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“So, that explains it.”
"What? Oh. Yeah, he wouldn't have showed up on your PI's report."
"No. Dammit."
She tries to reach for my hand, but grimaces from the pain, and pulls back with an apologetic smile. "Kingsley. There’s nothing you could’ve done. I kept it from you. He's been sendingme texts for months. And after Ernest died, the messages really ramped up. I never told him about Ernest, but I guess if he’s been following me, he would have noticed a change in my financial situation and thought he’d make the most of it. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you."
"You don't have anything to apologize for. He's the one who hurt you."
Memories swirl in her irises and she zones out for a while. And then slowly starts describing what happened.
“I was just people watching, waiting for you, and I got a text. It just said‘you look beautiful, I’m outside,’and I didn’t check to see who it was from. I thought it was from you so I thought you’d arrived at the gala and wanted to meet me. I went out there and he grabbed me from behind and dragged me to the side. He had a knife pressed up again my side, kept asking me for money. I didn’t have any on me, I was in a ballgown! He was high out of his mind, and I thought I could get away. So I gathered up my strength, pushed him really hard and tried to run away. He followed and”— her eyes go blurry— ”that’s when I felt him kind of slash at me with the knife. I screamed his name and he stopped and then I guess he picked up my phone and ran off.” Blurriness fades to sadness. "What do you think will happen to him?"
I bite down on my tongue, not wanting to tell her what I hope happens to him. "He's going to jail. He hurt you. Very, very badly."
Instead of looking relieved, her face falls even further. "I just wish he could've gotten help before it got this far. I don't think he's a bad person. He just got into a very bad position."
"It sounds like he's always been in that position, sweetheart. You can't fix someone who obviously doesn't want to fix his own life."
"Some people need help though. And maybe I should've been more proactive, instead of just hoping he'd get the help himself."
My heart swells and hurts for her. How can she have such a big heart, that even now, sitting here with a cut that stretches half of her body, she still has the compassion to want to help him?
It just makes me all the more protective of her.
When she's in charge of her fortune, who else is going to come out of the woodwork to take advantage of her?
And what I am going to be able to do to protect her from that?
"Are you cold?" I ask as I gently climb into my side of the bed.
"Nope."
"Are you just saying that so I won’t close the windows?"
She giggles. "You know, I think the rule was that I could ask you as many questions as I wanted to, not the other way around."
I laugh and gently nuzzle her cheek, careful not to jostle her too much. After a lot of begging on her part, I'd finally given in and agreed to sleep in the same bed as her, but I doubt I'll get much sleep. And not just from the thoughts screeching through my mind right now about her safety.
In the dark, she fumbles under the blankets to reach for my hand.
"I've got you," I say, giving her hand a squeeze.
She lets out a contented gurgle and falls asleep in seconds.
Knowing she's safe.
If only I could feel as sure of that.
"Do you think we could go for another walk around the town today?" she asks me a few days later as I wash our breakfast dishes.
The color in her cheeks has almost returned to normal.
"Yes. Well, me walk, you roll. Of course we can. Anything else? It's supposed to be sunny today. We could go around the lake?" Her nod is so enthusiastic I'm almost afraid her head will fall off her shoulders. "Okay, after we change the bandages and do a round of vitals, okay?"
"Ugh. Yuck." She scrunches her face and pokes her tongue out at my back when she thinks I can’t see.
"That was the deal."
