Admittedly, Taylor was touched. Victor had told her that they were never in love, but to hear her say it was sort of solidifying. “You shouldn’t have put yourself in danger. My friends and I can take care of ourselves.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Rosemary argued
The room went silent when a man from Victor’s security staff entered the apartment with Taylor’s bags.
“I’ll take the bags,” Victor said. “You can leave them there. Thank you.”
What’s done is done, Taylor thought. There wasn’t a thing that Victor, Lucas, or anyone else could do about the situation that they were in. The cat was definitely out of the bag.
“I called my dad,” Rosemary announced. “I explained everything. When he gets his security team in place, he’ll be coming to get me.”
“So, you’ll risk yourfather’ssafety,” Lucas muttered.
“I tried to refuse, but he insisted.”
Victor and Lucas shared worried looks.
“Well, I’m gonna go take my bags to the bedroom.”
“No, babe, I got the bags,” Victor said, hurrying over to Taylor.
“Nope. I got ‘em. Y’all handle things here.” Taylor grabbed her bag from the floor, tossed the strap over her good arm, and dragged roll-aboard across the beautiful marble floor. But, before she could make it to the hall, the front door opened, and Gregor walked in.
“Governor, Detective Devereaux is here to see you.”
Taylor sat the bag down and left the roll-aboard. She walked over to the door, anxious to see Bella. She’d been calling her all day. Bella walked into the penthouse with a smile on her face.
“We’ve been calling you all day,” Victor snapped, wiping the smile right off Bella’s face.
Bella crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg. “Governor, I’m not your woman. You need to watch your tone with me.”
Taylor recoiled as if Bella had just slapped her. “ButIam. So, you watch your tone when you talk to him,” Taylor retorted.
Bella’s eyes grew wide. She looked at Taylor as if she’d lost her mind.
“Hestarted it!” Bella shrieked.
“Heis my fiancé, andheis also the governor of Illinois. Show some respect, friend.”
Bella blew out a harsh breath and uncrossed her arms. “I had good news. I don’t even know if I wanna tell your asses now,” Bella mumbled with a roll of her eyes.
“Victor,” Lucas called out in a stern voice.
Victor turned to Lucas with a questioning glare. Lucas stood to his full height, folded his arms, and nodded toward Bella. Victor turned to Bella.
“My apologies, Detective.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry for being so snappy.”
After Bella accepted his apology and apologized, she went on to them all about her day with the senator.
If the senator was dead, Rosemary was no longer in danger, and they could all breathe a sigh of relief. On the other hand, there could have been more people involved. Not to mention the infamous black widow. What if her ego was bruised by the good ole fashion beat down Victoria had served her? She could come back just for the hell of it.
“Okay, since Rosemary’s dad is in the process of hiring more security, why don’t we just keep her close for now?” Taylor proposed.
“You mean, I can stay here with you guys?”
“Uh, no,” Taylor, scoffed. “Victoria said that if need be, you can stay in one of the apartments here. Since you’re still married to Victor, he can assign you a security detail.” Taylor turned to Victor with a smirk and added, “Legally.”
Everyone in that room knew that Taylor often times had an unofficial security detail. And, now that she’d been attacked, that detail would more than likely be permanent.
“Oh, and you should stay with Lucas,” Taylor suggested with a sly grin.
Bella ignored Taylor and turned to Victor. “Governor Creed, do you mind if I pour myself a drink?”
“Come on in the rec room. I’ll have Vera fix us all some drinks. We need to celebrate your brilliant detective work.”
