Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
He spat that word out as though it were dirty.
“She’s going to be all right, Reuben,” Alejandro said.
He nodded. She would be. Because he’d make sure of it.
“Do you know what happened?” Reuben asked.
Alejandro’s face darkened, and Reuben instinctively knew he wouldn’t like what he’d discovered.
“Cops are doing their own investigation, but I had my guys looking into it too. Nighthawk tapped into the traffic cameras, but they didn’t catch the incident.”
Fuck.
“However, there was an old homeless woman there. Do you know who I’m talking about?” Alejandro asked.
“Yeah. Faith often buys her lunch. She also brought her some clean clothes and stuff for her dog.”
“Yeah, well, she saw it happen. She said that Faith was pushed.”
Cat uttered a shocked sob and Alejandro walked around to pick her up, settling her on his hip.
That was it. Faith was never going anywhere without him again.
“Who?” Reuben managed to get out.
“She said it was a woman.”
A woman? That wasn’t what he’d expected.
“Did she give you a description?” he rasped.
Dark satisfaction filled Alejandro’s face. “Even better. She recognized her.”
“Who was it?” Reuben asked. Who was he going to kill?
“She said her name is Lou and that she works at the café on the ground floor of your building.”
What. The. Fuck.
He stared up at Alejandro. “Why the fuck would she push Faith out into traffic? Faith has been nothing but nice to her. She’s always tasting the crappy shit she makes.”
Alejandro’s gaze sharpened. “Hmm. True. If she was trying to hurt Faith, then she could have just poisoned her food.”
Reuben frowned. “Faith hasn’t seen Lou much lately because we come straight up from the basement and we’ve been bringing food in with us from home. The last time Lou gave her one of her creations, it had cranberries in it. And Faith hates cranberries.”
“So that could have been her plan, but Faith hasn’t been eating her food lately. What about before?” Alejandro asked.
“Maybe she didn’t want to hurt her before?” Cat asked. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to hurt Blossom.”
That hit him hard. “Because of me.”
He looked up at Alejandro, who nodded slowly.
“No one would want to harm Faith unless they were using her to get to me,” he said, feeling ill.
“And perhaps this Lou hadn’t been trying to harm her before, because she was just your assistant,” Alejandro guessed. “Once your relationship changed, then she came after Faith?”
The rage threatened to pull him under. How dare this bitch harm his girl?
“But why? Who is this woman?” he asked.
“We’re trying to track her down,” Alejandro said. “We will find her.”
“I want to know when you do. Is there anything else I need to know? Or do?”
Alejandro shook his head although there was a shadow in his eyes. “Concentrate on Faith. I’ve got a lead on the lawyer who met with Venturo in jail. And the police chief will wait. Just look after your girl.”
He would. “Charlie? Is he all right?”
“He’s out in the waiting room,” Cat said. “We’re going to take him home with us. He’s blaming himself.”
“Send him in for a moment?”
Alejandro nodded and carried Cat out, uncaring who saw them. The door opened a short time later and a stricken Charlie entered.
His eyes were red-rimmed, and he was almost breathing too quickly, but there was also determination in his gaze.
“I’m sorry, Reuben. This is my fault. I should have gone across the street to get her.” He stared down at Faith, his despair easy to see.
“No, Charlie. This isn’t your fault. This is on whoever hurt her. Tried to harm her. And I’m going to see that they pay.”
“I want to help.” Charlie stared at Reuben. “I might be a Little, but I’m not weak.”
“I know you’re not. If I need your help, I’ll let you know. But I want you to go home with Cat and Alejandro, okay? Let them look after you. It’s what Faith would want.”
“Okay. Let me know how she is doing? Please?”
“I will. She’s going to be just fine. I won’t allow her to be anything else.”
65
Faith opened her eyes and stared around her.
Where was she? What was going on?
And why did she feel so fuzzy? She tried to move her left hand, but it was so heavy. Then she moved her right . . . and something tightened around it.
She glanced over . . . and stared right into Reuben’s eyes.
His very intense, worried eyes. There were dark marks under them, and his skin was sallow.
“Are you sick? Are you all right?” she asked.
Because he didn’t look all right. He blinked before relief filled his face.
“God, baby. God.”
His voice cracked. Was he . . . was he going to cry? What was wrong? What awful thing had happened? It had to be something bad for Reuben to break.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked. “Has something happened to Juliet? Gwen? Cat? Alejandro? What’s the matter?”