I nod. “He went too far.”
“Have you thought about how far he’ll go if he finds out you’re together now?”
“He gave up control of me when he cut off my trust fund. If I want to be with Cody, he gets no say.”
Connie stares at me.
“What?”
“Are you so sure of that?”
No, I’m not sure at all.
CHAPTER14
Cody
I seesmoke as I approach Joseph’s house. The damn attached garage is on fire.
I run from my car to the front door. It’s locked. Of course, it is.
Joseph’s car is parked on the street in front of his house and I’m certain he’s inside. I walk around the back and find the glass patio door is locked too, but I don’t see any fire or smoke on this side of the house. I grab a patio chair and bust through the glass, breaking enough away to unlock then I open the sliding door.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
I jerk back to see a man standing on the other side of the fence. “The garage is on fire, call 911,” I yell to him before making my way inside. “Joseph!”
No response. As I go deeper into the house, the smoke thickens. I find Joseph on the floor in the master bedroom; he’s alive but unconscious. I cough the smoke out of my lungs as I heave him over my shoulder and get the hell out of the house as fast as I can. By the time I make it to the front yard, a firetruck has arrived.
“Were you in the house?” a fireman asks as he helps pry Joseph off my shoulders.
“I just went in. This man’s unconscious, and I’m sure needs oxygen.” I lower Joseph onto the stretcher and turn to cough.
“Hey, it sounds like you might need some oxygen too,” a medic says. The name Todd is on his shirt.
“No thanks. I’ll be fine.” I pull out my phone and call Rover. “Found Joseph.”
“Where the hell is he?”
“His house. It was on fire when I got here, and Joseph was inside. I got him out, and an ambulance is here now. All the doors were locked.”
“Do you think this was a suicide attempt?”
That’s actually the last thing I’d consider. I frown. “Why would you think that?”
“You said he was inside, doors were locked.”
“But only the garage was on fire, so I’m betting someone knocked him out, then started the fire from the outside.”
“Why would he purposely ditch protection if the threat against him was heating up, no pun intended?”
I bark out a laugh. This guy. But that was a good question. Joseph had made it clear he wasn’t entirely on board with having security. But why put himself at risk?
“Do you have any idea why he went to his house?” I ask.
“To ditch me is my guess. He invited me to the sandwich shop on Third, Kelly’s. He said they had the best coffee and he wanted to treat me to one. But then, after we got there, his phone rang. After taking the call, he said he had to use the bathroom. Instead, he ditched me.”
“He likely trusted whoever he thought he was meeting, since he agreed to meet at his house,” I said.
