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“We’re just asking questions,” Cross assured her.
But Emma was slowly finding her backbone. “No, you’re accusing me of doing something to him which I didn’t. Even if I wanted to, this is exactly the reason I couldn’t.” She shook her head, and I turned my attention and my smile to watch Ash jumping rope and singing to herself. “Look, do I want him to come home? No. But it’s odd that he’s been gone for so long and he hasn’t called. Alex is possessive and he never goes more than two hours without calling to make sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“You don’t exactly sound like the worried wife.” The young detective, Massey, was playing bad cop and I hoped he didn’t rattle Emma.
“I’m not worried because I’m his wife and love him, I’m worried for myself. If something has happened to him either you’ll blame me, or he will when he comes back. Don’t you get it? Everything is my fault. If he’s been mugged or something, it’ll be my fault for not cooking the steak properly.” The sincerity in her tone made me want to kill the asshole all over again. “I wanted to take this opportunity to run but I knew how that would look.”
Good girl.
Seeing that she had the cops under control, I went outside to check on the little girl. “You okay Ash?”
She stopped jumping rope and grinned at me. “Is Mommy okay?”
“She’s fine. Stronger than she knows.”
Ash nodded sagely, looking like a child far older than five. “I hope he never comes back.”
Her words surprised me. I assumed she’d witnessed everything but then again maybe she didn’t know what she saw. “He’s not going to hurt you ever again.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, I promise.” There was something so fucking sweet and endearing about this little girl. She had her mother’s spunk but there was a curiosity there that made her a joy to be around.
“The cops aren’t going to take my mommy away, are they?”
I hoped not. “No.” I wouldn’t let that happen.
“Pinky swear?” She held up her little finger, half-crooked with a trusting expression on her face.
“Double pinky swear.” I hooked our little fingers together and stared at the little girl because for some reason I wanted her to trust me, to believe the words I said to her.
“Wanna play?” Her blue eyes held a hopeful expression as if she really wanted me to say yes but fully expected me to say no.
“Yeah. What are we playing?” There was nothing else I could do for Emma so focusing on Ashlyn seemed like the best course of action.
With a sweet giggle, she pushed me and took off running while she yelled, “Tag, you’re it!”
I couldn’t resist her laughter as I chased after her, letting her get halfway across the backyard before I took off after her.
Still, I couldn’t stop my gaze from darting towards the house, hoping like hell that Emma was doing okay inside.
Chapter 9
Emma
Alex had been gone seventy-two hours and it still didn’t feel real. I kept waiting for my chest to loosen, for my nerves to settle and for that feeling of freedom to take over inside my chest. But that didn’t happen.
Nothing happened.
Instead of feeling good about the next stage in my life all I felt was anxious and not the least of which was because it seemed as if law enforcement had infiltrated my neighborhood. With seventy-two hours gone, the police now considered his disappearance suspicious, and they were determined to find the good doctor wherever he may be.
“Are you okay?” Slate bumped my shoulder as he flashed a killer smile my way.
I shrugged, completely unsure how to answer that question. It seemed like my problems were just piling up, I still hadn’t figured out how or when I was going to tell Slate about Ashlyn. Part of me just wanted to keep quiet, and then once things settled down to take off and never look back. But the other part, the bigger part knew he needed to know his daughter, also since we’d been spending time together, I was realizing how much I liked him and wouldn’t mind sticking around. My eyes went to the street where I could see a police car parked, “Who knows what they’re telling the cops. They heard what he did in here, all of it. It’s impossible not to, and yet they didn’t come to my aid. They didn’t call the cops or shout for him to stop it. Theydid nothing, Slate. Absolutely nothing.” I hated that I sounded whiny and bitter. Angry.
“And you’re worried what they might be saying about you?”
“Of course,” I snapped inadvertently. “Sorry, it’s just that they could be saying nothing at all, giving he cops the wholethey seemed like a nice familyspiel, or they could lie and say that I was the problem.” My heart raced inside my chest, fire burned my veins, and I spent every other second waiting for them to come and slap a pair of cuffs on my wrists and just get it over and done with.
