"Um, I-" She had no clue how to handle this real-life unfolding disaster. "We'll figure out who everyone is soon enough." She straightened and glared at Spencer with every ounce of anger that she could launch his way. "Can Will go next door and play? Please."
Her ex-husband shook his head. "He can stay put until we have what we need."
"And that is?" she prompted, finding a whole new level of eyeball anger to level at Spencer.
"I allowed a business partner to store a few things for safekeeping before we-er, anyone moved in, and, well … " Spencer shrugged. "He owed my friends here a great deal of money. Plus interest, and we're here to recoup."
"A few things for … ?" She blinked, unable to spit the words back at him. "Well, get them and go."
"I don't know where exactly he stashed them." He squinted. "And since he's no longer with us, I can't ask. Otherwise, we would've split ten minutes after you took off. I'd been trying to do this with less theatrics, but apparently the time for that search method has passed."
Her teeth sealed. "Well, thank you." Teagan couldn't have pried her molars apart for a pleasant conversation if she had to, and she growled the rest. "For trying to be considerate."
"No longer with us." The other man behind Spencer gave a good snort.
"You think this is funny?" she snapped. Maybe she didn't have lockjaw after all as she failed to see the humor in breaking and entering then joking about murder in front of Will, even if he was too young to read between the lines.
"Easy, Teagan. No one else needs to get themselves killed," Spencer said.
She swung toward him. "What? Me?"
"The diamonds are worth more than you. Don't slow them down." He glanced at her vents thoughtfully. "They're in the walls somewhere. We've found some, but not all, and none were where I thought they'd be."
"Diamonds?" she shrieked. Spencer had never told her! Wasn't that the entire point of his treasure hunting career?
"Blood diamonds."
Oh, God. "In my house?"
He lifted a shoulder. "They were an investment. We'd grab it when we needed them, and now, babe. I need them now."
She couldn't take it anymore. "Get out of my house!"
"Yeah, it's not going to work like that." He motioned behind him to the man with a sway back. "Some friends are pushier than others."
The man at the base of the steps took a heavy step up.
Tension stormed in her chest as Will fidgeted by her side. "Let's find what you need to, and you can be on your merry way."
"Tea, don't be a bitch."
The pressure in her head was too much. Teagan was going to explode. She should be scared, but instead it was white-hot fury like she'd never experienced before. The audacity! For him to call her a name! In front of her child! She shrieked, her hands balled into fists. "Don't break into my house!"
Spencer laughed. "Used to be ours, and I was more than fair to you in the terms of our divorce. All I needed was access. I just need it earlier than I realized, babe."
Babe? "Get out!"
"Mom?" Will touched her back. "What if they kill him?"
Teagan's breath came in pants, and she needed to calm down, not wanting to say anything in front of Will that she'd regret. "He can sit in his room, and I'll help you find whatever you want. Deal?"
Spencer turned to the other men then asked, "He got an iPad or anything?"
"Can I have an iPad?" Will jumped to life, not realizing the gravity of the situation.
The men laughed, and Teagan wanted to throat punch them one by one. "Go to your room, baby. I'll check on you soon."
As though he didn't understand that thugs-or whoever Spencer was in a bind with-were standing in the way, Will politely said "Excuse me" as he slipped past and into his room.
"Nice kid," the other man said. "My old lady's all the time on our rug rat about ‘cuse me."
What world was she living in where criminals were complimenting her kid's manners? "Thanks."
Spencer brushed by and walked toward the master. "Maybe it was the bedroom and we missed it."
"I can go downstairs and check for something. Just tell me where." And maybe that would be by her phone, so she could call 9-1-1 and then Noah." Why hadn't she kept her purse on her shoulder!
The other man came up the stairs. "You can stick with us."
"I prefer you to leave, if we're being honest."
"We'd prefer your old man didn't steal from us. But that's life."
Her heart stalled. "You stole from them?"
"Semantics," Spencer said, downplaying. "Can we focus?"
She walked into the bedroom. "Oh my … " The walls were sliced open. The wallpaper had been shredded. The vents were unscrewed and torn away, and the light fixtures were ripped down. "My bedroom."
"It'll all fix." Spencer didn't bother to turn around as he passed a wall that hadn't been completely mangled. "Maybe I put it in the kid's room. What was that before? A study? A storage? Something like that?"
"You can't do this to his room, Spencer. He can't see this."
"Unless you have a couple hundred grand to exchange," the man from the stairs explained, "yeah, we're gonna."
Tears burned in her eyes. "You're animals."
"It's business, Teagan. Calm down."
"Then your business stinks." She shook, tears brimming on her bottom eyelashes. "You can't destroy my house because this jackass thinks there are diamonds in the wall."
As if she'd said a code word, the three men crossed their arms, and Spencer rolled his eyes.
She threw her hands in the air, storming down the hall. "What else have you shredded in hopes of finding it?"
She stopped and kicked the bathroom open with her toe.
"Really? Really!" The beautiful turquoise wallpaper that she spent weeks searching for then even longer saving for had been sheared into ribbons and dulled by white drywall dust.
"Follow her," someone said. "And keep looking. Not in the boy's room for now."
"Thank goodness for minor miracles." Teagan slammed the door. "Will, the bathroom is off limits."
"Okay, Mom."
"Stay where it's safe and don't come out." Maybe she was off limits too because she was getting ready to have a nervous breakdown.
"I'm going downstairs. Who wants to help me destroy that?" Teagan shouted then cringed. "Just kidding, Will. Everything's fine."
Heavy boots clomped behind her. "Don't follow me too close. I'm up to here-"
"Look, lady, this ain't our ideal, either."
She stopped on the stairs and screamed, "So get out!"
The man genuinely seemed as if he appreciated the level of pissed off she'd reached. "Will do. Soon as we get what we came for."
Teagan's head dropped. Her awful ex had struck again. "And what if you don't? What if he's wrong or he's lying or … what if he's still the same conniving SOB who tricked me into marrying him, and there's nothing more?" Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she couldn't tell why. Was she angry? Or hurt? Was she heartbroken for Will? Or exhausted? Violated?
"It won't be pretty." He shook his head slightly. "Let's only cross that bridge if we come to it."
Teagan pinched the bridge of her nose. "I hate you, Spencer Shaw!"
Then, depleted, she went downstairs to watch as they destroyed her house for blood diamonds. She hoped that maybe they could find them without ripping the rest of her house apart-or maybe she'd get to her purse and call 9-1-1.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Noah's head swam from the time at the graveyard, and he still had to shake the cobwebs from the quiet time he'd spent with Lainey. He sat at his home office desk and tried to make heads and tails of purchase orders for parts, but all he saw was numbers that blurred together. Maybe he needed to go kick back in front of the television or see if Bella wanted to play football.
As of yet, she'd not been convinced of its merits, but he was wearing her down. She was addicted to a word scramble game on his phone, and while he knew he shouldn't let her play on it all the time, it helped him get a few minutes in on these purchase orders.
The purchase orders weren't working today. Neither was he, so she was done with phone time. "Ladybug, where you at?"
"Right here," she said a split second later, and Noah jumped back.
"Hey, I didn't know you were right there."
"I have a problem," she whispered.
He patted his knee. "Hop on."
Bella crawled onto his lap and laid her head against his chest. "Mommy always said if I did something wrong, I was supposed to tell her."
"Did you do something wrong?"
She propped up. "I'm not sure."
"Try me, and I can help you figure it out."