Page 39 of Not the Bodyguard's Baby
“Hey!”Adam took the napkin already in his hand and wiped his face, then stood, keeping Sven’s attention on him. Sven jumped up and took a swing, which Adam dodged.
“Tell me—!” He lunged for Adam, but the officers grabbed Sven before he could finish his sentence.
“Is there a problem here?” asked one.
Adam kept from smirking. “This man had the impression I am hiding an old friend from him. If I was, you can see why.”
Sven struggled to release himself from the officers.
“Hey, cool down.” The other officer looked over his shoulder to where a waitress stood motionless. “Call the locals, please.” He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Sirens wailed in the parking lot. A pair of policemen came hurrying into the diner. The waiter pointed back to the corner where Adam stood with the officers. “Put this man on a drunk and disorderly. He is probably high. We’ll help you get him in the car.”
As the officers left the diner with Sven, Adam pulled two twenties from his pocket and set them on the table.
The manager rushed up. “You don’t need to pay. Thanks for not hitting him back.”
“No, problem. I had a feeling he was going to take a swing. Have a good evening, sir.”
Adam returned to Chicago and his parents’ house knowing that for at least the next few hours, Sven would be very busy. Or not. And he had a few more precious hours with September.
* * *
“You didn’t bring your baby.” Shyla looked around the meeting room at the Hastings Security office.
“No. I felt we could talk better without her.” September had no intention of letting Shyla meet Harmony until they resolved things.
“I know you are not pleased with me. I assume you got the message I left at the Hastings’ home.”
“I understand you have proof that should keep Sven away from us. Although how, I have no clue. Eight months ago you told me not to go to the police because they wouldn’t believe me despite my injures. Now you have proof?”
“How do you think I kept Sven from flapping his gums to any tabloid that would listen? Of course I have proof. I document everything.”
Screaming would be a very appropriate reaction; however, it would bring everyone in the office to September’s side. “So, if I had gone to the police—”
“The media would have known.”
September nearly jumped out of her chair. “Who cares! He tried to kill Harmony! And he injured me bad enough we had to cancel the Dallas show. Do you know how much pain I was in? But I listened to you and trusted your advice. You want me to trust you now?” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jethro watching from the reception desk. September turned to the wall and took two deep breaths, searching for the triggers Dr. Brooks taught her in one session, and found none. Emotions were not the enemy, and the anger flowed through her justifiably.
After Sven left the hotel suite, September had laid on the floor for what seemed like hours before crawling to the hotel phone to call Shyla as the cell phone had been in her purse and was farther away. September turned to face her manager. “I think you should show me the evidence.”
Shyla pulled out her tablet. “Before I show you this, I should say I’m sorry. I was wrong. We should have gone to the police, and I probably should have taken you to the hospital. I was more focused on your contracts and your reputation.”
Adam had always warned her Shyla was looking out for herself more than she was September. She merely nodded at the apology, not ready to forgive yet not sure what to say.
Shyla swiped the screen and brought up the video. It took September a moment to place the video. The camera must have been above the television of her hotel suite in Dallas. The feed showed the night she invited Sven into the hotel room so she could tell him she was pregnant. It was the first time in three months she’d let him in. In the video, her hands shook as she wondered what his reaction would be and if he would marry her for the baby’s sake. They sat on opposite ends of the couch. September always talked too much with her hands. The silent video triggered the replay in her mind of the exact words she had said.
“I know I’ve been putting you off. But I think maybe we should reexamine our relationship.”
“Relationship? We didn’t have much of that, but I’ll be glad to take you back in that bedroom and show you what wedid have.”
The September on the video shook her head. “I’m pregnant.”
Sven lunged toward her.“You’re what?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Why, you little—you try to pin it on me?”
