“Do you think you should park your Harley elsewhere?” she asked him once they were on the elevator.
“Nah. Everyone in Grace knows not to mess with the MC,” he said.
The elevator pinged, indicating they’d reached her floor. Gunner took her hand, and they walked to her unit. Halfway there, Gunner halted, and she watched his entire body tense up.
“Paige, stay behind me,” he said in an urgent voice.
He stepped in front of her, then reached for the revolver tucked inside his leather jacket. Seeing the gun and finally, her opened apartment door, quickly turned Paige sober.
****
Should he tell Paige to head back downstairs and call Brick or King for additional backup? What if there was another unknown assailant waiting to ambush her downstairs?
Gunner decided it would be a lot safer if she remained with him. She sucked in a breath behind him as they neared the door. He nudged a foot to open the door wider. No noise from inside.
“Paige, stay here until I say it’s clear,” he said.
She nodded, looking as pale as a ghost. Gunner couldn’t blame her. After having a good time at a party, they’d returned only to find her apartment had been broken into. The doorknob looked untouched, which meant a professional had picked the locks.
Paige didn’t have a security system inside her apartment. That would change. Hell, after tonight, Gunner didn’t want her living here any longer. She was too vulnerable here.
The lights in the apartment had been left on, illuminating the space. Whoever broke in had thoroughly gone through all of Paige’s belongings. No sign of the intruder. Gunner checked the bathroom and found it empty.
“Paige, you can come in now,” he said, returning to the main apartment. She grimaced as she looked at the overturned furniture and the scattered books and papers.
“Paige,” Gunner said, walking up to her. He tucked the gun back into his holster. Whoever broke into her place wasn’t coming back. Still, Gunner would remain alert just in case. “We need to know if this incident is isolated or if it’s related to your ex-husband.”
“Richard? You really think he has something to do with this?” she asked.
Then her face fell, and Gunner wondered if there were details of her divorce she’d never told him. Gunner didn’t think she would purposely keep secrets from him, and he never pushed her because her divorce was a topic she didn’t seem to want to revisit.
“Look,” Gunner said. “Your TV and laptop are still here. I’m guessing so are your other important belongings. A thief would take all of those. Whoever ransacked your place was looking for something else.”
Paige looked like she needed to sit down, so he guided her to the sofa. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed her a glass of water before he returned to her. Paige drank all of the water.
“More?” he asked.
Paige shook her head. He rested his hand on her denim-clad thigh, then gave it a squeeze. “Tell me more about your divorce. Was it messy?”
“It was,” she admitted.“The only way I managed to convince him to sign the papers was bythreatening him.”
“What do you mean?” Gunner asked.
“I knew even at the beginning of our wedding that he frequently cheated on me. He often told me I wasn’t enough, that I couldn’t meet his needs, so it was his right to see other women.”
Her hands started to shake, so Gunner squeezed them. The more he heard about Richard, the more his hatred for the asshole grew.
“A year ago, I finally made the decision to ask him for a divorce, but I knew I needed to be prepared for it. I hired a PI, and he helped me take pictures of Richard with other women. I found Richard favored a particular company for his call girls.”
“You used those photos to blackmail him?” Gunner asked. “Wasn’t that a dangerous move?”
“I didn’t confront him alone. Instead, I went to his father. My ex-father-in-law, Charles, and I never got along. After I showed him those pictures and told him what would happen to his family’s reputation once the press got a hold of it, he did his best to persuade Richard to do the right thing.” Paige wore a triumphant expression on her face, but it was only momentary. Her shoulders sagged.
Gunner whistled in appreciation. Of course, she would be smart going about her divorce. He slid his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “So you’re worried Richard will go after you because of that?”
“He doesn’t know I’m here. After I knew I was free of him, I left without telling anyone where I was going. Gunner, you don’t understand. What I did, going behind his back and approaching his father, it embarrassed him. Prideful men like Richard don’t forgive or forget,” she whispered.
“I figured it was something like that,” Gunner said. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I knew it wasn’t easy.”
