Chapter 19 #2
I step closer to Jaxon, my pulse swooshing through my ears. “I never told you the driver left the scene, so how the fuck do you know what happened?”
He broadens his shoulders and doesn’t answer right away. That tells me everything I need to know.
“You have someone watching her.” The realization hits me like a freight train. “You have security on her, don’t you?”
“Cash—”
“Don’t lie to me right now.” My voice rises, and I don’t care who hears. “You’ve been following her. That’s how you knew about the crash. That’s how you got here so fast.”
He runs his hand over his perfectly trimmed beard, exhaustion bleeding through his controlled exterior. “Yes, I have a security team that monitors situations when necessary.”
“Situations?” I bark out a bitter laugh. “You mean you’ve been stalking her.”
“I’ve been keeping her safe.” His tone sharpens.
“Have you? Because from where I’m standing it looks like she’s in a lot more danger than I thought she was.” I curl my hands into fists at my sides. “Does she know you have people watching her?”
“No.”
“Of course she doesn’t.” I trek away from him, then spin back. “How long have you had surveillance on her?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“The hell it isn’t! The woman I love is being spied on by you so you can control some outcome you wanna orchestrate.” I step into his space, forcing him to either back down or stand his ground. “Answer the question, Jaxon. How long?”
He holds my stare, unflinching. “Since last night.”
“Last night.” I process that timeline. “Right after you saw us together in the hallway.”
“Not right after.” He growls low under his breath. “She called me in the middle of the night saying she wasn’t…doing well. I knew she was with you and thought it would be best if I kept my distance.”
“Right. I’m supposed to believe Jaxon Crowne would just step aside and let me have the woman he’s been seeing for over two fucking years.”
“Believe what you want, Cash.”
“I think you put security on her because you were jealous.” That would be funny if it weren’t so fucked up. “The great Jaxon Crowne, billionaire venture capitalist, so insecure about losing his girlfriend that he has to have her followed.”
“It wasn’t about jealousy.” His voice drops to something dangerous. “It was about keeping her alive.”
That stops me cold. “What do you mean by that?”
“It means there are people who would use her to get to me. My world is more dangerous than you could possibly understand. I’ve spent over two years keeping her safe from threats you don’t even know exist.”
“What kind of threats?”
“The kind that gets people killed.” He turns away, gazing out the window at the parking lot. “The kind that made me give her that house so she’d have somewhere secure. The kind that made me push her away when I should have been fighting for her.”
My anger shifts to something closer to unease. “Are you saying someone targeted her? That the accident wasn’t random and you know who did it?”
“I don’t know yet.” He faces me again. “But a black SUV with no license plates, hitting her, and fleeing the scene? That doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“Fuck you, Jaxon. How could you put her in that kind of danger?”
“I’m trying to keep her protected.”
“Do you love her?”
He glances away and gives a subtle nod.
What’s that about?
Something lands wrong in my gut by how he’s acting. It comes to me with a soft instinct.
I’m dissecting something he doesn’t want me to know. They’ve been hiding their relationship, so maybe…
I push for more information. “Does she know you love her?”
His spine straightens, and he glares.
“What? The billionaire who runs circles around everyone can’t share his emotions.” I smirk in disgust. “She doesn’t know.”
“This situation has nothing—”
“But secrets, ready to destroy anyone and everyone who uncovers your truth. You’ve been keeping your relationship hidden. You didn’t know she was pregnant. Fucking hell, she told me you left her to go on some business trip. And now I get why she was so upset.”
Jaxon’s face turns red. “I will not discuss anything to do with my personal life with you. Do you understand, or do you need me to make it clear?”
I hold his guarded stance. “I understand more than you want me to.”
His eyes twitch as if he gets what I’m alluding to. If they were solid in their love for each other, they would be together. Instead, she’s been with me while he was gone. I still have a chance, and he just confirmed it.
I shrug and raise my eyebrows. “Now that we see this for what it is, who would want to hurt her, Jaxon?”
He pauses for a few beats as he seems to realize I have as much power in this situation as he does.
He steps closer to me, and his expression hardens. “I have enemies, Cash. Enemies who know hurting the people I care about is the best way to get to me. That’s why I have security on her. That’s why I need to know everything you saw.”
I want to stay angry with him and use this surveillance revelation as another reason to hate the man who almost stole my future. But the fear in his voice is real. The concern seeping through his controlled facade is genuine.
“The driver looked directly at me before he sped off.” I replay the moment in my head. “The whole thing felt calculated, like he was making sure I saw him.”
“Besides the details you gave to the police. Is there anything else you can tell me that could help me figure out who did this to her?”
I relax my stance because Jaxon can give me the information I want. “The driver didn’t panic. He backed up, stared me down, and left. Like he accomplished exactly what he came to do.”
Jaxon pulls out his phone and starts typing. “I’m sending this information to my security team. They’ll coordinate with the police investigation.”
“Your security team?” I shake my head. “How many people do you have working for you?”
“Enough to keep my loved ones safe.” He pockets his phone. “And before you ask, yes, they’ll find whoever did this.”
“And then what?”
His gaze meets mine and something cruel flashes in his eyes. “Then they’ll wish they’d never touched her.”
The threat is clear. This isn’t the polished businessman who backed my label. This is someone darker, someone willing to do whatever it takes to protect what’s his.
I huff out a chuckle. “She’s gonna be pissed when she finds out you have people watching her.”
“I know.” He leans against the wall, some of the fight draining out of him. “But I’d rather have her angry and alive than trusting and dead.”
A nurse appears in the doorway before I can respond. “Excuse me, gentlemen. We’re moving Ms. Parks to the ICU for continued monitoring. If you’d like to follow me, I can show you to the waiting area on that floor.”
“ICU?” My stomach drops. “I thought you said she was stable.”