Page 61 of Forever His This Christmas

“Photos are just the mementos. He might have liked the ones of you still, but you’re not my type at all now. He was furious to learn about her, enough so that he was willing to let me have my fun before doing as he requested and ‘taking care of the problem’ however I wanted. It would have been so easy to make it look like an accident and no one would question anything else about it. After all, like mother like daughter right? I’m sure she’s as much of a slut as you were at her age. Well, maybe more of one since you were a little older than my tastes when he got his hooks into you. Her now…well, she’s perfect for me, and I’d have enjoyed every second of it before arranging for her to have an ‘accident’, but unlike you, I know how to make sure the accident kills them. That was his mistake, not taking care of you—or having someone else do it while he was indisposed. I guess he’s learned more than just what you’ve been doing and with whom from me. After all, dead girls can’t talk,” he crowed and Lisa couldn’t stay there a second longer, looking or listening to the bastard.

“You’ll never get near her or anyone else ever again, I guarantee that you stupid idiot. Gloating about what you’vedone. In a police station? You have to be the dumbest PI there’s ever been,” Lisa said reaching the door.

“You’re not a cop, nothing you can do to me,” Marcus said, leaning back in his chair with a smug smile.

“No? You’re in an interrogation room, in a police station. You were arrested and Mirandized. Remember that little tidbit about anything you say can and will be held against you? You really should have thought about that and asked for a lawyer, but because you didn’t, there is no assurance of privacy, and every word that you just said was recorded and can be used because there’s no laws to protect a conversation between us. Guess that part of law slipped right out of your head while you were thinking of all the vile, disgusting things you’d hoped to do to my daughter. You’re done and so is he,” she stated, moving out the door and straight into Corey’s arms, burying her face in his chest.

“Shh, it’s okay, baby. I’ve got you. I’ve got both of you,” he promised, brushing gentle kisses to her temple, holding her as tightly to him as he dared.

“Lisa, who is he working with?” Sheriff Hayes asked when she could finally stand on her own, her body no longer shaking.

“Benton,” she got out, dragging in a breath as she shook once more.

“Johnson?” the sheriff clarified, and she nodded, pulling a dark curse from him and Judge Henry. “And Abby was the result of…”

“A rape, yes. He forced and blackmailed me to have sex with him for over a year.”

“Beyond Abby, is there any other proof? Things we should look for? If he’s had this Shaw person following you for thirteen years…” the sheriff said and she filled them in on everything, including the photos she’d received last year of her and Corey inhis bedroom, the photos that Benton threatened to release of her when she was fifteen he still had, as well as the two recordings.

“I gave him a chance to just walk away from all of this, to leave me alone, stop having people follow me and I wouldn’t tell the police about the kit, but he just couldn’t let me be and to tell that lowlife that he could…if you contact the Mason City police department, they have the report and the kit,” Lisa managed to finish with as her stomach rebelled. “I’m going to be sick…”

Corey hurriedly grabbed the nearest trash can, holding her hair back as she threw up. She took the little cup of water from the sheriff and rinsed out her mouth while Corey rubbed her back gently, soothing her.

“Do you think some crackers or toast will help?” he asked her quietly as he settled her into a chair letting the judge sign off on a warrant to search Benton’s home on top of an arrest warrant for him that the sheriff printed out.

“I don’t know, I don’t know what’s making me sick right now…or maybe I do,” she groaned before another round of bile made its way up and she was thankful that Corey was next to her the entire time.

“Maybe you should take her home,” Judge Henry suggested when she struggled against the third round. “We can handle this from here.”

“Peppermint tea and toast,” her mom said, surprising her as she came into the space behind them. “There’s some butter if it’s too dry.”

“Thanks Mom,” she said, taking the tea first, the warmth comforting but the way it calmed her stomach was even more of a relief.

“Let me know if you need anything else, we’ll be with Abby,” she assured her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head before heading into the side room once more.

“Celebrating something extra this New Year’s are you?” Judge Henry asked looking from her to Corey and onto the toast curiously.

“We are…I’m pregnant. It’s why I knew it was time to tell the rest of the family about Abby. In order to be with Corey, have this baby, it meant having them in my life, and I didn’t want to be away from Abby again, which meant them being in her life. So, we came out and I told everyone—more than I intended, but Kirby figured out a bit of it and the rest just sort of spilled out. I didn’t want this trip to turn into this but…it’s one thing to try and kill me because he blames me for his accident. To send someone after Abby…”

“She’s safe, baby. She’ll always be safe, I promise,” Corey assured her, holding her tight as she managed to get the toast down.

“Is his accident why you never said anything back then?” Sheriff Hayes asked. “Did he try and make you feel like you would get in trouble for it?”

“I punctured his tire before going in to confront him because I didn’t want him following me, getting back to the main part of the resort before I did. I knew he’d do whatever he had to in order to get that tape,” Lisa admitted, shuddering at just how twisted Benton truly was and what he might have done to her if he hadn’t had the accident.

“Even if that was what caused the accident, no one would have done anything to you because of it, Lisa. But just so you know, you weren’t responsible for the accident. The flat tire wasn’t responsible for it and most of his injuries didn’t happen because the car went off the road. A deer hit him on the driver’s side. That impact was what broke his back, severed the nerves in his spine when the jagged edge of the door cut into his back because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. You aren’t responsible for him being in a wheelchair now, so don’t begin to blameyourself,” Sheriff Hayes said making her heart stutter a bit with relief as the guilt she’d been carrying around for so long lifted. “We never could figure out why he was up that way to start but he claimed he didn’t remember anything around the crash and since no one came forward with any other information on it, it was dropped. If we’d had any idea, this would have happened a long time ago, Lisa.”

She nodded, staying in Corey’s arms until late morning when both men were locked in cells, allowing her to take Abby back to the resort with her, breathing much easier. She didn’t fully drop her worries, knowing that Benton was capable of hiring someone else, but with Corey, the security guards, and the rest of her family there she managed to get through the rest of the trip without breaking down.

Once in Chicago, Corey surprised them with walkthroughs of five different places, three houses and two penthouses that were all for sale, and all of them fell in love with the last house they viewed the moment they stepped inside it. With Abby in private school, it didn’t matter where they lived, but the house wasn’t too far away from Jazz and David’s place, or the school, especially not compared with LA traffic.

They were moving in by the end of January and the night of the school’s Heart’s Dance, she spent with Jackie who was in town visiting. The girls enjoyed the dance immensely and she loved the way Corey and Abby were together. There were no worries that he would do something to her, hurt her or upset her. She’d been cautious with guys she’d gone on dates with when Abby was younger, but with everything from Benton and then seeing Abby getting older, her worries about what some might try had her refusing dates more and more—until Corey came into her life.

He was incredible and she was more than happy to go back to working with him, reviewing the reports rather than doing themall herself as she had been before she left the company. Instead of finding a building for an office, he had one set up at the house for them to work in, and her hours were more part-time than full-time, but she loved it, especially with their baby growing, filling out her stomach more and more.

The shock from everyone in New York when she and Corey stopped into the office for a visit at the end of March made her chuckle, especially when Donald had to do a double-take as he walked into the office, finding Corey giving her a kiss, his hand resting on her stomach. The questions and whispers as to exactly how she’d gotten her new job didn’t bother her at all. She was completely content with knowing that Corey wanted her working with him, and that it wasn’t solely because she was great at it. She didn’t mind in the least, not when it meant she could make her own hours, especially after the baby got here.

Not having the time with Abby as a newborn, had her wanting every moment of it she could get with their new one. Corey was fully onboard with it, and even told her she didn’t have to work at all if she hadn’t wanted to. She enjoyed having a mental challenge though, so she’d happily accepted working with Corey again, as well as the agreement that she could take as long as she wanted with her maternity leave—something that wouldn’t have happened with her old job.

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