Fidelity (Infidelity #5)(85)

“I’m going with you.”

Charli’s lips quirked upward. “I thought you might.”

“Isaac?” Chelsea asked. “What will happen to him?”

“He’s a licensed private-security provider. You were his assignment. He has the right to defend you.”

“I’m sorry,” Chelsea said.

“Why?”

“It’s my fault.” As she spoke, my gaze went back to where Fitzgerald had been. He was gone.

I pulled Charli closer. “Let’s get you two into an ambulance.”

“I wanted him to break the restraining order,” Chelsea explained as we walked. “I wanted him back in jail. I never thought it would go this far.” She broke down, her steps stalling as we moved toward the open door of the ambulance. “Those kids were so scared…”

Sirens blared as more ambulances pulled forward. They were loading up everyone from inside the shop.

Charli reached for my chin and turned my face toward hers. “Stop worrying. We’re safe.”

“He was here.”

She nodded. “And so are you.”

Damn straight. I wasn’t going anywhere else.





“MISS COLLINS, IS THERE anything I can get you?”

“Discharge papers,” I said to the nurse.

“It’s only overnight. After what you’ve been through and in your condition, the doctor just wants to be certain that everything is okay and monitor you through the night.”

I nodded, more tears filling my eyes. I hadn’t been able to stop the waterworks since the emergency room doctor gave me the news. I should have told Nox right away.

I didn’t.

Now it was a few hours later. I was tucked into a hospital bed and waiting for Dr. Beck to arrive.

The door to my room opened. The flowers were the first to enter. Well, those and the long jean-covered legs I knew so well.

“Look what I found,” Nox said as he placed the ridiculously huge bouquet on the table beside the bed.

“We’re flying home tomorrow. Don’t you think that’s kind of silly?”

“No,” he said. “After all the shit that’s happened, if I want to shower you in rose petals, it’s my prerogative.”

“I was a little shocked that you and Deloris both left me.”

Nox pulled a chair closer. “She’s with Chelsea. I never really left. I just thought you and the doctors needed some privacy, but…” He leaned over and gave me a kiss, lifting the necklace from my chest and rolling the platinum cage between his thumb and fingers. “…I never took my eyes off of you. And the two men guarding your door weren’t going anywhere.”

The necklace wasn’t the audible one. If it had been, he’d know what I wasn’t brave enough to say.

I exhaled. “Bryce is back in jail…”

“Medical unit. Psych ward. That’s what they’re saying on the news. His gunshot was only a flesh wound. Isaac knew what he was doing.”

I closed my eyes, imagining what Suzanna was going through. Once she’d learned he’d survived, she was elated, only to learn that he was being detained again. Now it was a psych ward. What would that be like for a mother?

“Isaac said something…” Nox said.

I opened my eyes. “Oh, how is he?”

“He’s fine. They didn’t keep him long. He’s legit. I mean I don’t employ criminals to keep those I love protected. He has the license and permits. He was within his legal rights.”

My cheeks rose. “I never thought you employed criminals.”

“Your stepfather did. He has called me and my father criminals in every conversation.”

“His world is crumbling. He’s the one who’s delusional.”

“Did you talk to your mom?” Nox asked.

“Briefly. I’m kind of tired. I told her we’d be back tomorrow.”

Nox sat in the nearby chair, his ankle crossed over his knee as he leaned back. Seeing him, his calm and cool demeanor after everything we’d been through, tugged at my heart and twisted it in knots. His words from months ago came back to me. They’d been playing on a loop since the doctor in the emergency room explained why they wouldn’t be performing the CT scan.

I tried to pay attention as he said something about Isaac, something about Bryce. I was hearing his deep voice and watching the movement of his sensual lips, but I wasn’t listening. Instead I was hearing a conversation from a while ago, from the night he’d told me about Jocelyn.



“I want to know how you feel about children.”

“I don’t know… I think I’m too young.” I shrugged. “I guess my mom had me when she was about my age, but I want other things first.”

“But eventually?”

“I suppose,” I admitted.

“I don’t.”



In my mind the words from another time took on new meaning. His voice became more determined, more emphatic.

He didn’t. No discussion, just no.

“Charli, are you listening?”

I shook away the past. “What? No. Sorry.”

“Is it your head?” he asked, jumping to his feet. “I don’t understand why they didn’t do that scan. We could be on our way. I mean, even Chelsea is out of here.”