Page 213 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Sorry, Miss. I’m just trying to get everything documented. Do you have any idea who it might have been? Or do you believe it was a random break-in?” he asks.

I know why he asked that. He wants to know if Noah had any enemies.

“My boyfriend’s a lawyer, so I’m not sure if it was a targeted or random break-in. Is this going to take much longer?”

“No, Miss. My team is going to go in and take some photos and gather evidence. With your visual of him wearing black gloves, I doubt we will be able to pull any prints, and there isn’t a blood trail leading out of here so I’m assuming your boyfriend didn’t have a weapon to fight back with?”

“Not that I know of. The man ran away fast and didn’t seem injured.”

“Very well. One of my men will take you to the hospital,” he says, waving over one of the other officers.

“I’ll drive her. Can he at least escort us with lights so we can get there quicker?” Jenna asks, placing a protective arm around my shoulders.

“Very well. Smitty, please escort these two to the hospital Mr. Anderson was taken to.”

“Yes, sir,” the other officer says before nodding to us.

When we climb into Jenna’s car, I finally allow myself to breathe. My chest feels like it’s constricted, and I want to be sick. Her phone dings with a text, and I see Jeremy’s face pop up on the screen. She opens the text, letting me see what he said.

Jeremy

Please let me know how Noah is. I managed to clean up the blood that was in the laundry room and hall before they came in. I’ll get the cops taken care of though, so don’t worry about them. Just focus on you guys. Make sure Willow’s wrist gets checked, please.

Jenna

I will. What are you going to do about the cops? They are about to send in a team to take photos.

I told you, I’ve got it covered. Don’t worry, Wildcat. I always protect what’s mine, and Noah is like a brother to me. Nothing’s going to happen.

I don’t know whether to be relieved or concerned. He seems to know that this isn’t just a recent thing for Noah, and that has me curious as to how long it’s been going on. He had James down there for four years. Four years that man was held captive, but how many others were there?

I close my eyes and rest my head against the back of the seat as we pull out behind the cop. His lights and sirens are on. I don’t bother watching as we drive toward the hospital. My mind is frantic about what will happen next. What do we do with James’s body? What do we do about the cops? And most importantly, will Noah make it through this?

My throat tightens as my eyes burn from unshed tears. I need to hold it together. I need to be strong for just a little bit longer. As if Jenna can sense my stress, she places a hand on my knee and squeezes.

“Everything is going to be okay, Willow. We’re all in this together.”

CHAPTER 91

NOAH

NOVEMBER PRESENT DAY

I’ve been sitting here stunned and in complete silence as Willow tells me the rest of what happened that night. She shot James, killed him point-blank and didn’t even bat an eye. I knew she had it in her. She finally got revenge on that piece of shit, and the last four years were worth it.

She continues to tell me about when they got to the hospital. She sat in the waiting room for hours while they did surgery to repair all of the damage that the knife had done. She truly did stay by my side from the second they got me into the room until we left the hospital.

I don’t know what a monster like I did in a past life to deserve her, because I sure as fuck know my blood-stained soul hasn’t done anything in this life to deserve a woman like her.

“So, what happened with the cops? A couple of them came in just to ask me about what I remembered, but other than that, no one has been here,” I ask, and Willow glances at Jeremy.

“I took care of it,” he says nonchalantly.

“How?”

“After the girls left and I was sure the cops were gone, I came back upstairs. I called one of my buddies who has…connections. I went to his house, and the doctor he knows came and patched up my leg. Thankfully, I didn’t need as much blood as you did, but it hurt to even put pressure on it for a while. Hell, it still does.”

He gently rubs the spot on his leg that is stitched up and covered. I never thought that my cousin and I would both be sporting stab wounds at our age, but here we are.