Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

ZANE

T hey’ve been throwing cheap shots at us all night. Normally, it’s pretty hard to get under my skin. I’m a little on edge, though.

Maybe it’s because of Violet’s parents showing up out of the blue twice when they are clearly bad news.

Maybe because the stakes are now so much higher between Violet and me when there’s going to be a baby. A baby . I still can’t believe it.

But when this motherfucker accidentally high sticks me, I lose my shit. The pain to my mouth barely registers, nor does the coppery tang of blood on my tongue. My stick falls to the ice. The gloves fly off my hands and I grab the neck of his jersey to pull him closer.

My fist connects with his face before he can react. I get in at least four before he goes to swing on me and his skate slips out from underneath him and sends us tumbling to the ice. Adrenaline still pumps through my veins but I take a breath as we’re separated. The crowd boos as I’m escorted over to the penalty box.

When Ian joins me a moment later, I chuckle and glance up at the monitor overhead to watch the replay on his own penalty.

“It’s not often you join me in here,” he says as he plops down next to me.

“Today’s your lucky day, I guess.”

He laughs. That’s the only lucky thing about today. We lose five to three. Later, when we’re leaving the hotel room, I check my phone and see a few texts from Violet.

I watched the game. I’ve never seen you so…testy.

The fight was hot.

When will you be home again?

I chuckle to myself and type out a response.

Be home in two days, babe. I’ll let you know when I’m on the way so you can be ready and waiting for me.

Can’t wait. Love you.

I can’t believe this is my life. Finally, finally , I have that special someone in my life and we’re having a baby. What more could I ask for?

I’ve been itching to get home ever since Violet let me know she got hot and bothered during my game the other day. When my phone rings with a call from Violet, I grin. Guess she can’t wait for me to get home either.

“Hey, babe,” I answer. “I’ll—” Violet’s sobbing halts anything I planned to say. “Violet, what’s wrong?”

“ They took it .”

“Took what?” I ask softly, hoping if I remain calm, then she’ll get there too. What in the world has happened?

“My jewelry box,” she wails. “They broke in and stole everything. My jewelry box, oh god.”

Wait. Someone broke in? “I’ll buy you new jewelry,” I find myself dumbly saying. “Are you okay?”

“You don’t understand!” she cries. “It was full of my grandma’s jewelry. It’s irreplaceable. They could have cleaned out my entire house for all I care, but that? Why did they have to take that?”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’ll be home in a few minutes. Are you okay?” I repeat.

“Fine,” she says with a sniffle. “I came home and found the place nearly empty. I’m waiting on the police now.”

I make her stay on with me until someone is there with her. The police make it before I do, but once I see the inside of the house, I’m pissed.

Most of her furniture is gone . Some of her appliances, too. Most anything of value was taken. But what’s worse is as I set her on the bed—the only place I could put her to sit—and step into the kitchen to take over talking to the police for her, I discover who did this.

A note with scrappy handwriting is on the counter.

We can’t believe you would treat us like this after all these years. You can have the jewelry back for $100k. We know you have it.

It has to be her parents. What fucking assholes. With a deep breath, I leave the note untouched and check the recordings from the camera. Sure enough, there they are. I hand the footage over to the police and explain who they are. Eventually, the police leave. I have to face my wife and tell her who’s responsible. She’ll figure it out anyway if she checks the app. She was probably so thrown off by what she found when she came home that she didn’t even think to check the footage.

Violet lies in bed, curled into a ball, with tears still streaking down her face. It’s clear the jewelry box full of her grandma’s things being gone is what upsets her the most.

“Babe,” I start softly. I have to tell her. How could I not?

“What?” she asks, sitting up and wiping the tears away with the back of her hands.

“It was your parents,” I say as gently as possible.

Her brows pull together and she frowns. “What?” she repeats.

“There’s a note in the kitchen saying they’ll return it for a hundred grand. Just the jewelry. And the cameras caught them.”

Her shoulders slump. If there was anything I could do to take this weight off her, I would. “A hundred grand? That would barely leave me with anything.”

“Jesus, Violet, you are not giving it to them,” I interrupt with a harsh tone that has her sitting up straight. I gentle my tone before speaking again. “I know you’re upset and you lost something that I can’t replace for you, but you are absolutely not giving them any money.” I could, but I won’t. I can’t stand the idea of giving them money after what they’ve done to her. Even if it would get the jewelry back.

“I’m not suggesting I give it to them, Zane. I just…” She sighs. “I want to,” she whispers. “I want it back.”

I sit next to her and pull her against me. “Maybe the police can get it back for you.”

Violet sighs heavily.

When she doesn’t say anything, I ask, “Are you okay staying here tonight or do you want to go somewhere else?”

“I don’t want to be here,” she admits.

“Okay, let’s pack a bag.”

While we do that, Violet decides she’d rather crash at Cassie’s house than a hotel. She gives Cassie brief notice that something happened and we can’t remain at home before we show up on her doorstep.

Cassie flings the door open within seconds of Violet knocking. “Come in, come in. What happened?” Cassie wraps Violet into a hug. That’s all it takes for her to break down into tears once more. It takes some restraint to not pull Violet into my arms, but Cassie seems to be who she needs right now.

I don’t know what I have to do, but her parents will pay for this.

Within a week, the police reach out to us. That’s a week of us spending the night at Cassie’s place because Violet can’t stand the idea of going back to the house where someone violated the sanctuary she had. During my free time, I’ve been looking for a new place to live in case she doesn’t want to go back permanently.

Today is a good day, though. The police contacted me with possibly the best news ever. Not only did they find Violet’s parents, who apparently had been committing a string of break-ins since they were released from prison, but they also found Violet’s jewelry box. They sold everything else. I guess they held onto the box in case Violet was crazy enough to fork over the money for it.

I just left the police station where I was able to pick up the jewelry box. Violet is at her office today, recording tutorial videos. I send her a quick text to let her know I’m coming with a surprise. I’m almost overcome with excitement myself. She’ll be thrilled.

I make it to Violet’s office within fifteen minutes. I knock and within a minute, she lets me in.

“What do you have?” she asks, eyeing me as I hold the bag holding the box behind my back.

“The police called.”

Her eyes widen and she immediately steps forward to grab my arms. “Did they find it?”

I bring the bag from behind my back and Violet watches anxiously as I pull the box out. She screams in delight and snatches the box away from me. Violet places it on a nearby table, tossing the lid open. Her fingers search through the box, touching all the jewelry. The moment she sighs in relief, I relax. I knew it was all there based on her recounting all the items to the police, but her triple confirming it is nice.

“Thank god. Thank you!” Tears well in her eyes and she throws her arms around me, thanking me repeatedly as if I alone rescued her jewelry. She pulls away and wipes rogue tears away. “I don’t care to know anything else. Thank you for stopping by to give this back to me.”

I’m okay with not saying more, but only because I know her parents won’t be an issue for a long time again since they’ve found themselves back in jail.

“Do you want to go back home now or…” I trail off. Violet sighs and I continue. “I found a few rentals if you want to move.”

Violet shakes her head. “No. I don’t want to move, and I feel better now that we got a security system installed and new locks in place. I think it actually makes it easier that it was my parents instead of strangers, though it hurts more. Cassie and I were actually planning to go shopping tomorrow to replace the furniture.”

“Okay. Sounds good.” I don’t care either way.

Violet lifts onto her toes and presses a soft kiss to my mouth. “I love you, you know?”

“Might as well.” She laughs as intended. I snake my arms around her and add, “I love you too.”

“You’re the best husband I’ve ever had.”

I chuckle. “I’m your first and last husband,” I point out. My hands slip beneath her shirt and she leans into me.

“Maybe we should go home.”

I won’t argue with that. Violet was the best impulsive decision I ever made. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my days making her happy and raising our baby together.