“He tried to kill me,” he gasps. “You need to arrest him.”
“You slipped,” one cop says.
“Yeah. Fell right on your face. That’s gotta hurt,” the other adds.
“Get this asshole out of here,” Denver grunts.
“Good to see you, Denver,” one says as they lead Rory away.
“You’re a dirty old man!” Rory twists his head, blood dripping from his nose, his eyes unnaturally wide. “She’s young enough to be your daughter!”
I stare after him.
“That the best you can do? Maybe you’ll think of something better on those lonely nights in your cell. Only I won’t give a damn because I’ll be too busy taking care of my wife and our baby.”
His face pales, confusion contorting it.
“Baby?”
I give him a small, menacing smile as the cops drag him further down the corridor. Lavinia is standing at the end of it, and he stares at her, straining to keep his eyes on her shocked expression as they lead him past.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Give us a minute,” I clip to Denver.
“Boss.” He nods, his eyes narrowed on Lavinia.
She rushes up the corridor, her heels clicking on the floor. “Was that him? The man who started the fire?” Her words tumble out like she can’t control them.
“Don’t you recognize him? Because he seemed to know you.”
“I…” she splutters.
“What the hell did you do, Lavinia?” I spit.
She flinches. “I saw him outside Sullivan’s party, waiting for Halliday and… he said he’s herhusband.”
“He’s not.”
Her eyes widen, her lower lip trembling.
“He swore it. He was heartbroken, saying you’d taken her from him. That she still loved him, and he just needed a chance to remind her. I thought he was telling the truth and just needed a chance to?—”
“You mean you needed a chance? Another way to ruin what Hallie and I have.”
“I didn’t know what he was going to do! He said he wanted to talk to you man-to-man but that when he tried, you’d cut him off. He thought if he waited inside for you that you’d have to listen. I told him I didn’t know what the code was, but that he should try S?—”
“Don’t you dare say my son’s name!” I yell, pointing a finger in her face. “Don’t you dare.”
How could I be so stupid? She’s right. The code was my son’s birthday. A date I will never forget.
“He could have killed her! How damn naïve can you be?”
“I swear, Sterling I…” She drops her purse to the floor and reaches out, desperately clinging to the lapels of my jacket. “I thought he loved her and just wanted her back.”
“I love her!” I knock her hands off me, making her suck in a gasp. “And she loves me. You reunited my first wife with her ex. And you thought you’d have the same luck interfering with my life again.”
“No… I thought. You and I, we could have been…”
