Reed's Reckoning

“Cara called me this morning asking if she could come over. She had a suspicion about Alex Moore and knew Reed was on a plane. Once she told me what she found, I grabbed my gun and went to Katy’s to look around. I hoped Ari had gone back to Jacksonville as planned, but when I arrived and saw her SUV there and Grange’s truck missing, I knew something was wrong. I walked around back and saw them tied up. Even with her transformation, I knew it was Alex. I wanted to shoot her in the shoulder or something but when she pointed that gun at Davis and pulled the trigger, I aimed to kill.”

Reed starts to shake behind me and I look up to see his face. His jaw is ticking and his eyes full of pure hatred.

“Miss Matthews, how did you get intel that Alex was going after Miss Williams?” the officer asks Cara.

“Alex was vain and manipulative and I knew she was not going to take the public rejection well. A few weeks ago, I decided to look into her normal routine and figure out how she could fly under the radar. First, I contacted her regular hairdresser. It took some convincing and lying on my part but she finally told me about going to a hotel to do a transformation on Alex’s appearance. Alex told her she was in hiding because of humiliation of her public breakup. I got the hotel information and started following her about a week ago. She was slowly changing everything about herself. She was a social media whore and loved the attention online. So I did a search and found she had opened a new account with an avatar as her identity. She had opened chats with strangers asking about the best European vacation spots. Well, this morning, I went to my normal waiting spot and her car was gone. She never leaves this early so I got worried and called Luke.”

“Why didn’t you come to the police with your concerns?”

“And say what? The woman that my brother has a restraining order against changed her appearance? I grew up with her and saw the devastation she caused when she didn’t get her way. I knew she was up to something but I couldn’t prove it.”

“You’ve been in town all this time and following her?” Reed asks.

She nods her head and looks at me. “I knew I needed to do something to prove to Ari how sorry I am. I thought if I could trap Alex in a lie and expose her, it would help.”

“Do you agree with Mr. Adams earlier statement?” the Officer asks.

“Yes, when she fired off the first shot at my nephew, Luke shot.”

The officers ask a few more questions and I feel sick that Luke may be in trouble. There are several things in our favor, one is he is on the deed to the house. So technically, he was protecting his home when he found an intruder. After her stroke, Katy put both our names on the deed. She never explained why, but I suspected she wanted Luke to have a home if something happened to her or me.

When the officers ask everything they need to, they leave and Amy brings Davis back into the room. She hugs me so tight I think my ribs will crush. Reed never leaves from behind me and Davis crawls up in our laps. No one else wants to leave, and I doze on and off on Reed’s chest as everyone talks around us.

A doctor comes in a few hours later and introduces himself as Katy’s surgeon. He was able to remove the bullet; she had some complications, but made it through the surgery. I confirm she has a DNR and he explains the next twenty-four hours are critical. She’s in recovery but when she’s moved to ICU, we can visit for a few minutes.

After he leaves, Reed asks for the hospital administrator. He wants the largest room available in the hospital and a cot moved in so Davis can sleep close to me tonight. Then Amy and Sophie go to my house to get us some clothes. Luke and Cara take Davis to the cafeteria to get something to eat while Reed helps me get moved to the new room. He doesn’t let go of me once. When I am offered a wheelchair, he refuses and carries me instead. The new room is more like a suite. It’s twice the size and has a full hospital bed instead of the normal size twin. The nurse recommends that I eat something so Reed texts Luke to bring back some soup.

Reed gets behind me again and tucks my body to his. I lie on his chest careful of my throbbing head.

“Never ever letting you out of my sight again. You and Davis are traveling with me from now on.”