Page 87 of Ice Cold Christmas
“V-Victor?” Soft. Again, sleepy. She’d probably been about to drift off when he spoke.
“Sometimes, I think I should have told you the first day that I met you. But I didn’t.” Instead, he’d schemed and planned and tried so hard to get her to belong to him. “I even proposed, and you said that you loved me.” Just saying the words left an ache in his heart. “Baby, when you said you loved me, those were the best words in the whole world. You loved me. I was stunned. Over the moon. You took the ring I had for you.” Three diamonds. The biggest one had rested in the middle, framed by two matching diamonds on the side. “You said for me to meet you at your house.” The words wouldn’t stop. “I was going to tell you that I loved you as soon as we got to your place. Only you weren’t there. I never got to say the words to you.” Victor stopped.
Silence.
Hell. Had she fallen asleep? Missed his big confession? There was no light to see her face. “I love you,” he said again. He wouldn’t hold back this time. Everything would be different. “I’ve always loved you. Since the first moment.” There. Done. “And I always will.”
The silence stretched.
Yes, she was asleep. He should close his eyes, too. They had a long day ahead of them.
“I love you, too, Victor.”
His heart stopped. She was awake. She’d heard everything.
“And I think I always will,” she said.
“There’s something you need to know.” Victor reached into the briefcase that he’d carried into the back of the limo.
Jenner drove the limo. Melody sat near Victor. She’d changed into gray dress pants. Boots. A warm, green sweater.
Victor wore all back. Pants. Sweater. Gleaming dress shoes.
He handed her a manila file. “That came from your father’s estate.”
Frowning, she reached for the file. She could see the CONFIDENTIAL stamp on the side.
“Your fingerprints were inside the file. That’s what Hunter used for a point of comparison with you, but, fingerprints or not, I know who you are.”
The limo slowed for a traffic light. It was early, and no other cars were on the slick road. They were bound for Mage Industries. Would more memories come to her once they got to the building? Melody wasn’t sure. But going there was certainly worth a shot.
They were being tailed by a black SUV. Two guards were inside. Those guards had been waiting outside of Victor’s house that morning. Calista Connors and Luis Ortega. Victor had explained that Luis was former FBI while Calista had worked as an agent with Wilde Security for years before branching out on her own.
Did Melody think it was overkill to have the guards trailing them? Um, no, she thought it was awesome. But her fingers fluttered through the papers. A frown tugged at her lips as she realized that she was reading an arrest report. “I stole a car?” She hunched over the records. “Brant McKee…” Her stomach seemed to do a little dip as she read the name. “I…” Melody glanced up. “This was a long time ago.”
Victor nodded. “Keep reading.”
She shuffled through the papers. “I can’t believe I stole a car.”
“You didn’t, sweetheart. Brant did. The asshole didn’t tell you that he’d taken a stolen ride until after the sheriff pulled you both over. No charges were filed against you, but the sheriff kept those details that you see, and I think he used them to blackmail your father.”
She scanned through the report and…wait. A second incident assessment. She read the details. Twice. “I had broken ribs?” That dip in her stomach turned into a twist. “How did my ribs get broken?” She kept reading, faster.
“You broke up with Brant,” Victor told her. “Guess you didn’t like hanging out with a thief.”
“He hit me.” Her grip tightened on the file. “Hatterson was there. Hatterson stopped him. Called the sheriff and—what?” There. The incident report ended. Just ended. There were no notes. No pictures. Nothing. She thumbed through the file, searching desperately for info that wasn’t there. “What happened after that? Did the guy go to jail?”
“No, he went to military school.”
The limo turned to the left.
“Military school?”
“And he’s currently running for attorney general in Maryland.”
“Bastard,” she breathed.
“Yeah, I think he is.”
