Worth the Wait(68)

“Yeah, that’s me,” I rushed out as I hurried over to where he stood. “Is she okay? Can I see her?”

“She’s going to be fine. She has a concussion and a few fractured ribs. She’ll be in a little pain for a while, but nothing she won’t heal from.”

At that, I could finally breathe again. Knowing she was going to be okay was the biggest relief I’d ever felt.

“Can I go see her?”

“Yes, I’ll take you back there now.”

I didn’t even bother glancing back at Luke as I headed down the hall; my only focus was on the woman who was sole my reason for living. I just needed to get to her and everything would be okay.





I tried to argue with the doctor when he told me he was keeping me overnight for observation. I needed to get out of the damned hospital. I needed to get to my kids and get out of Cloverleaf. I had no idea where we’d go, but I just knew I had to get them away before Lance got out, which he undoubtedly would.

I’d tried my hardest to fight the effects of the pain meds they’d given me, but it was no use. Sleep eventually took over.

By the time I’d opened my eyes again, it was already daytime. The sun was shining so bright, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. It was beautiful outside. So beautiful that the weight currently sitting on my chest, slowly suffocating me, felt out of place. It shouldn’t be possible for bad things to happen on such pretty days. With the dread I was feeling, it would have been more appropriate had the skies been a dark gray, rain falling in sheets as lightning and thunder cut through the air. Looking out the window to see birds chirping and the breeze gently blowing felt like a slap in the face.

My room was full as all of my friends, my new family, had come to give me their support, but as they argued over how the situation with Lance should be handled, all I could do was stare out that window, cursing myself for ever thinking I was clever enough to outsmart him. I should have known he wouldn’t let go. Even with everything I had on him, it still hadn’t been enough.

“Beauty,” Brett whispered from beside me, stroking my hair and pulling my attention away from the window and to those expressive, dark eyes of his. “Running isn’t the answer. You need to stay and fight. Don’t let him win, baby.”

“I can’t fight him, Brett,” I stated firmly. “Don’t you get it? I’m a fucking nail tech. He’s a partner at a big time law firm. He has the money and the connections to take everything away from me. He’s going to take the kids.” My voice broke as tears fell down my bruised cheeks. “My babies, Brett; he threatened to take my babies,” I finished on a pained sob.

He leaned over the bed rail and pulled me into an embrace, mindful of my sore ribs. “But what about that stuff you threatened him with? You said you hacked into his accounts. Can’t we use that against him?”

A dry, sarcastic laugh bubbled up in my throat. “It’s useless. He covered it all up after I threatened him. I’ve got nothing.”

“What information did you have, Kenzie?” Luke asked, stepping away from Emmy to come to the other side of my bed. When I’d woken up that morning, I’d been shocked to see everyone I cared about in the room with me. Brett, Emmy and Luke, Savannah and Jeremy, Lizzy and Trevor, Gavin and Stacia, Ben and Mickey. They were all there. Jeremy’s mother had once again offered to babysit the twins, who had been told that Mommy was in an accident but was doing just fine and would be home soon. They’d all come to try and find a way to help me out of my mess. The men tried to think of different ways to make Lance suffer painfully, while the women talked about places to hide the body. My chest warmed with love for all of them, but I knew it was pointless.

“He’d been taking bribes for years. Destroying evidence in cases against the people he was prosecuting in exchange for payoffs. I’m talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, prostitutes, drugs, you name it. He framed another lawyer at Spaulding, Jefferies, & Dunn. An innocent person lost everything because I thought I was smarter than Lance.”

“Jesus Christ,” Luke muttered.

“Yeah, so you understand what I’m dealing with now. If he’s capable of doing that to someone, I have no doubt he’d do everything in his power to take my kids away, just to make me suffer.”

“Wait,” Savannah interrupted. “You said Spaulding, Jefferies & Dunn?”

“Yeah, why?” I questioned.

Her forehead wrinkled in deep thought for several seconds as we all stared at her before she turned to look at Ben. The two of them communicated silently with each other from across the room, keeping the rest of us in the dark. I was just about to ask what was going on when she finally spoke again.