Page 54 of Marc

For this mess?

I don’t have the energy for riddles.

She walks closer to me and whispers in my ear, “It was Jared. He’s the one that did all of this, and I have the proof.”

Of course it was. Who else would have done this to me?

Relief washes over me for a moment before reality sets back in. “We can’t give it to the police. They will destroy the evidence.”

Marc interrupts. “The hell they will.”

I look towards him with panic rising in my chest.

“Please, Marc. Please, just listen to me this one time. We can’t give the police this footage. It’s the only copy we have. It will disappear with all the other evidence I gave them in the past.”

“We can make a copy of the tape, and then you can press charges. If they won’t do their job and arrest him, then we will take it to the news outlets if we have to. This bullshit should have never happened, and I’ll make sure it stops.”

“I’m happy to go along with your ideas and adventures, but not this time. Please, just trust me on this. I will go along with whatever else you can think of next. Just let me have my way on this, please.”

“Fine. We will do it your way, since this is your life and your house.”

I breathe a small sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Marc storms outside just as a couple of police cars arrive.

Miss Edith elbows me and chuckles. “He’s hotter than hell when he is defending you. Why aren’t you married to him yet?”

Her comment brings a small smile to my face.

I whisper, “Yeah, he is.”

Truth be told, I’m wetter than the ocean we just left, but our fake relationship arrangement is preventing me from confessing my true feelings.

Things are all twisted and I don’t want to mess up our friendship or our working relationship when this nightmare with Jared is over.

Marc's loud, booming voice has me running outside to see what is going on.

He is nearly face to face with a police officer, yelling.

“Why aren’t you guys doing more? She’s had a restraining order for a year now, and yet he still calls her, barges into her studio, and now he’s breaking into her house and destroying her property.”

The police officer smirks. “Let’s not start throwing accusations out there. That can be considered slander, and it’s a punishable offense.”

Of course, this is one of Jared’s friends, but Marc doesn’t know that.

They must have had my address on file because they sent two of the officers that I’ve tried giving evidence to in the past.

Marc clenches his fists and I run to his side. If he hits a police officer, then I’ll be all alone to deal with this and Jared will get what he wants.

I won’t let Jared win.

Not this time.

Not anymore.

I wrap my arm around Marc’s much larger one and, using my other hand, I turn his face to look at me.

“Hey, let’s just file the police report and clean up my house. We can take things further at a later date. Let’s focus on one problem at a time.”

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