Isabella let herself collapse against him, let his strength hold her up while she shook. His arms were solid and warm around her, and she buried her face against his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of him.
“Come on,” Charlie said gently. “Let’s get you to the car.”
They walked her to Charlie’s sedan, Christopher keeping his arm around her waist the entire way. When they reached the car, Christopher climbed into the back seat with her instead of returning to his own vehicle. He held her hand, his thumb stroking gently across her knuckles.
Charlie started the engine and pulled out into traffic. “He threatened to file for custody,” Isabella said, her voice sounding hollow and distantto her own ears.
“And we have him on recording, threatening exactly that,” Charlie said firmly. “A judge will see it for exactly what it is. Extortion. He has no case, Isabella. None whatsoever.”
“Everything he said is recorded,” Charlie continued, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “His admission that he signed away his rights. His threat to file false claims of coercion. His demand for money from selling your house. It’s textbook extortion, and no judge in the country would give him custody based on this.”
Isabella felt the truth of Charlie’s words start to sink in. She was safe. Maddy was safe. They had evidence. Todd couldn’t hurt them anymore.
The tears started then, and once they began, she couldn’t stop them. Relief and fear and gratitude all mixed together until she was sobbing against Christopher’s shoulder.
“Let it out,” Christopher murmured, pulling her closer. “You were so brave in there. So strong.”
The drive back to Anastasia Island passed in a blur. Isabella leaned against Christopher, his arm around her shoulders, while Charlie drove in comfortable silence. Every so often, Charlie would glance at them in the rearview mirror with a small smile, something knowing and warm in her expression.
As they pulled up to the cottage, Isabella saw movement in the front window. Maddy was home from St. Augustine with Jane and Trinity. Safe and happy and completely unaware of the danger that had almost touched her life.
The tears came harder then. Relief so overwhelming it felt like drowning.
“Thank you,” Isabella whispered, looking up at Christopher and then at Charlie in the driver’s seat. “Thank you for helping me protect her.”
Christopher kissed her temple, his lips lingering against her skin. “Always. I’ll always help you protect her.”
And Isabella realized something that both terrified and thrilled her. He meant it. He wasn’t going anywhere. This man who’d come into her life less than two days ago had become essential somehow. Had become someone she relied on, someone she trusted with the most precious thing in her life.
She looked up at him and saw the same awareness in his eyes. Something had shifted between them during this ordeal. Something deep and significant and impossible to ignore.
But before either of them could say anything, the front door burst open and Maddy came running out, yanking the car door open.
“Mom! You’re back! Wait until you hear about our day! We went to the coolest vintage shop and Jane bought me and Trinity matching bracelets and then we got ice cream and...”
The moment passed, but the promise of it remained hanging in the air between them.
For now, Isabella just took Christopher’s hand and let him help her out of the car. Let him keep her steady as she pasted on a smile for her daughter.
14
CHRISTOPHER
Christopher climbed into the passenger seat of Charlie’s car and watched through the rearview mirror as Isabella disappeared into her cottage with Maddy chattering excitedly beside her. The weight that had been pressing on his chest since they’d first heard Todd’s threats through the hidden microphone loosened slightly, but it didn’t disappear entirely.
Charlie pulled away from the cottage and headed back toward the inn, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across the road. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, both processing what they’d heard during that tense conversation at the diner.
“That was intense,” Charlie finally said, breaking the silence. “She handled herself remarkably well.”
“She did,” Christopher agreed, but his jaw was tight. He kept replaying Todd’s words in his mind, the threats barely disguisedas reasonable requests. The manipulation. The extortion. “How much of a threat do you think he actually is?”
Charlie was quiet for a moment, her legal mind clearly working through possibilities. “Legally? He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. We have him recorded making threats, admitting he signed away his rights willingly, and attempting extortion. No judge would take his custody claim seriously.”
“But?” Christopher heard the unspoken caveat in her tone.
“But desperate people do stupid things,” Charlie said, her voice taking on a harder edge. “He’s in serious financial trouble. The kind of trouble that makes people irrational. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.”
Christopher nodded, his hands clenching into fists on his thighs. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
