Page 66 of Not that Impressed
“No.” I swallow down a surge of emotion thinking about everything Will did to help Libby. I don’t know if we would have found her without him and the connections on his team.
“He’s definitely the real hero.”
“Yeah,” she agrees.
CHAPTER 28
WILL
Ellie meets me at the door of our hotel room when I get back over an hour later. Hollis is in the custody of Mexican officials waiting to be handed off to the FBI at the Texas border.
She wraps her arms around my waist, pressing herself against me and burying her face in my chest. I hold her tightly, listening as she breathes slowly.
“Libby?” I ask quietly when Ellie pulls away after several minutes.
“Sleeping.” She tilts her head back toward our room.
“Your dad’s here?” I confirm. Ellie and I have been texting since she left the Winscott, her relaying information to me from her dad.
“He got here about the same time we did.” She points to the balcony, where he’s sitting on a chair, talking on the phone. He’s staring at the bed, which is out of my eyeline, and his attention doesn’t waver. I imagine I’d be terrified of losing sight of my daughter after something like this. “He’s convincing the FBI that our ‘investigator’ had permission from Winscotts to hack their system for information.”
I tense. “We don’t want Hollis walking on some stupid technicality.”
Ellie pats my chest reassuringly. “Winscotts will back us. And Caleb is safe too.”
I sigh with relief. “You should get some rest,” I say.
“Back at you,” she retorts, eyeing me. She stays in the circle of my arms, and I’m not eager to let her go. My eyelids are starting to droop. Adrenaline has pushed me the last several hours, through the sleepless night and all day today. It’s wearing off now that Libby is safe and Hollis is in custody and it’s getting late. I’m ready to crash.
“Let’s get Libby home to her mom, then we’ll both sleep.”
Ellie leans forward again and puts her forehead against my chest. “Good idea.”
It’s late, bordering on Sunday morning, by the time we get on the plane back to Houston. Later still by the time we take off. Once we’re in the air, I doze with Ellie leaning on my shoulder. Every time I wake up, she’s staring at her sister, curled up and sleeping in the seat across from us. I don’t think she’ll recover from these last two days easily, and neither will Libby. I breathe through my anger at Hollis. Anna texted me when she saw theBeing the Bennetsclips about Libby’s disappearance. She’s sick over Hollis being able to victimize someone else. I want him punished and put away so he can’t do it again.I’msick over how Anna and Libby and whoever else is out there will have to listen to him try to talk his way out of this and pretend like he didn’t do anything wrong.
Libby is still clutching Ellie’s hand when we stop at Ellie’s parents’ house just after dawn. She may not leave this house for a day or two, based on the way Libby clings to her. Ellie will do anything for her sister. That was obvious on Friday night when she hopped on a plane to go to Mexico, and it’s just as obvious now. I kiss her on the top of her head and tell her I’ll call her later.
Mrs. Bennet and Janelle meet Ellie and Libby before they even reach the steps leading up to the front door. I reluctantly turn to get back into the SUV that will take me home. I don’t want to leave Ellie’s side, but she needs time with her family.
“Pemberton, wait a minute,” Mr. Bennet says, stopping me.
“Yes, sir?”
He holds out his hand to shake mine and then pulls me into a one-armed hug. “I know what you gave up to help us find Libby, and I know how you pulled the team together to find her. I’ll never be able to repay you for this, not if I gave you a hundred-million-dollar contract, which I’m sorely tempted to do right now.” He pulls away after he says that, chuckling, but his eyes are bright.
“I would do anything for Ellie,” I say. “And I keep thinking I should have done more after what happened with Anna.” Did I seriously believe that just because we got him fired, he’d never take advantage of another woman again?
Mr. Bennet shakes his head and still doesn’t let go of my hand. “Grayson Hollis is the sole person to blame here … but I’ve been thinking about it too. Wondering if we could have gone public without bringing her name into it.” He grinds his teeth together.
I reply quickly, worried about where Mr. Bennet’s head is. “Don’t blame Anna, sir. She feels awful over the whole thing.”
He pulls his hand from mine to wave me off, shaking his head vigorously. “I don’t blame her. Honestly, what else should she have done? Make sure she knows we supported her decision then and we support her now.”
A half-smile forms at his words. “I’ll tell her, sir.”
“Enough with the ‘sir’ business. Rob is fine when we’re not at the facility. You acted like family these last couple days, treated my girls like family, and if I’m not mistaken, that’s not a temporary thing for you.” He raises his eyebrows at me.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I bite my tongue before I call himsir, but there’s no way I’m calling him Rob either. He’s basically my boss.
