Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Mission accomplished. Cillian had ended two threats against Victoria. The threat of death posed by an unlikely murder suspect and the threat of arrest by a vindictive police detective would no longer haunt her.
Cillian sat on the sofa in Victoria’s living room, watching the woman of his dreams as she perched on the edge of the armchair’s cushion and texted her siblings.
The steady red light of her ankle monitor peeked out from beneath the hem of her pants. The cops should’ve taken that off right away when they’d arrested Glenn. But Detective McCully had claimed he couldn’t until the court order was reversed or ended.
Cillian would need to check into that tomorrow. McCully was probably just hoping he could still hang the murder rap on Victoria somehow. He sure had seemed put out over needing to arrest Glenn instead.
“There.” She looked up from her phone, her hazel eyes finding Cillian.
“Hopefully, that will prevent any disasters at dinner. None of my siblings will be arriving as early as I plan to, though Hank is likely home already.” Stress creased her forehead.
“In theory, now that they know the killer has been apprehended, none of them will be tempted to discuss the matter in front of our father.”
“Great.” Cillian’s tone probably showed too much of his ambivalence. He couldn’t care less if her father was disturbed at his birthday dinner.
She glanced at her watch. “Oh, my.” She stood. “I need to get going. I need to tell Sydney about dinner in the refrigerator, and then I’ll change.”
“Did she seem a little weird to you when we got here?”
Victoria met his gaze. “I thought so. Anxious, perhaps. I’m not sure why.” She gave him a weak smile. “Well, thank you for everything today.”
His mouth twitched with the urge to grin. “Is that your way of saying you want me to leave now?”
She glanced away. “I’m no longer in any danger, and I do need to get ready.”
“You just don’t want me to see you in the dress.” He let the grin loose.
A blush colored her cheeks even as she shook her head in exasperation.
The buzz of his phone interrupted the fun exchange. He sighed and grabbed the device off the coffee table.
Marsha Faint.
The plaintiff in the malpractice suit against Victoria’s father. What would she want?
“Sorry.” He lifted the phone as he got to his feet. “I have to take this.”
“Of course. I need to go anyway.” She walked out of the room, saving him from needing to move somewhere private to take the call. She probably thought he would leave her house now, but there was no way he was going to miss the chance to see her looking even more beautiful and dressed up than usual.
He pressed the phone to his ear. “Mrs. Faint, good to hear from you.”
A pause.
“Are you the one who came to my house, asking about Dr. Weston?”
“Yes, ma’am. Cillian Doherty.”
“Is your grandmother going to sue him for malpractice?”
“She’s still trying to figure out if she should. She doesn’t have much money, and her health isn’t good.” Adding more reasons for Mrs. Faint to feel sympathetic wouldn’t hurt.
“Well, I feel this is the right thing for me to do then. I need to tell the truth about what happened.”
He waited, anticipation building in his chest.
“Tell your grandma it could be dangerous.”
“Dangerous? How would it be dangerous?”
She paused again. “Is anyone there with you?” Her voice grew quieter, even more cautious.
“No, ma’am. Please tell me what kind of danger my grandma could be in.”
“When I had a lawyer sue Dr. Weston, I started getting phone calls.” She stopped again.
“What kind of calls, Mrs. Faint?”
“From a man. I don’t know who he was. But he said I should drop the lawsuit if I didn’t want to get hurt. Things like that.”
Whoa. Had Weston really stooped to threats and intimidation? He wouldn’t have made such calls himself, of course. Probably hired someone.
“And then one night, I’m sure there was someone sitting in a car across the street, watching me. I told my lawyer to drop the suit the day after that. I don’t have anyone to protect me.”
Poor woman. The heat of anger pumped through Cillian’s torso. What a coward Weston was, hiring thugs to scare a lonely old lady. “Did you report any of this to the police?”
“No, my lawyer was concerned I didn’t have enough evidence to do so.”
Cillian clenched his jaw. Maybe the lawyer had been paid off by Weston, too. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Mrs. Faint.”
“I just don’t want the same thing to happen to your grandma. I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate your kindness in telling me. I’ll pass the information along.” To Dr. Weston himself.
“Good. It’s just not worth going through that.”
“You’re probably right. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you now or in the future. You have my number.”
“What a sweet boy. Your grandma must be so proud of you.”
If he actually had one.
“Take care of her and yourself, young man.”
“Yes, ma’am, I will. You have a good night.”
He ended the call and slid the phone into his back pocket.
Tension twisted his muscles. Maybe he should go to Henry Weston now, birthday dinner or not, and confront him with what he’d done to the sweet old lady.
For intimidating and threatening her into keeping silent about the malpractice.
Which he was clearly guilty of, since he’d resorted to such tactics to keep her quiet.
Cillian ground his teeth together as he stared at nothing in Victoria’s living room.
He’d hoped to find dirt on Weston this way, but the truth of it was dirtier than even he had expected.
Victoria’s father was worse than he’d thought.
How would she take learning that he was guilty of malpractice and threatening an elderly patient?
Pushing a hand through his hair, Cillian blew out a breath. He had the leverage he needed now. But should he use it?
The truth could hurt Victoria pretty badly.
And she might not thank him for exposing it.
If he worked her father the right way, Henry Weston would meet Cillian’s demands to keep the truth from everyone, including his family.
Cillian could get Weston to stop controlling Victoria, and she would never need to know why or hear of her father’s potentially criminal actions.
But it was a risky play. It could go sideways and have the wrong effect on Victoria.
She was trusting Cillian a lot now as he tried to help her do the right things. She’d even joined him in trailing and capturing Glenn, despite her fear of disobeying the police and irritating her father.
It was another great sign that she was pulling away from Henry Weston, getting free from his hold bit by bit as Cillian helped her to do so.
Yeah. He didn’t need to use his leverage over her father yet. He’d keep it in his back pocket to pull out if necessary. He wasn’t going to let Victoria waste any more of her life in the doctor’s control. But things were looking very good right now, and—
“Cillian? Are you still here?” Victoria’s voice carried in front of her from the hallway where she appeared, Sydney trailing behind her. “Oh, good.”
His thoughts exactly. Or more like wow and incredible.
Victoria Weston was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen no matter what she wore.
But the formal green dress she’d changed into took her natural attractiveness to a whole different level.
The floor-length dress had long sleeves and a wide, curved neckline that revealed only her slim neck and a hint of her shoulders before modestly draping her slim figure, hinting at her curves and highlighting her undeniable femininity. She looked like a queen.
He opened his mouth to say so.
“Sydney wants to tell us something together.” Victoria’s serious tone held an edge of urgency that stopped him from voicing his admiration.
He managed to drag his gaze from her and glance at the short girl in a tank and sweatpants that stretched around her pregnant belly.
“You’ve both been so nice to me, and I know you want to help. And your brother said it would really help me.” Sydney paused, her eyes widened and her face a little pale. “So I want to tell you what you’ve been asking.”
The sentence didn’t quite make sense, but he got the gist.
“We do want to help you, Sydney. You can trust us.” Victoria touched the girl’s arm.
“Okay.” Sydney took in a deep breath as she intertwined her fingers and held her hands under her chin. “His name is Lawrence Massey.”
The girl had Cillian’s attention now. “That’s the name of the baby’s father?”
She nodded.
“Is he married?” Cillian might as well ask while Sydney was in a sharing mood.
“Yeah. That’s why he didn’t want me to tell. He’s going to get a divorce.”
Poor, gullible kid. Taken advantage of by an adult who was supposed to be a man but was instead a child rapist. One who needed to get his comeuppance for that.
Cillian swung his gaze to Victoria.
Her face had turned whiter than Sydney’s and her eyes even larger. Did she know the father of Sydney’s baby?
Victoria’s heart rate beat an unhealthy rhythm in her chest as she tried to find the air that had whooshed from her lungs at Sydney’s declaration.
But she couldn’t say anything negative or alarming in front of the teen. She swallowed. “Thank you for telling us. I know that took courage.”
Sydney nodded, her expression and the way she tangled her hands together indicating she was still uncertain and apprehensive. “What are you going to do?” Her gaze darted from Victoria to Cillian.
He watched Victoria with his eyebrows lowered. He would certainly have perceived her alarm, given how in tune he seemed to be with her emotions recently.
Victoria answered for them. “I don’t know yet.”
“Could you just try to have him call me or text? I want him to know when I have our baby.” Sydney rested her hand on her round stomach and the new life housed there.