“It’s okay,” I told him. “Birdie is going with me, and Ace will chaperone. You don’t need to worry.”
“How can I not?” he snapped. He was tired and irritable, and I didn’t blame him. For the past four weeks, he’d been going to radiation religiously, battling the awful side effects while he tried to navigate his own inner turmoil and deal with the detectives’ constant questions.
“We need to get back to the business of living,” I said gently. “You know it can’t be like this when the baby comes. There will be times when you’ll have to trust that everything is going to be okay because you can’t be here twenty-four seven.”
“I know that.” He sighed. “But I also know that someone I thought I could trust tried to murder you twice. He tried to take away my wife. My son…”
His voice cracked, and he blinked away the memory of that night while I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Because of you, I will never have to worry about that again,” I said. “Our son will never have to worry.”
“You can’t be certain of that,” Lucian answered. “Just because Nolan is gone doesn’t mean the threat is.” His eyes looked like a war zone as he thought of all the possible enemies we’d both accumulated over the course of our lifetimes.
“We could spend time worrying about it, or we can be prepared while we carry on with our lives. But if you let them control us, they win.”
Lucian looked down at me, shaking his thoughts away before his forehead pressed against mine. “I know, pet. I just can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” I assured him. “But sometimes, you have to trust me.”
He blinked, rattled by my words. “I do trust you, Gypsy. I fucked up by ever doubting you. And I want you to know I’ll never make that mistake again.”
My lips brushed against his, and I smiled. “I know you won’t.”
“Let me go with you,” Lucian said. “At the very least, just let me do that if you have to go.”
“You can’t,” I argued. “You’re supposed to be resting, for one. And for another, I’m shopping for your birthday present, so you can’t be there.”
His eyes clouded over, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke. “Birthday present?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what Amazon is for,” he said. “Besides, I already have everything I need. I have you.”
I kissed him again. “True. But I still want to get you something.”
A knock sounded on the front door, and I heard Ace clear his throat behind us as he entered.
Lucian squeezed me as he looked at Ace. The threat was already on his lips when Ace smirked. “I’ve got this, brother. She will be safe in my care. You never have to doubt that.”
“Straight there and back?” Lucian pleaded with me.
I nodded, reaching up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “Now go get some rest.”
Detective Taylor sat down on the sofa, arranging our file and his pen on the coffee table in front of him. “I just have a few more things I’d like to go over.”
They’d been saying that for the past four weeks. Lucian was exhausted and weak, and I really didn’t want him doing this right now, but I also knew he just wanted it to be over. He took my hand in his, squeezing gently to let me know I didn’t need to worry. But I was worried. For the past month, we’d been answering questions while the detectives dug through every facet of our lives.
“According to your statement, you believe Nolan Clark gained access to your home that night with the alarm code, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Lucian answered. “As I’ve told the other detectives before, he was a close friend of mine. I’d given him the access code for emergencies.”
“Ironic,” Detective Taylor mumbled. “And nobody in your home heard him come in that evening?”
Lucian remained steadfast in his responses. “It was the middle of the night. We were all asleep.”
The detective flipped through his notes, reading over a paragraph before scribbling something down and returning to his questions. “Gypsy was in the bedroom, and you were in the office at your desk?”
“Yes,” Lucian grunted. “Where I had fallen asleep.”