Hayden scratches his head. "I can't figure it out."
"And I doubt we ever will. Sure, if we fight him, we'll get out of the charges, eventually, but the company name will be smeared through the mud in the process. Men like Bigelow don't stop there. Tess is proof of that. He's going after me, then he'll go after you," I point to Hayden, "and then you," I point to Ash. "One by one until no one in the company is left standing." I look over to Hayden. "So yeah, we are standing the fuck down, no matter how much it kills me."
Ash brings me an icepack and motions with his chin toward my room. "She needs a new one."
I take it and stand, glancing at Hayden, who nods at me. "We'll get through this," I tell him. "I built the company from nothing once before, and if I have to, I'll do it again."
"Yeah, I know you will," he concedes.
"Don't get me wrong," I say, "I'm going to take Bigelow down, just not right now. I'm going to let him think he won, and then I'll find a way to ruin him. Legitimately. It can't be hard, there's a lot of real dirt on him out there. But mark my words, the day I find a way, is the day he turns up half-dead in a hospital bed for what he did to Tess."
Hayden looks up. "You're not going alone, man. I'll be right beside you."
Ash clamps a hand on both of our shoulders. "And I'll be right beside you both."
Eyes locked, the three of us share a look that says, 'The devil will get his due.'
And that is one promise I will never regret.
Nick
I WAS AN asshole.
Fuck, I am an asshole.
That's the only thing I can think about as I stand above her.
No amount of discussions and descriptions can prepare a man to see the woman he loves banged up and bruised. Ash had told me one side of her face was swollen, and the gash on her cheek had to have five stitches to be closed back up, but motherfucker, the rage that boils inside me as I stare down at her is enough to drive me to act immediately. To kill Bigelow and put this whole issue to rest right now.
Except where would that leave me, but in a ten by ten cell for the rest of my life. And then he'd still fucking win.
Even though it kills me to know she's laying here like this because of me, what I did to him, I will wait and strike when the time is right.
In the meantime, I have a lot of making up to do to this woman, and if I have to spend my whole life doing it, I'll gladly do so.
I want her with me, always. The thought should scare the shit out of me, but instead it tells me what I have to do. What I think I always wanted to do from the moment I first set eyes on her more than three years ago. I'm going to marry her.
Feeling whole maybe for the first time in my life, I reach a hand out to stroke her face, staying clear of the dark purple bruising that looks so vivid against her pale skin.
Sitting beside her, I smooth her hair back and then lean down to brush my lips across hers. "I love you," I murmur.
One side of her mouth tips up, and then her beautiful eyes flutter open. "You're here," she whispers.
Kicking my shoes off, I lie down beside her, and again brush my lips lightly against hers. "I'm here, just like I said I would be. And I promise you that I won't leave you again, ever, no matter what."
A small sigh escapes her swollen lips. "You're very confident that I'm going to let you back in life."
Her voice is small and quiet, and although she's trying to make light of my ill actions, her words cut me deep in my soul.
Reaching my hand out, I smooth it down the t-shirt of mine she's wearing to find her small hand. I take it and lace our fingers together. "Please, Tess, tell me you forgive me."
Tess is in the middle of the bed, and she reaches across the space to put her hand on my shoulder and urge me closer.
I go, my head moving to her pillow, only inches away from hers.
Tears well in her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she says softly. "I had no idea Ansel was coming to Chicago. I would have never let him come to see me had I known. Do you believe me?"
Gently, I take her face in my hands, careful not to exude any pressure to the left side, and wipe her tears away. "Oh, baby," I say in an aching voice. "Don't cry. And don't apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. This was my fault. My ghosts. And it's time I grow up and face them."
She takes my hands and brings them to her mouth, kissing them, and then urges me closer still. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I know."
"I'm not going to leave you for someone else."