but once you’re ready to get back to work, I’d love for you to join me in this new venture. It’s scary, I know, but I think we’d be great at this together. That’s why I wanted to come here to show you this. We can make our own rules and go after the stories we’re passionate about.”

Her eyes roamed over my face, her mind clearly racing. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything yet. You have time. Take the time, think about it, and whenever you’re ready, let me know. I really do believe we can be wildly successful. But if you don’t want to risk it, I completely understand.”

Laughter spilled out of her. “Alana, the risk is probably one of the biggest reasons I got into this field. I love the idea, but I want to think about it for a bit, if that’s okay.”

I nodded. “It’s totally okay. And I promise not to pressure you any further on it, but I will say this. Something about working on this story changed me. It’s not just about meeting Ty or deciding to go off on my own. I think it’s the contact I had with so many people on this one. There’s something about being able to handle this my way that just worked for me. And now, I can see how perhaps some of the work I’ve done has helped others. I mean, I urged Mark to consider his path in life, if he really wanted to be close to Annie. And I was able to help Georgia, too. I’ve put her in contact with Annie’s family, explained how things happened at the benefit, and what Annie had intended to do for Georgia. Now, they’re covering the cost of her mom’s medical care, and they’re working to find her a position within their company to hire her for. It’s been undeniably rewarding, and I’m so excited about what’s ahead for me.”

"You certainly aren’t making it easy for me to say I’ll head back to the station, that’s for sure,” Yasmine joked.

I shrugged. “I wanted you to have all the information to be able to make the right decision, but I promise that I’m done now.”

“Okay, so why don’t you please tell me more about this guy of yours,” she begged. “Does he have any friends?”

Beaming, I declared, “He has lots of friends. In fact, I’m having dinner with Ty and one of his friends tonight. Unfortunately, this particular friend is already spoken for, and I’ll be meeting Daisy for the first time tonight. But I’m sure there are more of them.”

Yasmine huffed. “I was mostly teasing. I’ve got enough on my plate right now, but maybe one day down the road.”

For the next hour or so, I stayed with Yasmine and told her more about Ty and how things had happened to bring us together. It had been the longest I’d been able to spend alone with her since before she’d been brutally assaulted. It was nice to have that back and to know that she was getting better and stronger with each day that passed.

And hours after my visit with her, Ty and I were sitting across from Forrest and Daisy at a restaurant for dinner. Apparently, Forrest had asked Ty at work if we’d like to join them tonight, and Ty happily accepted.

Daisy was lovely. I liked her from the start, but then she said, “So, Alana, I saw your first podcast. It was incredible. I know the subject was awful, but you did an amazing job.”

“Thank you. That means a lot, considering I’ve never done this whole thing of being in front of the camera.”

“I tried telling her she was a natural,” Ty declared, his focus on me. He looked at Daisy and continued, “Maybe now that you’ve told her, it’ll sink in.”

I rolled my eyes. “It was one thing to pretend in front of Ty. It’s something else entirely to put myself in front of the whole world.”

“Are you enjoying it, though?” Daisy asked.

I nodded. “I love it.”

She glanced at Forrest, bit her lip, and returned her attention to me. “Well, if you’re ever looking for some help occasionally, I’d love to. I’m always up for an adventure, so if you want some company on a stakeout or something, give me a call.”

Forrest nearly choked. “Daisy, sunshine, you’re not going on stakeouts.”

“Oh, come on. Nothing crazy. I think it’d be fun to have a little excitement in my life,” she explained.

He cocked a brow. “Are you suggesting I don’t provide enough excitement now?”

“Of course, you do. I just thought it’d be fun to do something with a friend, that’s all.”

“And you didn’t think that perhaps going out dancing or shopping or essentially anything other than a stakeout would give you that?” he countered.

He had a point. And I couldn’t say I didn’t understand his concern. On the way to the restaurant, Ty had told me all about how Forrest and Daisy met and the horrible situation she’d encountered. She was lucky to be alive, so it was only natural for Forrest to be a bit protective of her.

Forrest turned his attention to me. “Can you keep the stakeouts to a minimum?”

I grinned at him. “I’ll do my best.”

“Yeah, and if there’re going to be stakeouts involving dangerous criminals, I’m coming along for those,” Ty added.

“I think I’ve had enough of that for at least the next month or so,” I teased.

Everyone laughed.

“In all seriousness, I’m glad things worked out the way they did,” Forrest said. “I can remember the day you came into Harper Security Ops, Alana.”

My brows drew together. “What? I don’t remember meeting you.”

He looked at Ty, his lips twitching before he dropped his gaze to his plate.

I focused my attention on Ty. “What is he talking about?”

“Forrest saw you after you had already left and were walking back out to your car,” Ty shared. “He and Avalon started teasing me then that we were heading for our next crisis at work, because not one Harper Security Ops couple had an uneventful start to their relationship.”

I raised a curious brow. “But, but we weren’t dating.”

“I know. That’s why I told them they were crazy.”

Forrest quickly interjected, “And it appears we weren’t. I knew from the moment I saw him watching you walk to your car where this was headed. And Avalon knew, too, because she noted how Ty refused to have her set up an account to charge you.”

My head snapped in Ty’s direction, my heart hammering at the information Forrest had just revealed. I had no idea that Ty had watched me walk to my car that day.

He merely smiled at me and shrugged in response.

“I’m still angry about not being charged.”

“Oh, it was the same for me, so don’t feel bad about it. Look where we are now. Married and happier than ever,” Daisy added.

Married, and happier than ever.

Could that be Ty and me one day?

As badly as I might have wanted it, I thought I was getting ahead of myself. We’d only known each other just shy of two months. Sure, we’d been through a lot in that time, and I had certainly fallen for him—though I’d been too chicken to tell him—but I knew it was far too early for me to be thinking about marriage. If Ty knew, he’d probably go running in the opposite direction.

So, I quickly shook off the thoughts, returned my attention to the conversation, and enjoyed being right where I was for the time being. I might have liked being the one in charge of the direction my life went, but there were some things that would always be out of my control, and when it came to Ty, I was merely grateful I could trust him to take the reins.

The four of us had a wonderful time together, staying long after dinner and dessert, simply enjoying each other’s company. But eventually, we got up and said goodnight to one another, Forrest and Daisy having Christmas festivities starting with his family tomorrow.

“This was a lot of fun tonight,” I said once we were back in Ty’s truck.

As it warmed up, he reached over and took my hand in his. “I’m glad you had a good time and got to meet some of my friends.”

“I hope I’ll be able to meet more of them in the coming months.”

He nodded, not a trace of doubt in his expression. “You’re the woman I love, so you will.”

My body locked. “What?”

“I love you, Alana.”

“Ty,” I breathed.

He lifted my hand to his mouth and pressed kisses to each of my knuckles. “I think I’ve been feeling this way for a while now, but hearing Forrest talk about how I watched you leave the office that first day solidified it for me. These last several weeks with you have been the best of my life, Alana. And I feel things for you I haven’t ever felt before. There’s no other way I can describe it other than love. I love you, baby.”

How I didn’t burst into a fit of tears was a mystery. “I love you, too. I was just sitting there thinking how I wished I wasn’t so much of a chicken and could tell you the truth. Oh, Ty, I love you, too.”

Ty released my hand, threaded his fingers through my hair, and urged my head in his direction. His lips met mine and took them in a possessive kiss. We got lost in it quickly, desperate to take as much as we could from one another.

I blamed the heat blasting on us for causing our eventual separation. We were both panting and fighting to regain control of our breathing.

“So, now what?” I whispered.

“We go home to my place, and you let me unwrap my first gift of the Christmas season.”

“What?”

“You. On a mound of blankets in front of the tree we decorated together. That’s what I want.”

A shiver ran along my spine. “Well, I guess this is where it starts.”

“What?”

“Doing things for the person you love, because you know how happy it’s going to make them,” I answered.

He touched his lips to mine. “Don’t be ridiculous, baby. You know you’re going to be left feeling just as happy when I’m done with you.”

Ty wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t argue. What I did do was kiss him one more time before I said, “Take me home.”

He didn’t delay.

Ty took off out of the parking lot and drove us back to his place.

And it was safe to say I wasn’t the least bit disappointed with the enthusiasm Ty showed for his first gift of the season.