Page 85 of The Wrong Side Of Us

The man who she’d talked to before stepped in then. “Let her be. You take care of Mr. Maxwell. I’ll conduct the search.”

Evie whimpered, and for the first time in my life, I felt helpless. Scared. There was nothing I could do or say to stop this from happening, and I didn’t want her to get hurt.

The other officer took advantage of my momentary lapse and pushed me against the wall. I grunted but complied as he placed my hands behind my back and cuffed me.

“You have the right to remain silent.” I closed my eyes, wishing that this would be over or a fucking nightmare. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

The sound of Evie’s sobs drowned out whatever rights the officer said to me; I didn’t give a damn. All I cared about was her calming down. I wanted to hold her, tell her it was going to be okay, but I couldn’t even do that. At least I had the comfort of knowing that the less asshole officer was staying with Evelyn.

She had her arms wrapped around her body, and she trembled.

This was hell, absolute torture.

I didn’t say anything else and made sure her eyes met mine at least one last time. It didn’t last long enough, and soon the officer forced me to leave her.

***

Evelyn

I stared numbly at the door, trying to figure out how the hell everything had changed in a matter of minutes. I tightened the robe around me, feeling how the baby desperately moved, sensing the chaos surrounding us.

“Are there any weapons in the house? Anything illegal you wish to report?”

My lips parted as I eyed the man in front of me; the same man spoke to me at the gallery. He’d been so kind to me; I never thought anything about it. I shook my head slowly, feeling a bit frightened after the way the other officer had pulled me back and away from Nathan.

“Do you need a medic?” the man asked with genuine concern.

“He didn’t do it,” I replied, my voice breaking with the statement. “He—Nathan wouldn’t do that, he’s a good man, he—”

Lightheaded, I gripped the island and held on to it as firmly as I could. I heard him radioing for paramedic, and though I didn’t think I needed one, I didn’t oppose it.

The other officers who arrived conducted the search while Officer Bennett stayed with me as we waited for the paramedics.

“He didn’t do it,” I repeated.

The nausea that until then had been gone reappeared, and though I wanted to fight it, it was pointless.

“I’m going to be sick,” I breathed, rushing to the nearest trash can. At my sudden movement, one of the officers drew his weapon, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Officer Bennett ordered him to stand down, letting him know I was pregnant, and followed me as I emptied my stomach. I clutched on to the trash can for dear life, afraid that if I let go, I would fall. I needed something to stabilize me, anything to ground me. This was something I never thought I would have to prepare for.

Vaguely, I heard other voices, and it wasn’t until I saw a stretcher and medical supplies that I realized that the paramedics were there.

I rinsed my mouth and soon was having my blood pressure checked. I glared at everyone there as I searched for my phone. The place was a mess, but they looked through every crevice. It wasn’t until they pulled out a shirt, to be more specific the shirt Nathan had worn when he got into the bar fight, that everything started to sink in.

“Derek was attacked?”

“We can’t discuss—”

Officer Bennett silenced the others with a glare. “He was attacked a couple of nights ago in an alley, left for dead. He was severely injured. Everything points to Nathan Maxwell doing it. Do you know anything about how he obtained the stains on his shirt?”

I swallowed. “I do, but I’m sure you do too. You already know he got in a bar fight. You’ve more than likely seen the surveillance videos, but I refuse to say anything else without a lawyer.”

“You could be charged—”

“She’s right,” Officer Bennett said. “Are we done here?”

The officers nodded as they took whatever items they thought could be of use, including Nathan’s cell phone.

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