Page 95 of Justice Denied

“How did she get in?” Jetta asked the detective when he stopped by to check on her as she waiting on the living room couch for the all-clear so she could return the sleeping baby to her bassinet.

“We found a pair of picks on Ms. Topher’s person, and the front door exhibited scratches around the lock, so she must have picked it to gain entry,” Detective Morell said. “It shouldn’t be much longer, as the crime scene techs are nearly finished in the baby’s room.”

Through the living room archway, Jetta caught a glimpse of Seth as he stood in the foyer talking to another officer, Bingley leaning against his leg. Seth absently rubbed the dog’s head as he spoke. Her hero, the man who had come without question despite her awful treatment of him. The detective rose. “Let me check with the techs, and I think we can get out of your hair for tonight, or what’s left of the night.”

“Thank you.” Jetta returned her gaze to Seth, who glanced her way. He spoke to the officer, then headed into the living room.

“Hey.” He stopped a few feet from the couch, Bingley sitting beside him. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m tired but glad it’s over.” A yawn split her face as she shifted the sleeping baby to her other arm.

“Want me to hold her for a while?”

“No.” She caught the flash of hurt in his expressive eyes before a blank expression returned. “I’d like you to sit beside us for a while.”

For a moment, she thought he might turn down her olive branch and leave, but then he moved to the couch, settling to her right, his thigh brushing against hers. Bingley resettled on the floor at their feet, his head on his paws. She drew in a breath, wanting to thank him but unable to find the words with her brain so exhausted.

Instead of speaking, she sighed and nudged his left arm with her elbow until he lifted it along the back of the couch. Then she slid into him, snuggling her head on his chest. He hesitated for an instant before placing his arm around her shoulders and tucking her closer against him.

With another sigh of contentment, she closed her eyes, her body relaxing fully for the first time in hours. Days, really. Her mind stopped racing, her breath evened out, and she slept, implicitly trusting this man would keep her and her little one safe.

* * *

Seth tossedthe ball to Bingley, who raced after it with a happy bark. He repeated the exercise several more times before placing the ball in the basket inside the back door. Five days had passed since Yasmine’s arrest, and while Jetta wasn’t shutting him out any longer, she wasn’t exactly inviting him into her life with open arms. Instead, he existed in a kind of limbo where she welcomed his help with Bingley but didn’t initiate anything more intimate than exchanging updates on the case.

He refilled Bingley’s water dish in the kitchen, then turned to leave.

“Seth?” Jetta stepped into view, her hair damp and her feet bare. “You got a minute?”

“Sure.” He dropped onto one of the bar stools to avoid dragging her into his arms and kissing her senseless. Despite the hot-cold treatment, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her whenever she was in the same room as him. Motherhood agreed with her, giving her a glow that enhanced her natural beauty. He hoped she’d decided to keep the baby and longed to hold the as-yet unnamed infant.

“It’s been a crazy few days, hasn’t it?”

“Yep.” He and Brogan had co-written a series of articles detailing Gene and Yasmine’s behind-the-scenes machinations to sell Topher Robotics to Maxwell Technology, as well as Yasmine’s embezzlement of millions of dollars. Turned out she had a secret room in her house even her husband hadn’t known about filled with black market antiques, including a missing painting by Vincent van Gogh. Once in custody, she had kept quiet until a search of her home revealed the hidden room and its stash of priceless art. Then she’d bragged about how she’d stolen the money from right under the noses of her “idiot brothers.”

In return for testifying against his sister in the corporate espionage charges, Gene confessed to his role in kidnapping Emily Ainsley. Gene also pointed the finger at his sister for the snatching of Jetta and Seth, a charge she tried to deny until the bank records of a secret account showed money paid to the two men arrested for their role in taking Jetta and Seth. According to Brogan, Yasmine couldn’t spill facts quick enough, showing off how smart she was and how stupid everyone else was. Providing additional information about Yasmine’s guilt was Ryan’s executive assistant, Mae Stanhope. Mae had revealed she had inadvertently given Yasmine the idea to embezzle funds, since Mae had done so to pay for her father’s hospice care.

What became crystal clear was Jay Ainsley had had nothing to do with the embezzlement. The charges against him had finally been dropped, his good name restored. The police could find no evidence Jay’s heart attack had been caused by anything other than abnormal stress from worrying about the company’s finances. Peter Topher was recovering from his heart attack, which doctors attributed to his skipping his high blood pressure medicine a couple of times because he’d forgotten to refill the medication. Dolores Green also had her happy ending, with Mae confessing she had simply picked Dolores out of the SafeSense company directory as the patsy for the altered invoices.

Leslie’s update two days ago had floored him with FinCEN’s findings that Maxwell Technologies had engaged in corporate espionage related to its takeover bid. Apparently, the fake FBI agent had been part of their attempt to find out how close they had come to uncovering the embezzler at Topher Robotics.

“What’s next?” Jetta leaned against the counter, her gaze fastened on his face.

“You tell me.” He longed to move around the counter and take her in his arms, but he needed her to make the first move.

“We could…” She swallowed, then tried again. “We could date.”

Date. Not exactly what he was looking for, but he’d take it if she truly meant it. But she needed to know he wasn’t interested in merely dating her. He wanted to court her, old-fashioned as that might be. “I’m not interested in dating you, Jetta.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re not? But I thought…”

“I want more.” He let his words hang in the air between them, willing her to accept his offer. He would give her the space she needed to fully heal from what he suspected had been rape by her ex. Seth didn’t need to know the details, just that she trusted him to put her and her baby first.

“I don’t know if I can give you more.” The pleading expression on her face nearly made him give in and accept her lukewarm terms in order to spend more time with her.

But he wasn’t going to settle for less. That much he had learned about himself over the past week. “That’s okay.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Great.”

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