Sharon, who has been the one holding my hand the whole time I sat next to her bed, turns with a sad face. “Jackson, perhaps you could come back later. Just let her rest. She needs rest.”
Looking over at Bella, I see Lilah has opened her eyes and is staring at me with a confused look. She doesn’t need this right now. None of us do.
“I’ll give you this, Bella, but just so you know, this isn’t over.”
It’s all I can get out before I leave, collapsing on the wall. My hand on my knees, my breathing coming in hard like I just ran a marathon.
I can’t fucking lose her. I won’t fucking lose her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Bella
My heart hurts more than my body with all its broken bones.
The pain in my chest is like my body is burning on fire. I sent him away. He lied to me this whole time.
“Bella, you don’t understand.” Brenda comes to sit in the chair that, apparently, Jackson has been sitting in.
“I don’t want to hear it, Brenda, not now, not tomorrow, not ever.” I look at her so she sees I’m not backing down.
I’m not going to be the girl people walk over anymore. No way. I’m taking it back.
“Okay, fine, we will talk about this when you calm down and not in front of Lilah,” Brenda says while she holds my hand.
Brenda does her best to take my mind off of everything that just happened by telling me stories of her adventure with Lilah.
My eyes never leave my girl and her smile while she chimes in with her side of the story.
The knock on the door has us both turning to look at the door where two men walk in.
I don’t recognize them, but Lilah sits up, waving. “Hi, Mick, look, Momma is up.”
“I see that Miss L,” the man Mick says. “Hi, we haven’t met yet, but I’m Jackson’s partner, Mick, and this is Officer Chris. We are actually here to ask you some questions about what happened.”
“Why?” I’m confused. They know who did this to me. Everyone knows it was Adam.
“Ms. Cartwright, my name is Chris. We have a general idea of what happened, but because no one saw you before Adam attacked you we don’t know what happened.” He takes out his notepad and pen. “Did Adam approach you or did you approach him?”
“I went to the bathroom. When I came out, I was grabbed by my arm. I didn’t see who it was till I was already in the alley.”
“So you didn’t go willingly, is that right?” he asks again.
“I’m sorry, did you think I willing went into an alley to get beaten? Why are you asking this? Where is he? Where is Adam?”
Chris just looks down at his feet, but Mick speaks up, “He got away.” The minute those words are out of his mouth I try to get off the bed.
“I have to get out of here. We aren’t safe. Lilah, we need to go.” My voice is rising. The panic is setting in. I look around to see where we can escape from. I look around to see if there is anywhere he can be hiding. The minute I try to swing my legs off the bed, my ribs feel like I’ve been stabbed.
Mick gets to me before I fall off the bed taking Lilah with me. “You are safe here. Jackson hasn’t left your side. Plus, he has security guards standing outside as well as at your house. No one is getting to you.” He places me back in bed, picking up Lilah, and holding her in his arms.
“That’s what I thought till I woke up in a hospital bed.”
“You’re safe, Ms. Cartwright,” Chris finally chimes in. “But we need to build a case to make sure he pays for this.”
I laugh out loud. “A case against him? You can’t even find him.” My body is starting to shake. The nerves racing through my body are too much for me. “You had him, and you lost him.” I shake my head. “Why, why me? Why us? He doesn’t even give a crap about us. Why would he bring me back?”
I don’t even think I want them to answer me. No, in fact, I don’t want them to. No one can answer that except Adam. The one thing I know is I’m not going to let him get close enough to us to answer that question.
“Just so you know, Jackson is having an alarm system set into place. As an extra precaution. We aren’t letting him near you guys again,” Mick says.
“I have more questions if you are up to it?” Chris says, looking at his notepad.
“How long were you and Mr. Fletcher married for?”
“I’m not married to him. We never got married.” I think I should thank my lucky stars we never actually went through with it.
“Is Mr. Fletcher Lilah’s father?”
I don’t have to say anything because Mick clears his throat, making Chris raise his eyes. The look he gives him lets him know that question isn’t going to be answered.