Lucas first sensed something was really wrong when he went to hug Isabella before leaving for work. They always hugged. But this time, she’d stepped away and waved to him as he said goodbye. He’d gone out of his way to go to her. It was his only excuse to touch her and he wasn’t going to waste it. He’d wrapped her in his arms and she’d stiffened. When he met her eyes, she looked away.

In the evenings, he had hoped they would get to sit and talk, to spend some time together. Pretending they were together, even if they couldn’t be. But she was always tired or had something to do. She was avoiding him. When he tried to talk to her over dinner, she talked to Jackson, but she would hardly look at him and only responded with short answers. She refused his attempts at real conversation.

For the first few days, he thought she really was just tired. She did have unpacking to do and likely the thing with Matthew was upsetting her. They hadn’t been broken up long, and their encounter hadn’t been the best. Maybe she was upset at what had happened. He even considered that maybe she wasn’t happy about Lucas hitting him and hurting him. Maybe she had enough feelings for him that she was worried.

But after a week, he had to do something. He had to get her talking and find out what was going on. He got home from work on Monday and they went about their usual routine.

He walked in and found Isabella and Jackson reading a book in the living room. He hugged Jackson and looked at Isabella, but she avoided his gaze. He didn’t try to hug her. He put his things in his office and took a deep breath to steady himself. Then, he went back to the living room.

“Can I talk to you for a minute in my office?” he said to her.

She gave him a wary look, but followed him back and sat down on the couch. He sat on the other end after closing the door.

“I know you’ve had a lot going on,” he said. “But something’s wrong here. You’re acting very differently toward me, and I need to know why.”

She dropped her gaze and picked at her fingers. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a lot.”

“Right. I get that. But why aren’t you talking to me? Why won’t you hug me or even look at me?”

She looked over at him as if to prove a point. “It’s not you.”

“Bullshit.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “I’m sorry,” she said, more adamantly. “I just called off an engagement, moved out of the house I lived in for over a year, and watched you beat the crap out of my ex.”

“Is that it, then? You’re pissed that I hurt Matthew?”

“No. I’m glad you were there, and I appreciate that you protected me. I mean, no, I’m not happy that it took you having to do that. I don’t want him to be hurt on purpose, but I saw him hit you first, so I know you didn’t start it. You were defending yourself and me. I’m not mad about that.”

He blew out a breath. “Then what’s the deal? We had a great time at the wedding, and that was even sooner after you ended things. It seems like everything changed after that day at your old place, and if it’s not because I hurt Matthew, then what is the problem?”

“It’s just settling in that this is my reality.”

“Do you regret ending things with him?”

“No.”

“Do you regret moving in here?”

“No,” she said. “I like spending the extra time with Jackson. I just need time to adjust.”

“Is there anything I can do to help or make it better for you?”

She shook her head. “You’ve done a lot already.”

“I hope you feel that you can talk to me.”

“Of course.” She gave him a small smile. “We’ve always been able to talk about things.”

“Until now.”

She looked away and he felt that there was still something there that she wasn’t telling him. But he couldn’t make her talk if she didn’t want to. He’d have to just keep going on, doing what he knew to do and hope it got better.

He was thinking of what else he could say when there was a knock on his office door. “Yeah?” he called.

“Mr. Reid, someone is here to se you,” Lisa said.

He wasn’t expecting anyone. “Who is it?”

“Two police officers.”

He shared a confused look with Isabella, then got up to leave the room. “Where are they?”

“On the porch. I didn’t let them in yet.”

“Thank you.” He went to the front door and stepped out, closing it behind him.

“Lucas Reid?” one of the officers asked.

“That’s me. What’s this about?”

“We’ve received a complaint against you from a Matthew Cole. He’s pressing charges for physical assault.”

Lucas wanted to laugh and scream at the same time. “That’s funny because he hit me first. And I have a witness that was there and can confirm that.”

“Who would this witness be?”

“Isabella Jenson, Matthew’s ex fiancé. She’s inside if you’d like to talk to her. We were at their house, getting her things, and Matthew showed up drunk, verbally harassed her, and then hit me. Yes, I defended myself, and I believe it’s my right to do so.”

The officer flipped through his paperwork. “He did admit to making the first move, but he’s claiming that you used violence beyond what was called for.”

“By who’s point of view? He was drunk. I doubt he had any idea what really happened.”

“Isabella is here, you said?” the officer asked.

“Yes. Shall I get her?”

“We would like to talk to her. Matthew didn’t mention that she was there.”

“Convenient,” Lucas said. He opened the door and called for Lisa. “Could you ask Isabella to step out here, please?”

Lisa disappeared and a moment later, Isabella opened the front door and joined them on the porch. The officers explained to her what had happened. She hugged herself and nodded as they spoke.

“Yes, I was there and saw what happened,” she said. “Matthew hit Lucas, and Lucas hit him back.”

“We’d like to take a statement from you,” the officer said. “And perhaps we could talk with Miss Jenson a few minutes alone?” The officer looked at Lucas expectedly.

“Sure.” He nodded at them and went inside.

As soon as he was out of eyesight, he pulled out his phone. He wasn’t too worried about police interaction. He knew enough people on the force and gave them more than enough money to have this whole thing go away. But it pissed him off that he even had to. Who the hell did Matthew think he was to try and get Lucas charged?

He shot a text message to Joe, telling him that the police had come and he needed the contact information for the police chief of the city. He’d met him last year at a benefit, but couldn’t remember his name off the top of his head. He’d get this thing dropped quickly and quietly. If he was lucky, he might even be able to get Matthew on falsifying the situation. Make Matthew pay for both attacking Lucas and for trying to get charges brought on him.

He went to find Jackson and watched TV with him until Isabella came back inside. She looked upset and was still hugging her arms around her middle. He got up and went to her. He wanted to hug her, to find out what was going on, but he resisted.

“I’m sorry,” she said. She looked ready to cry.

“Come back in here a minute.” He gestured her into the office and handed her a tissue as she sat. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“It’s my ex. I should have gone over there alone and dealt with it.”

“No way. Don’t you dare apologize for him being an asshole. I would hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been there. He might have attacked you.”

“I don’t think he would. He was never violent before.”

“Did you think he’d hit me?”

“Well, no,” she admitted. “But he was drunk.”

“So who knows what he might have done to you.”

She was quiet for a minute. Then asked, “Are you in trouble? What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know if the charges will even stick after you told what you saw, but I’m going to talk to the police chief and get this all cleared up before the media can get a hold of it.”

“The media?”

He laughed once. “Oh yeah. They watch for things like this. If I step one foot over the line, they let the world know.”

“Have you had that happen before?”

“Oh sure. Business deals that seem unfair, or if there’s a hint of me not being ethical. They try to make a story out of anything.”

“But there’s been nothing else violence related?”

“No. Most people know better than to mess with me. I have security systems and can have security guards at a moment’s notice if need be. I’m not afraid to defend myself with force if I have to.”

“So, you’ve never committed any sort of violent act before?”

It seemed like there was more behind her question than just what she’d said. “Not really. I may have gotten in a few fights here and there in my teens and early twenties, but I have no need for that now.”

She nodded slowly.

“Ask me the real question,” he said.

She looked at him in surprise. “The real question?”

“There’s more.”

She didn’t answer.

He waited several long minutes before asking again. “Isabella. It’s okay. Ask me anything. What did you really want to ask?”

She pulled in a slow breath. “Seeing you like that… it scared me. I never thought you could be like that, do something like that. I started to wonder if I really knew you at all. And then I started to think…”

“You thought I might hurt you?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly. I started to think that… Well, what if Abigail’s accident wasn’t completely an accident?” She went on, spilling all her words in a rush. “People get mad and lose their temper and I get that. I’m not saying you did it, but it could have been an accident. You got mad and pushed her, not realizing the stairs were there or something. Or maybe you really are that violent and you did mean it. I don’t know. I tried to find out, but I couldn’t tell anything from the photos and now I don’t know what to think.” She cowered away from him like he was going to react violently toward her.

He sat there, staring across the room for a long time. At least that explained why she was suddenly so cold toward him.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed and he saw tears running down her face. “I never wanted to think anything like that about you. I never did before, I just saw you and… honestly, what the police said was true. You kept going when the danger had passed. He was down and not moving and you kicked him several times. I do think you went beyond self defense.”

He felt both hands tighten into balls and his jaw started to ache. “Did you tell the police that?”

“No,” she whispered. “I told them he hit you and you defended yourself and that Matthew had always been jealous of you and that he threw things in the past when he got mad at me.”

Lucas nodded stiffly. “But what you really believe is that I’m so violent I would throw my own wife down the stairs and kill her?”

“No, I don’t think that. I don’t know what to think.”

“You looked into. You must have believed it enough to go that far. You got photos?”

“From the coroner.”

“You went as far as contacting the coroner? That’s how much you believed I was a murderer?”

She shook her head. “I was trying to convince myself that it wasn’t true. I wanted to see that it really had been an accident and that the Lucas I know is the real Lucas. I didn’t want it to be true.”

She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

“I did not murder my wife,” he said sternly. “Her death was a tragic accident that still haunts me. I would have done anything to save her, to protect her. Like I protected you.”

“I didn’t really think you killed her. I know you loved Abby. I know you did.”

“I still do. But you believed it enough that you had to look into it. You had to find proof to convince yourself that I’m not a murderer. I don’t even know what to say to that.”

A silence fell and was broken by a small voice coming from the open door. “Daddy?”

They both looked up to see Jackson standing in the doorway, his small face ashen and shocked. “Was Mommy murdered?”

Lucas and Isabella both jumped up and went to him. Isabella reached him first and was already saying, “No, no, that’s not what happened.”

Lucas took Jackson from her arms. “I need to talk to my son alone.”

Isabella dropped her arms and hurried off upstairs.

Lucas sat Jackson down on the couch and put his arm around him. “There was just some confusion. Mommy died in a horrible accident. No one hurt her. No one would ever want to hurt her. I loved Mommy very much and I still do. You know that, right?”

Jackson nodded. “But why did Aunt Izzie say that? That she didn’t think you killed her?”

“Well, because she knows I would never do such a thing.”

“But does she think someone did kill her?”

“No. We were talking about something that happened with Matthew.”

“Oh.”

“You want to finish watching what we were watching before?”

He nodded and Lucas felt relieved that he was able to stop the conversation so fast. Jackson hadn’t heard the whole thing, hopefully, and even if he had, Lucas had set it right. He just hoped it wouldn’t bother him, and he wouldn’t think about it again. He didn’t need to be worrying like that about his mother’s death. The truth was all he needed to know. That his mother loved him and her death was a tragedy.