Page 142 of Every Broken Promise
“I’m not sure. She never mentioned any boyfriend.”
My hands balled up, itching to make contact with his face.
“Sir.” Rachel took a step forward. “I’m Rachel, I’m her next-door neighbor, and I’m also one of her emergency contacts atwork. Something I’m sure her boss would be able to verify.” Rachel glared at Ronnie.
Down the hallway I heard the elevator door ding again, but I mostly ignored it until heavy footfalls reached us.
“What’s going on?” someone said from behind me. I craned my neck so I could see who had come. Prescott was there along with his brother.
“They won’t let me go inside,” I stated bitterly.
Prescott’s brother took a step forward, pulling out a card and handing it to the cops. “I’m Maximillian Dunnett, and I’m Miss Hart’s lawyer.”
At this comment, Ronnie lost a bit of his facade.
After a few more back-and-forth exchanges, they let me through. I ran into the room and noticed that everyone was male.
“Astrid, baby, I’m here,” I yelled as soon as I saw the shut door that had a police officer mingling around.
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Astrid opened the door and ran toward me. My arms were around her a second later. Now that she was safe in my arms, I could breathe in properly, and I did by burying my hands in her hair and letting myself get calmed by the floral smell of her conditioner. My hands wrapped around her waist before I registered the silk of her pajamas.
“I-I-I’m so sorry,” she hiccupped. “I-I-I didn’t write that.”
Fuck.
She had been locked in for hours, and this was what she was worried about?
I cupped her cheeks and forced her to look up at me. Right now, no one else mattered. It was just the two of us. I kissed her, and she immediately gave in to me.
“Shhhhh, beautiful. I know you. I know it wasn’t you. I don’t give a fuck about that. All I care about is that you’re okay. I love you, Astrid. I know you. I believe you, baby.”
Astrid buried her face in my chest and began to cry.
“They don’t believe me. Ronnie broke in here,” she whimpered.
Hearing the fear in her voice broke me. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Last time I didn’t act fast enough, and I’d be damned if it would happen twice in a lifetime. She was done being hurt on my watch.
I turned to the side, and Rachel was there.
“Let me take care of this,” I told her as I kissed the top of Astrid’s hair.
Rachel stepped in, hugging Astrid as I walked out with purpose, where the staff were arguing with Prescott and his brother.
Ronnie was speaking with one of the police officers. He was telling him how glad he was that this had been resolved. He was keeping with the fucking facade.
“You motherfucker,” I spat at him as I lunged.
It felt great when my fist made contact with his cheek. The asshole didn’t think I would be stupid enough to assault him in front of so many witnesses. I didn’t give a fuck if I got a case. This motherfucker had made my girl feel so unsafe, she stayed hidden because she didn’t know who she could trust. I barely got two punches in when I was being pulled away from him.
“That’s why I wanted you here,” I could have sworn I heard Prescott deadpan to his brother as they hauled me outside.
FIFTY
A few weeks later
True to my word,I had stuck to my hot girl walks into town. Did I want to do them? Not really. I had to gaslight myself into it, but once I got going, I found myself enjoying them.
That was the thing about life, wasn’t it? We constantly had to do things we didn’t enjoy, but if we gave it a chance, we grew from those experiences.
