Devotion - Chapter 6 #3
He nodded.
"I may have said something to Officer Daugherty about how you'd be reconsidering your generous donations to the police force.
And he may have insinuated that our case was now a low priority.
I'm sorry." There was no need to talk about why I had snapped.
This wasn't the time for that. I'd ask James about his record later.
James laughed. "I kind of figured that about our case anyway. My private investigator is coming by the apartment in about half an hour. I wanted to make sure he saw the pictures and notes before the police took them."
"You have a private investigator?"
James nodded.
"And a security detail?"
He nodded again.
"Have you ever used them before?"
"I've used the private investigator to help get Isabella to sign the divorce papers. And I may have gotten him to give me some information about you before we started dating."
I laughed. But it didn't look like he was kidding. "Seriously?"
"It's not like I found anything out. Like I said earlier, you don't have a record or anything. All he got me was that you were a good student and your home address or something like that."
I shook my head. "You're so ridiculous. And what about the security detail? Have you used them before?"
"I use them all the time."
"Since we've been together?"
"Especially since we've been together."
"Why have I never seen them before then?"
"I pay them to not be seen. But they'll be swinging by the apartment too. I'll want you to know who they are if you see something or if you feel like you're in danger."
"What do they do exactly?"
"They do hourly perimeter checks outside our apartment and office. And they attend any functions we go to. They were even at the party my parents threw us."
"Wait, really? Where were they when Isabella slapped me?"
"Isabella hadn't been on the list of potential threats. We probably should have told Officer Daugherty that she hit you. He might have taken us more seriously then."
"List of potential threats?" I asked, ignoring his comment about being slapped. Officer Daugherty definitely wasn't going to help us now either way. "Who is on the list?"
"Just a handful of people."
"Like...who?"
"They're just possible threats, Penny. It's nothing serious."
"Who's on the list?"
He shifted in his seat. "Only a few people.
Joseph Moreno, the CEO of an online security company I had to fire for security breaches.
He wasn't happy with the loss of the Blive Tech account, and made some disturbing promises that I hope he doesn't deliver on.
Richard Sutton, who filed a lawsuit against me after he claimed I stole his idea.
I didn't, by the way. Brian Vega, who founded a startup that I buried when I launched Hunter Tech.
His technology advancements were outdated as soon as we launched.
I've gotten death threats from him. Albert Dalton, who owns an oil company.
One I definitely wasn't invested in. He sends me threatening letters sometimes about how I'm ruining the economy by looking for new energy sources.
Marc Hatfield, a Harvard acquaintance who's always asking me for money.
I actually have no idea who he is. I'm pretty sure he's crazy.
And Kristen Dwyer. It's really not a big deal.
It's just in case. I like to be proactive. "
"Kristen Dwyer? Who is that?"
"Just a student I had that I thought was stalking me. I should probably remove her from the list. It was a long time ago."
"From New York or Newark?"
"Newark. I had her the same time I was teaching you actually."
"And you thought she was stalking you?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she was. But she has a boyfriend now and I really don't think she's a threat anymore."
"Did your private investigator find that out for you?"
"No, actually, I ran into her during my bachelor party."
"Did she follow you there?"
He laughed. "No, she was there for her friend's bachelorette party. By the way, did Rob tell you about Daphne yet?"
"Daphne? No. I was too self-absorbed last night. You know, crying everywhere and missing you."
He grabbed my hand. "Well, you're going to like her. I think she's coming to the rehearsal dinner tonight."
"Wait, Rob is dating someone?"
"You sound surprised."
"Of course I'm surprised. He never stays in one place for more than five minutes. He must really like her."
"I think he does. And she's good for him. She seems really grounded. He needs that."
I smiled. "I think you're right about that. Maybe he's finally ready for some roots. Is she from New York?"
"Yeah, she lives like fifteen minutes away from us.
"That's even better. It would be awesome if Rob moved to New York. Besides, the girls he was chasing on campus were much too young for him."
James laughed. "Maybe it's a Hunter thing."
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. "Maybe." I scooted over in my seat and leaned my head against James' shoulder.
He immediately put his arm around me.
"I love you so much, James."
He kissed my temple. "Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for giving me another chance. I love you too."
His arm had tightened around me when he spoke.
Isabella had gotten into his head too. I could tell that he was still struggling with the fact that he thought his love was twisted with addiction because of her.
But that was okay. We'd work through that together.
I had my whole life to convince him that what we had was purely love.
I had my whole life to convince him just how amazing he was.