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“Okay,” Elle agreed softly.
Then a surprisingly pained look passed across Hunter’s features, and genuinely distraught emotions filled his eyes. “God, if anything happened to you, too, I don’t know that I’d ever be able to forgive myself.”
He sounded so tormented, his words gut-wrenching. “What do you mean, if anything happened to me, too?” she asked curiously. “Are you referring to your parents’ deaths?”
“And my fiancée’s,” he said in a low, raspy voice, shocking her with that information.
Oh, wow . . . he’d been engaged and had clearly lost his fiancée somehow. “I don’t understand. What happened?”
“Four years ago, I watched my fiancée, Natalie, die, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it from happening,” he said, his jaw clenching against the pain she saw reflected in his eyes, and she waited patiently for him to go on. “I was meeting her for lunch at a restaurant about a block away from where she worked, and since she was walking, I waited right outside of the restaurant for her to arrive. I saw her reach the other side of the street, and when it was her right of way to take the crosswalk . . . a goddamn car ran a red light at full speed and hit her. I saw the whole fucking thing happen, and by the time I reached her, she literally took her last few breaths in my arms and died.”
Elle gasped as tears sprang to her eyes, her heart breaking for all this man’s agony and loss. “Hunter . . . I’m so sorry,” she whispered around the emotion filling her throat.
“It was the darkest, most difficult time in my life, and I swore that I’d never put my heart out there for anyone ever again because I was terrified of experiencing that loss again . . .” His dark, golden gaze turned fierce and intense. “And then I met you.”
His feelings for her were implied and mirrored how hard and fast she’d fallen for this man, who’d literally swept her off her feet at a fairy-tale ball. Her mind was spinning, and with so much unresolved in her life, her head and her heart warred within her.
Before she could reply, he said, “I don’t expect you to say anything right now,” he told her, understanding in his voice. “I just wanted . . . no, I need you to know that you mean more to me than a casual fling. And knowing that you could have died, and I would have been helpless to save you, just like my parents and Natalie, completely shatters me when all I want to do is protect you from any harm. Always.”
Aching to touch him, she lifted her hand from the hospital bed and pressed her palm against his cheek. “Hunter, I’m alive because of you,” she said, needing him to see that he’d literally saved her life. “If you hadn’t insisted on staying with me, I might not have made it much longer.”
He groaned and turned his head to kiss the inside of her wrist. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
She smiled at him. “Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to.”
No, the only thing left to think about was what to do with the arsenic poisoning information she had on Helena. Once Elle figured that out, then more than anything, she wanted to open her heart to something more with Hunter.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
By Monday afternoon, the doctor cleared Elle’s recent panel of blood tests and released her from the hospital. Hunter insisted on taking her back to his place until she figured things out, and since she wasn’t quite ready to confront Helena, she agreed. She wanted to be in the right frame of mind to thwart every excuse and denial her stepmother would undoubtedly throw her way in her attempt to dismiss any involvement in the poisoning.
In the time that Elle had been in the hospital, she hadn’t heard from her stepmother, though that didn’t completely surprise her. Helena had never been maternal or sympathetic toward Elle, and probably on another level, she was worried about what, exactly, Elle might know about the arsenic poisoning. She’d probably been scrambling the past two days while Elle was in the hospital to try and absolve herself of any wrong-doing, as well as gotten rid of the tea and evidence. But Claire had witnessed her poisoning attempts and had taken a picture of the bottle of arsenic her mother had used, so Elle still had some proof.
Yesterday, Sunday, Elle had called Penelope from the hospital to tell her what had happened, and after her best friend had gotten over her initial shock, then anger, she’d assured Elle that she’d handle everything at the office until Elle was well enough to return, which she hoped would be in a few days.
“Can I make you something to eat?” Hunter asked, fussing over her as he’d been doing since they’d arrived at his place a few hours ago. “I can heat up the chicken noodle soup I picked up at the market if you want. Or I can make you some scrambled eggs and toast.”
She curled up in the corner of his couch, a blanket draped over her legs and lap. She’d showered, changed into one of his T-shirts and sweatpants, and was feeling so much better, though still a bit tired from the whole ordeal.
“I’m good right now. I promise I’ll eat something soon.”
He sat down on the coffee table in front of her, his brows slightly furrowed. “So, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s something I did without your permission and I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about it.”
She blinked at him, not sure what to make of this suddenly serious man in front of her. “Okay,” she said tentatively.
“I asked my brother, Maddux, to have his PI, Noah Reeves, conduct a thorough background report on Helena,” he said, his gaze holding Elle’s as surprise rippled through her. “I thought it was important that you knew exactly who and what you were up against.”
“I think this weekend was definitely an eye-opener as to who and what I’m up against,” she replied wryly. “Helena must be desperate to get her hands on everything, in any way she can.”
“Seems so.” He paused, then asked a bit hesitantly, “You’re not upset with me for taking those liberties without asking you?”
“No.” She laughed lightly, but her heart felt . . . full. Full of tenderness and affection for this perfect man who’d become her knight in shining armor. No guy, not even Benjamin, had ever cared for her the way that Hunter already did, and it overflowed her with hope for the future. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about what a PI might have uncovered on Helena.”
“Maddux dropped the dossier off at my place while we were at the hospital. He also gave me a brief rundown of what’s inside, but I think you need to read it for yourself and make your own conclusions about Helena,” he said, a grave expression on his face.
She swallowed hard, appreciating the obvious warning. “Okay. I’m ready to see it.”
He nodded, then stood up and went to his home office down the hallway, then returned a few seconds later with a folder and handed it to her. He sat down in front of her again, and she inhaled and exhaled a deep breath before opening the file to read the typed report inside about the woman who’d been her cruel and evil stepmother for so many years.
