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He shrugged. “Now you do.”
My eyes were threatening tears so I decided to get back to business. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Talk. About Maria. And so we’re clear, what you’re specifically going to do about her as a police officer. Not as her husband.”
“Ex-husband,” he muttered.
“Whatever,” I said with a huff.
“Sit down,” he demanded.
I sipped my coffee and made my way over to the couch where Vance joined me. “Happy?” I said in a snarky tone.
“Not even a little,” he replied. “But that’s irrelevant at this point. Now, about Maria…”
He went on to explain how he and Tara planned to approach this. Obviously, they couldn’t take her word that she was going out of the country. They were going to pursue her in town, but just in case, they would place alerts at all major airports throughout the tri-state area. As expected, he went into alpha male mode again saying that he would protect me at all costs, blah, blah, blah—demanding that I stay under his protection at his house. I told him I was perfectly safe with Leo, but I did grudgingly agree to stay at Vance’s until Erica was a little more stable. Speaking of Erica, I decided to check on her again after Vance left for the station.
I knocked on her door but she didn’t reply so I slipped into her room. “Erica, honey, are you awake yet?”
She flipped over and faced me. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. “Yeah, I’ve been awake for a while,” she sniffed. “I just didn’t want to get out of bed.”
I lay down on the bed next to her and pulled her into my arms. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I wish I had some way to make this better for you.”
She pulled away and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “What am I going to do, K? I know it was probably delusional, but I honestly thought Jake and I would find some way to make this work. I had to believe that he was a victim in this too. We’re having a baby, for Christ’s sake! Now, I’ll never know for sure if she was making him do all those horrible things!” She started bawling hysterically again.
As I held her, I thought of my encounter with Jake in the warehouse. I knew without a doubt that he was no victim in this situation. Well, not until his demise at least. He’d had so much evil intent coming off of him as he’d taken advantage of the situation, manhandling me with his grubby paws. I was lucky that he’d spelled me to sleep rather than doing something worse, something that I have no doubt he was capable of. He was just as bad as Maria. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about it though. No matter how awful he was, he was still the father of her unborn child—one that she’d have to raise alone, every day, being reminded of him. I thought it would be best if she had that slight hope of the possibility that he’d truly been the man she’d fallen in love with.
Twenty-eight
After a few hours of crying, Erica fell asleep again
so I slipped out into the great room and called Leo. He answered on the first ring.
“Hello, my love. How is Erica coping?”
I sighed. “Not good, Leo. She’s a mess and I don’t even know where to begin helping her through this.”
“Not true, Karli,” he assured me. “You are doing all that you can at this point. You’re there for her. She’ll let you know when she needs more.”
I sat down on the couch and pulled Vance’s blanket over my legs. “I hope so.”
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
“After the sun goes down, you can take me to my place to get some of my belongings,” I replied.
“And where are you taking those belongings?” His tone indicated that he knew the answer and he didn’t like it one bit.
I combed my fingers through my hair. “Look, Leo, I don’t like this either, but I’m going to stay here for a while. I’ve been a shitty friend and Erica needs me. It was bad enough when I barely checked on her while I was at Irina’s. I can’t leave her now that she’s pregnant on top of it. At least not right away.”
“I’m sure the detective can take care of her.”
I found myself frowning at the thought of Vance taking care of Erica. “Not like I can, Leo. I owe her. She was the only one there for me to pick up the pieces when I found out about Chad. She’s been the only one there for me since.”
“Not the only one,” he corrected.
“Okay, fine,” I conceded. “Not the only one, but she was there for me through some pretty major shit. She’s my best friend, Leo. I’m going to be here for her as long as she needs me.” I sighed heavily. “If you can’t handle that, I can ask Vance to take me. You should know me well enough to know that I don’t like depending on anyone, but I don’t feel safe with Maria out there after what happened to Jake. I don’t trust anyone else.”
“I’ll be there right after sunset, my dear.” Click.
Great, now I had a pissed off vampire to add to the craptastic potpourri of my life.
