Chrissy didn’t pull away, so I continued rubbing her back until her sobs subsided. I hated seeing her cry, but I knew she had a lot of stress built up inside. Eventually she sat up and wiped her eyes. I found some tissues and handed them to her, and she dried her face.
“I know this isn’t a great time,” I said. “But can we talk?”
“Sure. We might as well since we’ll be here for awhile. Maybe it will take my mind off Bella’s surgery.”
I nodded. “I hate to bring up such an unpleasant topic, but I want to apologize again for what happened the night of the party at my house. That should have never happened to you, and it should have never happened in my home.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my responsibility though. It was my friend, and my home. It will never happen again. I promise.” I wanted to kiss her so badly. I wanted to hold her, and breathe her in. But I couldn’t. I was grateful she was at least letting me rub her back. “Would you consider coming back to try again? Or even seeing me while you stay in your apartment? Let make it up to you. I miss you. Every single minute of every day.”
She stared at the floor. “I can’t, Richard. I miss you too. So much. But I can’t live like that. I can’t have something else I have to survive, and I cannot ever expose Bella to something like that. I won’t let her be his next victim because of what I want.”
“I understand. I admire your resolve. Travis won’t be a problem. He was my best friend, but I had no idea he was capable of behaving that way, or I would have ended the friendship a long time ago.”
She wrapped her arms around her purse, hugging it to her chest. “I don’t want to interfere with your friendship. I could never ask that.”
I tried to keep my voice under control. When I thought about Travis, my body and my mind craved violence. I could have easily thrown one of the ugly plastic chairs across the room. “There is no friendship. Not now, not ever again. I punched him until he blacked out. I fired him from the company. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”
“You did all that because of me? Why would you do that? Wasn’t he your CFO?”
“He’s not fit to be a ditch digger. And I would have decked him if he’d done that to any woman. But yes, I did it for you, and I would have fired him for much less that what he did in that hallway. I can’t stand that he hurt you. I would do anything to take it back.”
“He’s never done that before?”
I was horrified that she’d think I’d be friends with a predator. “No. I promise you that I wouldn’t have remained his friend if he’d done that to any woman. Not just you.” I took her hand in mine. “He told me that you came on to him. I knew immediately that something was wrong, I just couldn’t figure out what. I know now that I stuck my head in the sand and ignored the obvious signs that he was a creep.”
She pulled her hand away from mine and spun in her seat to face me. “That’s crazy. Why would I hit on him?” She dropped her purse and stood, pacing. “I tried to get away from him immediately.”
“I know. When I questioned him, he said you must have wanted more money. I knew then his story wasn’t true. You are the most caring, devoted sister I’ve ever seen. You do a better job with Bella than a lot of moms do for their child. You were never in this for money. I know you only met with me in the beginning because you were desperate to save her —”
She turned toward me. “But I fell in love with you. That was real.”
“I know. I know you agreed to meet me because you needed help. But I never doubted that your feelings were genuine. You have so much integrity. If you hadn’t had feelings for me, you wouldn’t have lied about it.”
She stopped pacing and relaxed back into her chair. Thankfully, she let me hold her hand again.
“So that’s why I went to watch the video footage from the surveillance cameras. I knew there was a problem. My instincts told me Travis was lying.”
“Why would he do that to do you?”
“What he did to me was nothing compared to what he did to you.” I had to approach this carefully. “Do you want to call the police and file a report? We have proof. I will support you either way.”
She froze. “I didn’t think of that. I don’t think that kind of chaos would be good for Bella right now. I want to focus on getting full custody of her.” She rubbed her face. “Is that terrible of me? I don’t want Travis to attack any other women.”
“I have some contacts. I think I can have an officer pay him a little visit off the records. I think it will scare him enough to keep him from violating another woman.” I would handle that before the day was over. Travis played the tough guy, but it would only take seconds for someone to intimidate him into never harming another woman. I would also hire a private investigator to follow him for a few months, to make sure he wasn’t stepping out of line.
“If he’s never done that before, why me? Do you think he thought I was willing?”
“No. Sweetheart, nothing about that was your fault. It wouldn’t have mattered if you flirted with him, or if you didn’t. You told him to get lost, and he violently attacked you. He’s a criminal and he belongs in jail. I hate it, but his motivation was me. He was jealous. He told me later, after he woke up. He said it wasn’t fair that he introduced me to the club, and dragged me there, and then I was the one who got what I wanted with the Wish Maker. He wanted a meeting with the Wish Maker, but he never got one.”
Part of me wondered if the Wish Maker had some kind of intuition about Travis, or a reason to believe he wouldn’t be a good match. If so, she’d been correct.
I lifted Chrissy’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “He wanted to hurt me. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m still just stunned. You lost your best friend and CFO because of me.”
“No. He did that to himself. He deserves whatever he gets. Chrissy, I love you. I have never felt comfortable around anyone else in my life. But with you, I felt at ease. I could relax, and be myself. It was a business transaction at first, but it quickly became so much more for me. I would do anything for you and for your sister. I want to share my life with you. I want to share my home with you and Bella, and I want all three of us to make a life together.”
I wanted to get down on one knee, but I knew this wasn’t the time or the place. I just had to do a good job pleading my case, so that one day, I would get the chance to buy a ring and propose to her.
“I will do everything I can to keep you both safe. I can hire only women. I can assign a bodyguard to you and Bella, all the time, or when we have guests in the house. You can go to school full time if you want, or you can work. I just want you, any way that I can have you.”
“I love you.”
There was a flurry of motion, and Chrissy was throwing her arms around me. “I love you, too.”
