30. Jensen

The bright flare of yet another speed camera momentarily blinded Jensen as he clung to Aldous's back. Beneath them, the motorbike roared, cutting through the traffic between them and Talia.

Jensen had barely crossed the threshold of Aldous's flat when the face recognition alarm had gone off, but rush hour meant that the roads were rammed, cars sitting bumper to bumper in long, unbroken lines. He'd been dialling the police when Aldous told him to get on his motorbike.

A storm of fury raged around him as they soared down Piccadilly like a speeding bullet. Jensen had never been on a motorbike before—let alone without a helmet and wearing nothing but his fucking suit, but at the moment he had no care for his own safety.

Only hers.

Aldous took them down a small alleyway. The thunder of the engine was magnified tenfold, but then the mansion block was in sight. His phone continued to blast out its alarm, leaving him with the fact that Quinn had broken into Talia's flat—that something was happening.

Jensen could only hope he wasn't too late.

He was sure Aldous was going to overshoot the front door, but his cousin waited until the last second to brake. The sudden motion sent Jensen's body careening forward, and he narrowly avoided headbutting the back of Aldous's helmet.

Dismounting, he just about waited for the sensor to open the front door before crashing through it. The door swung inwards so violently he heard the glass crack in its frame, but Jensen didn't stop.

The elevator was on the ground floor, thank fucking Christ. He slammed into it, thumping the button for the sixth floor, ignoring a shout from down the corridor to the concierge's office. A second before the doors closed, Aldous slipped through.

The ride up was mercifully short, and excruciatingly long. Then they were on the move again. Jensen narrowly dodged an old woman coming out of her flat, but soon he and Aldous were at Talia's door.

Terror filled him at what he'd find behind it. Then he burst through—and he saw her.

With a furious roar, Jensen launched himself at Quinn. The bastard turned at the sound, his eyes wide with alarm. He moved to defend himself, but Jensen was quicker, wrenching him away from Talia as Aldous went to his knees next to her, checking her pulse and pulling her skirts back down at the same time.

Her skirts.

Dread burnt an agonised path across his chest. The thought of him hurting Talia at all was horrific. The thought of him hurting her like that?

It was torture.

Quinn let out an audible huff as he landed a few feet away, but Jensen was on him before he could inhale. He fastened his hands around Quinn's throat, taking the time to dig his knee into Quinn's ribs until he heard a crack.

"I should have killed you the first time I had the chance," Jensen snarled, savouring Quinn's agonised groan as another crack sounded. He wanted to kill him—intended to kill him. But…

If I kill Quinn, I won't see my son grow up.

That fact cut through Jensen's frenzied anger. "Fuck." He pushed up off Quinn's battered ribcage, ignoring the harrowing whine coming from the man beneath him.

Because just behind him came a deep, feminine cough. Talia.

Jensen shoved Quinn inside the bathroom, locking him in from the outside before hurtling to Talia's side. Aldous was already there, clutching her hand and whispering softly to her.

"Talia." Jensen's knees hit the floor so hard the impact jarred his teeth. "You're alive. We're here, baby girl. You're alive."

She reached for him, her grip featherlight. "Jay."

He winced at how hoarse her voice was. Murderous thoughts thundered through him, but the thought of abandoning Talia and Felix…

Revenge wasn't worth it. He knew that better than most.

"Go and comfort Felix, Aldous. But don't bring him in here. Not yet." Jensen cast his gaze over her body, but other than the glaring red band on her neck he couldn't see any injuries. Anger stiffened his jaw. "Where did he hurt you?" Tell me what he did to you. "Tell me how I can make it better."

Talia's movement was so subtle he almost missed it. The shake of her head couldn't have spanned more than a couple of millimetres. She lifted her hand to touch her throat. "My head. My neck. That's all."

Relief slammed his eyes shut as it shuddered through him.

As Felix's crying diminished, Jensen heard sirens downstairs. Living in London, they were almost ubiquitous, but they should have moved on by now—even in rush hour traffic.

His suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later, when two police officers knocked on the open door; the security company had detected an attack. Paramedics weren't far behind, recommending that Talia should be taken to hospital to have her head and neck scanned to identify the extent of her injuries.

"Mr Stone?" one of the police officers eventually asked, just as they were about to take Talia to the ambulance. "We'd like you to come down to the police station for an interview under caution."

His hackles immediately raised. An interview under caution was voluntary—but only in the sense that if a person refused then they could be arrested and brought to the police station anyway. His focus moved from Talia to Aldous before he nodded. "Fine," he spat, only keeping the anger out of his voice because Felix was in his arms.

Talia's head lifted as he approached her, and he couldn't help noticing the broken blood vessels at the bottom of her eyes. My sweet baby girl.

"I need to go down to the police station to help them figure out what happened," he murmured to her, putting Felix in her lap. "Aldous is going to look after you and Felix while I'm gone, okay?"

"What?" Her rasp was almost inaudible. "You're leaving?"

"Not by choice. But I'll be as quick as I can," he promised, his stomach sinking like a stone. He didn't exactly have a clean record to help things along. He was a convicted murderer; if they wanted to pin something on him, all they had to do was show the judge his history. "I love you."

A glassy sheen built along her lower eyelid. "I love you."

Jensen kissed her, feeling a tear escape down her cheek. "Everything will be okay," he lied, pressing a kiss to the top of his son's head.

With a deep frown, Aldous leant next to the front door as a police officer escorted Jensen out. "Call the lawyers, then get Euan to meet you at the hospital. Look after Talia and Felix until I get out."

Aldous's mouth pressed into a firm line. "I swear."

Giving a single nod, he allowed himself to be marched out of the door. For however long that may be.

The security cameras were his saving grace.

They'd captured everything, from Quinn letting himself into Talia's flat half an hour before she got home to the moment the police officers arrived. Jensen forced himself to watch everything, especially the assault.

If Talia had gone through it, then he could watch it.

An anguished gasp burst from his lungs when he watched Quinn launching his attack on Talia. Jensen saw what he'd missed in the moment; Quinn's hands fumbling with his zipper, right as he and Aldous burst into the room.

Quinn hadn't forced himself on her, but he was about to.

The sight had made Jensen sick, but his solicitor said it meant Quinn was facing a lengthier prison sentence. And the strangulation? It didn't matter whether Quinn had intended to merely assault her or assault and then kill her. He'd signed his own warrant the moment he touched her neck—because it meant his sentence would be lengthier still.

Best of all, because the police could see Jensen had used reasonable force in subduing Quinn, he was free to go.

It was morning by the time Jensen walked out of the police station. The sky overhead was clear, providing little in the way of coverage from the rising heat. Even at this hour, he could see smartly-dressed people starting their day, their faces lined with exhaustion and their hands full of caffeinated drinks.

He moved with purpose, making his way down to the car park he'd told Aldous to pick him up in. Splotches of chewing gum were flattened on the pavement in different stages of decay, but Jensen tried to avoid anything that looked particularly fresh. Now he was out of the police station, he could finally check the mass of messages that had poured in overnight. Aldous, Rhys, Alison, Warren, Kate, Darcy, Mia; the texts were endless, from Aldous giving him hourly updates on Talia's condition to Mia thanking him for protecting her friend.

Jensen scanned the car park as he approached, but the sleek grey saloon car he landed on wasn't the vehicle he'd expected to see. The woman standing in front of it was even more of a shock.

Their eyes locked, and Jensen bridged the gap between them. His hands brushed her waist, securing her just in case she fell. "Talia." She was supposed to be in hospital, but as she tightened her hold around his neck Jensen couldn't think of anything other than, "I've got you. You're okay."

"They let you out." She sucked in a breath amidst a sea of sobs. The hoarseness of her voice was painful to hear. "I was terrified they were going to arrest you."

Jensen shook his head. "I was always going to come home to you. How is your neck? And your head?" The recording of Talia's skull slamming into the floor was something he would never forget.

"All the tests came back clear. No bruising or bleeding on the brain. My neck is clear too." He'd known that from Aldous's texts, but hearing it directly from her lips was a relief. "They kept me in overnight, but discharged me about an hour ago."

He wanted to know more, to ask any of the thousand questions filling his brain, but he didn't want her to strain her voice.

The driver door opened. Euan stepped out, his grey hair messier than Jensen had ever seen it and maroon blemishes of exhaustion beneath his eyes. "We should get back," he told Talia. "Alison says Felix has woken up; he's looking for you."

Keeping his hand around her waist, Jensen gave her a nod. "Your dad's right. I don't want you standing for longer than you need to be." He opened the passenger door for her, gesturing inwards.

Talia complied, trying to hide her yawn as he shut her door—leaving him alone with Euan, separated by the car between them.

Jensen went to open the door directly behind Talia, but Euan interrupted, walking round to speak to him face-to-face. "We need to talk."

After the last twenty-four hours, his manners were shot. "Then talk."

As Euan approached, Jensen expected him to stop. To his shock, Euan enveloped his arms around his shoulders, squeezing tight. "Thank you." His voice was gruff, almost as hoarse as Talia's. "Thank you for saving her. You have no idea—" Euan wrenched away whatever he'd been about to say, shaking his head. "Thank you."

He pulled back to look Euan in the eye. "They're my everything."

Euan's shoulders rose as he took a heavy breath. "Good," he said simply. There was a hint of a smile, the first sign of his old friend to appear in months. "Mine too."