“You might get mad at me because I, um… I lied to you.”
She took a few steps back.
“Wait, it’s nothing like that. Let’s go in and get our food, and we’ll talk while we eat.”
Bella nodded, and we made our way into the house with Jack at our feet.
We worked together in a comfortable silence while Bella made our salads, and I made the sandwiches.
“No mayo. I want avocado, please,” she said.
I nodded and internally gagged, but made her sandwich the way she wanted. I swore Bella put avocado on everything now. Her toast. Her eggs. Even in her yogurt, which nearly had me running to the bathroom to throw up the first time I saw her eat it.
“Want to sit on the back porch? It’s beautiful outside,” Bella suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
We headed to the back porch and sat at the small table we’d placed out there.
“Okay, so tell me what you lied about, and I’ll decide if I should be mad or not.”
I wanted to laugh, but honestly wasn’t sure what was about to happen. “I found something out today, and I wanted to tell you about it. It’s connected to what I lied to you about. But to be fair, I wasn’t the only one who lied. Kyle, Bishop, and Aiden lied too.”
The corner of her mouth twitched with a hidden smile as she nodded and waited for me to go on.
“Colby Wilkins is in jail for multiple counts of rape.”
Her face drained of all color. “What? How did you know…”
When her voice trailed off, I cleared my throat. “I found out through Lori Dexter. She told me his name and where he lived.”
Bella blinked a few times, then put her sandwich down and leaned back in her chair. Without saying a word, she waited for me to go on.
“I hired someone to follow him for a bit. Do you remember back in March, when we all went on that ice fishing trip? The day before you told me you were pregnant?”
She slowly nodded.
“Well, we didn’t just go fishing. We stayed at Kyle’s cabin…but we also made a trip up to Maine so I could confront Colby.”
Her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. “Why would you do that?”
“I was angry, Bella. I wanted to beat the shit out of him. Truth be told, I wanted to kill him, but with Aiden, Kyle, and Bishop there, kicking his ass was about all I could have done.”
She closed her eyes, and I could tell she was attempting to remain calm. Then her eyes snapped open. “Did you?”
Confused, I asked, “Did I what?”
“Kick his ass?”
I nearly laughed. Christ, I love this woman. “No, we didn’t get that far. We interrupted him trying to rape another woman.”
Her eyes went wide, and she brought her hand to her stomach. She looked white as a ghost. “Oh God!” Bella glanced down, and for a moment I thought for sure she was going to faint. She buried her face in her hands and started to breathe rapidly.
Jack was instantly up and at her side, whining as he pushed his snout into her hands.
“Arabella, are you okay?” I asked, jumping up and rounding the table before dropping to my knees. When she moved her hands, I saw that she was crying.
“Oh God, Hunter! If I had reported the rape… If I’d just had the courage to stand up to him… How many other women has he raped?”
I took her hands in mine. “Don’t do that. Please don’t do that. It is not your fault. You’re not the only woman who’s never reported a rape. Remember what Christina said? You are not at fault for anything he did or has done since.”
She nodded and wiped her tears. “Have there been others?”
Exhaling, I said, “Since his arrest, four other women have come forward. One of them was a girl he raped in college, the year before he raped you. She was also too afraid to report it. Afraid of him. He threatened her family and said he could have her father put in jail.”
“That bastard! Is she okay now?” Bella asked, worry written all over her face.
I nodded. “Yes, they’re all amazing women, from what I can gather. Strong women, just like you, Bella. The good thing is, none of them had to testify in court because he admitted to all the charges.”
She swallowed hard. “You didn’t mention me to the authorities, did you?”
I shook my head. “There wasn’t any reason to. Just the evidence they had from the attempted rape we witnessed was enough to send him to jail. There was video of him trying to rape that woman; plus, after they searched his house, they found a few other recordings he’d made. Some of it was consensual, some wasn’t.”
“How did you guys stop it?”