There were no words.
None in the English language, at least. (I didn’t speak any other languages, but I doubted they had words to describe that feeling, either.)
“Imogen?” Cade rumbled.
“Mmm?”
“Earlier, when you were on the phone?—”
I tensed slightly.
“—you mentioned something,” he went on cautiously. “A snow globe. You said that douchebag smashed it.”
Christ, he never missed a single detail. No wonder he was a detective.
I sighed. “Is there a question in there?”
He squeezed my hip at the sassy comment. “You know the question, smartass.”
“It was from my parents,” I admitted after a long beat of silence. “One of the last things I had to remember them. They bought it for me when I was four, during our first trip to Disney World. It had Cinderella’s castle inside and when you shook it, these purple sparkles floated all around. It was beautiful.”
His hand tightened on my hip again — this time, a soothing gesture instead of a scolding one.
“One night last spring, Adrian had a bad run of luck at the poker table. He smashed half the stuff in his penthouse.” I swallowed hard, trying not to remember that night too clearly. It hadn’t ended well for me. “Including my snow globe. He chucked it at a wall and it shattered to pieces.”
“I’m sorry, Goldie.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“No. But I’m going to fix it.”
“Fix it?”
He nodded. I couldn’t see it, plastered so tight against his side, but I felt him do it.
“What does that mean?” I asked. “How are you going to fix it?”
“Firstly, by making sure that fuckwad never comes near you again,” he said flatly. “He contacts you, I want to know about it.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s hope he’s smarter than that.”
Adrian was many things;smartwas not one of them.
“Cade, you really don’t have to get involved in my drama. You have enough on your plate right now.”
He rolled me off his chest onto the bed, then came up on one elbow so he could look into my face. “Anything that hurts you, anything that even tries, I’m getting involved. Whether it’s that asshole ex or your asshole uncle.”
My stomach turned to stone. “My uncle?”
“Already put in a call to one of my contacts in Orlando,” he confirmed calmly. “He’ll get back to me with whatever he finds out.”
“Cade!” I practically screamed, not calm at all. The very opposite of calm, in fact.
I shoved away from him with all my strength, instinctively trying to flee. He didn’t let me get far. His arm was like steel as he hauled me back against his body and rolled on top, effectively pinning me to the bed with his weight. I thrashed for a few seconds, a useless endeavor.
“Settle down, Goldie.”