Page 57 of In Her Shadow

My girl lies next to me asleep, while I go through all the CCTV footage from the office building. I’ve managed to find out that whoever delivered the note came from the parking garage; they were riding a motorbike, and I’ve sent the number plate to the governor in the hopes he can get me as much information as possible.

I place my laptop on the bedside table and turn to face her, wondering how it’s possible that I feel even deeper for her than I felt before. It was all-consuming then, but now it’s far more intense. Any anger I had for her is gone. I don’t even hate the world anymore. Knowing that I’m facing a future with her makes it seem so much brighter.

I reach under the covers and press my hand over her tummy. These past few weeks, it’s gotten really noticeable. She tries to hide it when she’s at work, but around the house, she has no issue with having it on full display. She swears she can feel our little girl moving around in there now, and despite all the time I spend with my hand resting there, I’m yet to feel her for myself.

This is supposed to be a happy time for her; she shouldn't have to worry about strangers who want to hurt her. I already know we’re gonna be heading for a fight in the morning becauseI can’t let her go back to work, not even with me there. I need to keep her here, and I need to level up security, at least until I can figure who this fucker is and put him in the ground with every other person who hurt her.

“She must like you touching her, I can feel her moving,” Eloise whispers with her eyes still closed.

“Yeah?” I smile at the thought of it, sliding my hand a little lower and stroking along the underside of her bump.

“I like it too,” she admits, her smile turning a little seductive as she opens her eyes for me. “How long was I out for?” She stretches her arms above her head and makes a sweet little hum.

“A couple of hours.” I keep my voice low. “I told Mary to hold dinner off until you woke up. I also told her to make chocolate fudge cake for dessert.” I do my best to cheer her up, knowing how tough today would have been on her.

“You are gonna be the reason why I can’t see my feet soon,” she moans, looking down to where my hand is stroking her tummy and placing both hers over mine.

“We’re gonna be okay, aren’t we, Ren?” she asks, looking worried.

“We’re gonna be fine, but I want you to take a few days off, just to get over what happened. Hopefully, in that time, the governor will get back to me with some leads. I managed to get a number plate while you were sleeping.”

“The governor?” She looks confused. “Governor of what?”

“Of State, darlin’.” I smile as she sits up on her elbows and looks back at me in shock.

“You have the governor of the state running a number plate for you?” she checks.

“Well, I doubt Reggie will be doing it himself, but he’s got all the right connections.”

“Reggie?” She laughs at me.

“What?” I wonder what it is she finds so hilarious.

“How did you– don’t answer that.” Her head shakes. “I don’t understand what you needReggiefor anyway, I thought you were into all that kinda thing yourself.”

“I know a hacking trick or two, but I thought I’d leave this one up to the experts. I want to know everything there is to know about this person.”

“And when you do?” She frowns at me.

“You know what comes next, baby,” I tell her, not entirely sure how she’s going to feel about it.

She rests her head back on the pillow and sighs.

“I seem to have an awful lot of death on my conscience.” She looks up at the ceiling, and when I see more tears forming in her eyes, I roll on top of her. Being mindful of the bump that's between us, I take her face in my hands.

“Not onyourconscience, on mine,” I remind her. “You never asked for this, you never asked for anything those fuckers did to you. I’ve done what I've had to do to keep you safe, and I’mma keep doing that. Even more now that there are two of you for me to take care of.”

“And what if you get caught, Ren? Can you even trust the governor to be delving into all this if you're gonna–”

“You don’t need to worry about the governor; he’s more corrupt than I am. He’s got secrets, and I know every single one of them.” I’m not going to go into detail with her right now, but of all the people in the world, Reginald Harper is the one man I can trust. “I don’t want you worrying about anything other than growing our girl big and strong.” I move down her body so I can kiss the ridge of her stomach, splaying my hands over its surface as I watch all that worry on my girl's face turn to joy.

“You're gonna be a good dad, Ren.” I’m surprised at how relieved I feel to hear that from her. I’ve been so fucking focused on keeping Eloise safe and making sure she has everything sheneeds during this time, that I haven’t considered much about what will happen once this baby gets here.

I pull my head back when I feel something shift under my palm, it’s only slight, but I know from the look on Eloise’s face that it’s what I think it is.

“Was that her?” I ask, pressing my hand a little firmer against where I felt it.

“You felt that, too?”

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