Chapter 43

(*Aaron*) 

Waking up in a bed that I haven’t slept in, in what felt like years, was an odd experience. Making coffee in the same kitchen that I had designed for my mother was another. I have gotten used to my house being set up just the way I like it, and being back here in the penthouse feels weird. So, here I am standing beside the kitchen island, taking my first sip of coffee, when my phone rings.

I answer quickly, since it is still early, and I don’t want to wake the ladies. After telling Quinn to hold on for a moment, I walk out onto the balcony before I speak again. I sit on a padded lounge chair and then tell him to continue. 

“I called the police when I got home last night and requested the two detectives that worked Annie’s hit-and-run case. They are at Rylan’s house now with crime scene techs. I called them a few minutes ago to ask for updates, and they told me something that you are not going to like.” He pauses to say something to Grace, who I can hear in the background.

“What did they find?” I ask him when he is done talking to his daughter.

“Since it was so dark last night, it was hard to see, but there were two distinct sets of footprints.” 

“What the fuck? Does Paulson have an accomplice?” 

“I doubt it. Here is the thing that Anson told me. One set of footprints was deeper and older than the other. Meaning that whoever else was out there has probably been watching her house for longer than just last night. So, I did a check on where Mr. Donovan is.” Quinn’s voice got louder at the last part of that.

Grant fucking Donovan is a wife-beating piece of shit, and he has, no doubt, come to California to terrorize his wayward wife.

“Let me guess, he is right here in California?” I ask. I can feel my anger spiking at the thought of what he put Rosalie through over the years. Even if I don’t know everything that he did to her, I know enough that I will protect her just like I would protect any woman who is or ever was in a DV situation.

Quinn doesn’t respond right away, but I can hear Annie talking to Grace in the background. “My girls are awake and getting ready for their days. Keep Rylan and Rosalie close today, and I will call you when I hear anything back from Anson.”

He ends the call, leaving me staring out at the city below. When I turn back to go inside, I pause as I reach for the handle on the sliding glass door. Rylan is staring at me with a confused and slightly angry expression on her face.

Her hair is a mess from sleep, but her blue eyes are crystal clear and pin me with a not-nice look. I had a feeling that she wouldn’t be very receptive to seeing me here when she woke up. When I knew she was in danger, there was no choice but to stay here.

My mind and heart wouldn’t allow anything else. 

“What are you doing here?” Rylan asks as I walk back into the penthouse. “Not that I am upset to see you, but I figured you would have better things...” 

I don’t let her finish her sentence before I close the distance between us and then spin us around so I can pin her to the wall. “Let me make one thing clear because you seem to be under the impression that I would ignore the fact that you are in danger, and I would be anywhere other than by your side. That isn’t who I am, and you know it. You are the one person I would burn this world to the ground just to keep you safe.” 

Rylan’s eyes soften. Then she wraps her arms around me and presses her head against my chest. I wrap her in my arms, and for the first time since she called me last night, I feel at peace. Rylan is my peace, and I feel like I can breathe easy again knowing that she is safe. 

For now. 

She and Rosalie are as safe as I can make them for now. Monday morning, we will face a new hurdle. Rylan will insist that she go into work, and Rosalie has her test to re-qualify as a nurse. I can’t keep either of them wrapped in a bubble forever. 

“I am sorry that I ran out on you last night.” She whispers into my chest. 

“We can talk about that shit later. Right now, there are a few things we need to talk about that are more important than what happened at the art gallery. Come into the kitchen, and I will make you guys breakfast; we can talk while I cook.”

Rylan nods, and I pull away from her and then walk into the kitchen. She follows behind me silently. Thanks to a quick-thinking Quinn, there is food in the refrigerator because of Annie. When I told him that Rylan and her sister were coming here, he called Annie on his way home and asked her to take anything she could spare down to my place.

I will have groceries delivered to both penthouses later today along with flowers for Annie. She is due to give birth soon, and she helped me out immensely by gathering food to spare. My best friend picked an amazing woman to marry. 

Not that he had a choice in the matter. He was hers from the day they met all those years ago. Just like I belong to Rylan. Completely.

One day soon I will make sure she knows that without a doubt.

I open the refrigerator and check to see what Annie brought down. There are eggs and some breakfast sausage. Scrambled eggs, it is. So, after pulling out everything that I need, I start cooking.

“Has Rosalie noticed someone watching her any other night other than last night?” I ask as I crack the eggs into a bowl. 

My question is met with silence, so I look up at Rylan. Her head is cocked to the side, and there is a frown on her face. Either she doesn’t know, or Rosalie hasn’t told her if she felt she was being watched. 

“I honestly have no idea. If she had been feeling that way, she hasn’t talked to me about it. Why do you ask?” 

I explain to her what the crime techs found and then the implications of their findings mean. Her face pales as I do. I also hear a soft gasp from the doorway of the kitchen and look up to find Rosalie standing there with her hand over her mouth. 

“Grant found me.” She walks to Rylan and hands her cellphone to her.

I watch as Rylan reads whatever is on the screen and her face as she does. “What is it?” 

Rylan slides the phone across the island counter, then pulls her sister into a hug. I glance down at the phone to read what is on it. I swear profusely afterwards. 

*Rose,* 

*You look comfortable in your sister’s house. I can see you are healing nicely and spreading your wings again. You think you are safe, but you are not, and it will be my absolute pleasure to break those wings again and lock you back in the cage where you belong. Soon, my little bird. I will come for you soon, and there is nowhere you can go, nowhere you can hide that I won’t find you. I will always find you, Rose. You are mine to do whatever I want with, and you won’t ever be free from me until I deem it so. You will do well to remember that. Get ready; I am coming for you very soon.* 

*Grant* 

That evil motherfucker! 

Grant was one of the two people watching Rylan’s house. He and Paulson are vile people. I will do all I can to keep Rylan and her sister safe. Even if I have to go hunting to do it. 

“This building has a top-of-the-line security system, and it is guarded by trained military personnel twenty-four hours a day. I want both of you to move in here until Grant and Paulson are caught.”

“Who is Paulson?” Rosalie asks. 

Rylan’s head whips in my direction, and I can tell by the look on her face that she hasn’t told her sister about what happened. I didn’t know, and now I feel like shit. So, I decide to extricate myself from the coming conversation and turn to the stove to cook breakfast.

“Who is this Paulson person, Rylan? Why are they after you?” Rosalie asks in an agitated tone of voice. 

I mouth ‘I am sorry’ to Rylan when she looks at me once more before finally turning to face her sister fully.

(*Rylan*) 

Great, now I get to have a conversation with my sister that I was not ready to have. I want to blame Aaron, but I can tell by the look on his face that he didn’t know that I hadn’t told my sister about Paulson or Heath, for that matter. With everything that Rosalie had gone through and the choice she will soon have to make, I didn’t want to burden her with the things that I have gone through. 

I wanted to keep her from that crap for as long as I could. 

My time on those secrets is up now. 

After looking back at Aaron, I see he has turned away from us and is keeping busy making us all breakfast. He knows he opened a can of nastiness and is doing everything he can to not get in the way. For that alone, I am grateful. Just knowing he is there will help as I tell my sister about some of my most recent traumatic experiences.

“Are you hungry?” I ask her as I motion for her to take a seat on the cushioned stool next to me at the counter. 

Rosalie looks like she was going to say no to my offer of breakfast, but then she sighs and sits down next to me. “I assume Aaron knows everything that you are about to tell me, right?”

I nod my head to her question, then smile when Aaron slides a steaming mug of coffee in front of me and a mug of tea in front of my sister. This man misses nothing, it seems. Rosalie has never been a coffee drinker, and it warms my heart that he noticed.

“So, spill it, Rylan. What did this man do to you?” 

My sister is like a hound dog right now.

“I met Jake Paulson at the hospital shortly after I moved here to take the job that Aaron and Quinn offered me. He seemed very sweet, patient, and honestly an all-around good guy. We went on a few dates and spent lunches together when we could.” 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aaron stiffen as I recount this to my sister.

“That last night, we went out to dinner at this fancy restaurant he wanted to go to. Things were flowing well between us, and I went back to his place with him. Until that night, we had only kissed, held hands, and had a few heavy make-out sessions. That night I decided we would take things further.” 

Aaron slides our breakfast plates onto the counter, then walks out of the room. Everything in me screams to run after him, but I don’t because I need to get this out. This is the first time since I was on the witness stand during the trial that I have talked about this to anyone.

“Jake seemed to be on the same page that I was, and soon we were in his bedroom. That was where it all went to shit. When we moved to his bedroom, something felt off. I am still not sure what it was. I asked him to stop. Instead of stopping, like he normally does, he got angry. He told me I was a tease and led him on for weeks. That was when he slammed me against the wall.” 

Rosalie gasps, and I watch as her hand flies to cover her mouth and a single tear falls down her cheek. I know what she went through with Grant, and I want to puke. I hesitate to continue, but then Aaron comes back into the kitchen.

He has changed his clothes and is now wearing a pair of blue jeans and a Metallica concert t-shirt. If things were different, I would want to be cuddling on that very comfortable-looking couch with him right now. Lazy mornings with Aaron are the best. 

I give him a smile as he scoots a stool close to mine and then takes a seat. I reach out instantly to take his hand. He threads our fingers together without a word, then nods at me to continue my story. 

“It dazed me, but not for long. He took advantage of it, though, and pulled me to the floor. I slapped his hand as he tried to pull my skirt up. I am not sure when his hands went around my neck. That was when I realized he meant to rape me.”

“Oh, Rylan! I know why you didn’t want to tell me. Did you press charges?” 

I nod my head as Aaron squeezes my hand to comfort me. For the next thirty minutes, I tell my sister about the trial, all the other women that came forward, and Jake’s escape. Then I tell her about Heath. By the time I am done with my horrid past, my sister is in tears. 

Big, fat tears that pull at my heart. Between the two of us, we have experienced way too much. My sister much more than me. She dealt with Grant for years. Years of abuse that I have only gotten a brief glimpse of since she has been in California with me. 

I know there is more to it than what I know, and one day, years from now, maybe, I hope she will be comfortable enough with our relationship to tell me everything, just like I have now.

“So, this Paulson guy is after you for what? Revenge for getting him arrested and sent to prison?”

That sums it up pretty well. 

“He blames me for pressing charges against him and opening the door for all his other victims to come forward. To him, he had been getting away with it for years, and I ruined his life. At least that is what he screamed at me when he was being taken away after he was found guilty.” 

“We are safe here right now?” Rosalie asks Aaron. 

“Yes. You are safe here, and if you need to leave, I have arranged for bodyguards to follow both of you.” 

Oh, hell no!