For Her Protection(69)
“I’m sorry… I’m going to inject this in your arm now. It works fast.”
She shifted, pulling herself up a little, balancing a little better. “Bob, we’re friends. Why are you doing this?”
He paused. “If we were friends, you’d have told me about your plans, the police. Now I have no choice. You have no idea how hard I’ve worked to get things to this point. I knew Frank and his team were stealing, hell, I’m the one who showed Gregory better ways to do it. But it was supposed to go down my way, give me my turn to take over. I deserve my turn.”
He grasped her elbow with a jerk. She panted. Even drugged her blood pumped faster—thank fuck for adrenaline.
“Every time I got rid of one Halifax another with the same self-indulgent sense of entitlement rose up. This is the end of the line.”
She gasped, the horror of that single confession sending another wave of energy exploding through her system. He’d done this before—to her father—to her uncle. The needle plunged and she sprang, caught his wrist, turned it and threw herself against him. His back thumped against the window with a fleshy slap. Charlize sprawled on top of him.
The energy she’d summoned slipped away. Black swarmed the edges of her vision. She rolled onto the floor, body wedged between the front seats and the back. He’d come after her now. She wasn’t strong enough after all.
She turned her head and blinked slowly, consciousness fading. The image of Bob’s face, one side drooping, blurred into nothingness.
Chapter Nineteen
Charlize opened her eyes. She didn’t think she’d been asleep. Didn’t have that sense of time passing. This was like blinking—eerily instant. She gazed up at a white roof. The smell of something chemical, perhaps antiseptic tainted the air. Maybe Bob decided not kill her, maybe this was his lair.
“Charlize?”
The sound of that voice wiped the nightmarish scenes from her imagination.
She turned her head and he rose above her. His face filled her vision, stubble-roughened and lined with worry. Connor cupped her face and his smile transformed his features.
Her surroundings emerged. A long, rectangular hospital room. The noise filtered through, hushed voices, shuffling feet, the beep of equipment. She moved her hands to drag herself up and wires and tubes brushed her skin. An IV drip wedged into the top of her hand and a heartbeat monitor clip on her finger. “How long have I been here?”
“About twelve hours. It’s Saturday morning.”
“And you stayed all night?”
“Baby, you’ll never be rid of me.”
“So I guess you saved me after all?”
His smile broadened and he shook his head. “No, kitten, you saved yourself. I just found you.”
“I guess you did,” she whispered. In so many ways.
He leaned down and kissed her, dragged his lips softly over hers just enough to make her heart flutter. Footsteps sounded and a doctor walked in. He strode to the foot of the bed and picked up a clipboard.
“You’re awake, how are you feeling, Ms. Halifax?”
Charlize eased up a little higher and straightened her hospital gown. “I feel okay, a little headachy but otherwise fine.”
“That’s what I’d expect. We found a date-rape drug in your system.”
Charlize blanched. Date-rape drug. The phrase alone was enough to send another wave of nausea through her.
Oh shit, that other thing…
She glanced at Connor as the doctor asked her more questions. A knock rattled the windowpane. Mark stood in the doorway.
“Tell them to give us a few more moments,” the doctor instructed.
Connor left her side to speak to Mark.
Charlize lowered her voice, her gaze flickering to the doorway. “Doctor, while I’m here I need a test for one more thing.” She motioned him closer and whispered her request.
The doctor nodded. “Certainly, we already have a blood sample in the lab.” He jotted a few notes and signaled for Mark and Connor to come back in.
“Hi, Charlize. I’m glad to see you’re doing okay. You up to answering questions?”
“As up as I’ll ever be.”
Connor pulled two chairs closer to the bed and both men sat.
“So you caught Bob?”
Mark’s gaze moved to Connor then back to her. “Charlize, Bob was injected with a blood-clotting agent. We found the syringe in his chest. He didn’t make it.”
Charlize held her breath. Bob was dead. She knew what he’d done but it didn’t seem real. She still thought of him as her beat-down president—and old friend.
“Between what we already knew and Gregory’s confession, we put everything together.”