“Those pictures were delivered to Roanna earlier today,” Emmie informed me. “Mr. Lewis here was hired on her behalf by Judge Blaylock to follow you around and find proof that you were stepping out on her.”
That goddamn bastard. He couldn’t touch Roanna or me because Emmie had friends in high places, so he was trying to sabotage our relationship.
“I didn’t. The only reason we were at that damn club was because of Harris and Lucy.” I dared to take my eyes off Roanna long enough to look at the redhead. “Something they said you set up.”
She nodded. “I did, and I don’t need any details about anything that happened concerning Lucy. I would much rather keep those images of my niece out of my head, thank you.”
“No one has any of those images but Harris,” I assured her.
“Maybe you should tell us what was going on in those pictures. I can’t tell if you were just really drunk or…yeah. From what Lewis has told us, only his man and Roanna have a copy of the pictures, but just in case I suddenly get calls from the vultures, I need to have at least a little of the truth to tell them.”
I turned my gaze back to Roanna, still cupping her face, still unsettled by her calmness. “I was drunk. We went to a bar before the club, and I overdid it during the whiskey tasting Jace set up. Then when we got to the strip club, I drank a lot of beer. By the time those pictures were taken, I was fucked up. But I didn’t touch her, Ro.”
“Okay.”
That damn word again. But hearing it again, I noticed her voice sounded hoarse. I stroked a thumb over her bottom lip. It was cracked pretty badly, and her complexion was off. “Are you sick?”
“I’ve had strep throat all weekend. I just started feeling better this morning.”
“Baby, you should have told me. I would have come home and taken care of you.”
She shook her head. “Which was why I didn’t tell you. You wanted to go to Vegas with your friends, and I wasn’t going to be the reason you didn’t.”
“You’re more important than a stupid trip,” I said, pressing my lips to her forehead.
“If I may?” I stiffened at the sound of Lewis’s voice for the first time. Looking over at him, I saw he was shuffling the files in his hands. “Sorry to interrupt, but I had a feeling you were about to grab your girl and go, sir. Judge Blaylock asked me to put a full file together on you, Mr. Sinclair. Luckily for us both, I hadn’t turned it over to him yet.”
“Shit,” I muttered, knowing what he’d probably found from my past. Roanna already knew about Brandi, but no one else did except for Dad.
“My guy was able to locate and speak by phone with a Mrs. Brandi Sinclair. After discussing your run-in with the judge with Mrs. Armstrong, I think it’s safe to say no one wants anything from that conversation falling into the man’s hands.”
“I’m going to kill him,” I seethed.
“There was also mention of a boy,” Lewis continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “There was a question of paternity in which you were ruled out as the father after a DNA test. But based on the fact that there was a question who fathered the child, I gather that would create a media field day all its own.”
“Emmie,” I gritted out. “I want the judge to go away, or I’m seriously going to kill the old fuck. It’s bad enough that he was trying to put my relationship with Ro in jeopardy. Now he’s digging into my past and stirring up things I will commit murder to keep there if that’s what it takes.”
“I’m already on it,” she assured me. “Lewis here is good at his job, as are his employees, but I have my own guy on retainer. I did a full background check on the judge and his grandson after what happened at the movies that night. Seller is meticulous. I have so much dirt on Blaylock, he will be begging for mercy by the time I’m finished with him. Looks like he didn’t get the message last time when I turned over a little of what I have on him to his rival. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.”
She pulled something from her desk and handed it to Lewis. “This is a nondisclosure agreement.” As he signed it, she handed him a check. “This is for your services. Give the judge his money back or not, I don’t care, but this is for the work you did.”
&n
bsp; The man barely put up an argument over the money and was out the door minutes later. The entire time, I just stood there, holding on to Roanna. She was stiff as a board in my arms. Those walls I tore down were back up, reinforced and encased in steel.
Fuck that.
I’d take a blow torch to them if I had to.
I couldn’t lose her over this.
I wouldn’t lose her.
Ever.
Chapter 26
Roanna