Read Online After It's Over by Michelle Alstead - Free Book Online Page A

conversations, but he always did. He memorized the dates and wrote down every single detail as soon as he left her. Marie wanted her husband sent to rehab; she was sure he’d be a changed man if only he were sober, but Kade knew that was a lie.
    Once a wife-beating monster, always a monster. I bet he’s got a record.
    The Internet was the key to uncovering the mayor’s past. After several hours of painstaking research that made his head hurt, Kade discovered the man running the city had been born with a different name. Contrary to his campaign slogan, the mayor did not grow up in Tacoma, Washington. Cross-checking against his old name, Kade found a string of domestic assault charges. This information proved his theory about the mayor being a monster, but it did nothing to help his case. As long as Marie refused to testify against her husband, Kade had one choice—find evidence of the mayor committing another crime.
    Most cops would have given up, probably washed their hands of the whole mess, but Kade was determined. One way or another, without Marie’s help, he was going to put her husband behind bars or in the ground. Some days, he was just fine with the latter.
    ***
    The parking garage was empty save the woman in dark sunglasses, scarf, and hooded raincoat. She was huddled in a corner near a set of stairs; a streak of dry blood ran down her bare leg. She couldn’t physically clean herself. Kade put his truck in park and hopped out to help her in. The truck was tough to get into even for an uninjured person.
    “Hello, ma’am.”
    “Hello, Sheriff.” Marie’s voice was horse.
    Without lifting her glasses, she wiped her eyes.
    “Please call me Kade.”
    She doesn’t want me to see the damage.
    “Very well,” Marie replied.
    Kade was a calm, rational guy that was often accused of being emotionless. He showed the world a stoic exterior, while deep down he felt everything . As he carefully boosted Marie into the truck and shut the door, he felt a rage that made his hands shake and his vision blur. Slowly, he walked around to the driver’s door. With each step, he focused on the fact that it would take patience to gather enough evidence to throw the mayor in jail. He inhaled and exhaled; the burning desire to storm the mayor’s waterfront condo receded. He had the patience to build a case, but did Marie have the time?
    This is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen. How long until he kills her in a drunken rage? Career or no career, men like this can’t help themselves. The mayor isn’t the first powerful man to behave this way, but I’d give anything to make sure he’s the last.
    Kade climbed into the cab of the truck and slammed the door shut. Marie rested her head against the passenger window, her hands lay folded in her lap. She was asleep before he pulled out of the parking garage. The silence gave Kade an opportunity to reflect on the feeling of déjà vu that had haunted him since the day they met. Marie reminded him of another woman, one whose death had inspired him to give up his dream of being a doctor and become a cop instead.
    I can’t think about Paige’s mother without thinking about the day she died.
    ***
    After Paige’s initial examination in the emergency room, a surgeon had been called. They gave her pain medication and sent Kade into the hall where the surgeon said it would take at least an hour to repair the internal damage caused by the ectopic pregnancy. They’d have to remove a fallopian tube and possibly more of her reproductive organs. The sympathetic doctor explained that the odds of Paige ever conceiving again were significantly diminished. Kade was grateful his girlfriend didn’t hear this last piece of information. There was no reason for her to hear the devastating news before surgery.
    Kade came back into Paige’s exam room to offer moral support as she called her mother. He listened as she explained to Mrs. Birch that the pregnancy wasn’t viable, and the surgeons would