Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2)(63)

That judge had given a lot of weight to Richard’s otherwise clean record, and “bright future.” One mistake, the judge had said, terrible as it was, shouldn’t condemn this young man for life. Other mitigating factors are his early guilty plea and his unhidden remorse.

Both of the latter, Charlotte had thought at the time, had been carefully calculated moves to gain the court’s sympathy. It had worked, Richard sentenced at the lowest end of the scale for the level and brutality of his offense.

Charlotte’s hand shook, her pulse a sickening rattle. “Do you think I’m safe?” Richard had never sent Charlotte any threatening messages or letters, but she couldn’t forget the way he’d looked at her the day he’d been led away by the bailiff. He’d turned, pinned her with the frozen blue of his eyes, and smiled.

That smile had haunted her nightmares for years. It said he was going to come back, and when he did, he’d finish what he’d started. But that had been five years ago. Maybe he’d forgotten her.

“No, you’re not safe.” Detective Lee’s words punched all the air out of her. “A man with Richard Wilson’s tendencies doesn’t turn over a new leaf. He’s still a good-looking psychopath used to manipulating people, and you beat him. He won’t have forgotten that.”

No, Charlotte agreed silently, he wouldn’t have. As with the warning he’d received from the police, he’d have spent his time in jail stewing and obsessing and planning exactly how he’d make her pay for daring to put him, the golden boy, in prison. “Do you have any advice?” she asked, telling herself she was stronger now, could deal with this.

But terror, it had a clawed grip on her throat.

“If you’re living alone, stop,” the detective said. “You should also get a monitored alarm system if you haven’t already. I’ll have a patrol car do more regular drive-bys in your neighborhood as a deterrent, but you know he’s intelligent and cunning. I’m guessing he won’t target you at home, but somewhere else where you feel safe.”

Charlotte nodded, forgetting the other woman couldn’t see her, her mind beginning to numb over despite her admonitions to the contrary.

“I’ll keep an eye on him as far as possible,” Mei Lee said, “but he’ll be a free man once he’s out, and his lawyer’s made it clear that any extra police attention will be taken as harassment. If I’m not careful, he could stop me from going within a hundred feet of him.”

“Charlotte?”

Looking up at Gabriel’s voice, Charlotte tried to say something, but her voice stuck in her throat as everything hit her in an avalanche. Richard was going free and there was a very high chance he would come after her. This time he wouldn’t leave her alive to testify.

Expression dark, Gabriel grabbed the phone. “Who is this?”

He crouched down beside her as he listened, his hand on her icy one and his eyes intense. “Gabriel Bishop.” Another pause after he identified himself. “Yes.” This pause was longer. “I’ll take care of it.” An alert, focused silence, then, “You’ll notify us if your patrol guys pick up anything?” Ten seconds, maybe twenty, Charlotte couldn’t quite tell, her mind still not functioning right, before he said, “Yes. No, I’ll make sure of it.”

Charlotte stared at Gabriel as he hung up after giving Detective Lee his own contact numbers. “Can I have my phone?” It seemed very important that she have it, that it be in her hand.




PLACING THE PHONE ON Charlotte’s palm, Gabriel curled her fingers over it.

“Thank you.” She held it like a talisman that could ward off evil. “Did Detective Lee tell you?”

“Yes.” Gabriel stood. “Come on. We’re going for a walk.”

“You can’t. You have the Henderson conference call in”—she glanced at her watch—“fifteen minutes.”

“It’ll keep.” His phone already in hand, he made a quick call and postponed the meeting. “Charlotte.” Gabriel frowned when she didn’t respond. Changing tack, he hardened his tone. “Ms. Baird.”

A stiffening of her shoulders, her lashes flicking up. “I’m fine. I don’t need to go for a walk.”

“I need to go for a walk.” He raised an eyebrow when she still didn’t budge. “There are going to be more people heading to the break room very soon.”

That seemed to get through. Slipping her phone into a pocket of the tailored black trench coat that she still wore over an oat-colored linen shift, she came with him. He wanted to take her hand, but a number of other staff members had arrived on the floor and he knew the action would make Charlotte even more uncomfortable when she was already shaken. The woman who’d kissed him good-bye with a smile, who’d cuddled so sweetly next to him for hours, had been buried under shock.

Gabriel wasn’t about to allow that to stand.

Taking the elevator to the ground floor, he led her out and toward the waterfront. The sidewalk was active with those who worked in the city, but not yet thronged with shoppers. Except for the coffee shops and bakeries, the stores wouldn’t open till nine, so it was easy enough to stride down toward the water.

“Gabriel, did you mean sprint when you said walk?”

He looked down when he heard the acerbic question and realized he’d been taking swift, long strides in his anger. Charlotte was a little breathless but the spark, it was back in her eyes, so this was one mistake for which he wasn’t sorry. “Did you get to drink your coffee?” he asked, the scent of roasting beans reaching him from a café a couple of doors down.