Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to keep my cool. "The man that's working with the FBI, may I speak to him?" I asked. It was at least something. I wanted as much information as I could about Jake and his men. Truthfully, I couldn't help but be suspicious about the guy. Maybe he wasn't working with the FBI and trying to bring Jake down. Maybe Jake knew he was being watched and sent him to the FBI to see what they knew. Maybe the FBI was being fooled. Either way, I just wanted five minutes alone with him.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Alexander, but the FBI isn't releasing the information about the informant. We don't even have his name. Since he is closely tied to the case, they are keeping him out of the picture until Mr. Terrell is apprehended."
My hands squeezed into tight fists. Dead ends. Everywhere I look, there's a damn dead end. I could feel my emotions stirring up inside me, and I tried to keep it contained, knowing that losing it right here with them wasn’t going to do me any favors. However, it was hard to keep my feelings for the two detectives buried. I was positive they could easily be seen on my face.
If they had just listened to me days ago, Jake would be in custody, but no, they didn’t listen and they let him escape. They let him get away with attempted murder and gave him the opportunity to do it again.
“Detective Wallace and myself are heading to Las Vegas tomorrow. We’re going to start our own investigation and see if we can find out any more information from the FBI. We’ll have Emily under protective surveillance until he’s found,” Detective Palmer offered.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t want Emily to know that Jake got away, not for now at least. She already has so much to worry about. Let’s just wait to tell her, maybe by then we will have found him. The son of a bitch is going to come for her. He’s not going to stop until she’s dead. If anything happens to her. If I even see him come within a mile of her…” I stopped myself, knowing I couldn’t threaten to kill the asshole in front of two detectives. I couldn’t tell them what I wanted to do to him.
“Two men will be by her door at all times until he’s found. Only doctors and nurses will be allowed to come in and out.”
“What about me?” I asked, my eyes squinting into a glare.
“You and Lexi have also been cleared,” Detective Palmer said.
WHEN I got back into Emily’s room, she was awake, and her bed was raised into a sitting position.
Both Emily and Kim looked at me. Emily’s eyes met mine as she smiled softly before quickly turning away.
“Well, I’m going to get out of here and let you two visit. Just make sure you get some rest tonight.” Kim gave Emily a pointed look.
“I will.” Emily nodded and stole another quick glance at me.
The nurse left and then I took my seat beside her bed again.
“Is everything okay?” Emily asked. “You look like something’s bothering you.”
“I’m fine. The detectives just wanted to clear up a few things up.”
“Have they… found him yet?” she asked.
My chest ached, knowing I was going to have to lie to her.
“They’re working on it,” was all I said. It wasn’t a complete lie, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that Jake had gotten away and was nowhere to be found.
She pulled in her bottom lip and bit down. The fear in her eyes was evident.
“Hey, nothing’s going to happen. There are going to be officers here at all times, guarding your room, and I’m not going anywhere. You don’t need to worry about him.”
She nodded as she leaned her head back against the bed. “I know about the baby, Reed. I—I can’t believe it. I don’t know how it happened. I mean, I know how it happened, but it wasn’t supposed to happen, not like this.” She stared at the ceiling, refusing to meet my eyes. “I didn’t believe it when the doctors told me earlier. When I just woke up, I figured it must have been a dream, but then I asked the nurse and she said it is true. It’s crazy. What if something would’ve happened to the baby in the accident? I would have been responsible.”
“Nothing happened.” I grabbed her hand. “You’re okay. The baby’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked, her voice breaking. She still refused to meet my eyes. It killed me not to know what she was thinking. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel embarrassed, remorseful, or guilty.
Taking her chin softly in my hands, I forced her to look at me. “We’re going to make sure you get better. That’s the most important thing right now. Don’t worry about anything else. We’re going to be okay. Everything will be okay.”
She still didn’t look convinced.
“Emily, over the last few days, I’ve had so much time to think. It killed me to know that you may never wake up and never know how much I care about you. I love you, Emily. I will do whatever I can to protect you. I promise. It’s all going to be okay.”
Her eyes grew glossy. I didn’t mean to make her cry. I just wanted her to know the truth. I’ve come too close to losing her to not tell her everything when I had the chance.
“I love you, too.” She smiled and took in a deep breath. I wrapped my arms around her and we held each other for a long minute. When I finally let go, her head rested back onto the bed and her eyes remained closed. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking of exactly, but I didn’t want her thinking about Jake or worrying about anything. I needed to get her mind off it.
“Lexi’s here, but the doctors are only allowing one person in at a time. Would you like me to send her in?”
“Yes.” Her eyes opened and grew bright. “I would love that.”
While Lexi visited with Emily and hopefully took her mind off Jake for a while, I called Robbins to see if he had an update for me. I also wanted to fill him in on what Detective Palmer and Detective Wallace told me about one of Jake’s men being an FBI informant. I didn’t know if Robbins could find out the man’s name, but I wanted to try everything I could to get in touch with him.
Robbins had been sitting in front of the casino for hours and there was still no sign of Jake anywhere. There had been police coming in and out of the casino all day, but other than that, it was quiet. He was going to call around to a few people in the FBI to see if he could pull some strings and get me a name. I knew it was a long shot, but I was feeling desperate. Each second that passed and Jake remained free, I grew more afraid that he was getting farther and farther away from being caught or, even scarier, he was getting closer to coming for Emily again.
I kept Brandon company in the waiting room until Lexi came back out. He had been a great friend to Emily and an even better boyfriend to Lexi. She was lucky to have him. I was lucky to have him, too. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if I had to watch out for both Lexi and Emily right now. It made it easier to leave Lexi, knowing she had someone to stay with her at a time like this.
“She looks good,” Lexi said when she came back. “It’s so good to see her awake and talking.”
“Yeah, it’s a huge relief.” I stood up and pulled her in for a tight hug. “Why don’t you and Brandon head home and get some sleep? I’m going to stay with her tonight.”
“Can I get you anything before I leave? I don’t think you’ve eaten today.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ll get something later.” My stomach was such a mess nothing sounded good anyway.
When I returned to Emily’s room, she was asleep. The moment the door closed, her eyes fluttered open.
“I’m sorry I woke you. Close your eyes. You need your rest.”
She closed her eyes again and smiled. “It was really good to see Lexi.”