Page 74 of Malicious Marriage
“Don’t worry. We’ve had a couple of late nights this week. You’re tired. You should head home.”
“Really?”
“Mmhmm.”
“I don’t want to leave you by yourself.” Bobby swivels to face me and takes my hand just as I’m about to move away. “What if Malcom visits?”
I glance at the clock hanging over the mantlepiece. “At eleven at night?”
“When has he ever cared about the time?”
“You’re not wrong.” The past month since the wedding has been a whirlwind. Dean’s been so busy dealing with the fallout of his business with the Russians that I’ve been free to pursue everything and anything to do with Hailey.
For the first time in five years, I’ve been able to make a real effort to track her down. Unfortunately, everything I've tried so far has been a dead end. Bobby and I spent an entire week looking into her teacher for some sort of connection. I even persuaded myself that they’d been having some sordid affair since high school and he’d done something to her. Unfortunately, that was a dead end. Her college friends had no new info, and no amount of money in the world can get me answers out of people who don’t have them.
And to top it off, Uncle Malcom’s been hanging around like a bad smell. He tried to insist that I stay at the Byrne manor so Dean would have an excuse to visit, but I spun a white lie that part of my wedding agreement was to spend time at the Savoy place instead. Malcom bought it, along with assuming that it was an invitation to visit any time he wanted. The more he did, the more I grew wary over why he was so interested in Dean. The urge to keep them separate has grown day by day.
“I’m not alone,” I remind Bobby, rubbing his shoulder. “Dean came home maybe forty minutes ago. I saw Jack in the foyer when I went to the bathroom, so I’ll be fine. In fact, I’m going to get Jack to drive you home.”
“That’s not necessary.” Bobby smiles. “I’m not too tired to drive.”
“I insist. Plus, Dean’s security team is keeping you safe, too, and I’d prefer knowing you’re fully protected when heading back to Frankie. I don’t need anything else happening to you, understand?”
Bobby affectionately rolls his eyes. “You know my job title ofbodyguardcomes with the understanding that stuff will happen to me, right?”
“True, but now that I’ve back paid all your wages and you truly, one hundred percent work for me again, I have to protect my investment.”
Bobby snorts softly in amusement. “Man, you get a little money and your ego inflates like crazy.”
“Fuck you!”
“Sorry, you’re not my type.”
We dissolve into soft laughter and set about cleaning up all the files of dead ends, ancient messages, and vague possible-but-not-really sightings of Hailey and toss them all into a folder, then I walk Bobby down to the foyer.
“I know this month has been hard,” Bobby says seriously. “We had this dream that when we got what we wanted, somehow, finding Hailey would be magically instantaneous.”
“Yeah.”
“And instead it feels like we haven’t moved. But I promise we’re close. There aren’t many rocks left uncovered.”
“Do you really believe that?” I ask as we reach the door. “Do you really think we’ll find her?” I’m not sure if I want Bobby to lie to me or not, but his comforting smile brings me warmth.
“I think we have the best chance we’ve ever had to find her,” he says, taking my hand in his. “And I think she would be proud of you for everything you’ve done to find her.”
“I hope so.” Tears linked to the old pain of loss briefly threaten behind my eyes, but I swallow them down and open the door. Jack stands a few feet away by his car, his attention buried in his phone, but his head snaps up when he hears us.
“Secrets don’t stay secret forever,” Bobby says and he lightly kisses my cheek. “Goodnight.”
“Text me when you’re home safe,” I call, watching him head toward Jack who greets him with a warm smile. I wait until they’re both in the car and pulling out of the driveway, flanked by several more security guards, before I close the door.
Secrets. I know Bobby was insinuating that he thinks we’re in a position where telling Dean the truth would be beneficial, but all I can think about is the baby growing inside me. Dean’sbaby. That secret feels so heavy, and I have no idea what to do about it. Telling Dean feels like unfair competition when he has Trisha’s baby to worry about, and how will it look if I reveal I’m pregnant right after I tell him I lied to him and manipulated our first meeting to trick him into working with me?
He’d look at me with the same look he gets in his eye when he talks about Trisha.
Hateful pain.
Then again… maybe it will show my truth. That I really, truly, deeply care for him and that I’m embracing the idea of a real family together. Sure, it wasn’t part of our deal, but no matter how we try, we can’t keep our hands off one another. That has to be a sign.
