TENACITY

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Sunday, October 16, 2016
Trey's House

"I need to talk to you. It's important," Jason said without preamble.

"Could it wait about a minute or two more? I'm actually in the middle of something," Trey replied seriously, keeping his eyes on the computer he was using.

"I see that," Jason replied, irritation coloring his tone. "Aren't you curious about what could be the problem? Especially since I'd told you I was going to check on the others?"

Trey stiffened ever slightly, then he turned to face Jason. "What is it about?"

"Alexandra."

Trey lifted a finger, indicating he needed a minute. Then he backed out of the database he was checking, wiping out any traces of his entry and probing before shutting down the computer.

He jerked his head towards a corner on the far end of the open space, and when Jason fell into step with him, he began his interrogation. "What is it?" Trey asked Jason when they got the spot he'd chosen.

"You know what is going on; you know what both of you are going through. My mentioning her name should be enough." And it was, if Trey's sigh was anything to go by.

"She's not taking it well, I assume?"

"Did you expect her to?" Jason hissed. "We're all struggling to come to terms with it, and both of you will definitely have it the worst; you are their parents after all. The girls don't even know what to do with her."

Trey began towards the elevator. "Don't forget to make sure the men have everything they need to keep guard. And alert me if there's any news from the reinforcements," he told Jason as he went, picking up his pace.

"Will do."

As Trey stood in the elevator, it occurred to him how he'd made finding the kids his first order of business, without a word to Alexandra. It occurred to him, as the doors opened to the garage, that he'd done the same thing before, and he didn't like what it had escalated to.

He had come very close to never seeing the woman he loved and his kids again. He would've missed out on their births and other things too. He had made the same mistake again, but this time he would fix it before it had the chance to fester.

He charged into the house via the front door, brows rising when Maya who had been headed towards the door herself jumped with fright. "You scared me boss."

Trey very nearly asked why she'd been calling him that for a while and decided to let it go. It definitely made her suspicious, because all he could think of was that this person standing in place of Maya didn't know what the real Maya called him or how she spoke to him.

It was an interesting thought.

That it would mean there was an insider, someone with them in the house who did something to help speed up the process. There was no way someone could've used under five minutes to climb up to the second floor and back down with the kids.

It made no sense.

So he decided to ignore her comment, choosing to smile consolingly at her; there was no use in alerting her or them, however many they were, that Trey was on their trail. He went past her and headed for the kitchen when he heard the girls' voices drifting in from there.

The door was open, so he knocked on the doorframe to announce his presence. "Hey—"

"Oh Trey, thank goodness you're here," his mom began, going around the counter so she could walk towards him. "Where have you been?" she asked in a soothing voice, sounding very much like the worried mother she was.