“Dere kissin’!” a kid yells, and a bunch of giggles break out around us.
Both Chloe’s face and mine turn at the same time to see that there is a group of kids who are all wearing matching shirts and look to be around five standing around us and laughing.
“Oh my God,” Chloe whispers and hides her face in my chest.
I lay my head back down, break out into laughter, and can feel Chloe shaking from doing the same.
“I think we need to get up,” I tell her, sitting up and seeing that the children have moved on.
We spend the next few hours walking around the museum, checking out different displays before heading out of the building. Once on the street, I signal to Ricket as we walk towards the park.
“This is nice,” Chloe mutters.
I look down at her as she takes a bite of the pretzel I just bought her. I forget sometimes to step back from work to just enjoy the little moments.
“It has been nice,” I agree, bending my head to take a bite of her pretzel, making her laugh.
By the time we arrive back at my penthouse, it is dark. There is a chill in the air, and Chloe is shivering. She insisted we walk instead of taking the car, so I sent Ricket ahead of us, telling him that he could have the night off. That’s why I’m surprised to find him waiting in the lobby of the building along with Bernard.
“Sir,” Ricket says when he spots me.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, rubbing Chloe’s arm, trying to warm her up. We both dressed light to go out, and now, I wish I would have brought a jacket or demanded we take the car home.
“Evening,” Bernard says to Chloe before moving his eyes to mine. “We need to meet.”
I nod. “Let me get Chloe upstairs and warmed up, and then we can talk,” I tell him, watching as he lifts his chin and follows us to the elevator.
Once I have Chloe in the bath, I make my way out to the living room, where Bernard and Ricket are both speaking quietly.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I say, pouring a glass of scotch.
“I have gone over the videos from the club again from the night Chloe was drugged and still have not found even one moment when she could have been slipped the drug. Throughout the evening, she was never away from the other women at the event, she never went to the bar alone, and the party she was with had pitchers of drinks brought to them, and none of the other women ever showed any signs of having been given the same thing as Chloe.”
“The drug was in her system, and I know she has never taken sleeping medication, so at some point during that party, she was given the drug,” I growl.
“I agree,” Bernard says then looks at Ricket. “What I’m thinking is one of the women at the party slipped it into her drink. They are the only ones who would have had the opportunity to do so. My men were watching her the entire evening, and at no point was anyone who wasn’t part of the bachelorette party even within sneezing distance of her.”
“So you believe one of the women she was with drugged her?” I shake my head. “That makes no sense at all.”
“I don’t know why someone did it, but women from the party are the only ones who would have had the opportunity to do so.”
“So, what’s the plan?” I look in the direction of the bathroom, not wanting Chloe to come out during this talk. I don’t want her to even know there is something going on or what they suspect. I don’t know how she would react if she knew they believe that her friends had something to do with her being drugged.
“Right now, I’m gathering all the information I can on the women who attended the party. So far, they are all coming up as a bunch of well-to-do trophy wives, and I cannot find any link that would lead me to believe they would hold a grudge against her.”
“Chloe is innocent. I believe whatever’s going on here has more to do with me than her.”
“You think someone is using her to get to you?” Bernard replies, and I nod. “That would make sense. I have been going the ex-boyfriend route, but even he has been a dead end.”
“What do you mean?”
“He went home. He hasn’t even tried to contact her.”
“So why did he show up here?”
“I have my guy looking into his phone records. I want to find out how he knew Chloe was in the hospital. Someone had to have contacted him to give him that information.”
“For what purpose?”
“Sir, if I may,” Ricket speaks, and I turn to look at my old friend. “You’re very possessive of Ms. Kasters. Perhaps whomever did this believed you would do something rash.”
“Like what?”
“Perhaps leave, sir,” Ricket says.
Memories of my marriage come back to me. I never even asked my ex if she was having an affair—not that I needed to. But even if all of the evidence hadn’t been right there in front of me, I still wouldn’t have given her a chance to explain.
I have never been the most understanding person. Chloe hasn’t been in my life for long, so if someone were trying to make me believe she was playing me, was having a relationship with someone else, and didn’t understand the depth of emotions I feel for her, they may have thought they could make me believe them.
What they don’t know is I’m obsessed with her, and there is nothing anyone can do, including her, that would deter me from keeping her.
“How long will it take to get the phone records?”
“It will take a few days. Phone records are a little more difficult.”