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I was fuming, trying my best to hold in my anger at seeing her physically hurt. I wanted to console her and murder Nick at the same time, but right now could do neither. The moment we pulled into the driveway, she trudged to the front door. I tried to help her, but she shook me off. Her little attitude was cute, but verbally admiring it was not something I could do right now. We were both too pissed off for our own reasons.
“You have the code.”
“It’s not my house.”
Rolling my eyes, I punched in the four-digit code on the keypad, then opened the door. She paraded through the foyer and down the hallway to my office. Tucking a foot under her, she sat on the end cushion of the sofa, staring at the wall.
I perched next to her in the middle of the couch. Hooking a strand of her hair behind her ear, I sighed. “Unfortunately, this time I had to tell him.” I twisted toward her, stretching my arm behind her. “Any other time this would have been between only us, but he’s involved in this, too.”
She turned her gaze to me. “What do you mean?”
“Nick Bernardi is a predator.” I tried my best to remain calm. “And he’s a terrible man, which I know is weird for me of all people to say, but I don’t manipulate women then hurt them for fun.”
“Huh?” Her eyes became the size of saucers.
“Lizzie, you weren’t the only woman he was seeing.”
“We only had sex. I pictured you anyway.” She sniffled as if she were fighting back tears. “We never discussed faithfulness.”
Jealousy boiled inside me. I loathed that he’d touched her even before I knew he was the one. Now, I was absolutely enraged! “You’re lucky you didn’t disappear.”
“What?!”
I explained my findings about him while hunting him down. I hadn’t even told James yet. Her mouth hung agape as the details poured from my mouth. “I guess while I was on his trail, he snuck by and got to you. I blame myself.” Examining the damage he’d caused to her delicate face, I gently caressed her jaw. “Lizzie, I’m so fucking sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”
She lowered her gaze. “Antonio and two others actually saved me.”
“I know. I got a call someone attacked you, and thankfully I wasn’t too far away. I’d been in Boston the past, almost two weeks, and only got back today.”
The gash on her forehead at her hairline was still bleeding. I took her hand in mine. “We need to get the bleeding stopped. Your dad will be here soon, and he’ll start throwing shit in my house if he sees you like this.”
“Why did you tell him to get here so long after us?” She asked as she kept my pace down the hallway to the back staircase.
“I wanted time to help you clean yourself as much as possible.” I placed her in front of me, watching her backside as we ascended the steps. It took everything in me not to touch her. “How are you feeling now?” I took her hand in mine once again, leading her to my bathroom.
“My face is stinging, and my head is throbbing, but I know it could be worse.” She grumbled. “I’m so pissed I even trusted him. The fact he was after me for revenge. What the hell?!”
“About that.” I clenched my jaw, helping her sit on the counter. I stepped into the linen closet to get a couple of washcloths and a first aid kit. “Why did you go off alone with him in the first place?” I spun around.
She was gaping blankly at the shower, shaking her head. I moved over to her, placing the supplies beside her on the countertop.
“I thought I was just catching up.” She carefully swiped her hair from her eyes and pulled it up into a messy bun on top of her head, securing it with the elastic band around her wrist. Chewing on her bottom lip, she closed her eyes for a moment. “I know how it must look, but I didn’t intend to sleep with him or anything. I just had so many unanswered questions about where he’d been since he got fired, and so on. I felt so guilty they fired him because of what we did and felt I owed it to him to spend some time with him. I’m so sorry.”
“Relax.” I ran the washcloth under cold water, then wrung it out. Pressing it to her forehead, I cleaned as much of the blood off as I could. “Hold that right there for a minute.”
She reached up, holding her hand to the black cloth.
“Apply a bit of pressure.”
“Okay.” She pushed a little harder. “So, you knew Mr. Ber—Nick was dangerous?”
“I did.” Nodding, I opened a single antiseptic wipe. Taking the cloth from her, I dropped it in the sink. A small droplet of blood seeped through the corner of the laceration. I blotted it with the sterile wipe.
She sucked a sharp breath in through her teeth. “Oww.”
“Sorry.” I dropped it in the sink on top of the washcloth then opened a new tube of super glue.
Repulsed, she leaned back. The corner of her lip lifted. “Super glue?”
