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How could it have been him?

“Darren,” Captain Leopold finishes. “Maverick said it was a rough breakfast.”

“It was. They ended up leaving. Bella was angry that I wouldn’t go back to work for them.”

“How did Darren handle it?”

“Better than Bella,” I reply. “But I know now that was all a mask.”

Captain Leopold nods. “What happened after you were waiting upstairs?”

“Someone opened the door. I assumed it was Maverick, but when I got inside, I saw—Darren standing near the table.” I close my eyes. “He told me that he’d forgotten his jackets and Maverick sent him up to get me so we could all have coffee. I knew he was lying, though.”

“How so?”

“He said that Maverick had been down cleaning, but I knew he’d gone down to get coffee.”

“Okay, what happened next?”

“I screamed for Maverick, but he couldn’t hear me. Darren told me that he’d given him a paralytic, and that if I cooperated, he wouldn’t kill him.” The weight in my chest grows, and I take a deep breath. “Once I got downstairs and saw Maverick lying there…” I trail off. “I begged him to let me call for help. Then, when I went into the kitchen to grab the phone and he followed, I hit him in the face with the coffee pot and ran.”

“That was quick thinking,” Captain Leopold says.

“When I was kneeling beside Maverick, he gently squeezed my hand. I knew that if I just bought enough time for whatever he’d been given to wear off, we stood a chance at making it out of there. He attacked me when I tried to get around the bar to call for help.” Reaching up, I brush the fingers of my free hand over my throat. “That’s when he told me that the ‘R’ he carved on my stomach was for his real name. He said it was Royce.”

Captain Leopold nods. “He had it legally changed shortly after he and Bella married.”

“He said she made him and that she didn’t love him like I did.” Tears blur my vision once more, and I blink rapidly to clear them. “I thought he was going to kill me, but then Maverick was there, ripping him off of me.”

Maverick squeezes my hand gently, then stands and crosses his arms, remaining right beside me.

“After that, they fought. I called Anastasia for help, then grabbed a knife. When I saw him going for Maverick and saw how hard Maverick was fighting against the effects of the drug, I went after Darren. He—uh—stabbed me.”

“What happened next?” Captain Leopold asks after a beat of silence. “I’m not trying to push you, Sadie. I just need to hear it so I can put all of this in my report. That’s all.”

“I understand. Maverick protected me. He—killed Darren. Then Sawyer arrived. That’s really the last thing I remember.”

Captain Leopold nods as he makes a few notes in his notepad. “Thank you.”

“What’s going to happen now? Maverick won’t get into trouble, right?” That fresh fear hits me out of nowhere. What if they come after him for murder? Will he have to go to jail?

“Maverick acted in self-defense,” Captain Leopold replies. “There may be more questions to answer at some point, but he’s not going to be brought up on any charges.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I rest my head back against the bed.

“I already notified the department back in Georgia, who originally handled your stalker case. They’re digging into his life and financials now, looking for anything that might tie him to your kidnapping.”

“The guy admitted it,” Maverick says. “Why do they need more than that? I gave you the security tape from the bar. You can overhear the whole thing. Plus, his wife confirmed he’d had a beard up until the day they came to see us at the bar. He was the one who tried to run me down with that truck. He literally carved his initial into her stomach.”

“I know. They have all of that, too. It’s just standard procedure. They’re building the case and making sure his wife had no knowledge of what happened.”

“Do you think she did?” The thought makes me nauseous all over again.

“I doubt it,” Captain Leopold replies. “She was pretty horrified this morning. I’m good at reading people, and I didn’t get the sense she had any idea who her husband truly was.”

Knowing that eases a bit of the twisting in my gut.

“Her first question was whether you were okay, Sadie. She thought Darren had gone out for coffee. She’d had no idea he was coming back to you.”