Chapter 8

Adair kept his promise and texted me the name of the place. It took me awhile to convince my mom to go, and after pleading with her multiple times and bribing her that we'll have a Lucifer marathon if she goes, she finally gave in. Now it's her favorite place to go on the weekends.

Sunshine Gardens Home was no ordinary senior center and I'm not surprised that Adair would know such a fancy place as this, but surprised that he does. It wasn't fancy in the sense that there were chandeliers and butlers, but rather it was kept in tip top condition with shiny marble floors, trimmed hedges, a ten acre garden, and high end chefs. To top it off, you could find every activity here from senior basketball, to golf, swimming, lacrosse, but most importantly activities for people with disabilities.

While my mom is enjoying herself, I'm sitting cross legged on the dark grey fluffy carpet of the living room with case files sprawled everywhere. I have a home office but having everything out in the open on the floor just makes it so much easier for me to connect information.

"Where did Aaliyah put the notes?" I say to myself rummaging through files. "Great just great. I can never find stuff when I need it the most."

Pulling out my phone I quickly dial Aaliyah. A couple of rings goes by and she finally picks up.

"Hey, Sarah how's it going." She says and I can hear her munching on chips.

"Hey, not good. Aaliyah where did you put the conversation notes for the Saeed case? I can't find it in her file or on the laptop?" I ask.

"Oh. Ummm.... I think I left it on my desk. I was gonna put it in the file, but Yasmin needed my help and I totally forgot! I'm so sorry! I can go pick them up and drop them to you?" She says her voice filled with regret. 

Rubbing my temples, I look at the clock. It's almost time to pick my mom up.

"Nah it's okay, I have to go pick up mom in a bit so I'll just go and grab it then." I say.

"Are you sure? I feel so bad."

"It's okay girl, next-" I begin before getting cut off with a loud knock on my door.

"Hold up Aaliyah I'll call you back I think someone is at the door."

"Okay, call me if you change your mind!" She giggles.

"Sure." I chuckle.

Standing infront of the door, I look through the peephole and find no one outside. Weird. I open the door looking around the hallway and my eyes land on the small brown box that rests near my feet.

"What is this?" I say picking up the box and closing the door.

Taking a seat back on the carpet, I place the box in my lap trying to examine the sender information.

Nothing.

It only has my name and address on it and nothing else on the box gives away where and who this package is from.

Opening the box, a stack of pictures held tight with a rubber band sits in there. Taking the rubber band off, I look through the pictures and all of them have red marks with dates written in black ink. My body goes numb as I take in the images.

These are pictures of me. Me going in and out my office. Me dropping my mom off to Sunshine Gardens Home last week. Me eating lunch at my favorite café with Aaliyah three days ago. Me going to the grocery store yesterday, and me entering the gym a week ago. Their all pictures of me and in each one of them my face is marked with a red X and with circles around the people who have been with me. The dates on the pictures go back to two weeks ago and I'm mortified and disgusted that someone has been following me around this entire time and I didn't even notice.

I can feel my hands trembling making it difficult to hold the pictures steadily and if things couldn't get worse, I spot a bright green paper stuck to the bottom of the box. Slowing picking it up my eyes go wide as I take in the words. Reading it multiple times I couldn't believe what it was saying.

It read Drop the Adairs divorce case now or else.

I've had high profile cases before, but I have never been threatened like this. I can feel adrenaline rush through my body as my heart beats like a drum- loud and fast- my body  covered in cold sweat. Before I know it I'm picking up the phone and calling Adair.

"Hello this is Sarah we need to talk now. I'm texting you my home address." I say in one breath.

"What's wrong Ms. Carter?" Adair asks his voice laced with concern.

"I can't tell you over the phone. Please can you come over quicky. This is about the case." I state my body trembling in fear and my throat running dry.

"Okay. Text me the address. I'll be there." He states.

"Okay."

I quickly text him the address and message Aaliyah if she could pick up my mom and take her to her house until I come and get her. I can't tell Aaliyah this right now otherwise her face will give it away that something is wrong and my mom will get it out of her. Not until I discuss this with Adair. These aren't only pictures of me, but also the people I love. This sicko could harm them and I can't let that happen.

"Aghh why isn't he here yet!" I groan in frustration looking at the clock for the hundredth time now. I know I texted him like ten minutes ago, but I really need him right now to help me with this and time couldn't go by any faster.

Pacing back and forth, I place the pictures on the coffee table not wanting to look at them anymore. My doorbell rings and I rush to the door to open it and there he is standing tall in the doorway. Ushering him inside I quickly close the door and lead him to the living room.

"What's wrong Ms. Carter, you seem terrified." Adair states his forehead creased in worry. 

"I am and that's because of this." I say pointing to the table. "This was left at my door just awhile ago."

He walks to the table and picks up the pictures. I'm staring at him impatiently waiting for him to go through all of them so we can discuss what we are going to do. I notice how his eyebrows knit together and how his jaw clenches and unclenches. He works his way through the pile and then picks up the written note and reads it a few times.

"Shit. Shit." He growls angrily running a hand through his hair.

I stand there quietly waiting for him to say something like don't worry it's a prank or its no big deal, but he doesn't and this leaves my stomach in knots.

"Is it that bad? I mean yes, I got a stocker and threats, but do you think they'll actually harm me or is it just a way to scare me off?" I say hoping that he'll say yes to the latter.

"Yes, I think who ever it is will harm you. If this person is connected to the death of Anna's father then yes Ms. Carter it is that bad." He states looking at the pictures and then back to me.

My heart deflates at this. My legs are starting to feel wobbly as if I've run a marathon without training for it. No longer being able to stand on my own, I sit down on the couch and look up at Adair. His marble colored eyes watch me attentively and I feel like disappearing into the seats. I don't want to look weak, but these are the people I love whose lives are also at stake and he's the only one who can help me figure out what to do.

"Do you think if I drop the case the person will leave my mom and my friends alone?" I ask quietly, looking down at my hands.

"I don't know Ms. Carter, but we need to find out who this person is because, whoever they are, they clearly want you to stop the divorce case immediately." He says. 

A couple seconds pass by and he sits down on the couch beside me, the warmth of his body warming my cold one. "You know I would never want to put you or your family in harms way. If you think this person will leave you alone if by dropping the case than you can drop it and we won't bother you, but if you don't drop it then..." He pauses.

"Then?" I ask shifting to look at him.

"Then I'll make sure your family is safe." He says his voice full of sincerity and determination as he fixes his eyes on mine.

I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing and I can't seem to move my eyes away from his. I can feel the warmth radiating off his body and it puts me at ease. Even though I don't know this person, and with everyone labelling him as ruthless, my gut is telling me to trust him and that he can help me. Honestly, I do not want to drop this case. I want to continue to the end because I also want to know who it did it. I want to help Anna and Adair find out who it is, because that's my job- to help others.

"How will you protect my family?" I ask hopeful.

"Just leave that up to me." He says a small smile playing on his lips.

"Right." I murmur. 

Our eyes still haven't broken away from each other and it's scaring me because my heart is feeling all these weird emotions that I don't want to feel.

I jump from the couch when the loud ring of my phone interrupts us, and I mentally thank God for the phone call as we both finally turn away from each other.

"It's Aaliyah." I point to the phone. "Just give me a minute please."

"Mhmm." He says looking the other way.

Walking a couple feet away from the couch, I take in a deep breath and answer the call.

"Hey, sorry I'm still talking to Adair about the case. I'll be over in about an hour to pick up mom." I whisper not wanting him to hear the conversation.

"WHAT MR. ADAIR IS AT YOUR HOUSE!? AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS NOW!" She yells.

Shit I forgot that I didn't tell her. I have to pull my phone away from my ear because she's yelling so loudly that I'm afraid he's probably heard our conversation. Glancing behind my shoulder, I see Adair busy on his phone his fingers moving rapidly across the screen.

"Aaliyah can you quiet down. He'll hear you." I hiss.

"Omg girl no way, you broke the news that he's with you at your house and...OH. MY. GOSH. Are you two doing it?! IS THAT WHY YOU TOLD ME TO BRING MS. CARTER HERE?!" She shrieks.

I can feel my face flaming hot and I'm just praying over and over that he didn't hear any of that.

"NO! It's nothing like that. Look, I'll tell you about it later. It's about the case and I need to go now. I'll be there in an hour. Bye." I say in frustration quickly ending the call before she can say anything else.

Turning around I'm met with Adair's broad muscular chest in my face. 

Uh oh. Please, please tell me he didn't hear that.

I take a step back from him and I can feel the blood rushing to my face. I'm pretty sure my face is a tomato right now. His eyebrows are raised, and I can't tell if it's because my face is red, that he's heard our conversation, or maybe that I just smacked my face into his chest, but he was the one standing so close to me in the first place.

"I've got my men working on this." He says waving the pictures in his hand. "We'll figure out who it is, and don't worry I'll have them watching over your family at all times so you don't need to tell them anything. No need to frighten them. Their getting into contact with the surveillance crew of your building and once we have the footage we can start narrowing down suspects possibly even today." He states.

Wow he did all that in a span of three minutes.

"Thank you so much Mr. Adair. It really does mean a lot that you're doing all of this for my family." I say in astonishment. I hope that he realizes how thankful I am for his help.

"You're my lawyer and I got you into this mess so it's up to me to get you out of it. Also, you didn't say if you're going to drop the case or not?" Adair asks. 

I can see a small smile playing on his lips.

"Mr. Adair you're helping me in my time of need, and as your lawyer you came to me during your time of need so I'm going to help you figure it out." I smile.

A full smile flashes on his face, displaying his straight white teeth and my heart starts to beat all sorts of crazy. Has anyone told him that he looks so damn handsome when he smiles?

"We'll then Ms. Carter, looks like we're in this together." He nods the smile never leaving his face.

"Looks like are Mr. Adair." I nod with a smile. 

Looks like we are.