An unwelcome thought entered her mind. It turned her stomach to think it, much less voice it, but she had no choice. “Do you think this has something to do with me?”

  “Do you?” he asked, and his even tone led her to believe he’d realized the possibility before she did.

  “Part of me says no because you’d have to be really sick in the head to do something like that.” She closed her eyes. “But the truth is, I can see them being that petty.”

  He reached out, and she willingly went into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry you have to deal with such assholes.”

  Oddly enough, though the Warren’s actions angered her, that wasn’t her prevailing emotion. Mostly she felt determined. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m going to make this the best benefit you Wall Street types have ever seen.”

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered into her hair.

  If she only had a clue about how to make that happen.

  * * *

  She didn’t sleep much that night. It was impossible with her mind running through ideas at eighty miles an hour. But she was thankful, otherwise she’d be thinking about the Warrens, and they didn’t deserve her thoughts. By the time dawn peeked into the bedroom, she had a plan. Granted, in her current state of mind, she wasn’t sure if it was the most brilliant plan ever or flaming horse shit on a stick. She drifted off to sleep, deciding she’d figure it out in a few hours.

  * * *

  It took three cups of coffee before her mind felt clear enough to discuss her idea with Isaac. She wanted his opinion before she took it to Barbara. She found him in the outside room, frowning at his laptop.

  “You shouldn’t make that frowny face,” she teased, walking over to him. “You’ll get wrinkly and old looking.”

  He closed his laptop. “Then come over here and give me something to smile about.”

  She sat down beside him on the loveseat. “I have an idea for the benefit and I want to run it by you before I mention it to Barbara.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “A favorite author of mine had a new release last week. A historical romance. In it the characters attend a basket social. What happens is the women of the town each make a basket lunch. Then the men of the town bid on the basket they want and the winner gets to share his basket with the woman who made it.”

  “I think I read about those once,” Isaac said.

  “I was thinking we could do something similar. Most of the people coming are couples, but there are some singles. We ask each couple to bring a basket for two and each single a basket for one. That way everyone’s paired up for dinner. But the best part is we save money by not having to pay for food or servers, and all the basket money goes to the charities the benefit is for. The biggest obstacles are making sure everyone attending is notified, like yesterday, and ensuring there’s a system put in place at the venue to organize and make the basket process run as smoothly as possible.”

  Finished, she sat back in her seat, waiting for Isaac to say something. Her heart sank when he stood up and paced. She’d never seen him do that before. He obviously thought it was a bad idea and was thinking of a way to tell her. She watched him make two more passes across the floor and was getting ready to tell him to just forget about it when he stopped in front of her, eyes dancing.

  She held her breath.

  “It’s brilliant,” he said, and she exhaled in a big whoosh.

  “It is?” she asked, wanting to make sure she heard him correctly.

  “Yes,” he confirmed. Not only is it brilliant, but I’ve never seen it done before. And we can put a positive spin on it from the start. Something like, “In an effort to streamline cost while ensuring as much of the collected funds go to those who truly need them, the Board has decided yada, yada, yada.” His face broke into a huge smile. “Not just brilliant. It’s fucking genius.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Instead of calling Barbara to tell her about the idea, Maggie wanted to tell her in person. Isaac drove her to the Murphy house and witnessed Barbara’s reaction.

  “It’s so crazy, it’ll be the talk of Wall Street and the Arts world for weeks,” the older woman said. “Making all the snooty arts patrons bring their own food to a party and then pay to eat what someone else brought? It's perfect! It’ll be so much fun watching everyone try to one up everyone else with their baskets.”

  Maggie beamed from where she stood in the living room. She’d told Barbara earlier she was too excited to sit down. “We need to let all the attendees know, right away. And work out some of the logistics with food allergies, vegans, and what have you.”

  Barbara walked toward the hallway. “I’ll go to my office and get the final guest list, we’ll divide it into thirds, and the three of us will call everyone. Shouldn’t be over fifteen or so calls each if we do it that way.”

  “We’ll need to send a follow-up email after the call,” Maggie said. “I’ll draft it while you get the guest list.”

  “It may be awhile,” Barbara said. “I’m also going to email Robert and tell him to stay in Michigan and enjoy more time with his family because I no longer require his assistance.”

  “Did she just say what I think she did?” Maggie asked him as Barbara’s footsteps echoed down the hall.

  “She did.” And he couldn’t be happier. “Looks like you’re stuck here with us snooty, rich people for the foreseeable future.”

  “That’s okay. You guys are starting to grow on me.” She sighed. “I guess I can put up with you for a little longer.”

  He loved her playful spirit, her optimistic outlook, and nurturing nature. Nothing would make him happier than for her to stay where she was for longer. Or forever. The truth hit him and he froze. He loved her.

  He’d never expected to fall in love, mostly because he never thought he’d find someone who loved him. It never occurred to him it would just happen.

  Damn.

  Did he tell her? What if she didn’t love him?

  What if she did?

  “Isaac?” Maggie asked, looking at him closely. “Are you okay? You know that was a joke, right? I’m not going anywhere.”

  “No, it’s not that.” He led her to a couch, and they both sat down. “I’ll tell you about it later.” Much later. “Now before you draft that email, I have a question for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Should the two of us make a couple’s basket for the benefit, Margaret?”

  Her eyes laughed at him. He knew they were. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away with doing anything else, did you, Seven-Thirty?”

  * * *

  It rained the entire afternoon the day of the benefit but not once did Isaac see or hear Maggie act worried. “This is why you booked an inside venue,” he overheard her telling Barbara on the phone. “No one will care if it’s raining.”

  Frankly, he didn’t think anything short of the apocalypse would keep people away. Barbara had been right, apparently the benefit was the event to be at for the weekend. Even people who previously had no interest in anything related to food were comparing basket items.

  He’d always attended these things out of a sense of obligation but tonight he was excited and ready to see Maggie shine in the light of her well deserved success. And since he was hosting, he would see it up close.

  Because she wanted to get to the venue early, he’d told her he’d pick her up at four-thirty. “That plus three hours is my most favorite time of day,” she’d whispered in reply.

  He smiled remembering how husky her voice had sounded when she said those words. Hell, it was his most favorite time of day as well. Currently, he waited in the lobby of her building. The doorman had called her apartment when he arrived, but she’d said there was no reason for him to come up because she was heading down at that very moment.

  The elevator doors slid open, and she stepped out, looking like a siren in an ice blue and silver gown. It hugged every curve she had, and he was thankful she’d made the call for him to wait down here. Had he walked into her apartment with her looking the way she did, they would not have been early to the benefit. They would have been lucky to arrive on time.

  He walked toward her, bending to give her a kiss much too chaste for his liking. “You look incredible,” he whispered as they headed out of the lobby.

  Her eyes glowed at his praise and her cheeks flushed a light pink. “Thanks,” she said. “I decided not to wear black because doing what everyone else does is boring.”

  He laughed thinking that would be a great life motto for her. “I like the way you think.” He held out his arm. “Shall we?”

  She giggled, but took him up on his offer with a confident, “We shall.”

  Thankfully, the rain had stopped, so he didn’t have to let go of her and get his umbrella open. On the way to his car, he passed by a woman he was almost positive he’d passed earlier on his way inside. But Maggie was chatting away about a last minute change she’d made to their basket and how glad she was Isaac had arranged for it to be delivered to the venue, and he promptly forgot all about the woman.

  * * *

  Hours later, near the end of the cocktail hour, the benefit was already a success. Not too bad considering the silent auction for the food baskets wouldn’t end for another half hour. He regretted agreeing to host the benefit because his duties allowed him precious little time to spend with Maggie.

  Though he wasn’t sure she’d noticed. Every time he spotted her, Barbara was introducing her to someone else. The last time he saw her, the duo had been talking with a lady who served on the scholarship board Barbara headed. With a start, he realized that had been almost forty-five minutes ago.

  He scanned the crowd for Maggie, thankful for his position on the stage that afforded him a bird's-eye view of the venue. Why couldn’t he find her? It should be easy with the gown she wore. Seconds later, he found Barbara talking with a man he didn’t recognize, but she was alone. He didn’t see Maggie anywhere nearby.

  It wasn’t a big deal, or at least that’s what he tried to tell himself, even as he stepped down from the stage, and made his way to Barbara.

  “Isaac,” she said. “Can you believe this turnout? We’re going to break records tonight. All thanks to Maggie. She’s something special.”

  “Yes, she is,” he agreed. “Do you know where she is? I can’t find her anywhere.”

  “She forgot some old stock certificates she wanted to donate tonight and went back to her place to pick them up. I told her it could wait until Monday, but she wanted them to be part of the total we announce tonight, and well, you know how hard-headed she is when her mind’s made up. She didn’t want to bother you so she took a cab.”

  “She took a cab back to her apartment.” He repeated. “For stock certificates.”

  “Yes. Don’t look so worried. She’ll be back soon, I’m sure.”

  He couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong and sent her a text. She usually replied back right away, but several minutes went by and nothing. “How long ago did she leave?” He pulled up her contact information and called.

  “Gracious, Isaac. Calm down.”

  He took a deep breath, hoping that would convince his heart to slow down, but the phone line rang and rang. “How long ago?” He repeated.

  “I don’t know. Forty-five minutes? An hour?”

  “I need to go. Can you find someone to cover for me?”

  Barbara looked worried for the first time since he’d approached her minutes ago. “Is she okay? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. Probably nothing, but I’ll text you as soon as she’s safe in my arms.”

  Barbara nodded. “Keep her safe. Promise me.”

  “I will,” he vowed even though he had a strange feeling the entire situation was out of his control.

  He left immediately, walking with long strides to cover the distance to his car, and then breaking every speed limit in his rush to get to her apartment. The entire time trying not to dwell on the fact that the last time he had this feeling was the day his parents died in a car accident.

  Maggie sensed something was off the second she stepped into her apartment. Nothing looked out of place, there were no signs of anyone entering, rather it was an overall feeling of wrong.

  That was silly, though, wasn’t it? How could her apartment feel wrong? She’d lived here, alone, for years. It was nothing more than her overactive imagination and the romantic suspense novel she’d read the night before. Or the scary movie she watched with Isaac last weekend.

  She only needed to get the stock certificates. They were in her bedroom by the door. Placed there so she wouldn’t forget them. For all the good it did. It would take ten seconds or less for her to walk down the hall, grab them, and leave. Maybe less. In three minutes, she’d be in a cab, headed back to Isaac.

  But the feeling of wrong grew stronger with every step she took in that direction. Deciding it’d be better to get them later, preferably with Isaac with her, she turned to head back out her door and froze.

  Her mother-in-law stood in the way, with a gun pointed in her direction.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Edith,” Maggie said as calmly as possible, holding her hands up in the air. “What are you doing in my apartment?” She didn’t think for a second the woman hated her enough to kill her. Yet, it was hard to come up with how she could think that when the w0man in question held her at gunpoint.

  “No, the real question is, why are you here?” Her mother-in-law was dressed in all black, including a black knit hat that covered every strand of her fake, paid for hair, looking like every cat burglar Maggie had ever seen in the movies.

  “I fail to see how that’s the real question since we’re standing in my apartment.”

  “You’re always quick with a smart ass reply, aren’t you? Do you that’s cute?”

  At the moment, she thought it was a delay tactic, since Edith was talking and not shooting but she wasn’t about to tell her that. Especially since with each passing second, Maggie doubted her initial assessment of Edith’s intention not to shoot her more and more.

  “No, I don’t think it’s cute,” Maggie answered. “I think it’s a legitimate question since my name is on the lease.”

  “You’re supposed to be at that ridiculous benefit on the arm of your boyfriend with the big dick.”

  Maggie wasn’t talking about Isaac’s dick with anyone, and that included Edith. “I forgot something and came back to get it.”

  “You always had a way of screwing everything up, didn’t you?” Edith laughed at that. “They say some things never change, but I’m going to prove them wrong tonight. You won’t fuck up my plan tonight. Tonight, I’ll do it right.”

  “Do what right?”

  “Kill you, of course.”

  “Wait.” Maggie’s heart pounded harder and sweat dotted her forehead. There was something Edith said… Maggie repeated her words in her head. “Have you tried to kill me before and got it wrong?”

  “Shut up!” Edith waved the gun at her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  A few of the puzzle pieces surrounding the house fire slipped into place. How had a brand new house burned to the ground because of faulty wiring? She thought back to that day. It’d been so painful, she’d closed the door on it and vowed never to open it, but now she did.

  * * *

  Ellis wasn’t supposed to be at home that night. His father had called a meeting and told Ellis his attendance was mandatory. But Ellis decided to blow the meeting off and went golfing instead. Maggie, not wanting to spend the evening alone, had called and made dinner plans with a few friends.

  Tobias had been livid with his son and threatened to disinherit him if he didn’t show up. She remembered because Ellis called her on his way to the house to shower and change, telling her that he’d had enough, and tonight he was telling his father off. It was something he’d said before and never done. She didn’t expect that time to be any different.

  Except it was because Ellis never made it to the meeting. He died soon after arriving home, when the house blew up around him.

  * * *

  “It was you,” Maggie whispered. “You killed Ellis.”

  With those words, Edith broke. “No, it was an accident! He wasn’t supposed to be home.” Tears rolled down her face. “It was supposed to be you. Except you weren’t there and he was because Tobias made him go to that damn meeting.”

  If Maggie had any doubt she was dealing with someone who was very sick, the abrupt switching of moods would have erased it all. How long had she been this unstable and did Tobias have any idea?

  Edith still clutched the gun but lowered it a touch. Maggie glanced at the door, she hadn’t locked it when she came in because she’d only planned on being inside for seconds. She tried to calculate the odds of getting to it without being shot and they weren’t in her favor.

  Damn it. She was going to have to make a play for the gun. Maggie took a step toward her.

  “No!” Edith waved the gun. “Don’t come near me, I’ll shoot.”

  Maggie took a step closer. “I don’t think you will because if you shoot me, the police won’t believe whatever accidental death you’ve set up here.” And what had she set up? How quickly did they need to get out?

  Edith sighed. “I can’t get your life insurance if you’re shot, either.”

  Thank goodness for small miracles was quickly followed by, What life insurance? Probably for the best not to ask her that at the moment, Maggie decided. There would be time to find out what the hell Edith meant if she made it out of this apartment alive. She shuddered at her own words. There would be time to find out what the hell Edith meant when she made it out of this apartment alive.

  Remembering the time she played with Isaac and she’d been able to relax even though he had used an anal plug on her, she tried to get into the same mind frame. She had to calm her mind down so she could focus on getting out of this nightmare alive.