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“I am?”
“You are, Nika. More questions?”
“Yes, this one may seem odd, and if you’re uncomfortable answering it, I’ll understand.”
“Shoot.”
“What scares you most?”
He barely hesitated before speaking. “A couple of years ago, someone new moved to Divine. Actually, she wasn’t new to the area. She’d been born here and then her family moved away when she was a kid. Her name is Lily. She returned to the area as an adult. She didn’t know it at the time but she was in dire need of medical attention.”
“She was? What happened?”
“While driving into town, she was looking for a safe place to pull over and she passed out behind the wheel. Crashed into Clay Cook’s jewelry storefront. Shattered a plate glass window and did damage to her car. I was on the scene a couple minutes later along with one of the town doctors, and she was rushed to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with internal bleeding due to a medical condition and injuries she’d received from her abusive bastard husband. She’d caught him cheating on her and he hurt her. While she was recovering in the hospital, he came to Divine to collect her.”
Veronica was horrified. “He did?” Oh, please let this story have a happy ending!
“She’d already notified us, and the hospital, that she’d fled from him and their abusive marriage earlier that day. They called me as soon as he showed up.”
Veronica could imagine this big man championing that poor hurt woman and she wanted to hug him until his eyes bulged from their sockets. “What happened?”
“We tried reasoning with him. He told me that Lily was not only his wife but his sub. He said that he dominated her and she submitted to him. His demeanor and the way he said it told me what I needed to know. We had to physically restrain him from going after her and wound up arresting him for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. He left and swore he’d be back.”
“Oh. Did he come back?”
“Yes, but in the interim Lily divorced him and found what she was looking for in Divine. She’s now happily married to Clay Cook and his brother, Del.”
“The man who owns the jewelry store she wrecked her car into?”
“Yes. They’d all known each other since they were kids and they wound up falling in love. Anyway, the abusive bastard returned to Divine. Without going into all the details, I’ll tell you he tricked Lily into coming to him. We got a tip from Seth Carter, who you met at Maizy’s wedding. He happened to see them together and could tell something was wrong. The bastard knocked her out and tied her down in the bed of his pickup, with an electrical storm brewing, knowing that she has a lightning phobia.”
“He what? Tied her down?”
“Yes, with wire, to eyebolts he’d installed for that purpose. His plan had been to kidnap her, terrorize her with the storm on the long drive home, and take her back to his mobile home, which he’d retrofitted with shackles and chains. He’d planned to chain her up and make her his slave, so she’d never get away again. There’s more to the story, which is more personal for her. If you ever get to know her, I’m sure you could ask her about it, but suffice it to say, this shithead believed that he owned her, body and soul.”
“What happened?”
“We caught up to him. He pulled a gun and I shot him.” He watched her intently.
“Dead?”
“Dead.”
“Good.”
“It was by no means easy to take another’s life, even though it was in self-defense. I did what needed doing.” Hank smiled and rubbed her knee with his knuckles. “So when you ask me what I’m most scared of, I’d have to say not being there for someone who needs me, and winding up losing that person.” His level gaze held hers and she nodded. “Now, since I answered such a personal question, I get to ask you a personal question, Nika.”
From anyone else, the words would have set her on edge, but she knew she’d tell him what he wanted to know even before he asked. “What’s your question?”
“What do you need most?”
