Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,76

him a reason not to.

I turned and picked up the duct tape the boys had left on the floor. Tearing off a decent sized strip, I turned to Kate and smiled widely. “We made a mistake before. I think this absolutely is necessary.”

With that, I silenced Kate’s hatred. But more so, I silenced my past. Every awful word that had ever been thrown my way – I was moving on. My arms went out to Murphy and he came straight to me, hopping up and squeezing my neck with his chubby little arms.

“I love you, Murphy.” I whispered, nuzzling his nose with my own.

“I wuv you, Mommy.” He nuzzled me back, and I carried him out of the room.

Before the cops took Tim away, I managed to get close enough to where they had him handcuffed to exchange a few words.

“I didn’t kill your brother, Tim,” I said levelly, looking him straight in the eye without fear for the first time since I’d met him.

“Why the hell would I believe a piece of trash like you?” He clearly wanted to attack me and was one hundred percent unable to do so.

“Because I’m telling you the truth. Randall fell. He fell while he was chasing me. He hurt me every single day – every single day. But I didn’t kill him. He did that to himself.” Even though my insides were trembling, my voice didn’t shake at all.

“You’re still trash, Val. I don’t give a fuck if you say you didn’t kill Randy. You’re a used-up whore and you haven’t even seen thirty yet. You think that rich boy is gonna keep you around? You’re outta yer mind. He’ll get bored, and eventually he’ll find someone worthy of love. Ain’t nobody ever loved you, and nobody ever will.” Tim’s eyes were aflame with malice.

I shook my head. “That’s not true. But you can believe whatever you want. In prison. Have a nice life, Tim.” I turned from him and walked calmly away.

I was officially done with the Fishers.

Major changes quickly occurred in the aftermath of that day.

Timothy was charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, stalking, trespassing, and possession of an unregistered weapon. He was currently sitting somewhere in a Tennessee jail cell, probably still plotting his revenge.

A part of me wished he had died. It would be so much easier to wake up every day knowing that Timothy Fisher no longer breathed air.

But I wasn’t a murderer. And that was the difference – one of many – between Tim and me.

Paul promised me that he would keep immediate tabs on Tim’s situation, and I didn’t even have to question how. The man had connections everywhere.

And he used them for good.

Paul Hardick wasn’t my father, but he was the first clear picture of what a father – rich or poor or in between – should look like. He would do anything to keep his family safe. His life didn’t matter without his family.

They were his everything.

Kate was also sitting in a cell, but hers was in the mental ward at a state facility. She had obviously lost it a long time ago, but after this incident, and with the “trauma” of not being allowed to take my son straight from me, she’d gone over an edge that was much steeper than her first fall from sanity.

It hurt, and I knew it would for a long time – maybe forever – to think about the fact that I had trusted her. Loved her. Looked at her as a mother figure, if not an older sister.

And the oddest part about it all was that she really had helped me escape. She’d done it for the wrong reasons, but she’d still saved me. Got me away from that shithole motel. Gave me a roof over my head – my first ever “place” that I could sort of call my own.

Kate had encouraged me to give Penn a chance, and again, for the wrong reasons. Pushing me into the arms of a Hardick brother was supposed to have payed out big for both her and Tim.

Obviously, that hadn’t happened.

But Penn had happened. Penn and I had happened.

The Hardick’s utterly embraced me after that day. I had my own room in Penn’s wing – we were taking it slow...ish – and I even had a job. Jessie was training me to help in the office for when she went back to college.

Penn loved the idea, as he was in the office off and on throughout each and