I frowned at his words, feeling disappointment that surprised me.
“I have to stay a little later than normal tonight, but I’ll make it up to you when we get home.” I could hear the promise in his voice. “Is there any way Jill could sit with you until I get there? I know the cops will be watching the building, but I would feel better if someone stayed with you inside too. It should only be about thirty minutes later than normal.”
I could tell he felt like he was letting me down, so I tried to reassure him. “Yeah, that’s totally fine. I have some work I need to catch up on anyway.” I tried to sound more upbeat than I felt. The silence stretched like he was trying to believe my words. “Really, it’s okay, do what you need to do and then we can go home.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, bunny, I really will make it up to you. We can get takeout and watch some silly rom-com if you want. Maybe fool around on the couch during,” he offered, bringing a smile to my face.
“That sounds wonderful, babe. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
We hung up the phone and I got back to work. I didn’t know when it happened, but I had gotten so used to our little schedule. Having it thrown off had me feeling off-kilter. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
I was being ridiculous. It was only thirty minutes, and I could wait that long. Those boys had ramped up my expectations so much over the last month that I had a hard time dealing with not getting what I wanted when I wanted it, apparently.
About an hour later, people were starting to shut down their computers for the day when my cell rang again. I smiled, thinking it was Reid, but I was a little startled when I readDetective Santosacross the screen instead.
“I call with good news, Ms. Hart. We finally got a hit on your ex-husband. His credit card was charged to a motel about twelve miles away from your apartment.”
I felt a sigh of relief pass through me at the news. “Oh, thank God. What happens now?” I asked in a hopeful voice. I could feel my shoulders release some of the tension that had gathered there.
“Now, we go nail him. I already called the motel and spoke to the front desk clerk, and he confirmed that he checked Tom in himself, and he hasn’t left the room since. I wanted you to know just in case you got worried when the cruiser we have outside of your building left. They’re the closest ones to the motel, so they are going to head over and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere before I can get there.”
I looked out the nearest window, and sure enough, the squad car was backing out of the parking spot and turning its lights on. I smiled as I felt myself relax for the first time in days.
“Thank you so much, Damon. Let me know if you need anything else from me. I’m so glad this will finally be over.”
Looking back from the window, I saw Jill walking my way with her purse in hand. I waved at her to come over.
“The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to putting this asshole behind bars.”
We hung up, and I looked back up at Jill. “They found him!” I practically screamed. I winced as I looked around the office seeing that almost everyone was filing out now. The workday was over, but I couldn’t leave yet. Even though they had caught Tom, Reid would still be furious if I left without him with me, just in case.
“Are you sure?” Jill looked at me with a smile that I was sure matched mine. “Where the hell is he?”
With all the enthusiasm I felt, I relayed the conversation I had just had with Damon. only pausing to say goodnight to Sam as she left. Soon we were the only ones left in the office.
“It’s about damn time they catch his ass. I am so hooking you up with my lawyer now. We will make sure that man never sees the outside of a prison cell ever again,” she said with a wicked smirk.
I just smiled back at her. There was no point in arguing with her, she would win. Truth was, I would let her pursue anything she wanted to at that moment. I was just happy to finally get my life back. I couldn’t wait until Reid picked me up so I could tell him all about it. He and Heath would probably do a happy dance when I told them the news.
I started to put some of my files back away and clean up my desk. Reid would be here soon, and I wanted to be ready to go when he arrived.
Jill was rummaging through her purse when she put it down on my desk with a curse. “I must have forgotten my phone on my desk. I’m going to go to the bathroom and then go get it. I need to get my lawyer on the phone and start planning your lawsuit.”
I rolled my eyes as she walked toward her office. Turning back around with the ridiculous smile still plastered on my face, I continued putting my files away. No more than thirty seconds had passed and I heard the click of Jill’s heels coming back toward me.
“Did you realize your phone was in your pocket?” I said with a small chuckle.
I expected to hear Jill say something about losing her mind, but what I heard instead had my blood running cold. “No, sugar, I realized you were hiding something from me.” A deep voice slurred, followed by the clicking noise of a gun being primed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There weren’t a lot of things in this world that truly scared me. Sure, I had a healthy fear of some things, but being earth-shattering terrified? There weren’t many instances.
One was when I was waiting on that pregnancy test at the tender age of sixteen. Five terrifying minutes before I realized my life was about to change forever.
Or when I found Jill lying in that bathtub, pale and almost lifeless all those years ago. There had been so much blood that day that I was sure that I had lost my best friend forever.
I had felt the cold slither of fear snake down my spine when my dad had gotten into the car accident that took him from this world. Getting that phone call from the hospital had been one of the scariest phone calls of my life. I would never forget the rush to get to the hospital to say my goodbyes before it was too late.