Chapter 26

Roxie screamed when she felt the hot, searing pain in her left shoulder as the bullet hit her, and she fell to the ground.

Dexter saw her go down, and with the blood in his veins pumping, he shook the gun from Douglas’s hand.

Using his fist, he kept pounding into the man’s face until he lost consciousness. He kept punching him until Chad pulled him off. He got up and ran over to Roxie, pushing Thomas away.

He checked out where the bullet had hit her in the shoulder, and looking at her, he could see how much pain she was in. He stroked her cheek. His eyes were glossy.

“You’re going to be all right.”

She groaned in pain when he lifted her up into his arms. “Is it over?” she asked, looking into his eyes.

“Yes, baby. It’s all over. I’m going to get you to the hospital.” He looked at Chad. “Can you take care of all of this for me?”

“Yes. Go on,” he replied.

“I’ll go with you,” Thomas said, but he stopped when she spoke.

“I don’t want you anywhere near me,” she snapped, burying her face in Dexter’s neck. “This really hurts bad,” she said, fighting to hold back the tears.

“I know, baby. Just hang on. I’ll get you to the hospital, and they’ll remove it, and you’ll be good as new in no time.”

He looked down at her dress and saw it was totally ruined. “I’m sorry about your dress. Maybe it can be cleaned and repaired.”

“I don’t care about the dress. All I care about is that you weren’t hurt.”

He got her back to the mansion and into his car, after telling the police where they could find the others.

He rushed her to the hospital. The tie from around his neck, which he’d placed on her wound, was soaked with blood, as was his jacket, which he’d wrapped around her.

He was worried about the amount of blood she was losing. When they took her away, he tried to follow but was told he had to wait in one of the waiting rooms.

He sat with his head in his hands, going over the events of the last few weeks. He kept asking himself why he hadn’t seen any signs that it was the butler.

It had to have taken so much planning on Douglas’s part to change his identity, and the nerve to take the job in the mansion and wait for ten years.

He’d wanted for whatever sick reason for Roxie to be the same exact age as Sally before killing her.

One of the things that hadn’t made him suspect Douglas was the love letters and gifts he sent to her.

The man was smart. The letters and gifts would make everyone think it was from a much younger man, one who was after her, one who she ignored.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there when he heard the doctor speaking.

“Mr. Sinclair.”

He got to his feet. “Doctor, how is she?”

“She’s very lucky. The bullet didn’t do any damage to the nerves, and we removed it.

“She did lose a lot of blood and will be sore for a while. Other than that, Miss Greene will be just fine. We will release her tomorrow.”

“Thank God. Can I go see her now?”

“Yes, my nurse here will show you to her room.”

He thanked the nurse when they got to her room. He walked in and sat on the side of the bed. She was asleep, so he took her hand in his and held it.

“Baby, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault that you got hurt.” He closed his eyes and held her hand against his cheek.

“It wasn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself.”

He opened his eyes when she spoke. Her face was as white as the sheet that was placed over her body. Even her lips were pale.

“But it ~was~ my fault. I should have figured out it was Douglas. I would have, if I hadn’t gotten involved with you, and because I did, I put your life in danger.”

“Are you saying you regret getting involved with me?” she asked, her eyes tearing up and her bottom lip beginning to quiver.

“Oh God, no. That’s not what I’m saying. I will never regret falling in love with you. I only regret that I let my guard down and it almost cost you your life.”

“Well, I’m alive, and so are you,” she said, her eyes slowly starting to close.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Sleep now, my love. Tomorrow I will take you home.”

When she reached for his hand, he placed her hand in his and held it while she slept.

He watched her while she slept. She was having a restless sleep, which was probably due to the pain in her shoulder.

He himself had received bullets during his time with the SEALs and knew that it could hurt like a son of a bitch.

And with her being a woman and not used to such things, it would hurt her that much more.

When she woke up a while later, she was in a great deal of pain, and she started moaning. “Dexter, it hurts so much. Can you please get a nurse and see if she can give me something for the pain?”

He didn’t like seeing her hurting, so he went over to the nurse’s station and ordered that they give her something for the pain. The nurse took a look at her chart, and she nodded her head.

“Yes, I’ll be able to give her something.”

Shortly after she was given something for the pain, she was told that she could go home sometime in the afternoon.

Then there was a knock at the door, and they turned their heads when Chad walked in carrying a small suitcase.

He went over to the bed, giving her a warm smile.

“I’m so glad to see you’re doing okay. Before I left your father’s place last night, he had one of the maids pack a small bag for you. He knew you would need some clean clothes to go home in.”

She gave him a warm smile back. “Thank you so much, and thank you for helping Dexter find me. So what’s going to happen to Douglas—or I guess I should say Jeff?” she asked.

He looked over at Dexter to make sure it was okay to tell her, and when he got the go-ahead, he looked back at her.

“The man is obviously insane and is being held for psychiatric evaluation. He will be charged with kidnapping and attempting to kill.

“He’ll be put away for a very long time, so you never have to worry about him again.

“When he was questioned, he said the only way to really make your father pay for what he had done to his daughter, Sally, was for him to kill you.

“It was important for him to wait until you were the same age as his daughter. I don’t really understand what he was thinking, but the important thing is you’re safe.”

After giving them more details on Douglas, aka Jeff, he bid them goodbye.

Seeing as her left arm was in a sling, Dexter had to help her get dressed.

He was grateful that they had packed a dress for her, which was easier to slip over her head. It also helped that it didn’t have sleeves on it. She looked at him funny when he started snickering.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I’m not used to dressing you, only undressing you.”

She couldn’t help but smile at him when he said that. It was true. He was very good at taking her clothes off.

When they pulled up to the mansion and he went around the side to open her door, she hesitated before getting out.

“Roxie, are you coming?”

She took a deep breath before taking his hand and letting him help her out of the car.

“I really don’t want to be here and face my father.

“All my life I thought my parents had the perfect marriage and that they were so deeply in love, only to find out that he was having an affair behind her back.

“Now I have to wonder if my mother knew about the affair.”

He placed his hands on either side of her face and made her look into his eyes. “I don’t know what possessed your father to cheat, but I really do believe he loved her in his own way.”

“If he loved her, he wouldn’t have cheated. I don’t think I can ever forgive him, or that bitch he married.

“If I ever thought before that people never stay happily married or faithful, I really believe it now, and I will never get married.”

“Roxie, don’t judge all marriages by what happened to your parents.

“Take my parents, for instance. Even to this day they are happily married, and I know that neither one of them has ever cheated on the other. Don’t give up on marriage.”

She never really did give him an answer. She just took his hand, and they headed inside.

As they entered the mansion, one of the maids came up to them and told Roxie that her father and Claudia were waiting for her in the family room.

He turned to Roxie. “You don’t need to deal with them right now. Let’s just get you upstairs and into bed. You need to rest, and you don’t need the stress of talking to those two.”

“No, I want to see both of them. I want them to know how I feel about them and what they did.”

He could tell that she was very determined, so all he could do was be by her side.

Both Claudia and Thomas rose to their feet when the two of them entered the family room.

“Sweetheart, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re all right and home. I’m so sorry you had to find out about me and Claudia the way you did.

“I know that I should have been the one to tell you, and I should have done it a long time ago.

“Is there anything I can say or do to make you understand how sorry I am, and that I really need your forgiveness?”

Her heart was racing, and she stood facing the man that she had looked up to all of her life. What she was about to say was going to hurt her as much as it would hurt him.

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to forgive you. You betrayed my mother, and you also betrayed me.

“You’ve lied to me all these years, kept your affair with Claudia a secret, and I had to hear it from someone else.

“My mother loved you, and I just pray to God that she never knew about your affair. Or did she?”

Thomas lowered his eyes, which were filling with tears. “No, she never knew. Claudia and I were very careful about not getting caught.”

“Why would you marry Claudia? You must know what a lying, cheating bitch she is.”

“Roxie, I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but I did very much love your mother. But I also love Claudia. I know that she’s been having some affairs, but it’s my fault.

“I’m away so much of the time and have often ignored her. But I’m hoping to change that.

“I’m going to stay home more and give her the attention she needs, so that she doesn’t feel she has to go to another man for affection.”

“Oh my God. Father, are you even listening to yourself and how foolish that sounds? You’re as disgusting as she is.”

“Roxie, don’t talk to your father like that. He’s a good man and has treated you very well. He deserves your respect, and you apologize to him right now.”

She turned to look at Claudia. She felt the anger building up inside of her, so she walked over to her, raised her hand, and slapped her stepmother hard across the face, making her stagger backward.

“Don’t you dare talk to me about respect. What respect did you have for my father when you were spreading your legs open for any man that looked your way.

“You even tried to seduce Dexter, but he turned you down, which made you angry. You’re disgusting. You deserve each other.”

She walked away from them and went over to Dexter. “I’m going to go upstairs and pack a few things into a bag. Will you drive me to a hotel? I won’t live in this house for another minute.”

“Roxie, please don’t leave,” Thomas said.

But she ignored his pleas and left the room. Dexter followed her out and stopped her before she went up the stairs.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

“I can’t stay here another minute. If you won’t drive me, I’ll get someone else to.”

“No, I’ll take you. You go on up, and I’ll send one of the maids to help you pack a couple of bags, and I’ll meet you back down here.”

Once she headed upstairs, he went back into the room to talk to Thomas.

“I suppose you’re here to get your money. Come with me to my office, and I’ll write you out a check.”

When they got to the office and Thomas pulled out his checkbook and started to write, Dexter placed his hand over the check. “Make it out to Roxie.”

Thomas looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I won’t accept any money for protecting the woman I love. But I know she could use this money, perhaps to start her own business, as I’m sure she’s not going to want to work for you anymore.”

“I could make her partner now.”

“That’s something for the two of you to discuss later on. It’s up to her what she wants to do. But with this money she has a choice.

“Mr. Greene, I highly suggest that you give her some time and space. She has an amazing heart, and I’m sure that in time she’ll forgive you.”

Thomas swallowed hard, holding back the tears as he wrote the check out for four hundred thousand dollars. He handed it to Dexter. “Take care of my little girl.”

“I will,” he replied, and putting the check inside his pocket, he walked out.