Chapter 40
Chapter forty
Kate
We were out of that parking lot and on the road before I had time to take a proper breath. Weaving through the traffic like a professional race car driver, my sister pulled into my driveway in no time at all.
I was out and running toward the house just as the front door swung open. My entire world stopped.
“Millie.”
Hauling her into my arms, I held my little girl close to my chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” I sobbed into her hair. “I’m never leaving you again. Never.”
More tears fell. This time, the wetness staining my cheeks came from relief. The guilt was still there. I didn’t think it’d go away any time soon. But it didn’t matter. I had my girl in my arms, and I meant it when I told her I was never leaving her.
I had no idea how long I held her like that before a warm hand smoothed up my back.
“Baby,” Tristan’s voice sounded next to my ear. “Mac needs to talk to us.”
I shook my head. “I’m not letting her go.”
Millie didn’t speak, but the way her hold around my neck tightened told me she felt the same.
“Let your mom sit with our girl for a few minutes.” His fingers trailed over my skin as he pushed my hair behind my ear. “Please.”
It was the pleading tone of his voice that drew my gaze to his. We looked the same: dark circles, red-rimmed eyes. Only he wore a haunted expression that chilled me to the bone.
Because of that, I agreed to have my mom sit with Millie in her room. The way she cried when I walked away threatened to break my heart in two. Halfway to the living room, I hurried back and pulled her back into my embrace.
“I won’t be long. As soon as I am done with the detective, I’m coming straight back here.” I kissed her forehead. “I promise.”
“I’m scared,” she sniffled.
“Oh, Bug.” I held her a little longer before reluctantly joining Tristan and Mac in the living room.
“We’d better talk outside,” Mac said, already walking toward the slider leading to the backyard.
My heart hammered, my blood nervously whooshing through my ears. The air in my lungs disappeared and taking a breath felt near impossible.
Sensing my panic, Tristan slipped his hand through mine and squeezed. It was all I needed to get my feet to move.
“There’s no easy way to say this,” Mac said when we stepped outside. “So I’m just going to lay it all out there for you.” The knuckles on the hand he dragged through his dark hair was split and bruised.
“The person who took Millie is the same person who left you the food, Kate. Arthur Solinsky. Except for this, he is squeaky fucking clean. I couldn’t find a single person to say anything bad about him.”
Crossing my free arm over my chest, I stared at Mac. “That name doesn’t even sound remotely familiar. Why does he want to hurt me, and why does he want Millie?”
Maybe he was someone in Clara’s past she didn’t tell me about. Gosh, maybe he was Millie’s father. Clara never told me the name of the guy who got her pregnant.
My hand flew to my mouth. “Please don’t tell me he’s Millie’s dad.”
“He’s not.” Mac shook his head. “And he didn’t want to hurt you.”
“He sent her poisoned fucking bagels,” Tristan roared. “How the hell is that not wanting to hurt her?”
Blowing out a breath, Mac parked his hands on his hips. I noticed then that his other hand had the same bruises. “Taelyn and Duke Bishop. Does that ring a bell?”
I frowned. “Clara’s sister? What does she have to do with this?”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Tristan’s angry voice rose over my own.
Confused, I looked at him. His glare was on Mac.
“She’s behind this?”
Mac shook his head slightly. “After the death of his wife, Arthur spiraled.
Left alone to take care of their mentally disabled son, he developed a gambling addiction and quickly got himself into some serious debt.
Somehow his paths crossed with Duke Bishop, who agreed to pay off his loans and get his son into a top-tier treatment facility.
“Of course, Duke didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart. He waited until Arthur’s son was settled then threatened to take it all away if Arthur didn’t do something for him.”
Too much. This was all too much for my brain to comprehend. My head spun. Around and around it went, desperately trying to make sense of it all.
Arthur. Duke. Taelyn. The poison. The kidnapping. Her apology.
“They’re arrested?” Tristan’s gritted words brought me back to the present.
Mac swallowed, his hand sliding through his hair again. “Arthur’s in custody.” He cleared his throat. “But Duke is deceased. Officers found him beaten to death when they arrived at his house to arrest him.”
Relief flooded my veins, shortly followed by a pang of guilt. What did it say about me that I was happy to know the man who’d wreaked so much havoc in our lives wouldn’t be around to try again?
My only fear was someone else would pick up where he left off.
“Taelyn?” I asked.
“She claims she didn’t know what her husband was up to.”
Tristan made a noise. “And you believe her?”
“Well.” Mac shrugged. “For now, there’s no evidence to suggest the contrary. But she did offer to take care of Arthur’s son.”
“Why?” The question came out hoarse and broken.
Mac shot me a confused look. “Maybe she feels guilty. I don—”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Understanding lit up his gaze. “Duke loved his wife. He would’ve done anything to make her happy.”
“And that included hurting me and taking Millie?”
“People do fucked-up shit in the name of love.” He made a face, almost as if the word tasted like poison on his tongue.
“Taelyn wanted a kid, and when he couldn’t give her one biologically, he planted the idea of suing for custody.
Knowing how difficult it would’ve been for them to actually win the case, he had a backup plan. ”
“Get rid of me so they’re her only remaining relatives.”
Mac nodded. “Exactly.”
“But Taelyn dropped the case.” Tristan tucked me into his side. “So why take Millie?”
“She was miserable.” Mac shrugged. “Duke thought having Millie would make her happy again.”
Something niggled at the back of my mind. I eyed Mac’s hands before meeting his gaze. “You said Duke died before he was arrested. How do you know all this?”
Mac leveled me with a stare so dark and intense, icy tendrils licked down my spine. “I might’ve had a word with him before someone rearranged his face.”
Tristan’s fingers dug into my skin, hard. I got his silent message. No more questions about Duke.
“So it’s over?” I asked instead. “All of it?”
“Yeah,” Mac said. “It’s over. Arthur already told authorities he was ready to accept his punishment without a trial.”
There was nothing left to say. Mac shook Tristan’s hand then disappeared out of our house, and hopefully our lives. I didn’t know enough about the man to have anything against him, I just didn’t want to be in any more situations where we needed him.
“It’s finally over.” Tristan wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. He held me like that for a few minutes before his breath fluttered over my hair.
“I wish Duke was still alive though, I would have loved to kill the fucker myself.” Tracing his way up my spine, he pushed those long fingers into my hair.
“I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job at protecting you and our girl. ”
My brows dipped into a frown as I tilted my head back to look at him. The expression on his beautiful face mirrored his broken voice.
I shook my head. “This is not your burden to carry. It isn’t mine, either.” Resting my head on his chest, I held him tight. “I won’t let them steal anything else from us.”
We gave ourselves a couple more minutes before we headed inside and got everyone up to speed. Mom and Dad had a hard time processing everything, whereas Izzy and Rafe were ready to commit murder.
Eleanor was quiet.
I suspected it was discomfort rather than her not having an opinion on the matter. I didn’t care much either way. We still had a long way to go.
“There’s a casserole in the fridge.” Everlee slipped in beside me to squeeze my arm. “If you need anything, even if it’s just to not sit in silence alone, call me. I’m here.”
“We both are,” her sister said.
I mustered a smile. “Thank you.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate everyone being there and helping, I just wanted to be alone with the two people I loved most. And not feel guilty about it.
Since Tristan was so tuned into my thoughts, he knew exactly what I wanted and needed. Without ceremony, he politely told our families it was time to go. They didn’t protest.
One by one, they said their goodbyes and filed out. The last one to leave was Eleanor. She gave me another one of those awkward hugs before she too slipped out of the house.
I didn’t wait for Tristan to shut the door before I hurried back to Millie’s room. She’d fallen asleep while we talked to Mac and was still out cold. My heart twisted inside my chest.
What had this poor kid gone through?
Mac assured me Arthur had taken good care of her. Well, as good as a captor could take care of his captee. But eating well and having a decent place to sleep didn’t mean shit when you were scared out of your mind.
With a fresh batch of tears teetering on my lids, I slipped into bed with my girl and pulled her close to me. Maybe we’d all be a little broken after this, but at least, we had each other.
“I’ve never been as scared as I was these past three days,” Tristan whispered when he too climbed onto the bed. He was on the other side, putting Millie between us.
My gaze met his, the same shininess reflected in his eyes that was in mine.
Reaching over, he tucked a few wayward curls behind my ear. They bounced back almost immediately. He smiled.
“Marry me.”
“We’re already married,” I said, my own smile lifting my lips.
He shook his head. “Marry me again. Not because you have to, because you want to.”
My heart stuttered. He and Millie were the glue that held my broken pieces together. They were my forever.
Smoothing my hand over his stubbly jaw, I said the only thing I could.
“Yes.”