Her swollen knuckles.When did she punch anyone?
“I’m okay, but are you?”I croak.
She nods and tugs her wrists away to roam her hands over my body.
As she slips my phone out of my pocket with her bound hands, she bends enough to reveal the scene behind her.
My driver sits with his back against the front wheel of my car and mostly dried blood caked over the left side of his face.Marilyn lies sprawled out and unconscious between the vehicles with a dark red bruise forming around her neck and new injuries to her face, which explains Audrey’s swollen knuckles.
“Who do I call?”my baby doll asks.
My brain kicks into gear.
If we call nine-one-one, we’ll alert my father and ruin any chance of incarcerating him.
I tell her the name of the cop I met not long ago, and after she hangs up with him, I text Lopez and Brunswick.
Audrey searches through the front of the van before cursing and dropping to her knees beside the clingy rich bitch.She finds the keys to our cuffs and unlocks mine before kissing the back of my hands.
“You’re really okay,” she murmurs.
I take the key from her and free her wrists.
“Yes, I’m really okay.You saved me.Again.”
Tears shimmer in her eyes, but she sneers at me.
“Yeah, well, don’t expect it a third time.”
She loses control.My heart breaks as she falls apart.I pull her against my chest and murmur words of comfort into her hair as I stroke her back.
Marilyn twitches but doesn’t wake.
The cop arrives with a small entourage, including paramedics, a crime scene specialist, and several other personnel he trusts to keep things hush hush.As they gather evidence and coordinate cleanup with the hotel manager—who accepts a shit ton of money to keep things quiet—Lopez, Brunswick, and my lawyer arrive.
Audrey and I give our statements to the cop as they listen in, so when we’re released to go home, they’re caught up on the situation.
I buckle Audrey into the back middle seat of Brunswick’s SUV and join her on the bench.She leans her head on my shoulder and reaches for my hand.I accept without hesitation.
“Any luck with Ms.Baker?”I ask.
“Not yet,” Liam scowls.“Lay low until we find her.”
Audrey sighs and mumbles, “I guess that means no visiting Mr.Carter’s gym for a while, huh?”
I kiss her temple.
“Unfortunately, but don’t worry, love.It’ll be the first place we visit after she’s caught.”
“Why the first place?”
“To hand out wedding invitations, of course.We can’t get married without your friends,”
Her breath hitches.A single tear escapes her lashes and lands on our joined hands.
She fillets me alive with her sparkling green eyes.
“I love you, Brennan.”
