Derrick did up her seat belt before doing up his own. He glanced down at her in concern. “This wasn’t your fault, Jacey. He did some evil things, maybe his conscience caught up with him.”
“Maybe. And he was embezzling funds? Taking bribes? Why? He had plenty of money.”
Derrick shrugged. “It was probably about power.”
“They found that all really quickly.”
“I think Hunter and his team may have helped with that. Connor had been doing some research.”
“Oh.” Her mind reeled. “I still can’t believe he would take his own life.” She turned to him in shock. “Why would he do that?”
Derrick tucked her into his side. “I don’t know. Maybe because he knew he was losing everything and he just couldn’t face it.”
The loss of his job, his social standing would be a huge blow to someone like Stephan, but she’d still never imagined him killing himself.
“Come on, let’s get you home.”
She let Derrick steer her through the airport and outside to where Robert waited with the car.
Home sounded really good right now.
***
“So I got a thank you card today.” Jacey closed her laptop and looked over at Derrick who was working on a new project. She lay back on the couch. “Apparently a large donation was made in my name to the Downtown Mission shelter.”
Derrick looked up at her. “That so?”
“Hmm, they were very happy with my generosity.” The smile slipped from her face and she looked at him seriously. “Thank you, Derrick.”
He nodded. “It was the very least I could do.” He sat back in his seat. “So I hear that Hunter is trying to get Cady to work for him?”
Jacey grinned, thinking of her friend. “Yep. I think Cady’s just making him work for it, she likes to see him sweat.”
Derrick chuckled. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“She’s not really that hard on the inside you know. She helped me out a lot.”
“I know.” His gaze softened as he stared at her. “Anything could have happened to you on the streets, I’m glad you had Cady as a friend.”
“You know that you’re going to have to let me out of you sight at some stage and go back to work,” Jacey said.
Since returning from Rarotonga, Derrick had been working from home. He’d become even more overprotective than usual, barely letting her out of his sight and she’d been happy to indulge him. He’d nearly lost her and she knew that had stirred up old nightmares of when his wife died. Derrick was always going to be overprotective and bossy; truthfully, she wouldn’t have him any other way.
But there was a limit as to how much she’d take from him and it was time to get back some of her independence.
“I know,” he said sitting back on his seat, running his gaze over her body. “Lift up your skirt and spread your legs.”
“Derrick, you’re working.”
He raised a brow. “Not anymore. I’ve taken the rest of the day off. I have a naughty little subbie to punish.”
“What? Why? What did I do?”
“What did you do?” he asked darkly. “Let’s see. You left the safe house where you promised me you would stay. You put yourself in grave danger, not only risking yourself but also our baby and you added a whole pile of gray hairs to my head.”
She snorted at that last one.
“Now raise that skirt and spread your legs.”