I smiled a little to myself. If I ever got to see him again, I'd have to make sure and tell him about that momentary lack of trust. That probably made up for his lack of trust, when he'd accused me of being nothing more than a con-artist. I supposed we were even now.
“What are you smiling about, you dumb bitch?” Renée snarled, lunging towards me.
Before she could reach me, though, there was a flash of light and a simultaneous loud bang, which both blinded and deafened me. It was a good half minute before I recovered my senses enough to see what was going on.
The next thing I knew, Renée was on the ground, being restrained with zip-ties by armed men dressed in neat, gray-and-black uniforms. I gaped at them.
“Police?” I asked. “How did you manage to find me so quickly? And how did you manage to sneak up on us like that?”
“They're not police,” Andrew said, striding into the warehouse behind me. I jerked my neck around, continuing to gape.
“Well, they're definitely not businessmen,” I said faintly.
His lips quirked into a smile at that, as he knelt down to start undoing my ties. “No, they're definitely not businessmen,” he agreed. “They're part of a security company that I have on call. They're trained in this sort of situation, hence being able to sneak up on you guys and ensure that they get the target without putting you in any more danger.”
He rubbed at my hands, trying to get feeling back into them before he moved on to untying my legs. “We're going to need to get some cream to put on that rope burn,” he said.
“How are you so calm about this?” I asked.
Andrew glanced up at me, and for the briefest moment, his mask fell away, and I could see exactly how terrified he had been. He grunted and looked back down. “This is all adrenaline,” he told me. “When I heard that you were in danger, I had to put away my feelings and do whatever I could to fix the situation.”
“Emma?” I asked.
“Just as safe and unharmed as Renée said,” Andrew confirmed. “I was on my way there when the security guys called and said they had located you. I drove over here instead, but Janice called me as I was driving and confirmed that they're all right. Shaken, but all right.”
“That makes three of us,” I said.
“Four of us,” Andrew corrected, pulling me tightly into his arms. He kissed my hair. “The police are on their way over here now, and this time, Renée is going to go to prison for a long time. And I am never letting either you or Emma out of my sight again.”
“Going to be doing a lot of work from home, are you?” I teased, even though I was still trying to stop shaking.
“If that's what it takes,” Andrew growled. “I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family safe. Don't you forget that.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Andrew
I absently traced patterns on Lexi's skin as we lay in bed together. I still hated taking calls like this when I would much rather be tracing my tongue over every inch of her body, but sometimes they were necessary.
Fortunately, this call was quickly wrapping up. “Thanks for the information,” I finally said. Then, I hung up the phone.
“Who was that?” Lexi asked, sounding sleepy.
I snuggled down under the blankets, pulling her back into my arms and folding my body around hers. “That was the district attorney,” I told her.
“Uh oh,” Lexi said, turning so that she could face me. “You don't sound happy.”
“Somehow, Renée and her lawyers have managed to secure a pretty decent plea bargain,” I said. “Despite the fact that Renée has multiple felony charges against her.” I rolled my eyes.
Lexi swallowed audibly. “So, she's going to walk?” she asked.
“Oh no,” I said, shaking my head emphatically. “Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. She'll serve at least five years in prison still, with ten years of probation after that. She's not going to be able to come after either of us anytime soon. And I imagine that by the time she's out of prison, she'll have moved on to something else.”
Lexi didn't look fully convinced about that last bit, but she didn't seem too upset. “I'm just happy that it's finally over,” she admitted.
“I know that the trial was difficult for you,” I said, twisting my fingers together with hers and squeezing lightly. “But you handled it all so well. I'm proud of you.”
“Thanks,” she said shyly, ducking her head with a smile. “I do still think that the security measures you installed were a little excessive.”