Chapter 22 #2
The three most precious words in the world. Had he even understood how precious until he lost her?
“Did we do this a lot?” Sleep teased at her words.
He smiled at the faint slurring. “Have sex on the kitchen table?”
“No.” Husky laughter. “Though I may not ever eat on that table again, just so you know.”
His smile stretched. He’d rather enjoyed eating at that table.
“I mean…” Her hand curled over his. “Sleep together. In here. Just curl up and drift away.”
“Sometimes.” She was the first woman who’d ever spent the night in his home. He’d never been the long-term type, until her.
Actually, in the beginning, his plans for Melody had been quite different. Guilt stirred and tried to steal some of the happiness he’d been feeling. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
He didn’t think she’d even heard those words. He knew sleep had pulled at her but…
Melody turned in his arms. She faced him, their heads close on pillows that were separated by inches. “For what?”
For too many things. “I wasn’t always…good enough for you.” Who the hell was he kidding? He still wasn’t good enough.
Her hand rose and pressed to his cheek. His stubble had to scrape her skin.
Did I scrape her thighs?
“I think you’re plenty good enough,” Melody assured him. “Actually, I think you’re pretty incredible.”
I think you are the most important person in my world. Victor sucked in a breath. “I love you.”
Again, soft laughter. Her hand lingered against his cheek. “I know. You don’t keep hot chocolate ingredients for people you don’t love.” She snuggled closer. Yawned. Then she stiffened. “Oh, no! Victor!”
“What is it?” Had she remembered something else?
“Your arm! The graze!” Her fingers fluttered over the bandage he wore. A damn unnecessary one, in his opinion. “Did I hurt you?”
Yes. When you left, you destroyed me. “No. Not at all.” He exhaled slowly. The darkness surrounded them. The quiet. The bed had felt so empty without her. He’d missed her more than she would ever realize.
She hadn’t known about him for the last year.
He’d thought about her every single day. And night. The nights had been the hardest.
He’d lived with grief. He’d lived with rage. And he’d lived with guilt. Because there were words he hadn’t said to her before, words that he damn well should have said. He would never hesitate with her again. “I should have told you a thousand times that I loved you.”
“V-Victor?” Soft. Again, sleepy. She’d probably been about to drift off when he spoke.
“Sometimes, I think I should have told you the first day that I met you. But I didn’t.
” Instead, he’d schemed and planned and tried so hard to get her to belong to him.
“I even proposed, and you said that you loved me.” Just saying the words left an ache in his heart.
“Baby, when you said you loved me, those were the best words in the whole world. You loved me. I was stunned. Over the moon. You took the ring I had for you.” Three diamonds.
The biggest one had rested in the middle, framed by two matching diamonds on the side.
“You said for me to meet you at your house.” The words wouldn’t stop.
“I was going to tell you that I loved you as soon as we got to your place. Only you weren’t there.
I never got to say the words to you.” Victor stopped.
Silence.
Hell. Had she fallen asleep? Missed his big confession? There was no light to see her face. “I love you,” he said again. He wouldn’t hold back this time. Everything would be different. “I’ve always loved you. Since the first moment.” There. Done. “And I always will.”
The silence stretched.
Yes, she was asleep. He should close his eyes, too. They had a long day ahead of them.
“I love you, too, Victor.”
His heart stopped. She was awake. She’d heard everything.
“And I think I always will,” she said.
“There’s something you need to know.” Victor reached into the briefcase that he’d carried into the back of the limo.
Jenner drove the limo. Melody sat near Victor. She’d changed into gray dress pants. Boots. A warm, green sweater.
Victor wore all back. Pants. Sweater. Gleaming dress shoes.
He handed her a manila file. “That came from your father’s estate.”
Frowning, she reached for the file. She could see the CONFIDENTIAL stamp on the side.
“Your fingerprints were inside the file. That’s what Hunter used for a point of comparison with you, but, fingerprints or not, I know who you are.”
The limo slowed for a traffic light. It was early, and no other cars were on the slick road. They were bound for Mage Industries. Would more memories come to her once they got to the building? Melody wasn’t sure. But going there was certainly worth a shot.
They were being tailed by a black SUV. Two guards were inside.
Those guards had been waiting outside of Victor’s house that morning.
Calista Connors and Luis Ortega. Victor had explained that Luis was former FBI while Calista had worked as an agent with Wilde Security for years before branching out on her own.
Did Melody think it was overkill to have the guards trailing them?
Um, no, she thought it was awesome. But her fingers fluttered through the papers.
A frown tugged at her lips as she realized that she was reading an arrest report.
“I stole a car?” She hunched over the records.
“Brant McKee…” Her stomach seemed to do a little dip as she read the name.
“I…” Melody glanced up. “This was a long time ago.”
Victor nodded. “Keep reading.”
She shuffled through the papers. “I can’t believe I stole a car.”
“You didn’t, sweetheart. Brant did. The asshole didn’t tell you that he’d taken a stolen ride until after the sheriff pulled you both over. No charges were filed against you, but the sheriff kept those details that you see, and I think he used them to blackmail your father.”
She scanned through the report and…wait. A second incident assessment. She read the details. Twice. “I had broken ribs?” That dip in her stomach turned into a twist. “How did my ribs get broken?” She kept reading, faster.
“You broke up with Brant,” Victor told her. “Guess you didn’t like hanging out with a thief.”
“He hit me.” Her grip tightened on the file.
“Hatterson was there. Hatterson stopped him. Called the sheriff and—what?” There.
The incident report ended. Just ended. There were no notes.
No pictures. Nothing. She thumbed through the file, searching desperately for info that wasn’t there.
“What happened after that? Did the guy go to jail?”
“No, he went to military school.”
The limo turned to the left.
“Military school?”
“And he’s currently running for attorney general in Maryland.”
“Bastard,” she breathed.
“Yeah, I think he is.”
She stared down at the notes in the file. “I don’t remember any of this.”
“You never mentioned it to me.”
Her head snapped up.
“I found out about it when I got the report and the fingerprints from your father’s safe.
You never told me that you’d been hurt.” A pause.
“If you had told me, I would have wrecked him. Now that I do know, I’ve already taken steps to make sure that he will not be the next attorney general in Maryland. ”
“Taken steps? How?”
“While you were sleeping last night, I made a few phone calls. His big donors will no longer be interested in him. Hunter and some private investigators I know are digging hard into Brant’s recent relationships. I want to know who else he hurt. I want to know if—”
“If he had anything to do with my disappearance?” Her temples throbbed.
“Yes.”
“Had I—had I talked to him, I mean, before my disappearance?”
“No clue, baby. I didn’t even know that you’d talked to Detective Clinton before your appearance.” He scraped a hand over his jaw. “Speaking of the detective, aren’t you going to ask me about Colton Crane?”
Her lashes fluttered. “Am I supposed to ask about him?” She was rather busy dealing with one bombshell at a time.
This Brant McKee jackass hurt me? And now he’s going to be some attorney general?
Except, Victor was saying that wouldn’t happen.
He was saying he’d stopped the man’s whole political future with just a snap of his fingers.
She tried to process everything. Consider possibilities. Had Brant been involved in her disappearance? Just the thought of the guy had unease pricking at the nape of her neck.
“You are supposed to ask about Crane. Seeing as how a detective told you I nearly beat the man to death, I thought you might be somewhat curious.”
She held the file tighter. “Okay. I’ll ask.” Her gaze drifted over his hard features. Lingered. “Did you attack this Colton Crane individual?” Melody fully expected him to say no—
“Yes.”
“Pardon?” She must have misheard.
“Yes, I beat the hell out of him. Left him in a crying, bleeding heap on the floor. If others hadn’t pulled me off the SOB, I might have killed him.” One eyebrow quirked. “Got any other questions for me?”