Victoria finally walked out of the dingy house in Brooklyn, Holly’s hand firmly in hers. She couldn’t believe that it had taken fifteen minutes to explain everything to the dim-witted officers. It wasn’t until she called the chief and explained things to him that the wheels of justice started to move a little more smoothly. Suddenly, she was free to go and asked to come to the station in the morning.
Louise had quickly volunteered to stay and ensure everything was in order. Victoria planned to extract an apology from Holly for ever doubting Louise’s loyalty.
Once she had properly said hello, of course.
“Miss Hastings,” the driver greeted her, holding the back door to the Town Car open for them. “Miss Carter.”
“Hello, Graham,” Holly greeted him before entering the car.
“Home, as quickly as possible,” Victoria instructed with a small grin of thanks for his prompt arrival.
“Yes, Miss Hastings,” he agreed before closing the door.
Victoria immediately pressed the button for the privacy screen to rise. The twenty seconds it took felt like an eternity, but the moment it was sealed in place she lifted herself out of her seat and straddled Holly.
Holly was surprised but quickly took hold of her hips. The feeling of being held by the woman she loved allowed her stress levels to lower ever so slightly.
“Let’s never be apart again,” Victoria said seriously as she clasped Holly’s face and stared deep into her eyes. “Never.”
“Never,” Holly agreed readily.
Victoria lowered her lips to capture Holly’s in the kiss she’d wanted to give her since the moment she clapped eyes on her again. She’d been living in a state of terror for a while and hearing the clumping footsteps around the house had convinced her she was about to die.
It was only when Steven looked equally confused by the door opening upstairs that she had realised she had an opportunity. She’d hit him squarely in the nose, and then over the back of the head. She’d have to call Jimmy Choo and commend them on their excellent wedge.
Steven had come towards her, and she’d kneed him hard in the groin, very satisfied when he writhed on the floor in agony. She’d tied him to the chair and gone upstairs to confront her next foe, ready to fight her way out of the situation and high on confidence attained from one man down.
But she’d not needed to. Louise had some woman with terrible split ends in a headlock, and Holly was demanding to know where she was. Propriety and a desire to get out of the house and to safety had stopped her from pressing an extremely passionate kiss to Holly’s warm lips. But that was then, and this was now. She felt like she had earned her prize with her patience.
Holly grasped at her, tugging her blouse free from her trousers and placing her hands on the skin she found there. Victoria sighed at the connection. She meant what she had said; they were not going to be parted again.
In fact, she was going to do whatever it took to keep Holly close.
She tore her lips away. “We should call the children.”
Holly’s eyes were wide and dark. She nodded. “I was going to suggest that,” she said huskily, “but then you seemed to have other ideas.”
Victoria extracted herself from Holly’s lap and took her seat. Holly handed over her phone, and she belatedly remembered that hers was still at the office.
She unlocked the phone and called Gideon.
Holly reached over and took her hand in a tight grasp. She raised the hand and kissed her knuckles.
“Holly, have you heard anything?” Gideon answered.
“It’s me,” Victoria replied.
“Oh, thank god, you’re okay. What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything in the morning,” Victoria said. “Suffice to say, Steven Goodfellow has been embezzling from Arrival for years and using me to do it. There’s more to it than that, but he’s in police custody now. This will need some major damage control. I’ll need you at the house tomorrow morning. Oh, and we’ll need to talk about the replacement spread. I had an idea abou—”
Holly squeezed her hand lightly.
“That can wait. Are you okay to keep the children with you tonight? It’s late, and there’s no sense in moving them now.”
“Of course, Alexia fell asleep watching television. I let Hugo clean up my Spotify playlist; he needed a laugh. Do you want to speak to him?”
“Yes, please.”
“One moment.” She heard shuffling as Gideon went to get Hugo.
She turned her head and looked at Holly again, knowing she was never going to grow tired of seeing the woman by her side.
“Mom?”
“Darling, I’m fine,” Victoria said, immediately detecting his worried tone. “Not a hair out of place, just some silliness. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow. I’ll have Louise call the school and tell them that you won’t be attending tomorrow.”
“You’re sure you are okay?” he clarified. “And Holly?”
“She’s right beside me; we’re both fine. Safe and well. Please wake your sister and tell her that you’ve spoken to us both. Then make sure she goes to bed and gets some sleep. I’ll send a car for you both first thing in the morning.”
“I love you, Mom,” he said, relief evident in his tone.
She’d rip Steven limb from limb for doing this to her family. She’d see to it that he’d rather take a thousand Jimmy Choo wedge blows to the head before even thinking about toying with her loved ones again.
“I love you, too, sweetheart. Both of you, more than I can say.” She ended the call and handed the phone back to Holly. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the headrest.
Holly squeezed her hand, and they sat in comfortable silence for the remainder of the journey home.