Page 97 of Stolen Love

“Rogue?” Ivy whispers. “What happened? Where’s my phone? Alec confessed.”

“Hush, baby. I’m right here.” My voice thickens with the emotion that overwhelms me. “We’re taking you to the hospital. Don’t try to move. Just rest.”

“My phone?” She sinks into my chest.

“I have it.” Dizzy hands it to Rebel. “We recorded every word. About what he did to Ivy. And Rochelle Kitt.”

“That’s going to help,” Rebel says. “I’ll transfer the file to Jason too.”

“Alec won’t get far,” West says. “Not with that famous mug of his.”

“Every muscle in my body hurts.” Ivy whimpers.

“You were poisoned.” Under our own roof. By someone we trusted. I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive myself for that.

“Dizzy figured it out,” Ivy croaks. “She gave me these pills to help.”

“We’re here,” West says as the hospital emergency area lights beam in through the windows. We pile out of the car, and I stash the gun in the pocket of the door before I carry Ivy inside. Over the next few hours my family crowds the waiting room.

The doctors treat Ivy while I sit by her side. Whatever happens with Alec. With Nicole. Whether I’m arrested and we have to go through an entire court battle to clear my name. None of it bothers me.

Thinking Ivy and I couldn’t be together when I love her as much as I do… thinking I was going to lose her… it destroyed me.

I’m never going to stop loving her. And now I don’t have to.

I bow my head and pinch the bridge of my nose as tears slip down my face.

Chapter Forty-Three

Ivy

I wake up slowly.

Memories from the past however many hours return to me bit by bit. Dizzy killed Jackson and kidnapped me. She drove me all the way to Phoenix to show me where our mother was buried.

Poppy is our mother.

I have a sister.

It’s going to be a long time before that feels normal.

We got a confession out of Alec. And found evidence about Nicole’s evil deeds. And I feel a lot better now than I did when Rogue brought me to the hospital some time before dawn. Whatever Jackson poisoned me with must be finally leaving my system.

I fight the nausea that comes when I think about how I trusted the man with my safety. He betrayed us for money. And that is something I will never understand.

I turn my head to stare at Rogue, sitting in the chair beside my bed. He holds his face in his hands and his shoulders quake.

I reach out to him. “Rogue?”

He lifts his head and his eyes are shiny, bright. He angles toward me, a smile lighting him up as he brushes my hair out of my face. “Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He’s wearing the most awful, hairy thing on his upper lip. “What’s with the mustache?”

He waggles his eyebrows. “I’m in disguise. The police are still looking for me.”

“What about the file?” I shift, trying to get more comfortable with the lines in my arm.

Standing, he fluffs my pillows and then puts my arms around his neck so he can help me into a better position before he sits on the edge of the bed. “Jason’s friend, the one who has been following up on police corruption… he has a copy. Nicole will be arrested soon, along with a handful of accomplices she’s paid to help cover up her crimes over the years.”

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