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“Nicholas, will this definitely get us enough evidence?” she asked.
“If Jeremy admits it on tape, with your testimonies and Opal’s and mine, and the other evidence we have that’s not as strong, I think it’d be enough,” Nicholas said. “I’ll do everything I can to help.”
He better do everything. Or maybe Hunter would consider taking him out as an annoyance hit. He’d made things so much harder on them. If he’d seen the truth from the start, maybe this would have gone differently.
“I’m going to have this wound checked out,” Nicholas said. “I don’t want to let it go too long, and it’s starting to hurt again.”
“Do you need a ride to the hospital?” Vanessa asked.
“I think I’ll manage, but thank you.” He stood, and she rested his jacket over his shoulders. “Let me know what else I can do. Do you still have my card?”
Vanessa nodded and held open the door for him. They watched him walk out, and she closed and locked the door. Then she turned to Hunter.
“You’re making a huge mistake, and this is far too risky.”
Clearly, she had been holding back while Nicholas was still there, and now she was letting her true feelings show.
“We just went through all this.”
She shook her head. “You think I’m trusting the cops too much, but we have to! They’re the ones who will either lock up Jeremy, or me and you.”
“They’re not going to lock you up.”
“You don’t know what else Jeremy might pull. And you said the system almost took Opal, but it didn’t. We got him to see the truth and now he’s on our side. So, it did work.”
“Barely. Eventually. And maybe. I don’t trust Nicholas fully, either. He might turn on us or make a report that doesn’t quite state things how we need them to. If he decides that being around a hit man isn’t the best thing for Opal, I’m sure he’s going to report that. He might say you haven’t hurt her, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t still recommend that Opal go elsewhere.”
She must not have considered this possibility. Her mouth hung open. After a long pause, she said, “Do you really think…”
“Anything is possible. That’s why we have to do the one option that works. Get the evidence ourselves. We can only trust each other.”
“But what if it’s a trap? Jeremy has already sent other people after us. What if he only agreed to meet you so he could kill you? That’s just as possible. And it’s probably more likely than the cops messing up because he’s already sent people. More than once. If he’s already tried, why wouldn’t he try again to kill you? We need the police to be there. We can’t trust Jeremy to just show up and not try to pull something.”
“Vanessa, it will be fine. Why in the world would he try something like that with me? He knows my record. Do you think he’d be so stupid to walk into a place with a known deadly killer? It’s not like he’d win in a gun fight against me. And he knows that. So he won’t try it.”
She shook her head and the dread bloomed in her stomach. “You’re giving him too much credit. He is stupid and reckless. He would try. Even if he failed, he might hurt you first.”
Hunter came to her and took her hands in his, kissing them each. “I’ll be fine, I promise. If I’m dead or in jail, I can’t protect you and Opal, and that’s the most important thing to me. I’m not going to do anything that would jeopardize my life, and by extension, yours and Opal’s.”
“I know that’s how you feel,” she said softy. “But I have a bad feeling about this. I haven’t had much good in my life. And I feel like I’m about to lose the second-best thing that ever happened to me.”
A glimmer of surprise flickered across Hunter’s face. “Me?”
She nodded. She closed her eyes and leaned closer to him. If she looked him in the eye, she might not be able to speak the words. Her throat was already thick, but she managed to say what she felt. “I love you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. And that’s why I want you to let the cops handle this. I’ve known Jeremy for too long, and I can’t stand the feeling that he’s going to ruin my life again. Please, baby.”
She looked up at him. He leaned down to kiss her.
“We don’t have time to wait for the cops. Jeremy is past impatient. He wants you dead yesterday. If I wait even another day to do it, he’s going to act. I have to meet with him now, and get what we need. If I don’t, he’s going to send someone else. And I love you too much to let that happen.”
A smile slowly spread across her face. “You do?”
“Yes.”
He pulled her close and held her. The warmth and closeness of his body comforted her and filled her with new peace. This was everything she needed. In his strong arms, nothing could hurt her.
