For Her Protection(70)
Charlize gaped. “Gregory confessed?” Her shock wore off. She’d known he was a coward and cowards had a way of caving under pressure.
“When we found the clotting agent we connected it to his previous sexual assault case, and with the charges from his assault on you and no more Bob to cover his tracks, he spilled it all.”
Charlize nodded, pressure eased off her chest. “So I guess he’ll be going to jail?”
“For a very long time I imagine,” Mark said.
“I’m just pissed Bob’s not around for me to kill,” Connor said and gazed at Charlize. “I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on him, baby. I should’ve sensed something.” The look on his face stole her breath.
“It’s not your fault, you couldn’t have known.”
She held out her hand, he took it and she squeezed his fingers.
“He fooled everyone. With Gregory as his errand boy, not even Frank knew he was involved with the theft,” Mark said.
“But Frank definitely is?” she asked, a small glimmer of hope remaining that not everyone she knew was corrupt.
“According to the information Gregory divulged, Frank thought he was an absolute mastermind. He’s been arrested this morning, along with three other Halifax directors for fraud and embezzlement.”
“Shit,” she said and squeezed Connor’s hand tighter. This was supposed to feel good wasn’t it? Yet there was bitterness in knowing her worst thoughts about people had been confirmed.
“Hey, this is good, baby. Halifax can move forward now.” Connor rubbed her fingers.
She smiled at him. “And so can I.”
Mark shuffled in his chair, reminding her of his presence. For the next hour, she gave him her undivided attention while he asked what had to be close to five hundred questions. By the end she was ready to claw her way out of the hospital room.
The doctor strode back in. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I need a moment with my patient.”
“Want me to stay?” Connor asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
Connor planted a kiss on her forehead and walked Mark out.
Charlize clutched her hands in her lap. “So?”
The doctor gave her a long look and hooked the clipboard onto the end of her bed. “You’re not pregnant.”
“Oh.” Her hands opened but the relief didn’t come as freely or as instantly as she’d expected. When it did, it came with a side dish of something she recognized as a sense of loss. “I guess I just had it in my head that I was.”
“You said you vomited after drinking the champagne?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, Ms. Halifax, that sometimes happens with black-market substances. You don’t know what’s in it or how it will affect you. You’re lucky you had a bad reaction and expelled most of it. That probably lessened the effects.”
She nodded and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Thanks, Doctor. So when can I leave?”
“As soon as you’re ready.”
Charlize took a deep breath. “Then discharge me. I’m ready to go home.”
Her gaze drifted to the open doorway. Just outside, Connor stood in the hallway with Mark. The only thing left to find out was if she’d be going to her home—or theirs.
Chapter Twenty
The moment she sank into Connor’s passenger seat tiredness washed over her, tugged at her eyelids. Odd since she’d spent twelve hours unconscious. Connor started the car and drove out of the hospital lot. Sunlight cast harsh lines over his face, revealed the shadows caused by lack of sleep. He’d stayed by her side—he loved her. She believed him and she loved him back.
Easy, right? True love, respect, admiration all tied up in a kinky red bow of lust. Freaking destiny and all that. She looked out the window as he drove but the world outside flew by in a blur. She toyed with the folds of her skirt, her heart sinking into her churning stomach. They were all in but all in what? And could he live with her brand of baggage?
Connor reached over and took her wrist, slid her palm into his lap and pushed his fingers through hers. “You okay? It’s been a crazy few days.”
“It’s not that, it’s something else,” she whispered and gently slid her hand free.
He glanced at her, a frown pushing his brows into a shallow vee. “Do I need to pull over?”
“I don’t know—no just keep driving.” She swallowed and blurted out her thoughts. “That time in Alicia’s storeroom, we weren’t careful.”
His fingers hesitated just above the stick-shift but then he grasped the knob and changed gears. “I don’t think either of us was thinking clearly that day. You’re on the pill, right?”