Dirty Little Secret(52)

He crossed the room to stoop in front of her, lifted her stretched-out legs, and sat, settling her legs across his lap. He kept his touch gentle as he stroked her; the glimpses of the bruises on her thighs when the EMT had examined her earlier demanded it. Blowing out a heavy sigh didn’t relax the tension in his own body, however.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Everything.”

He turned to find her watching him. A shine gathered in her eyes, tightening his chest.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice still gravelly from screaming for help.

Alex shook his head. “For what?”

“For—” She nodded carefully toward the door to the outer office.

The rage that had finally settled after watching the police take Allen out of here in handcuffs flared again. He reached toward her chin, pain spiking when she flinched away from his touch. He ignored it. Having heard her tell her story to the detective, he knew it was instinctive: Allen had gripped her jaw so hard there where already purple shadows there. Instead he caressed the uninjured side of her face and stared fiercely into her tear-filled eyes. “Don’t you tell me you’re sorry. You did nothing wrong.” He leaned forward and swept his lips gently across her swollen mouth. “I’m so proud of you. You fought.” Settling his forehead against hers, he whispered, “You did good, sweetheart.”

Swollen lids closed over her anxious eyes, forcing tears to trickle down both cheeks. But the tension that had invaded her body melted like ice cream on hot pavement.

The door opened, and Sam entered. After closing the door carefully, she crossed to stand next to Sara Beth, wrapping her arms around her partner. “Doing okay?” she asked as her gaze swept the three of them.

“As well as can be expected,” Sara Beth replied. She leaned heavily into Sam’s body. “The detective said they’d get back to us on any further questions tomorrow, but it looks cut-and-dried. I just can’t believe… I mean, I know after Tammy…he hated you, but still, to be so blatant.”

“He was drunk.” Alex had smelled the alcohol on him from a yard away.

“He saw us in Nashville,” Cailin said, her eyes still closed.

Alex’s gut clenched, and for a moment he thought he’d throw up. He’d hurt Cailin enough; the guilt of knowing being with him had led up to this felt like a two-ton brick on his already heavy chest.

“And he thought you were fair game?” Sara Beth asked incredulously. Her green eyes were almost luminous as she glared at Alex. “Why the hell do we put up with this bastard?”

“Well, we won’t anymore. After Tammy, I contacted John, but he insisted Allen be kept on board.” His fingers clenched involuntarily around Cailin’s calf, causing her to flinch. He soothed her with a careful stroke. “I didn’t like it, but there was nothing I could do. Now there is.”

“But why?” Sara Beth asked. “The man is obviously abusive toward women. Why would Dad want to keep him as an investor?”

“Money,” Sam said as if it were obvious. Which it was, but he hadn’t wanted to say it.

John’s loyalties had always been clear. Even his own daughter didn’t earn the respect and love he had for the company he’d built from the ground up. Alex and Sara Beth both had struggled with the decision to simply leave him to it, to walk away from Keane Industries, but in the end Sara Beth hadn’t been able to sacrifice the company she’d been raised to love and the good of the people who needed the company to survive. So she’d stayed, and Alex had stayed with her.

And the golden noose had tightened every single day around their necks.

“This has to stop.”

His words echoed in the silence of the room. When he raised his chin to look at Sara Beth, he saw acceptance staring back at him. It was time.

“Alex.”

The rough scrape in Cailin’s voice emphasized why he was right. They couldn’t let anyone else get hurt. But what could they do? How did you wrestle control from a man who rightfully owned that control, even if he wielded it like a sledgehammer, with no thought to the safety and well-being of those around him?

“Alex.” This time her voice was louder, insistent. He turned his head to look at her.

“Something…” She cleared her throat. “Maybe… Something Allen said made me wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

She glanced at Sara Beth, caution in her eyes. Red hair flew as Sara Beth shook her head. “Oh no you don’t. Out with it. We’re not sparing petty feelings anymore, Cailin. No more dancing around.” In Sara Beth’s voice, he heard the hard edge of determination. “The time for that is long past, girlfriend.”