Page 61 of Hawke

“Have you caught the one responsible for this attack yet?” I asked, irritated that the detective was here instead of overturning every rock.

If Charlotte didn’t make it—no, I couldn’t and wouldn’t accept that as an option.

“I have men out on the streets now. Charlotte’s been stabilized, so I’m waiting here to take her statement.” Ayden then looked over at the Maxwells before turning a sympathetic eye back to me. “It’s been a long night for everyone, and the family needs time to process this. Why don’t you go back home or to your club?”

“I would rather be here. I need to talk with her.”

“She experienced a terrifying trauma, and she needs her family right now more than she needs you. When she wakes up, she is going to be agitated. That distress might cause her to crash again, and if she does, they might not be able to revive her this time. They almost didn’t a little while ago. If you care anything for her, just let her be with her family right now.”

I knew he was right. The last thing Charlotte or her family needed was me complicating anything. I was still scared for her, but more optimistic now than I’d been a half hour ago because Ayden had told me that she was stable again. I let out a harsh breath, then threw my hands up.

“Okay. I’ll leave, but if anything changes with her condition, will you please let me know?”

Ayden nodded, and almost seemed relieved that I wasn’t going to cause a scene.

“I do care about her despite what anyone thinks, and I know she feels the same way about me.”

Ayden didn’t say anything until Detective Whiteside appeared in the doorway. “I need to step outside, so please do everyone a favor and leave as you promised.”

I nodded this time, then walked out of the room. I still didn’t feel right going straight home, so I headed toward the rooftop instead. Once I’d made it to the top, I pulled out my phone and saw another message from Caine Stephens. This one sounded cryptic, and with nothing else to do, I called my friend.

39 – CHARLOTTE

Islowly blinked at the sound of the machines beeping and whirring around me. As I tried opening my eyes, I closed them again, having to squint to keep the blinding light out. In the few seconds I’d had them open, it was enough for me to know I was in a hospital. It’d been that way for days, and I was starting to lose hope that I would ever get to leave this place. Home. It’s where I planned on going as soon as I was sprung.

“How are you feeling, Charlotte?” Ayden asked me as he ruffled my hair.

I grimaced slightly as I rolled over into a sideways position. “Better. Has he been caught?”

I was terrified of my assailant finding me again so he could try and finish the job. The serial killer had killed six other women before me, but I had been lucky number seven, the luck coming in that I actually survived where the others before me hadn’t. The identity of my attacker was shocking to not only myself, but everyone else around me, including the man sitting beside me.

Ayden Santiago was like a brother to me, and I knew once I told him who it was that he’d naturally blame himself since the two worked side by side for so long. When I’d been revived for the second time in the hospital and was allowed to answer questions, I had told Ayden everything I could remember.

Well, maybe not everything.

The stuff with Hawke had been left out, but not the way Austin had attacked and tried to kill me. At first, Ayden didn’t seem to believe me. If I was being honest, Chase and Cortland seemed just as skeptical. After all, Austin had been working as tirelessly as them on trying to crack the case. I now knew why they’d never caught the bastard before now.

Maybe it’d been that Hawke also seemed to corroborate parts of what I had told them, but something I’d said had convinced them to look into my story. Cooper then told me Austin was on the run, though, and I knew I would never be able to move on with my life until he was caught and locked away forever.

“We booked him last night, but there’s something I need to tell you—” he began to say, and I shook her head vehemently, not wanting to hear that he’d been released.

“Please tell me you didn’t let him go.” The heart rate monitor beside my bed started to beep incessantly. I needed to stay calm, and I knew that, but fear was one hell of an escalator, and I was currently gripped with it.

As if he could sense how upset I was getting, Ayden laid his hand on my arm, then rubbed it in a comforting motion. “No, we didn’t let him go. It’s nothing like that.”

“T-then what?” I stammered in question. I was getting all worked up, and I needed to know it all.

Ayden took a small breath. “He won’t be able to hurt you or anyone else again. Austin hung himself in his cell last night.”

I shouldn’t have been celebrating the fact that anyone had taken their own life, but there was a huge weight lifted off of me at the news. I had been so fearful of getting released from the hospital only to have Austin come back to finish the job. That terror had been a constant noose around my neck, keeping me imprisoned worse than the plastic cable tie I later learned he’d tried to kill me with had.

If it hadn’t been for Hawke finding the two of us in the alley, I knew I would’ve been dead. I still had no idea what the hell he was doing there, or how he even knew where I was. The way things had been left between us was bad, so having Hawke chase after me had been the last thing I would’ve ever expected.

He’d saved my life in the alley, but then later I remembered seeing him at the hospital. Even now, that brief time period was still a blur. I’d almost thought I had conjured him up until Chase told me that Hawke had indeed been here in my room. I couldn’t remember a whole lot from our interaction, but I could clearly recall the events at his hotel, including his obvious denial of what was between us.

I also remembered the determination I had to finally move on from our toxic and dysfunctional relationship. It’d hurt me enough to walk away from him that night, but later at the hospital… Hawke had returned again, but thankfully, the guard placed outside wouldn’t let anyone but immediate family in to see me.

“Don’t cry over him,” Ayden said, wiping the solitary drop of moisture from my cheek.

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