“Because you know me better than that.” I tugged on his chest hair until he met my gaze again. “Spill it, Nova.”
“You know Kevin Hines?”
His question threw me for a loop, considering what we were talking about, but I nodded. “Yeah, he’s a cop who lives near my old house.”
“We went to high school together, and he spotted me near your place when I came to get you.” The tension that started to seep into my muscles when I heard a witness could place me with Nova disappeared when he continued his explanation. “He called me a few days after we got here to let me know that when your mom reported you missing, he was assigned to the case. Since you’re eighteen and there was no sign of foul play, he told her there was nothing they could do.”
I collapsed against his chest, resting my ear over his heart so I could listen to the beat while I took in what he told me. “My mom went to the police?”
“Yeah, angel.” He pressed my cheek closer to his chest. “Even though Chad insisted you weren’t missing, your mom still filed a report.”
I gulped down the lump in my throat so I could ask, “What else did Kevin have to say?”
“Your stepdad wiped out their bank account and split town, but your mom didn’t bother to report him missing.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t wrap my head around why my mom made the decisions she did, but Nova’s motivation became much clearer. Pressing my forearms against his stomach, I raised my head and asked, “Is that why you’re suddenly okay with me going to the garage without you? Because you don’t think Chad is a danger to me anymore?”
A hard glint came and went in his dark eyes so quickly that I almost missed it. “That’s exactly why, angel. You don’t have to worry about your stepdad anymore. He’s never going to be able to hurt you again.”
My relief was almost overwhelming, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. “What about the Ukrainians? Will they come after me if they’re not the reason my stepdad disappeared? I can’t imagine they’d be too happy about being out however much he owed them.”
“The mob won’t be a problem. One of Mac’s friends reached out, and they agreed to take what your stepdad owed them and forget all about you. I already sent them the money, so it’s done.”
“What? No,” I cried, shaking my head. “I don’t want you to lose all your money because of the dumb decisions Chad made. That’s not fair.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s more than a fair deal since I got you out of it.” He rolled until I was beneath him and stretched his arm out to pull open the top drawer of the bedside table. I gasped when I felt him slide a ring onto my finger. “What’s mine is yours, which makes it our money.”
I moved my hand closer and stared at the diamond, tears streaming down my cheeks. “We’re getting married?”
“Of course we are, angel.” He pushed back some haphazard curls that had fallen onto my face. “If you’re not pregnant yet, then you will be soon, and I want you to have my last name before that happens. How about you plan the wedding, and I’ll figure out where we’re gonna build a house big enough to hold all the babies I’m gonna give you?”
Between what he’d done to keep me safe and the size of the ring he’d put on my finger, I felt a little guilty. “I don’t need a fancy wedding or new house. We can wait for that stuff.”
“We’re not waiting to start our life together, Rylee,” he growled, a muscle jumping in his jaw.
I never wanted him to think that I had cold feet about marrying him, so I rushed to explain, “But you just sent the Ukrainians all the money Chad owed them. I don’t want us to be broke before we even begin, and that stuff really doesn’t matter as long as I have you.”
“Didn’t you notice how much I charge for my ink?” he asked with a grin. “Between the shop and what comes in from the club, I’m not hurting for money. I have more than enough for us to build our life together.”
Not having to worry about money would be a welcome change, but it made me think about what Chad had done before he left town. “My mom really messed up over the past year and a half, but I hate that she’s going to be left penniless. My dad worked so hard to make sure we never went without, even when he died. And it was all for nothing.”
“It’s gonna take a fuck of a lot of work for your mom to earn her place back in your life, as far as I’m concerned.” His eyes softened as he cupped my cheek. “But you’re going to get paid for your apprenticeship and can do whatever you want with that money. Send it to your mom. Put it in the bank for our kids. Spend it all on sexy lingerie that I can rip off your perfect body. I’m cool with whatever you decide.”