Holly shrugged. “Nothing much.”
“She’s bruised and she needs to take it easy for a while. Lots of bed rest and nothing stressful,” Brax told him.
“The baby?” Derrick asked.
“We saw him or her on the ultrasound,” Holly said excitedly. “It was amazing. I was shocked by how clear it was.”
Derrick grinned. “It is pretty amazing, isn’t it? They just did another ultrasound on Jacey and it’s something I’ll never get tired of seeing.” It had been a great relief to see the baby dancing around inside her.
“Oh, how is Jacey? And Ava? Brax won’t let me get up and visit them.”
“The doctor said you’re to rest,” Brax told her.
“The doctor also said I could go home,” Holly told him sternly. “Stop being such a fussy old man.”
“Honey, you’re just racking up the punishments.”
Holly waved him away. “You won’t punish me while I’m recovering from an accident and pregnant.”
“No, but I’m keeping a little notebook with all your transgressions. Once this baby is born and you’re fully recovered, you and I are going to have a day of reckoning.”
“Just a day?” Derrick asked dryly as Holly gulped.
“You know, you’re not supposed to upset me,” Holly accused.
Brax immediately grew pale. “Christ, I’m sorry, Holly. Are you okay? Any cramps?”
“That was mean,” Derrick told Holly.
She sighed, looking guilty. “You’re right. Brax, I’m sorry, I never should have said that. I feel fine. I promise.”
“You’re right, though, I’m supposed to be keeping you calm.”
“And you are. I’m just being a brat.” She grabbed his hand, squeezing it. Then she turned to Derrick.
“So Jacey and the baby are okay?”
“Jacey has some bruising. They want to keep her in another day since she had some bleeding. I’ve just seen Ava, she’s had the all-clear to go home. They’re waiting on the discharge papers.”
“Thank God.”
Brax frowned. “In your text last night, you said it might be deliberate?”
“From what Jacey told me, yes, I believe so.”
“That’s what I think too,” Holly agreed. “No way was it an accident. He just kept coming at us, Max couldn’t get away. Then after the crash, he must have decided to come back for us. I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but Jacey seemed to think it was the same car. I don’t know how she knew, but it was really suspicious when nobody came running to help us. He quickly took off when another car started to approach. Who would want to hurt us, though? Was it something to do with Roarke since it was his car?”
“Good guess, love, but we’re pretty sure they were after Jacey.”
“Jacey, why?” Brax asked.
“Jacey’s husband abused her. She left him a few months ago and she’s been hiding from him ever since. She thinks he’s out to kill her. I need to get all the details from her, but I’m also worried about upsetting her too much. This needs to be done delicately, when she feels safe and secure.”
Brax nodded.
“How horrible,” Holly said, looking at him shocked. “I just can’t imagine anyone abusing Jacey. She’s so fragile and sweet. I admit, at first I was a bit taken aback by how quickly you’d moved her into your house and I kind of thought she might be a gold-digger, but after spending the day with her, I realized she’s kind of shy. She’s so sweet and lovely. That bastard.”
Derrick nodded in agreement. “Anyway, I wanted to warn you guys to be on the alert. If it is Jacey’s ex, I don’t think he’ll come after any of you. But in case we’re wrong about any of this, I’d be much happier if you accepted some extra security.”
“Security?” Brax asked.
“I’ve spoken to Roarke, he’s got a good security system, but he’s going to hire some men to watch the house. I’d like to do the same for you guys. Let me hire a few men to watch over your place.”
“Derrick, don’t you think you’re overreacting, I mean, you should be worried about Jacey’s security, not ours,” Holly said.
“Oh, believe me, her security is very much on my mind. But you are my family, the two of you. I need to make sure you’re protected.”
Brax was silent for a long moment. Derrick wasn’t sure if he would take him up on his offer. It had taken a lot of talking before Brax allowed him to buy Holly a new car. Brax was a proud man and he made a good living with his construction business, but he didn’t have the money to pay for round-the-clock security. Derrick just hoped he’d push past his pride and see that this was for the best.
“All right,” he replied with a nod. “But only if you promise to keep us updated and for God’s sake, be careful.”
Derrick nodded with relief. “Don’t worry. I intend to ensure that I live a long and healthy life.”
***
Jacey looked around Derrick’s bedroom as he placed her gently on the bed. “I never thought I’d be so pleased to be back in this bed.” She stuck out her lower lip. “Though I’m getting really tired of resting. Couldn’t I just sit on the sofa in the living room? I promise not to move around.”
Derrick shook his head. “Sorry, baby. The doctor said you were to have a few more days of bed rest then you could slowly resume your normal activities.”
“Like I even know what normal is anymore,” she muttered as he stripped off her clothes and helped her dress in one of his shirts.
“I know, beautiful. But one day we’ll get there. One day we’ll be so normal you’ll almost wish for a bit of excitement.”
She snorted. “I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.”
He sat beside her, gently pushing her hair back from her face. “When I think of how close I came to losing you and the little one…” his voice trailed off, actually cracking with his emotion.
“But you didn’t.” She grabbed hold of his hand, placing it on her belly. “We’re fine. The doctor said so.”
“And I’m going to make sure you stay that way.”
Jacey sighed. “It’s time to tell you everything, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I need to know it all.”
“Okay, where do I start?” she muttered to herself. She leaned back against the pillows he’d put behind her. “Well, if I’d had the courage, I would have left Stephan long before I did. When he first started abusing me, I should have packed up my bags and taken off.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I thought that for once in my life I was doing the right thing by staying married to him. All my life I’d been a failure, a mistake. I was born the wrong sex, I wrecked my mother’s body so she couldn’t have other children, denying my parents the boy they’d always wanted.”
“Baby, you can’t know that.”
“Oh, but I do,” she said matter-of-factly. “Because they told me.”
Derrick clenched his hands against the anger rising through him. How could her parents have done that? Parents should protect and look after their children, love and guide them. Not destroy their self-esteem.
“When did they tell you this?”
“When I was eight years old and pestering them for a puppy,” she said. “My mother turned to me, told me that I was never getting a dog so I should stop asking. She said I should be thankful to get a roof over my head and food on my plate, and that the only reason they kept me around was for appearances. I wasn’t wanted, wasn’t loved and I wouldn’t ever get anything I asked for.”
Derrick felt like murdering the old bitch.
“I don’t think I ever asked for anything again.” She glanced at him and must have seen the rage on his face. “Oh, it wasn’t all bad. I received a fantastic education. I was sent to the best schools, I had ballet lessons and riding lessons, and despite her words, I never went hungry or without anything.”
Except love, affection, acceptance.
“I tried to make them notice me with
good grades, by doing everything they asked. Somehow it was never enough. Then one day, when I was home from College, my father brought home a young colleague of his. My father is a partner in a prestigious law firm.”
“Stephan was the young colleague?”
“Yes. Right away, he paid attention to me, he noticed me and for once my parents were pleased with me. It helped that Stephan seemed so charming and romantic. It was like he’d stepped right out of a romance book. He had a dominant streak, yet he could also be sensitive and caring. God, he had me fooled. I fell for him and I actually made my parents proud the day I married him.”
“Did you really fall for him or was it simply because for the first time you had your parents approval?” he asked.
She blinked, frowning. “Well, I’m not sure. A bit of both, maybe.”
“When he started abusing you, did you ever consider going to your parents for help?”
She blinked back tears. “No. I knew they wouldn’t help. They loved Stephan. As long as I was with him the relationship with my parents was better. Not great, but better.”
“Please don’t tell me that you stayed with him because of them.”
“Partly, maybe. I was too scared to leave him. I knew he wouldn’t let me go. I knew if I left that I would always be on the run, looking over my shoulder, afraid.”
“So what made you leave in the end?”
She cleared her throat, her distress easy to see.
“Baby, we can wait to do this if you’re not feeling up to it.”
“No,” she told him, holding his hand tighter. “I need to tell you everything. It’s just hard to remember. Stephan has this half-brother, Evan. We didn’t see a lot of him, thank goodness. He scared me, he was always watching me with these cold eyes. I knew he didn’t have much of a conscience and I could never understand why Stephan was so close to him.
“Stephan was very big on image, he was forever dictating to me about the way to act and dress in public. Honestly, you’d have thought he was royalty, the way he carried on. Evan was coarse and rude, he dressed in jeans and t-shirts, watched football and when he drank he became more obnoxious. All things Stephan would never dream of doing. He wanted to promote himself as a perfect, upstanding family man. But then I found out exactly what Evan’s function in Stephan’s life was.”
She swallowed, growing paler.
“Stephan had an assistant, Gerry. He was a nice man, well, he was always kind to me. Turns out, Gerry must have been gathering information about Stephan to blackmail him. I was supposed to be at my parents for a weekend visit, but they’d had to suddenly go to New York, so I came home early. No one heard me return, I guess. I thought no one was home. But as I walked toward the stairs, I heard this noise. For some reason I didn’t call out. I don’t know why, but I just tiptoed to Stephan’s study.”
Jacey licked her lips.
“The door was partially open. Inside…inside, Gerry was on his knees, his hands and feet tied. Evan had a gun held to Gerry’s head, while Stephan paced back and forth. Stephan was furious, I’d never seen him so angry. He was accusing Gerry of trying to blackmail him, of betraying him. He held this notebook in his hand. I don’t know what Gerry had on him, but it must have been significant for Stephan to be so angry.”
Christ. He knew where this was going. He could see her standing there, terrified, watching everything unfold.
“Gerry was crying, begging them to let him go, not to kill him. I-I wanted to do something, but it was like I was frozen, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak.”
“If you’d tried, they’d have killed you.”
She raised her gaze to his. “They still might,” she whispered. “Gerry was trying to explain, making up excuses. Stephan was nodding, as though he were actually listening. Then he grabbed a lighter and set the notebook on fire before throwing it in the fireplace. He was asking Gerry if there was any more evidence. Gerry kept saying no. Evan told Stephan he was lying. Evan stepped around Gerry and kicked him in the crotch. He fell onto his side, choking and screaming. That’s when I saw his face. They’d beaten him up, well, Evan must have. Stephan wouldn’t have lowered himself to actually doing anything physical. Gerry’s eyes were swollen, his nose looked broken.”
Derrick moved so he sat beside her. Leaning against the headboard, he pulled her onto his lap, holding her tight as he rocked her. Her body was shaking.
“Evan pulled him up onto his knees and whispered something to him. Stephan crouched down and looked at Gerry, told him that he’d made a big mistake by crossing him. Then he turned away and-and Evan, he shot him. One shot, right in the head.”
Her eyes were wide, her breath coming in short, shallow pants.
Derrick held her closer. “Jacey, look at me. Look at me,” he demanded. Immediately, her gaze met his. “He can’t hurt you.” He didn’t make it a question. There could be no doubt in her mind.
She nodded. Tears glistened in her eyes.
“Did they see you at the door?” he asked.
Jacey shook her head. “I thought I was screaming, but it must have been in my head because they didn’t turn to look at me. I-I stepped away from the room as quietly as I could. Then I left the house, got in my car and drove off. I just drove and drove. I stopped once and got some money out of an ATM. Then I drove again. When I was so exhausted I could barely think I checked in to a hotel under the name Jacey Reynolds and slept. When I woke up, I had to come up with a plan. I knew I had to disappear. So I sold my car and dumped my phone and all my ID.”
She rubbed her forehead tiredly and his heart ached at how alone and terrified she must have been.
“I knew it wouldn’t take Stephan long to figure things out. He would send Evan on my trail. I had about a thousand dollars and no idea what I was going to do. I figured I couldn’t do much without a social security number or ID, but I thought I might be able to get some sort of job, maybe rent a room. Start over. So I brought a bus ticket to Austin. I’d never been to Texas.”
“You were very brave.”
“I was terrified,” she confessed. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I always figured that Stephan would find me eventually and kill me, but after I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to do whatever I could to stay alive, at least until the baby was born.”
“He’s not going to get to either of you now.”
“But he can’t let me live, Derrick. He must have found me. Evan was probably the one driving that car the other night. They’ll kill me when they find me, and anyone who is helping me. Anyone close to me is in jeopardy.”
“I’m not without my own resources. I know it must seem like Evan and Stephan are infallible, but they’re not. They’re just men.”
She shivered. “I’m not sure they are. They have no conscience. Evan actually smiled as he shot Gerry. He liked it. And Stephan, he’s not any better. He gets Evan to do his dirty work, but he’s just as evil. They have no honor. They don’t fight fair.”
“Oh, baby, neither do I. Not when it comes to protecting those I love. Where I grew up you were either a leader or a follower. I always led. I know how to fight dirty and I know how to protect those I love. Now, tell me their names. Their full names.”
“Evan Sanders and Stephan Worthington.”
Derrick frowned for a last moment. “Stephan Worthington, I know that name.” Suddenly it hit him. “Jesus Christ, Stephan Worthington is the Illinois State Attorney General.”
She nodded. “Yes, and he’s planning on running for Governor. My full name is Jacinta Worthington. My father is George Peters of Peters, Reynolds and James. He’s backing Stephan’s campaign. What I know would ruin him and my father and his family. You see why he has to get rid of me?”
He’d known her husband must be someone with connections, but he hadn’t realized that he’d recognize his name. Stephan Worthington was good friends with the Vice President of the United States and had backing from a number of very prominent people. Shit, this would rock the State of
Illinois and work its way up to Washington D.C.
But he didn’t give a shit about any of that. His job was to look after Jacey and their baby.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let him or his brother anywhere near you. No matter who he is.”
Chapter Sixteen
Derrick sat back in his chair as he said goodbye to Roarke and ended the phone call. Jacey was upstairs sleeping. Christ, when he thought about what she’d gone through, he wanted to hunt down those two bastards himself.
But this required some more delicate manoeuvring, which is where Roarke came in. His friend had some far-reaching connections. Roarke had immediately promised to contact an old friend of his who owned a security firm. Hunter Black was a former Navy SEAL and his employees all had a military or Government background.
Roarke had assured Derrick that if anyone could keep Jacey safe and investigate Stephan Worthington then it was Hunter and his team. They’d be here in the morning. In the meantime, Derrick knew he wouldn’t be getting much sleep.
He stood up and paced across the room.
The more people who knew about this, the more danger Jacey would be in.
And any danger was unacceptable to him.
***
Jacey walked down the stairs, hearing voices coming from the living room. She didn’t want to intrude on a private meeting, so she moved toward the kitchen, coming to a standstill as she saw a large man carving up some meat. Thick sandwiches were piled high on a plate beside him.
He turned to look at her and she almost stepped back out of the room. He wasn’t that tall, but he was stocky. His tight t-shirt outlined the thick muscles of his arms and shoulders. His arm seemed larger than her thigh. A huge scar ran down the side of his face, the skin around it puckered, giving him a menacing look.
“W-who are you?” A burglar wouldn’t be standing there so calmly making sandwiches.
“Friend of Roarke’s.”
A friend of Roarke’s? Where was Derrick?
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Ahh, yes, I guess,” she replied.
Just For You, Sir (Doms of Decadence) Page 14
