Page 78 of Unravel You

“I said stop it.”

“No, asshole. You stop it.” Derek’s voice brought instant tears to my eyes. In the same beat, Alex released me and landed several feet away from me, with Derek pummeling his face. After a handful of punches, Derek stumbled back. “Get him out of here. I don’t ever want to see him.”

From behind me, four men in uniform descended on Alex, blocking him from my view. I stood there staring at the retreating forms.

It was over.

“Jesus Christ, Valentina.” Derek wrapped his arms around me. “Where’s Bridget?”

I pressed my cheek to his chest, letting his scent soothe me back to life. “What?” I glanced up at him, still trying to understand how it was possible that he was here with me.

“We found you and Alex after he got back on the grid. We had a trace on it. But now we need to get to Bridget before she realizes we’re on her heels.” He cradled my neck as he talked fast about tracking Alex’s phone but not being able to pinpoint Bridget’s location.

“She’s maybe half a mile from here. I’m not sure which way.” I strode back to the street with Derek close behind me. When I cleared the trees, I came up to the row of houses where I’d tried to ask for help. In my hurry to get away from Alex, I’d gone the wrong way—effectively gone in a circle. We were closer to the house than I thought.

“Come on. Let’s get you in the car.” Derek ushered me to the black SUV parked on the cobblestone not too far from where he found me.

He instructed the driver to head straight. Numb, I watched the row of pretty houses and the empty streets. It all vaguely looked familiar. When we reached the tree stump on the corner, I pointed at it. “Make a right here. It’s that third blue house on the left.”

Our car pulled over as the guy in the passenger seat, dressed in black fatigues, barked orders into his phone. Derek draped his arm around me as three men barged into the house, looking for Bridget.

“I want to press charges.” My voice didn’t sound like my own.

“No need. The ransom note turned the offense into a federal crime. She will be prosecuted no matter what.” Derek’s voice sounded calm, but his heart pounded like a thunderclap under my touch. “You don’t have to worry about them hurting you or Max ever again. It ends here. I’ll make sure they stay away for a very long time.”

Outside the blue house, men in uniform escorted Bridget to a cop car. She didn’t fight them or say anything. Did she a have a plan to get out of this? Or did she assume her plan would work exactly as she wanted?

“Where are they taking them?”

“Savannah PD will hold them until the FBI follows due process. I’ll find out when they get moved and let you know.” He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek, as if he were afraid to hurt me. His kindness made my heart ache to have our lives back to normal and forget Alex existed.

“No, I don’t need to know. As long as they’re away from us, I don’t care.” I rested my head on his shoulder.

“We’ll do it your way. Do you want to go home?” He ran a finger over the blood stains on my silk dress.

The unasked question lingered in the air. Did I need a doctor? How bad did Alex hurt me? “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Valentina, you can tell me.”

It was just as Bridget had said. He’d spent the entire day imagining the worst.

“Insults, shoving, and petty mind games. That’s his MO. He couldn’t hurt me like before. More than anything I was so afraid I’d never get to see Max and you.”

“I was afraid of that too. And the blood?”

“I cut my finger trying to rig an alarm system to call for help.” I showed him the slash on my finger. My hands were dirty, but the wound had a nice scab over it already.

“You’ll have to tell me about that.” He chuckled a sad sound as he held me tighter. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Alex’s note.”

“We have a lot to talk about. Tomorrow, okay?”

“I want to go home.” I was surprised to think of Atlanta as such.

“Of course. The agent in charge wants a few minutes with you. Is that okay?”

I nodded. Being in his arms like this felt as if I were already home.

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