Chapter 26

After the police left, he poured them both a drink—scotch for himself and a glass of white wine for her. Going over to the sofa, he handed her the wine and sat down beside her. “It’s over. They will never bother us again. What you did was so dangerous, but you also saved our lives.”

“I can’t understand how Evan and Clarice could swindle all those people out of their money. If they hadn’t gotten caught, they would have continued to do it.”

He took a long swallow of his drink. “I don’t know what to say. It seemed their greed took them all over the world to rip people off. With all the charges against them, they will be in prison until they are both old. I’m just sorry you got involved. And when I think of how close I came to losing you, how they planned on killing us...” He couldn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he put his arms around her.

She could feel his body trembling and knew he was close to breaking down. “You didn’t lose me, and you never will.”

He kissed the top of her head. “You’re so brave, and I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” She lifted her head so that she could look at him. “I’m so tired. Can we go to bed now and just cuddle before we fall asleep?”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“No, too tired to eat, and my stomach is upset from what happened.”

He got off the sofa, and when she did, he picked her up in his arms. “Since my girl is tired, I will carry you to bed.” He liked that she didn’t protest and just placed her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. When they got to the bedroom, she changed into a nightgown and crawled into bed next to him. He put his arm around her when she rested her head on his chest, and her arm went over his stomach. He was about to say something to her when he realized she had already fallen asleep. He stroked her cheek tenderly so as not to wake her. It got him thinking that she came from a small town with no drama and having come here and gone through all this, so of course, she was exhausted.

When she woke up in the morning, Ace was not in bed, nor was he in the room. Looking over at the clock and seeing that it was past noon, she was shocked to find out how late she had slept in. Getting out of bed, she took a quick shower and changed into jeans and a shirt. When she got downstairs, she could hear voices coming from the kitchen. So of course, she went to see who was there with Ace. “Eve,” she said happily with a smile on her face.

Eve stood up and gave her a big hug. “I had to come over as soon as I heard what happened last night. Oh my God, girl, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, but how did you find out so quickly?”

“Ace called me this morning and told me. He thought it would be good for you to have me come over, and I agreed with him.”

“I am glad you’re here, but don’t you have a photoshoot today?”

“I canceled it because you are my friend, and you are more important to me than some stupid old photoshoot.”

Rosalee looked over at Ace and gave him a big smile. “Thank you for calling Eve.” She never thought she could love him any more than she already did. But with each passing day, he always did something to make her love for him grow.

“It was my pleasure, and I know how close you two are. So go on and sit down while I make you some breakfast,” he said as he handed her a cup of coffee and refilled Eve’s cup.

“I can’t believe that evil witch and that little creep actually thought they could get away with it.”

“Apparently, they have been doing this for quite some time to a lot of other people. Though I don’t think they ever went as far as murder before. I remember hearing Clarice telling Evan that once they were done with us, they would go so far away that no one would ever find them, and that they had to change their identity.”

“So what happens to Evan’s yearly checks from his inheritance?” Eve asked, yes, she was curious.

“I don’t know,” Rosalee answered, then she looked at Ace, wondering if he would know the answer, which of course he did.

“It will still go into his account, and by the time he gets out of prison, he will have a hell of a lot of money. But too bad for him that he will be an old man by then and won’t be able to enjoy it. As for Clarice, I don’t know what will happen to her, and I don’t give a damn.”

After they ate their breakfast, Ace went into his home office to do some work while the two women talked.

About four hours later, Eve got up to leave just as Ace was coming from his office.

“Before I go, I have some good news about Brett. He’s coming home next week on a three-day leave, so I’m hoping we can all get together.”

Ace cleared his throat, and the two women looked at him. “I booked a flight for us to go to Texas next week so that we could see Rosalee’s father. But I guess I can cancel that and make it for another time.”

Eve shook her head. “No, no, don’t cancel it. You guys go to Texas and get things straightened out with her father. Once Brett comes home for good, we will have plenty of time to get together.” She turned to Rosalee. “You need to tell him before you go back home.”

So it was decided that the two of them would go to Texas, and it wouldn’t be that long before Brett was home, and he and Eve would be getting married.

When Eve was gone, Ace went over and stood in front of Rosalee. “What was she talking about when she said you need to tell me?”

She walked away from him and sat down on the sofa. “There’s something I haven’t told you, and the only one that knows is Eve.”

He went and sat down next to her. “Has it got anything to do with an old boyfriend? Because if it is, I will make sure he doesn’t bother you.”

“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to leave home.”

“You’re starting to scare me.”

“My father has a twin brother. They don’t look anything alike, nor are they the same in their demeanor.” She inhaled a deep breath before letting it out and continued talking. “It all started when I was really young, and my uncle would come over to visit us. Sometimes he babysat me when my parents wanted to go out. The first time that I can remember was I was sitting on his lap while he was reading a story. He placed his hand on my leg and moved up, his pinky finger tickled me over my panties. I was about six years old at the time, and I didn’t really think anything about it. But every time he came over, he always found a way to touch me. He would hug me and put his hands over my breast when I was ten. That was when I realized it was wrong.”

Ace felt like throwing up as he continued to listen to her. The blood in his veins felt hot, and he made a fist. “Rosalee, did he rape you?”