The Hardest Part (37 page)

"
Not yet. We'll tell them on the way."

W
E WERE
on our way back from the baby store and only a few blocks from the condo. As much as I had enjoyed our little outing today, I was looking forward to getting home and taking off my shoes.

Everything had been going so well, everything until that moment. I was enjoying the last few minutes of sunshine on my face when Lexi’s arm wrapped around mine and tightened. The painful squeeze she was giving me let me know that something wasn’t right.

“Can you walk any faster, Emily, without exhausting yourself?” Warren asked, coming to stand on my left.

“Um, yeah, I think so.” My heart hammered in my chest. I still wasn’t sure what was happening. Then I saw it.

The black car that had been lingering out in front of the building. The same one that was following us home a few days ago.
God, how can I be so stupid?

“Okay, we’re only a few blocks from the condo. Let’s try to get there as quickly as possible.” Peters’s panic-filled voice was loud in my ears.

We all picked up our pace, my racing heart starting to relax only when we entered the elevators and headed up toward the condo.

Peters was on his phone, talking to the police officers outside the building, giving them a make, model, and the license plate number of the car.

The elevator doors opened and we walked into the foyer of the condo. My whole body tensed when I saw Reed. He was home.
What is he doing home?
He wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow. As happy as I was to see him, I knew he was going to be upset. I told him that I would let him know if we planned to leave the condo, but I didn’t want him to worry.

When he turned to face us, I swear he had tears in his eyes. He didn’t look angry like I thought he would; he looked worried. Then his face changed to relief when he saw us.

“Hi.” I put down my purse and walked over to him. He didn’t say anything, just raked his hands through his hair.

“I’m sorry, Reed. She really wanted to get out for a little while and get some fresh air. We took Peters and Warren, and two others,” Lexi said.

I was too nervous to look at Peters and Warren. They now knew that Lexi had lied to them.

“I begged her to take me out. I was going crazy in here,” I defended her. The last thing I wanted was for Reed to be angry at Lexi. I knew why he wanted me to stay here.

Glancing at Lexi, he smiled and nodded softly. “It’s okay. I’m not angry.” He then looked over at me and asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Swallowing hard, I followed him into the master bedroom. I didn’t like the look on his face. Something wasn’t right. Fear ran through me and I felt a sharp pain in my chest.

“How are you feeling?” he asked when we took a seat on the bed.

“I’m okay.”

He pulled me into his arms and held me tight, like he never thought he was going to see me again.

“I know you were worried, but I just couldn’t stay in here another day, Reed. It’s been months and we haven’t heard from Jake.” A small, frustrated cry came out of me. “If I continue to live like this, he wins. He rules my life. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t let him do that to me anymore. I know it’s just not about me anymore, but how long am I supposed to live like this… forever?” Another small whimper escaped me. I wasn’t sure where all of my emotions were coming from.

“Emily.” He pulled back and ran his hands through my hair, finally tucking it behind my ears before cupping the sides of my face. “It’s all going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. He’ll never hurt you again.”

My heart began to beat so hard in my chest, it actually caused pain. Goose bumps popped up and spread quickly over my skin. I knew Reed wouldn’t say that to me unless… unless Jake was gone, for good—unless he was dead.

“Are you sure? How do you know?”

“I got the call from Detective Palmer this morning. I jumped on the first flight home. I wanted to tell you in person.”

“But how? How do you know for sure?” In order for me to believe it, I had to hear everything, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“They are coming by later to tell us everything. He wouldn’t give me the details over the phone, and I thought we should hear it together.”

I nodded, still in shock over what he just told me. My thoughts now went to the car we saw just a few minutes ago.
Is someone really following us? Or is it just all in our heads?

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. Wincing, I grabbed the side of my belly and folded over.

“Emily.” Reed dropped down to his knees in front of me. “What’s wrong?

“It’s nothing. I’m okay,” I muttered. Another stabbing pain hit me. I winced again, knowing in the back of my mind that it was something. I’d never felt pain like this before.

“We’re going to the hospital.” He turned and shouted for Lexi. A few seconds later, she came flying in the room.

“Oh no.” Her eyes grew wide when she saw me. “What happened?”

“We need to get her to the hospital.”

“Okay, I’ll pull the car up out front.”

“Hurry, Lexi.”

I wanted to tell them to calm down, but I couldn’t talk. The pain was too much.

“Tell me what I need to do,” Reed said.

“Help me up.” I finally found my voice and began to push myself up off the bed. Reed grabbed hold of my left arm and then guided me toward the elevators. Warren was standing near them, holding it open for us.

“Peter and Lexi are bringing the car around out front.” Warren grabbed my right side and helped prop me up while Reed stayed on my right. Just when I thought the sharp pain had subsided, another one hit me, harder this time.

I moaned again and hunched over.
What’s happening?

I
WASN'T
sure how long I'd been asleep. The hospital room was dark except for the small lamp in the corner, so I knew it must have been late. I glanced at the clock on the table beside me; it was eleven twenty-two p.m. We had checked into the hospital around three. I’d been sleeping a lot longer than I thought.

After a lot of tests, the doctor determined that the baby was fine. The mixture of stress from seeing the car following us and hearing the news of Jake must have been too much for me. So besides staying in the hospital overnight, I just needed some rest. I was sure that both Reed and Lexi would be making sure of that over the next few months. And now that Jake was not in the picture anymore, we would all be able to relax a little more.

My eyes focused on the empty chair in front of me, the one Reed had been sitting in before I fell asleep. Maybe he had gone to get some fresh air. After the doctors checked me out and determined I was okay, Detective Wallace and Detective Palmer came into the room and filled us in on the news of Jake. Just thinking of him sent my heart into a full on sprint.

Even though my body felt rested from the long nap, I was still tired. The doctor said rest would be the best thing for both me and the baby right now. Unable to get comfortable, I rolled over to my other side, hoping to find a more relaxing position.

I gasped as my eyes immediately zeroed in on the person standing in the corner. My eyes grew wide and my heart leapt into my throat. The person that was standing in front of me wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be dead.

"
Surprised to see me?" he asked, a tiny smile breaking across his lips. I'd missed that smile.

"
Mike? Is that really you?"

"
In the flesh."

"
But… I thought you were…" My voice faded. I couldn't even say the words.

He chuckled softly.
"Not yet."

"
But Jake…" I hated even mentioning his name.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, wanting to believe that this was really happening. Mike was alive. He was safe. The past few months, there wasn't a day that had gone by when I hadn't thought about him. He had risked everything to help me get away. He was the reason I was alive today.

"
We really shouldn't be talking about all of this right now." He took a few steps forward, out of the shadows. "You need your rest. I have strict orders from your Reed that you are to remain stress free. I just really wanted to see you. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Mike and Reed have met? When? What all have I missed?

"
Do you know about Jake?" I asked, talking around the lump in my throat.

He nodded and his eyes dropped away from mine.
"Yeah, I know all about it. It's all over, kid. He won't hurt you again." The way he avoided looking me in the eyes and the sound of his voice made me feel like he knew more than he was telling me.

"
Do you know… what happened?” My voice was shaky. “The detectives didn't have much to tell us, other than he was dead. They wouldn’t give us all the details other than he was found in the desert on the outskirts of Vegas. They did say it was an execution style killing...” a shiver rippled through me just imagining it, “...and he was found—in a shallow grave."

He continued to stare at the ground in a complete daze.

"
Are you okay, Mike?” I could tell something was seriously bothering him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"
All I want you to know right now is that he's gone. He'll never hurt you again."

From the way he was continuing to avoid looking at me, I knew it could have been Mike that put Jake in that grave.

"
He told me that he—he killed you." I stumbled over the words. My body trembled as I remembered the anger and hate in Jake's eyes when he had said it.

Slowly, Mike lifted his head and sighed.
"I tried so hard to do it the right way. I tried to keep you out of it so you wouldn't get hurt. I really wanted a good life for you, Emily. I wanted you to start over and not have to deal with any of this."

"
What are you talking about?"

He took a seat in the chair beside my bed.
"About a year ago, I started working with the FBI. The day before I put you on the bus out of Vegas, I made a deal with them. I agreed to help them take down Jake if they agreed to leave you out of it. I didn't want you to be dragged through anything else. You had already been through so much." He ran his hands down his face. He looked more tired and stressed out than I'd ever seen him.

"
I wasn't sure the plan we had was going to work. Jake had been known to get out of things like this before. He had people everywhere, even more than I thought. So no matter what, I wanted to do whatever I had to do to keep you safe. The safest place was out of Vegas, away from Jake and away from me."

My head was spinning.
Mike was working with the FBI? He had made a deal?
When Reed told me that one of Jake's men was working with the FBI, I couldn't believe it, especially not Mike. I thought he was dead.

"
You did all of that for me?"

His face softened and he held his head up high.
"I spent most of my life working for the Terrell family. They were my life, my family, and I would have done anything for them, even died for them. I actually thought that's the way I would go out, taking a bullet for one of them. But when you came into Jake's life, you became a part of my family, too. After watching him treat you the way he did for so long, I knew I had to make a choice. I realized that Jake had to be stopped. He wasn’t the same man I used to know. He was nothing like his father. His father had morals, respect, and integrity. Jake was all about greed and power, and he was getting worse every day. I knew he was going to kill you if I didn't do something to stop him."

He sighed as he sat back in his seat.
"It wasn't long before Jake knew that I helped you get away. When he confronted me about it, I told him he was crazy, that he didn't know what he was talking about. The deal I had made with the FBI… I needed to stay close to him. As much as it pained me to do so, I had to try and keep his trust. After a while, though, I was tired of lying, tired of letting him feel like he had that control over me. So when he confronted me again, I told him the truth. I told him I put you on a bus and that he would never see you again, that he would never touch you again. I knew the moment I told him I was either a dead man or I was going to have to kill him. Then he did something I never expected. He told me that he forgave me. He told me we could get past it." Mike stopped talking and shook his head. "But when I turned around to leave, he shot me, twice in the back. Believing him was the dumbest thing I've ever done."

I took in a shaky breath. I couldn't speak. I was at a loss for words.

"
If I hadn't listened to the FBI and wore a bullet-proof vest," he continued, swallowing hard, "I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now."

"
It was you, wasn't it?" My eyes stung with tears, knowing what he had done. What he felt like he had to do.

"
After Jake thought he killed me, the FBI kept me in protective custody. They wouldn't allow me to make contact with anyone in fear of Jake finding out that I was alive and that the FBI was on to him. I'd been in hiding for a couple months when I heard a couple of agents talking about your case. About how Jake was wanted for attempted murder. It killed me to know that after all I had done, he had still found you. That he had hurt you again. So the next day, I left protective custody. I couldn't sit back and wait to get the news that he had finally killed you—I would've never forgiven myself—so I did the only thing I could do. I had to stop him and I did, for good this time." His face was serious, stoic, just like most of my memories of him.