Page 46 of Bling

“What’s wrong, Aunt Izzy? You’re scaring me?”

She blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Cat. Everything is OK, I’m just being careful. The person who hurt Uncle Henry has our address. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

She had reached the waiting room by the time she ended the call. Garrett was standing, talking to two men, one of them was his driver. He looked angry.

When he spotted her coming through the doors, he held up a hand for his men to pause and rushed to her side.

“Isabelle, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“They stole his driver’s license,” she choked out. “I need to get to the girls. I’ll let you put us somewhere safe.”

Garrett was already in action, snapping his fingers so his men were at his side. “We need to get Isabelle and her family to a safe place for the night. See what you can arrange. Regina can help you with that. And make sure the police know his wallet and license was stolen.”

The men jumped into action to carry out his orders, and Garrett wrapped an arm around her.

“Have you spoken to your nieces?”

She nodded. “I talked to Catarina and told her to lock the doors and stay in their bedroom.”

“Good girl. Tell your father we’re leaving. I’ll send someone to pick him up when he’s ready.”

She pulled out her phone and sent her father a text, not wanting to waste the time to go all the way back to the hospital room. Soon she was in the back of a car with Garrett, being rushed to her apartment.

“It’s going to be OK, Isabelle. I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you.”

She nodded and let him pull her close.

They pulled up to her apartment a brief time later, and Isabelle dug her keys out of the small silk handbag she still carried.

“Girls,” she called as she opened the front door. “It’s Isabelle. You can come out now.”

Slowly, the middle bedroom door opened, and her nieces emerged, looking frightened. That is until their eyes landed on Garrett.

“I saw you kiss my aunt on the internet,” Sarah said. Catarina elbowed her little sister. “Hush Sarah.”

Garrett didn’t say anything, and Isabelle didn’t blame him. You had to be careful what you said to kids. They would definitely use it against you.

“I need you both to pack a week’s worth of clothes and get whatever you need for school. We’re going to stay somewhere else for a little while.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Catarina asked as Sarah ducked back into the bedroom. The ten-year-old was all too happy to be going on a trip, but Catarina was old enough to understand that something was wrong.

“I told you, sweetie, the people who beat up Uncle Henry might know our address. It’s just to be safe.”

The teenager’s lip quivered as she nodded. “Do we still have to go see mom tomorrow?”

Isabelle sighed. “I think it would be a good idea, but if you don’t want to, I’ll just take Sarah.”

Catarina shrugged. “If Sarah goes, I’ll go.”

Isabelle blew out a breath and turned to Garrett, who had been standing quietly near the door. “I’m going to grab clothes.”

To her surprise, and perhaps horror, Garrett followed her down the short hallway.

In her bedroom, she tossed a suitcase on the bed and began packing. She started with some of the clothes Garrett had bought for her, then moved to her dresser to grab jeans, t-shirts, and underwear.

“Your room is tiny,” Garrett said as he looked around.

“It suits me. Dad and Uncle Henry share the master bedroom, the girls share the other big bedroom, and I get this one to myself.”

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