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I nod in response, because I’m not used to expressing gratitude to people, before turning to John.
“Where to, Miss Belle?”
I give him directions to the house. When we pull up the drive, the gate is open, Chet’s car has gone, and my front door is wide open.”
“Is that normal, Miss?”
“No.”
“Let me run inside and check the area. You stay in the car.” He’s stern with me, making sure I know he means business. I have no intention of getting out of this car until I know the coast is clear.
About twenty minutes later, he comes outside. “Everything looks good. Do you need me to stay until someone gets home?”
I think about it for a minute. It would be nice to have someone here with me, but I can’t live my life in constant fear over when Chet might return. If I were guessing, I’d say it won’t be tonight.
“No. Thanks though.” He nods and watches me walk to the door. I turn around to give him a wave, letting him know it’s okay for him to leave.
The house looks untouched. You can’t even tell that anything happened. I glance around the room and see Maddox’s phone laying on the floor. It’s completely shattered. I don’t know any other way to get a hold of him.
I decide that I feel most comfortable sitting in a chair in the living room, facing the front door. This way, I’m ready if Chet were to come back. I don’t know how many hours pass before Maddox finally gets home.
I jump out of the chair and race into his arms.
“Whoa. Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not okay. Chet was here. He had your phone. He was trying to attack me.” I can feel the panic rising in my chest just from replaying the story.
“What do you mean he was here? What happened? Are you okay?” Maddox’s eyes travel my body, his hands running everywhere, checking me for any kinds of marks or bruises.
“I’m okay. He slipped and fell. I ran two blocks to Firefly. Natasha helped me. She sent me home with one of the guys from the club. When we got back, Chet was gone.”
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry this happened to you, and I wasn’t here.” His hands grip my cheeks, and he’s staring in my eyes. If I wasn’t so worked up, I’d be uncomfortable with the clear magnitude of love he’s showing for me.
“It’s okay. You’re here now.” I lean my head against his chest. I can’t look at him anymore. I’m afraid I’ll say something I can’t take back.
“We need to get rid of him.”
I pull back, looking at him. “I know. We need a plan and we need one fast. He’s out of control,” I respond, pulling away and pacing the living room.
It suddenly occurs to me that I found something in the books that I needed to tell him about before Chet shows up.
“Maddox, I was working on the books before he showed up today. I found something. Come here, I need to show you.” He follows me into the kitchen. I pull the bag out from under the table.
We sit down together, and I show him everything I found this morning. The secret accounts. The money being funneled from one place to the other. All signed off by Chet. Maddox doesn’t have a signature anywhere on any of it.
“That piece of shit,” he growls.
“It looks like it’s been going on for years. He really amped it up when you left and went to Deadhorse though. It was probably easier for him to do it when you weren’t hovering over his shoulder.” I shrug.
“It looks like it’s been easy for him to do it even when I was. I can’t believe I was so stupid.” I watch him run his fingers through his hair, frustrated.
“Don’t blame yourself for someone else being a piece of shit.” I lay my hand on his arm.
He stares at me and it’s on the tip of my tongue… I want to tell him I love him. I’ve never in my life had the urge to tell someone I love them, but right now, in this moment, I do.
He doesn’t break eye contact and it’s almost as if he can read my mind. Maybe he can? He gives me a slight nod. He knows how I feel without me even saying it.
And that terrifies me.
