Page 59 of Winter
Knox shook his head. “Look, I need to tell you something, all of you.” He looked meaningfully at Inca. “Olly’s been suspended. For breaking the terms of the restraining order.”
Inca gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Tommaso looked grim-faced and cursed softly in Italian. Inca looked at him—an unspoken communication passed between them, and Tommaso pulled out his phone.
“I’ll rescind the order,” he said shortly, and stepped away from them to speak to his lawyer.
Knox nodded gratefully.
“It still might take some time to get him back, but thank you. I just cannot believe this; I was just with Scarlett.”
Inca hugged him tightly. “I know … she came over to the Sakura after you got called out; I was just finishing up.”
Knox nodded, his gaze fixed unseeing on a distant point for a moment. Then he looked at Inca. “Why was she wearing your coat?”
Inca blinked. “She was taking the trash out for me.”
“Okay.” Knox looked like he was about to say something else, but then a bunch of the crime scene investigators came in. The medical examiner shook hands with them, and Nancy fixed hot drinks for everyone. Outside, the ice storm was worsening.
The medical examiner, Dr. Fielden, gave them the news. “She was shot three times: head, chest, and abdomen. I’m afraid she didn’t stand a chance, poor girl, but death would have been quick. I’ll obviously know more after the post-mortem.”
Inca could feel nausea rising in her chest again. The doctor looked at her. “I believe you found her, Ms. Sardee? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. I just keep seeing her face.”
The doctor nodded sympathetically. “Understandable. Look, I’m sure the police will have plenty of questions for all of you, but for tonight, I suggest you go home and get some rest.” He glanced out of the window. “I hope we all get home safe in this.”
“It’s bad out there,” said Knox in a dead, flat voice and the doctor studied him.
“I think you shouldn’t be alone, Officer Westerwick. Not tonight.”
“Come home with us, Knox,” Nancy said kindly, and he nodded.
“Thank you, Nancy, Tyler. God … what the hell happened here tonight? How can she be gone?” And he broke down.
Tommaso tookInca home and ran her a hot bath. She couldn’t stop shivering and clung to him. “Come in with me.”
She lay back against him in the hot water, feeling the warmth seep into her bones. Tommaso’s big, muscled arms wrapped around her, his fingers tracing a pattern on her belly. Inca closed her eyes, trying to scrape the image of Scarlett’s broken body out of her mind. Her shirt had the tell-tale bullet holes in it, but it was the head wound that really got to her. So small, so insignificant, that tiny hole just above Scarlett’s left eyebrow. So small, and yet it made everything so final.
God.
Tears began to pour down Inca’s face then, and Tommaso let her cry softly, his hands stroking her skin to comfort her. After the tears stopped, he lifted her out of the bath and dried her, carrying her to bed. They needed no words, knowing that they would make love as a way of trying to ease some of the pain. Tommaso wound her legs gently around his waist as his cock slid into her. Inca clung to him, wanting him to cover her, dominate her, make her feel safe again. She couldn’t come though, and afterward Tommaso held her, kissing her gently, watching her eyes, waiting for her to start talking.
She stroked his face, feeling guilty for what they had all been through. “I’m sorry about … Raffaelo,” she whispered, but he shook his head.
“It’s okay. It really is,mio caro. We don’t have to talk about that now.”
She pressed her lips to his. “I do love you, Tommaso.”
“And I love you. But,bella, let’s be honest. You love Raff too.”
She nodded, feeling her eyes fill with tears. “I know it’s incredibly selfish, but I don’t know how to give either of you up.”
He drew his hand down her body. “I think tonight has shown us that if there is no need to give something up, then maybe we shouldn’t.”
Inca was confused. “What do you mean?”
Tommaso gave her a strange smile. “It doesn’t matter tonight, Inca. Sleep now.”
Inca didn’t think she could sleep, but with Tommaso’s gentle caresses, she soon fell into a nightmare-plagued slumber.
