Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5), Natalie Ann [world of reading TXT] 📗

“I don’t think they are connected,” Griffin said. “The timing is off.” Seth watched as Griffin was typing onto his computer and information came up on the screen. “There is nothing showing up in her accounts or history that would lead me to believe she could do that.”

“Are you looking at her bank information?” he asked with his jaw dropping. His bank should be secure from this.

“Not like you think,” Griffin said, dropping the screen. “Your bank is safe, no worries there.”

Seth assumed he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the guy. He turned to Ava and said, “I’m so sorry that I brought this to your life.”

“Don’t worry about it. You couldn’t have known. Let’s see what she has to say. I kind of hope it was her in the house because then we’ll know and can put that behind us.”

“Mac is going to pay her a visit right now,” Griffin said. “He said to meet them at the station. Do you want me to go too?”

“I don’t think you need to go,” Ava said. “We should be able to handle this. And thank you.”

“Let me get Adele,” Seth said. “Eli is giving her a tour.”

“Why don’t you have her stay here?” Griffin said. “You might not want her at the police station either.”

“No,” he said. “But she should know I’m leaving. Let me try my mother one more time.”

“How about letting Adele spend time with my mother?” Ava asked. “She should be home.”

“That might be better,” he said, then waited while Ava called her mother.

“We are all set. Let’s go find her and by then Mac might be ready for us.”

Thirty minutes later they were pulling into the police station after Mac sent them a text that Michaela was there and went willingly.

They rushed in with Seth trying to fight back the anger. “Where is she?”

“In a room in the back,” Mac said. “First off. She’s crying and remorseful. She admitted to being in the house but said she didn’t take anything.”

“There was nothing missing,” Ava said. “So she isn’t lying.”

“Why was she there then?” Seth asked Mac.

“Let’s go find out. Letting her sit in there while we waited is working her up. She doesn’t know you are here,” Mac said.

They walked into the room and Michaela looked up, tears in her eyes, then shock on her face. “What were you doing in Ava’s house?” Seth asked right away.

“I just wanted to look around. I’d heard you were dating someone and where she lived. I don’t live that far away, or didn’t you remember that?”

He actually hadn’t thought much of it, that Michaela was a few blocks away. Why would he? He’d only been to Michaela’s place a few times and it was at night.

“How did you know I lived there and how did you get in?” Ava asked.

She was surprisingly calm about this, considering it was his ex. “A friend of mine rented that house years ago. Before the last tenant. I had a key because I watched it for her when she traveled a lot. The locks had been changed, but I remembered one of the window locks was loose. I had to get in once when I forgot my key.”

“So you just wanted to look around?” Seth asked.

“I wanted to see what was so special about her that I didn’t have,” Michaela said, crying. “I thought we had something special and then you just dropped me. You haven’t dated anyone since and then all of a sudden not only are you seeing someone, but you are out with your daughter with her.”

“You’ve been watching me?” he asked.

“Not like you think. Our mothers are friends. I hear things,” Michaela said.

Shit. His mother was going to be devastated that she might have said something that led to this. “So you went in her place to look around?”

“That’s it. But when I was in there, it felt off. Like I needed to get out. I shouldn’t have done it. But I didn’t think it was wrong since I didn’t take anything. I didn’t do anything other than look in each room. Then I left fast.”

“But you walk up and down all the time,” Ava said. “And you were looking in the window Sunday.”

Mac hadn’t said a word and when Michaela looked at him, he just lifted his eyebrow. “Explain to her what you said to me. She is the one that will determine if any changes are brought up on you.”

“I walk all the time around the neighborhood. I really do. And then when I found out where you lived, it was just curiosity. Really, that is all the whole thing was. After I met you that one day, I realized who you were. I mean I realized who you were related to and knew it would be smart to let it drop and hope it didn’t come back on me that I was in the house. But then I saw Seth’s SUV there and...I just wanted to look in the window. It was stupid, I know.”

“So if I wasn’t related to the Bond family you would have been stalking me?” Ava asked.

“No! It’s that I had to put it behind me. I knew I couldn’t compete with you. It was stupid, it was. But honest to God, it was just jealousy. Nothing more. I was hurt that Seth broke it off with me. It’s nothing more than that. I guess I still thought I might have had a chance since I hadn’t heard he was seeing anyone until recently.”

Seth dropped his head down and looked at Ava. “It’s your choice to do what you want about this.”

She nodded her head and turned to leave. Seth and Mac followed her out. “I don’t see any reason to press charges. Is there a way you can make it clear that I will change my mind if I hear or see her anywhere near us again?”

“Leave it to me,” Mac said. “We’re done here though. At