“They talked to Kevin last night. If they thought he was the assailant, he would have been arrested. Besides, he has no reason to want to hurt me.” Her ex-husband might not be her favorite person, but the man didn’t have an ounce of violence in his body.
“I can think of a few reasons,” Lane said.
Celine rolled her eyes. “Really? What?”
“To scare you back to being with him, for one. You get attacked and all a sudden he shows up to rescue you? Seems suspicious. And now he’s pissed I’m here and I’m the father. That’s bound to chap his ass. I’m sure less violent men would be set off with that information. Especially if it put the final nail in the coffin of your relationship.”
“Trust me, he pounded in that nail a long time ago. Nothing could fix that.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t agree.”
She lifted a shoulder, exhausted by the conversation. After experiencing so much stress and fear the past few days, talking to Lane about Kevin was the last thing she wanted to do right now. “Not my problem.”
“Maybe not.” Lane waited a beat before asking another question. “What caused the divorce?”
She stared at him, unsure of how much to say.
He held up both hands. “Look, I’m just asking questions to find out details that could help in uncovering whoever’s behind these attacks. If you’d rather speak with Duke, I can ask him to come in.”
She might not buy all his bullshit, but the truth rang with his words. “I found out he was a heavy gambler. Spent all our savings. Years of hard work gone right out the window. He’d lied for years, hid his bad habits, and I lost everything. I gave him one chance to clean up his act, and when that didn’t happen, I left. He claims he’s on the straight and narrow now. Not only do I not believe him, but I also don’t care. There’s no room for him in my future.”
“How much money did he lose?”
Anger rushed back as she thought about the dark spot in her life. The day she realized she didn’t even know the man she’d married was one of the worst in her entire life, and not something she wished to replay to Lane. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Was he able to pay it back?”
The question threw her off balance. Once she’d shut the door to Kevin and the marriage they’d once shared, she hadn’t given much thought to him or the mess he’d created. “I don’t know.”
“We might want to find out,” Lane said. “Because that’s the kind of money people would kill over.”
12
By the time Lane got Celine and Parker situated back at his house, the hour was late and his tired body wanted nothing more than to sleep. But his brain wouldn’t shut off.
He tossed to his side, whipping the blanket over his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to sleep. A mental checklist flitted through his mind. The alarm was set, Celine and Parker were safe across the hall, and no one besides him and Duke knew they’d brought Celine to his house. She was safe.
At least for now.
He flopped onto his back and reopened his eyes. The ceiling fan whirled above his head. Tomorrow he’d dig into Kevin’s background. So far, Celine’s ex-husband was the only person who had a shady side that needed explored. He might not be involved, but something about the guy bugged the hell out of him. Maybe it was a personal vendetta, but something didn’t feel right.
A loud wail shot him to his feet. His heart took off like a freight train, and he darted across the hall and threw open the door to the guest room.
Celine sat in bed and cradled Parker against her.
The baby rooted around for his late-night snack before latching on. Satisfied, the cries stopped.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, turning his back to the intimate scene.
“You don’t have to look at the door when you talk to me,” she said, chuckling. “Sorry he woke you up. It took me a while to get situated. I usually nurse him in a rocking chair. Our routine was disrupted so it took a little longer.”
He faced her and the glow from the hallway bathed her in a soft light. Her light hair hung over one shoulder and an aura of love enveloped both her and Parker.
And he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his whole damn life.
He cleared his throat, forcing his gaze to meet hers. “I wasn’t sleeping anyway. Too much on my mind.”
“Want to talk about it?” she asked. “I’ve got nothing but time until he’s done eating and goes back to sleep. He’s a little uneasy in a new space without his crib.”
