Chapter 24

Juliet carefully reached for her water on the table next to her bed, groaning now that her pain meds had started to wear off. She was due more soon; hopefully, she could manage until then. Paige had gone home to shower and change, so this silence provided Juliet with the perfect opportunity to understand how stupid she'd been when she woke up yesterday afternoon.

Oh, it was more than stupid.

Had Juliet completely lost her mind in that moment? Yes, she believed she had. Thankfully, Paige hadn't walked out on her after their ridiculous conversation, and now they were on the same page again. A page Juliet always wanted to be on. There wasn't a single scenario where Juliet would want to live her life alone, not now that she had the most incredible woman by her side.

Paige was right. She couldn't leave.

As she lowered her glass of water back down to the table, there was a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in."

Hannah popped her head into the room as the door opened, smiling as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You don't know how good it is to hear your voice again."

Juliet snorted as Hannah closed the door. "You won't be saying that soon. Not once I'm back on my feet."

Hannah hesitated as she approached the bed, but then she leaned down and hugged Juliet. "How are you feeling?"

"Fucking terrible, to be honest." Juliet rested back against the mass of pillows Paige had fixed behind her an hour ago and sighed. "But hey, I'm alive."

"When Paige texted me last night and asked me not to come in to visit, I thought something had happened. A complication or something." Hannah sat down in the seat next to Juliet's bed and shook her head. "But you're awake, and you have some colour in your cheeks now. That's a good sign."

Paige had texted Hannah last night after Juliet had asked her to. While she was looking forward to seeing friends again, she felt it was important to be alone with Paige. Last night just didn't feel like the right time for visitors. Even Henry hadn't come back once Juliet had texted him. "I needed some time last night. With coming around from the sedation and then realising what had happened, I wasn't much company."

"You don't have to explain. Caz and I both understand." Hannah squeezed Juliet's hand. "Caz sends her love. She'll be in to visit with me next time."

"I'll look forward to it."

The sooner Juliet was back at home, the better. But she also understood that recovering from something so major was going to take time. She wasn't rushing anything. The bar would still be there when she was ready to face it all again. If she was ever ready to face it again.

"Hey, um…is everything okay with Paige?"

Juliet's brows drew together. "Of course. She left about forty minutes ago to shower. Why?"

"When she called me yesterday to say you were awake, she sounded terrible. She was talking about leaving and asking if we would still be friends. I don't know what was going on, but she wouldn't give me much information."

"Ah. That was my fault." Juliet lowered her eyes to her hand in her lap. Hannah still held onto the other one. "When I woke up, I told her it would be for the best if she left Liverpool."

"W-why?"

"For her safety and my sanity." Juliet knew it was time to let their friends in on what was going on.

"I don't understand. What does that even mean?"

"The attack was targeted, Hannah."

Juliet watched a range of emotions cross Hannah's face, but the one that settled was confusion. Understandable.

"Do you remember Ron Delehedy? One of the last cases I worked?"

Hannah screwed her face up. "You mean that slimy fat bastard who probably hasn't seen his dick in thirty years?"

Juliet smiled. "Yes. That's the one."

"What about him?" Hannah crossed her legs, clearly ready to hear all the information.

"It was him. Well, he sent someone to attack me." Juliet rested her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Before I retired, someone stopped me in the street. A guy with face tattoos and a southern accent. He handed me an envelope and told me that one day it would be over for me." Thinking back on that, Juliet was glad Henry was around. He'd probably held all of this back to a point. "I opened the envelope, and there was a picture of me outside court, with a black cross through my face."

"Oh, my God!" Hannah gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"The less people knew, the better. If someone was after me, I didn't want to drag anyone else into it. And while they didn't know who I worked with, everyone else was safe."

"Is this why you suddenly decided on early retirement?"

"Yes and no," Juliet said, eyeing the clock on the wall. She really needed more pain relief soon. "I'd had enough. Then, that threat just pushed me towards the decision much quicker. I always would have taken early retirement whether I was in danger or not."

"Ron was found guilty. How did all of this come about with him inside?"

"Cara." Juliet managed a sarcastic laugh. "She's his niece. I had no idea when I employed her."

Hannah only appeared even more confused than before. "She's been working for you since you opened the bloody bar, Juliet. Why the hell would she do that? Jesus, she's sat drinking with us all before today."

"She was very good at playing the game, it would seem." Juliet couldn't believe she had been so stupid. But then again, Cara had never once hinted at anything untoward. "None of us had any idea. Even Henry didn't figure it out."

"Henry is your security guy."

"Henry was actually employed by me because of the threat. Paige was the only person who knew why he was always around. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth."

" Why didn't you tell me the truth?" Hannah asked, sighing. "Don't you trust me?"

"Honestly? I didn't want to lose the very few friends I do have. If you'd all known, you wouldn't have been around. Who wants to sit in a bar with a guy watching their every move…or walk around the city knowing you could be in danger simply for being in my life?" That had been one of the reasons she hadn't told anyone about Henry. The thought of losing her small support system terrified her. "Cara was so genuine that I thought the threat had gone in the end. Henry and I had no issues with her being alone with me. We worked plenty of shifts together over the time she was at the bar."

"Why now?"

Juliet smiled, fidgeting with the edge of the sheet covering her. "Because I was happy."

Hannah frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"Ron told Cara to wait until I was happy. Once I had a great life, it was her job to take it away."

Hannah lowered her eyes and sniffled. "I can't believe this."

"I'd like to think it's all over now, but the police can't find Cara, and Henry hasn't been informed of any sightings."

"Where will you go until they find her? And Paige, what will she do?"

Juliet had no idea what they were going to do. All she knew was that she had to keep Paige safe. "I don't know yet. With any luck, they'll find her before I'm allowed to leave the hospital."

"But Paige is out there alone…"

"Henry is on her at all times. Just the way he was with me. I'm safe here. The police are outside, so Henry is with her." Juliet knew this had to be a lot for Hannah to take in, but she felt lighter knowing the truth was out there. "Hopefully, this will all be over soon."

"I had no idea any of this was going on."

"That's just the way it was meant to be, Hannah. I'm sorry I kept it from you, but I don't regret doing it the way I did. You have Edie and Caz; I couldn't risk anyone knowing. Because the moment you knew, you'd have been in danger. These people aren't stupid, Hannah. They watched my every move. If they even had an inkling that you knew about any of this, it would have been game over for one or both of us long before now."

"You…protected me." Hannah smiled as a single tear slipped down her cheek.

"I did what I could to keep the people around me safe."

"That fucking bitch." Hannah clenched her jaw, anger flaring in her eyes. "God, my skin is crawling just knowing I was nice to her."

"Join the club, kid. I can't believe how stupid I was to believe her."

"Do you think they'll catch her?" Hannah's voice held a slight hint of fear, but her eyes gave off a determination Juliet had never seen before. "She better hope they do. Because if I get my hands on her, I'll throttle the fucking life out of her."

Juliet grinned, appreciative of the friends she had in her life. "Settle down, Rocky. I've had enough drama to last me a lifetime."

Her phone bleeped to the side of her, Paige's pretty face displayed on the screen. Juliet lifted it and answered the call. "Hi, beautiful."

"Babe, I'm on my way back over soon. I'm going to grab some lunch for us. What are you feeling like?"

Juliet would take anything at this point. She hadn't expected to feel so hungry, given what she'd just been through. "Mm. Surprise me."

"Okay, well, Hannah is supposed to be visiting you, so should I get her something, too? In case she hasn't eaten when she arrives?"

"Hannah is here now." Juliet turned her attention to Hannah. "Paige is asking if you want something for lunch?"

"Only if you two don't mind me being here a little longer?"

Juliet frowned. "Of course not. What do you want?"

"I'm easy. Just a sandwich or something."

"Did you hear that?" Juliet asked, the sound of traffic in the background.

"I did. I'll see you soon, babe. I love you."

Juliet swallowed down the lump in her throat. She was overly emotional lately, but she still smiled. Paige always gave her a reason to smile, even when life was terrible. "I love you, too." She ended the call and set her phone down beside her, her eyes narrowed when Hannah grinned back at her. "What?"

"It's nice to see you smiling, Juliet."

Juliet nodded slowly. Strangely, life felt a little more normal today. "Yeah. It's nice to be in a position to smile."