“We tied Slater up inside until you could arrive to arrest him,” Maverick said. Davis blanched. They all moved toward the house, following a pair of paramedics who stopped in front of Alexa and started asking questions.
Slater began ranting louder, but Martin didn’t pay him any mind. Staying out of the medics’ way, the cop sat next to her. “Hey, Alexa. Can you tell me what happened?”
Maverick was torn—he needed to hear it. Every word of it. But no part of him wanted to hear it. None of this was about him, though, was it? It was about taking care of Alexa, whatever she needed.
She blinked at them and frowned, her expression almost confused. “Um.” She let the paramedics check her vitals, and then she peered at Martin again. “I came back from lunch and found Grant in the master bedroom upstairs. He’d put rose petals on the bed and lit candles.” She licked her lips, the sound thick. “He said a bunch of stuff about giving me this house to get me back, and then he took my phone when I tried to text Maverick for help.”
“We got the message,” Maverick said, trying to send her encouragement through his eyes. And thank fuck that they had. If Mav had waited to come to the house until after he thought the meeting would be over . . . He couldn’t even finish the thought.
“He refuses to accept my decision on calling off our engagement. He just kept trying to convince me that we could start over. The whole thing felt very creepy. When I had the chance, I ran from the room and down the stairs. I managed to get the front door open, but he caught me in the foyer and threw me to the floor.” She shuddered.
Slater was a sick fuck, that much was for sure. Between planting the tires and oil on their property, blackmailing her, and now this, the guy was either losing touch with reality or was pure evil. Maverick wasn’t sure which was worse. Jesus, this could’ve been so much worse than it was, and it was already damn bad. He could’ve lost her. God, he could’ve lost her.
Emotion welled inside him. Something bigger than the anger and the desire for vengeance. Something brighter. Something far more powerful.
Love.
But more than that. He didn’t just love Alexa Harmon; he was head over fucking heels in love with her. He’d known he had feelings for her, of course—hell, they’d never gone away despite their years apart. But what he’d thought he’d felt before this moment was the dim sliver of the moon compared to the burning midday sun that he knew for sure he felt for her now.
If he’d have lost her this time, she would’ve taken him with her.
“Did you hit your head, miss? Can you tell us where it hurts?” one of the paramedics asked.
“Here,” she said, gingerly touching the left side of her head. “I fell flat and hard. Everything kinda hurts, but I don’t think anything’s broken.”
“What’s this?” the medic asked, taking her hand. Bruises. Her wrist was ringed with bruises.
Rage flashed like molten lava through Maverick’s blood. “Sonofabitch,” Mav bit out.
Martin held up a hand to him and said in a low voice, “Let’s get a picture of that.”
“I told him to get off of me but he pinned me to the floor and kissed me and told me not to make it harder than it had to be.” Maverick tilted his head as she spoke, noticing how flat and monotone her voice had gone. God, why hadn’t he killed Slater when he’d had the chance again? They all could’ve lied. Called it self-defense. No one would’ve known otherwise.
The paramedic checked Alexa’s eyes, examined her head, and asked her more questions.
“I’m gonna check out the bedroom,” Martin said, rising. Davis made for the door as well.
“I’m going, too,” Maverick said.
Martin frowned. “Mav—”
“Slater has the mayor, that asshole”—he pointed at Davis—“and at least one judge in his pocket, so if you think I’m not going to see what happened up there with my own eyes before evidence starts disappearing right and left, you’re out of your mind.” He arched a brow.
Davis put a hand on Martin’s chest. “Martin, he can’t—”
“Can it, Davis. He’s coming. Just don’t touch anything, either of you.”
Mav could do that. He nailed Davis with a stare that challenged him to do something about it until the fucker finally looked away. Then the three of them went upstairs. Eckstein stayed with Slater, who was getting more and more outraged by the minute because no one had yet spoken to him. Or untied him.
The master bedroom was just as Alexa had described. The rose petals were like blood droplets on the floor and bed, sending a chill over his skin. “Every single thing she said checks out,” Maverick said. “She sure as fuck didn’t smash her own head against the floor or bruise her own wrists. And Blake, Mike, and I saw him forcing himself on her when we got here, so you’ve got three witnesses. I don’t care how goddamned prominent Slater is in this community, do your jobs.” He nailed both cops with a hard stare.