"Reed." Her voice was soft, hoarse.
My eyes fell closed for just a moment to savor the sound of her voice. "God, it's so good to hear your voice and to see you with your eyes open. I've been—" I choked on the words, feeling my emotions burn in my chest. I cleared my throat, hoping to keep them from coming out completely. "I've been so worried about you."
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry you got involved in this. I should've told you. It's all my fault. I should've told you everything. I was just scared and I didn't want anyone involved. I thought I was protecting you. I'm so, so sorry for not telling you about him and about my past."
Making my way around to the side of her bed, I grabbed her hand in mine. I leaned close to her and said, "Don't apologize. What happened was not your fault. I'm just glad you're okay."
"I feel so stupid. I was such an idiot. I thought I could start a new life. I thought I could get away. It was selfish and dumb, and it almost got you killed, Reed. I would've never forgiven myself if anything happened to you because of me."
Her lips folded inward and her eyes closed, as if she were trying to hold in the tears. It killed me to see her so upset. The last thing she should feel right now was shame or guilt. Emily was a victim and she was acting like she had control over what happened.
"Open your eyes and look at me." I tried to keep my voice soft. She did as I asked, tears rolling out of the corners of her eyes. "You don't need to apologize or feel guilty for what happened. It wasn't your fault. None of it."
She nodded and then closed her eyes again. As I sat there, I wondered if she knew about the baby. Had the doctors told her yet? With all that had happened, they might have thought it best to wait before saying anything. She had only been awake for a couple minutes before the detectives bombarded her with questions.
"I told the cops everything," she said, reopening her eyes. "I told them it was Jake who did this to us. I told them what he tried to do to me before I got to your place, about how I barely got away. I told them everything about the last few years and how I had tried to get help in Vegas but couldn't." Her voice cracked and then she finally broke into tears.
Crawling on the bed and trying not to hurt her or mess with her IVs, I did the only thing I could think to do. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and told her over and over it was going to be okay. I told her I was sorry for not protecting her. That I was sorry he hurt her again. My mouth opened to say something about the baby, but I didn't because I wasn't sure she was ready to hear that yet. Instead, I promised her I would do everything in my power to make sure Jake paid for what he did and that I would die before I let anything like this happen to her again.
She didn't say anything in return. She just cried as I held her tight until she fell asleep in my arms. I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but it must have been hours because the sky outside her window grew dark. No one interrupted us, and I cherished every second I had with her. In that moment, when I had her in my arms, I was finally convinced that she was going to be okay.
Kim came in around nine p.m., giving me a soft smile. She had a few new bags of clear liquid that she hooked up to the IV.
"You've worked a long day," I said, keeping my voice low. She had been here since early this morning. I was thankful she was still here.
"Yeah," she whispered and smiled. "You haven't gotten rid of me quite yet. This will be my last rotation for tonight, though."
Carefully, I sat up in bed, hoping not to wake Emily. "Does she know about the baby?" I spoke so softly that I wasn't sure she heard me, but she finally nodded and the smile dropped from her face.
"The doctor told her after she woke up, but I don't think she believed them. She was clearly in shock over it and then the detectives came in and started questioning her. I'm not sure she really even processed it."
It killed me to know that I wasn't in here with her when she found out. I should've been in here with her.
"The detectives are still out there waiting for you," Kim said, jerking her head toward the hallway. "Why don't you go out and talk to them while I'm in here. I'll come get you if she wakes up."
I nodded. "Thank you."
When I exited the room, the detectives were standing across the hall almost like they were bodyguards hired to protect her. If they really wanted to protect her, they should have been hunting down the piece of shit that did this to her.
"Mr. Alexander, do you have a moment?" Detective Palmer asked.
"We can talk right here. I'm not leaving her again." My voice was firm. I had about all I could handle of these two.
Detective Palmer nodded his head once and then glanced over to Detective Wallace.
"Emily told us what happened," Detective Wallace said. "We know what Jake has done to her over the years and what he did to the two of you a few nights ago. It's not that we didn't believe you, but you have to understand that we were just doing our jobs and we had to cover all the bases, especially with someone like Jake Terrell, who clearly lives by his own rules. When those people gave us an ironclad alibi for him, our hands were tied." He sighed and paused for a few seconds. The demeanor in the air around us had changed. Something didn't feel right and the look on their faces already had my heart hammering.
"Once we were done questioning Emily, we sent a team to pick Jake up in Vegas, but…" He paused, hesitating again. "When they got to the casino and up to the penthouse suite, he was gone. His men, the few we could find, say they don't know where he went. We have his men in custody and are questioning them now, but there's still no sign of Terrell."
"So you let him get away? That's what you're telling me? You let him get away with attempted murder and now he's probably out there planning his next attack on her. I told you two, dammit," I said, grinding my teeth together. "I told you it was him. Why couldn't you just have picked him up and held him. He knew exactly what he was doing the entire time. He played you and now he's free to hurt her again."
They shared a frustrated look. "We're really sorry. We were just trying to do our jobs the best we know how. We now realize it was a mistake. We underestimated him," Detective Palmer admitted.
They were clearly holding back something else.
Finally, Detective Palmer spoke up. "There was some significant information that we just found out about. It was out of our jurisdiction, and we didn't know the information even existed until a few hours ago." He stopped and cleared his throat. "Apparently, the FBI has been building a case against Mr. Terrell for the past six months. One of Jake's men has been aiding the FBI in trying to bring him down. I'm not sure they were aware of what was happening in New York either, until yesterday."
The story just kept getting better. "And the FBI, they don't know where he is either?" I asked through clenched teeth, not wanting to believe what they were telling me. They now had all the information they needed, yet they let him get away, and now he was out there somewhere, probably planning his revenge right now.
Detective Palmer shook his head. "We spoke to an agent with the FBI. They told us that they had lost track of him earlier this week… probably when he skipped town and came to New York. After he returned to Vegas, they had a team of agents watching the building, but they're not sure how he slipped by."
Seriously? Does anyone know how to do their jobs? How is it that this guy slipped by the FBI?
"But rest assured that we'll get him, Mr. Alexander," Detective Wallace said. "There's a widespread manhunt going on now. He'll turn up eventually."
My whole body shook with anger. Empty promises. That was all they seemed to be giving me.