I smirked when I realized we were completely surrounded by officers. “And you have just trapped yourself by falsely accusing a man of kidnapping. A man I’m choosing to be with over you. You’re an idiot. I hope you enjoy jail. I’m taking Ashton home to bed,” I finished.
My knees went weak at the realization of everything that had just come out of my mouth, but, thankfully, during my rant, Miller had come up behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist. The police closed in on Dominic, who looked much more uncomfortable now than when I walked in.
“I’m proud of you, little sis,” Miller said in my ear.
“Thank you.” It meant the world for him to say that to me, and the “little sis” made my heart flutter in my chest.
If only that could be true someday.
Malcolm stepped in front of me and placed his hands on my shoulders. A blush crept up my cheeks. He’d heard everything I just said. “Thank you for coming to Ashton’s rescue.”
“Of course I would.” The thought of Ashton locked up somewhere in the building brought tears to my eyes.
“You bitch,” Dominic screamed, still fighting the officer holding him even though it was obvious he had no chance of wrestling free. “No one wants to fuck an ugly whore like you. Not even to wipe out a debt. Ashton told me a few weeks ago he wants all of his money.” Spit flew from his lips with every hateful word.
Malcolm spun around so fast he was almost a blur.
“You motherfucker,” he said, advancing on Dominic. “If you don’t shut your goddamn mouth, I’m going to chop your dick off and feed it to you in slices.”
Miller ran around me to wrap an arm around his dad, pulling him back away from where the cops had thrown Dominic to the floor, forcing him into a set of cuffs.
The adrenaline I’d felt when confronting Dominic began to wear off, and the seat a few feet away looked extremely appealing. I walked over to it and dropped down. Both Malcolm and Miller turned their attention back to me. They shared a brief look then Miller took the seat next to mine while Malcolm stood, his neck and face red. I was having trouble controlling my emotions. The tremble of my fingers caught Malcolm’s attention.
“Come on, Elena. Let’s see what we can do about getting Ashton out of here.”
A tall man with dark brown hair came down the hall. The fit of his gray three-piece suit made it very clear that he was not a public defender, or a detective; a suspicion only confirmed when Malcolm offered his hand.
“Arthur.” Malcolm turned and gestured for me to join him. All of the hatred of a few minutes ago gone, I could feel Miller’s presence close behind. Then he stepped up next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder for support. “Arthur Colburn, please meet Elena Tolley. Elena, this is my lawyer, Arthur.”
The gentleman extended his hand toward me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He gestured toward one of the detectives. “Now that you’re here, we’ll be able to straighten this out in no time.”
He led me over to the reception desk where Detective Lynch introduced himself and asked if I could answer a few questions. My hands began to sweat as I considered how much lying I might need to do to keep Ashton out of jail.
“Okay. I can do that.”
He led me to an office down the hall, gesturing for me to take a seat in front of the desk. Arthur took the seat next to me. Malcolm and Miller had elected to wait out in the lobby, knowing their presence in the room wouldn’t help. Detective Lynch took the seat behind the desk and opened the file. Pen in hand, he looked up at me.
“Now, Mrs. Tolley, you said that you were not kidnapped by Mr. Hawes.”
“Absolutely not.” I moved to get up from my seat and Arthur set his hand on my arm, signaling me to sit back down. “Ashton has done nothing but save me from being abused by my so called husband.”
“I take it from the conversation a few minutes ago that your husband didn’t always treat you well?” He had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed by my behavior.
“You could say that. I doubt you want all of the details—you certainly got enough earlier—but Dominic liked to put me down, make me feel terrible about myself. He isolated me from my family and friends. Ashton has done everything he can to make me see that I am worthy of being treated well. Of being loved.”
“So Mr. Hawes did not trade money to have you for three months like your husband claims.”
How close that was to reality scared me. What if I gave myself away? Trying to think about it rationally, I reasoned that, technically, Ashton didn’t give any money to Dominic for me or vice versa. Using that thought to comfort and relax me, I answered. “No, he didn’t.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you aware that Mr. Hawes has previously been investigated in relation to unlicensed moneylending?”
I shook my head, hoping to seem naïve to his business practices. “Ashton owns three restaurants downtown.”
“What is your relationship to Mr. Hawes?”
“Ashton and I are living together.” I drew little circles on the table. “When I saw Dominic last week, I told him I was filing for divorce. Apparently he decided to turn Ashton in, instead of giving me up as his slave.”
The detective nodded with each word that left my lips. His eyes crinkled, his voice soothing. “I’ve seen this many times, Mrs. Tolley, although, not to the extreme your husband took it. It’s not uncommon for abusive husbands to push things too far when their wife threatens to leave them, especially for another man.”
“Does that mean you’ll let Ashton go?”
He sat back in his seat and watched me. “While it would give me great pleasure to arrest a member of the Hawes family,” his eyes darted to Arthur, who sat stoically, staring straight ahead, “this is one instance where I believe that they are innocent and have, in fact, helped someone out of a terrible situation.”
I held my breath, waiting for him to continue.
“So yes, Mrs. Tolley, in this circumstance, Mr. Hawes will be released.”
I wanted to jump up and wrap my arms around his neck. There were things I never told Ashton that he deserved to hear when we were alone, not over a phone, or through a glass window. With great effort, I kept myself seated and simply said, “Thank you.”
The edges of his eyes crinkled with his smile. “You’re welcome. I would warn you, but I think you already know more about Ashton than you’re letting on.”
There was a moment of silence. I could have let it go, said nothing, but I needed Detective Lynch to know.
“Ashton loves me. He makes me feel like a princess—something I’ve never felt before.” I almost added that I didn’t care what he did, but I figured that would be too much.
Detective Lynch stood. “Give me a few minutes to get all the paperwork completed, then Mr. Hawes will be released.”
When the door closed behind him, I turned to Arthur. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
He glanced over at me. “Because it was your story to tell. I don’t need to protect you from your own story.”
Fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, I asked. “Do you think they’ll be long?”
He shook his head. “Not with Malcolm here. They can’t stand him. They’ll want him out of here sooner rather than later.”
I nodded and went back to playing with anything in reach. With everything out of the way, I was nervous. Would Ashton blame me for what happened? No. Ashton wasn’t like that. Arthur covered my hand and gave me a comforting smile. All of the waiting probably didn’t have much of an effect on him. It was likely standard procedure.
What felt like an eternity later, the door opened.
“Mr. Hawes is free to go.”
Jumping from my seat, I practically ran to the door. A hand landed on my arm and I looked up into the eyes of Detective Lynch. “I know Ashton treats you better than Dominic ever did, and you seem like a wonderful woman, just . . . please be careful.”