Consult Me At Least

I waited patiently for Damon to come home. He sent me back home after seeing the damage that had been done to my store. It was upsetting, at first. Now I was just pissed off. This was one way for that asshole to show us that either he came back or he had never left in the first place.

"Mommy, why are you so grumpy today?" Sterling asked as he stood by my side. He had come home from school about an hour ago.

I let out a sigh. "It's very complicated. Someone decided to be mean and mess up my store." It was the best way I could think of actually explaining it to him.

"That wasn't very nice of them." He furrowed his eyebrows as he got an angry look on his face. He had the same look Damon had when he was angry about something. They definitely were the spitting image of each other. "What are we going to do about them?"

"I don't know." I responded. "Your dad and I will figure it out though. You don't need to be concerned about it."

His expression remained the same. "If Daddy can't handle it soon then I'll have to step in and help him. I don't want you to be grumpy or sad because someone was mean."

I let out a small chuckle. "You're my little knight in shining armor aren't you?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Daddy says we have to protect the ones who are important to us. And we have to make them happy."

I gave him a kiss on his forehead. "You're dad is a smart man and you're just as smart yourself."

Sterling pulled away from me. "Want to come play with me while Scar finishes her nap?" He held out his hand as he asked me.

"Sure." I gave him a small smile. "Why don't you bring out some toys and we'll play out here while we wait for your dad to come home."

"Okay." He nodded and ran for the stairs.

Sterling definitely was helping lighten the mood for me. He was only gone for a few minutes before he returned with some cars. He handed two of them to me and we began to play. He had us drive them over the floor and pretend as if we were in a race.

Scarlett ended up waking up so I had to take a break to get her situated. I then put out a blanket on the floor and laid her on her stomach. She was a little over six months old and was beginning to try to crawl. She would eventually get there with a little bit of time, then we would really be in trouble.

Sterling and I played with Scarlett using the cars for the remainder of the time. I was taken by surprise and jumped when I heard the garage door close. I turned around to see Damon. I had been a little on edge because of the break in at the store. I was relieved that it was just him.

"Rose!" He called out. His face was serious.

Rose came hurrying out to the living room. "Yes Mr. Tipton?" She asked.

"Can you watch the children?" He asked and then looked over to me. "Kaydence and I have some things we need to go over."

"Of course." Rose nodded.

"Let's go to the study." Damon spoke and then headed for the hallway.

I got up from the floor and followed him inside the room. I shut the door behind us and took a seat across from him at the desk. "Is this about the break in?" I asked.

"Yes." He answered. "Even though he didn't show his face in Amethyst I was able to get some proof that it is indeed Zach who broke in."

"So what do we do?" I questioned.

I wanted this man to be caught. I was ready to find out why the hell he kept fucking with my family. I didn't want to feel like we had to watch our backs. I wanted us to be able to actually enjoy our happy moments without worrying about what could go wrong.

"There's more." He sighed.

"Well get on with it." I wanted him to get right to the point here. "There's no reason to beat around the bush here."

"I noticed in the footage he went to a bar right after. Justin and I went and spoke to the bartender-." Damon began but I cut him off before he could finish.

"You went with Justin?" I was slightly irritated that I didn't know about this. "Why am I just hearing about this now after you already went?"

"Love, I just-" He started but I cut him off again.

"Damon we are supposed to be a fucking team here!" My voice slightly raised.

All of the frustration and anger from earlier began to rise in me. The store had been enough but now it felt like he had gone behind my back again. I was the one he was supposed to be planning things out with. This involved me just as much as it did him. Especially after having my store damaged.

"It's not like that." His voice was stern, not because he was fighting back but because he knew it would make me actually listen to him. "I wanted to give you the time to process everything from this morning. I didn't intentionally keep this from you, I just figured getting the information and coming home to tell you was the best move today."

He was right, I knew he was. Whatever he gathered he probably got because he was calm and kept his cool. I couldn't guarantee I would have been the same way. Odds were I probably would've vent out my anger and frustration on someone who was innocent in the matter.

I took a deep breath and let it out. "Fine. Just next time consult me at least."

He nodded. "I will, I promise."

"What did you find?" I wanted to get back to the topic that had brought us here into the study.

"We have a first name." Damon answered as his eyes looked into mine. "A real first name by the looks of it. I'm having Justin confirm it."

My heart seemed to beat a little faster at his words. "A name? What is it?"

"Zachariah. He was a little drunk before he left the bar and he slipped up." Damon continued on. "I knew it was a matter of time before he did."

"Okay, so do you know a Zachariah then?" I raised a brow at him.

"One comes to mind, from years ago." Damon responded. "But before I can pursue him I need to make sure it's actually him. I can't go after people just because they seem guilty. I learned my lesson on that."

I nodded. "Well when you have confirmation I want to know. When you punish this asshole I want to be there. I want to make him pay for everything, and I mean everything."