Chapter 44

Feenix Blaylock

“ Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I ask Charlie as we stride toward the police station. There’s at least an inch of snow on the busy sidewalks, but dirty boots and shoe prints mark what should be a perfect blanket of white. For a cold autumn and snowy day, there are many people floating about. It’s easy to forget that people have jobs and lives when Charlie and I have been holed up in my penthouse for the past few weeks.

At first, she didn’t like me taking care of her, but eventually, after a day of scrubbing my kitchen down, she was exhausted. She didn’t need to clean the kitchen – my house cleaner had already been there – but for reasons I didn’t understand, she had to do something other than lie on the couch and watch random TV shows with me.

The only time she actually left my home was when she came with me to the gym in my building. I never had to force her to go. She wanted to build up her strength. I’m glad because, if she had been depressed, like any normal person would be after an incident like hers, I’d have had to force her, and that’s not what she needs right now. Besides the occasional bad dream, she’s more chipper, but that could be because of what we’ve been putting together for our future.

Because we have a future, her and I. It’s full of things I never thought I’d do, going places I never thought I’d find myself.

“I’m ready,” she says and grabs the frosty door handle.

She hasn’t been to the police station yet. She doesn’t know how anyone is going to react, considering how they’d treated her before. She told me all about it, how this was going to be her big break so that people would take her seriously, but none of that matters now.

A thicker woman in a uniform stands behind the desk. A nameplate on the surface of her desk states her name as Genny. She looks like a Genny. Her wild red hair is back in a tight ponytail, and as she looks up from her computer, she frowns. I stiffen because, if anyone is going to give her a hard time, I will step in.

Instead of saying something negative toward Charlie, she gives her a slight nod, and I watch as Charlie’s shoulders relax a little.

I don’t know what happened between them during that exchange, but I get the feeling that whatever just transpired meant more to Charlie than she’d ever admit to me.

We walk past the desk, and that’s where I stop. Charlie takes a few more steps before she realizes I’m not with her, and then she swivels to face me. “Coming?”

I shake my head. “This is your news to share.”

Her scowl is more serious than I thought it’d be. Surely she knows she needs this without me hovering close by. I raise my eyebrows at her, daring her to challenge me for what I know is best for her. And then she rolls her eyes.

Closing the short distance between us, I bring her into my arms and say, “You can do this. You don’t need me. Go tell your captain, and then we can go home.”

“Fine,” she huffs before letting me go. She takes a few backward strides, eyeing me with annoyance, before she circles on her sneaker and heads fully into the building, disappearing around the corner.

“What news?” a female voice says behind me.

I look over my shoulder. By now, having studied the files of all those arrested, I know who this woman is. I fully turn and tip my chin in greeting toward her. “Rochelle?”

She tucks her coat tighter across herself. She looks haggard, as if she’s barely sleeping. Nodding, she says, “You must be Feenix.” There’s no hostility in her tone, which is surprising. I thought, on some level, she’d blame me for what her husband was involved in, maybe even his arrest, even though I had nothing to do with either of them.

“I am.”

She gives me a weak smile, but it’s a genuine one. Her eyes shift behind me to where Charlie disappeared. “What news is she sharing?”

I glance with her before returning my gaze to hers. Stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets, I answer, “She’s quitting.”

A shocked look takes over her face. “But . . . this is all she’s ever wanted, and this is her big break. You’re joking, right?”

I shake my head. “It’s the right thing to do, at the right moment.”

Her brows pull together. “What do you mean? What does she plan to do instead? ”

“We’ve opened a foundation for sex trafficked victims. She’ll be running that. With me.”

During her bed rest, it had taken us all of two days to decide what to do with all of our money. With the income I had made from the business, we took a majority of it to open a foundation for those who need it most, starting with the victims of the business itself. So far, we’ve paid for all of them to return home and offered services for them to get the help they need to recover. But it’s not going to end there. We have much more to do because both of us know damn well that the operation we just brought down isn’t the only one out there.

Donations have been pouring in since the case was brought to the news. We’ve been featured in the articles about what we plan to do and how we want to help. Our little idea had gotten bigger than we had ever planned it to.

Yesterday, I put in my notice with the Department. Today, Charlie is putting in hers. And tomorrow? We go shopping for a building and begin looking at applications for the foundation’s employees. Noll is at the top of that list, which doesn’t take much consideration. He’d be useful, and truth be told, I want him around.

Rochelle breathes out through loose lips. “Wow. I can’t think of a better thing for her to do, to be honest.”

I nod and then look at her, really look at her. Then I ask in a rare show of concern, “How are you doing?”

Her shoulders sag. “I just want this to be over. I’m here to collect Miles’s things, and the first place they’re going is the dumpster around the corner. I don’t know what I’m going to do after that. Find a job, I suppose. Maybe move in with my sister until I can find my way.”

I give her a small shrug. “The foundation is looking for a secretary.”

She blinks at me, shocked at my offer. “I couldn’t. ”

“You could. And I know Charlie would want you there. You could do a lot of good, erase what your husband did.”

Her eyes get a little glossy as tears gather in them, and for as long as it takes her to respond, I almost think she’s going to outright refuse. But then she rushes forward and hugs me. “You don’t know what this means to me,” she whisper-sobs into the leather of my jacket.

I gently pat her back until she pulls away. “Give Charlie a call tomorrow, and we will get everything set up.”

“Okay,” she murmurs, wiping away tears. “I will. Thank you. Truly. I’ve been a little lost and this? This . . . it’s exactly what I need and exactly what I want to surround myself with.”

“Good,” I murmur back then gesture behind me. “Go gather his stuff and burn it. The dumpster is too easy.”

She gives me a watery smile but says nothing more as she passes me and bends around the same corner Charlie went through. I don’t know how long I stand there, waiting for my woman to return, but eventually, she does, and in her hand is a box with her things inside. Trailing above her are a few congratulations balloons.

The set of her eyes is uncertain, but a mischievous grin brightens her face. When she reaches me, I ask, “How’d it go?”

“He tried to promote me,” she says as I take the box from her and we begin making our way out of the building. “I turned him down, of course, but it was nice to be the man – or woman – on top this time. The one to tell them all to shove it even as they’re giving me pats on the back. Especially Fredrick. He looked at me miserably when I arrived. I think that was the best part.”

I chuckle under my breath, and as I push open the door and she begins to walk through it, I bend to her ear and whisper, “Good girl, mama. ”

A shiver takes over her body before she steps out onto the sidewalk, and together, we walk back toward the direction of my car.

This is it, I realize. The true beginning of something greater. Of being a better man. Of having a great woman. A future that Megan would have wanted for me. And in the process? We get to honor all that we are, both Charlie and myself.

Two months ago, I couldn’t have dreamed of this if I tried, and that makes it all the sweeter.

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