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Savior
Chapter 57
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Cate reclined on the chaise while overlooking the city from their balcony. Her laptop was at the end of the chair turning on as she tried to calm her emotions. Derek's words rang in her ears "I think it's time to move."
She could not agree anymore, nor could she shake the weird feeling she had seeing Fred Hanson in the lobby of their apartment building. Carl was now aware of alerting the police if he were to step back inside.
It brought back memories of when she first met Cole. She was always cautious with her address and phone number, so when he called her out of the blue after meeting at a company outing the week before, she was taken aback. A week later, roses appeared at her front door. She could not remember giving him her address, but she found herself so interested in this man that she let it slide.
He always seemed to know where she was or who she was with. He would make snide remarks about her friends from the office, but play them off as professional criticism from seeing them in the office. Eventually, she would stop hanging out with several of the friends that Cole dismissed, as to keep him happy.
Then she accused him one night of following her. She had joined Grace and another friend from the office for drinks on a Friday night after a long day in the office. Cole explained that he was going to sleep early but expected her home no later than 10pm. The curfew came and went as the women lost track in wine and girl talk. When she snuck into his home closer to midnight, he lost it on her.
It was almost always verbal; but that night, when he slapped her, she fought to get out of the house as quickly as she could. And then his mood changed drastically; he was constantly apologizing, and even got ice for the red mark he had left on her cheek. Anything so she would not tell her father.
It seemed like a monthly pattern, until Cate decided they were going to take a break. They could go out on dates, but she was going to be staying in her own condo. She made it very clear that he was not allowed there. The gifts started to show up at her front door again.
Jackie repeatedly told her not to fall for the same tricks he used to sweep her off of her feet in the first place. "You can't change him, Cate," she warned.
And then Dennis Stone entered her life. Cole distanced himself from the situation as much as possible. He only visited her once in the hospital – ironically the same time Derek had come to check on her.
Cole pointed out that the paperwork had all been finalized and "the guy who did this" was already dead. Jackie saw through the caring boyfriend persona, and could see the jealousy bubbling down low. She watched him try to control Derek being in the hospital room, and pointed out that he had no reason to return.
"Cole, I'm tired," Cate had whined from the hospital bed as he continued to berate the agent. Jackie had to bite on her lip and escorted Derek out of the hospital room. The two had met by the nurse's station of her sister's floor; Jackie tried to apologize for Cole's behavior, but Derek dismissed it.
That was when Jackie had decided the Johnson family had enough of Cole Hanson. She proved her point when he "forgot" to visit Cate in the hospital for the next thirteen days.
Months after Jackie and the twins spoke with Cole, the gifts started to show up on her doorstep. At first there were no cards, and then she would receive apology notes on the vases of flowers and edible arrangements. She eventually stopped signing for the ones that required a signature, and threw out or marked 'return to sender' on the others.
In the time she was home recovering, Cole had moved to a different office through their agency. He took with him her client list from her office at work.
Friends of his in the office claimed he would never do something like that. There was no reason why he needed her client list – until Cate saw his sales from the year. Apparently one of them was very good at their job, and the other needed to steal to get there.
She was thankful that several of her clients reached out to her when Cole connected with them. Most of them worked with either Grace or her mother. When she finally returned to the office full time, she moved into the closed office she had currently as to be away from the office gossip. Cole's friends would always drop a quick remark when she would walk by, and it took everything in her to not react.
She looked down and noticed the tight grip she had on the arm of the chaise. A sigh escaped the brunette's lips as she shook the thoughts from her mind. It was never fair to compare Derek and Cole – at least to Cole because he always came out on the short end.
Cate never feared Derek; instead of the few nights when Cole would get hammered and would push her around while verbally abusing her, she was now on the receiving end of a man who reminded her constantly that he loved her more than anything in the world. When they were in Chicago and Derek had more to drink then she'd ever seen him consume, all he wanted was to dance, and hold her, and remind her of how beautiful he thought she was.
She tore her gaze from the sunset and pulled her laptop on to the chair. The brunette scrolled through her e-mails, shooting off responses to some of them and forwarding others. She followed up on some inquiries regarding her open house this weekend.
Saturday marked the end of their week home together. Derek had gotten the clearance to go back to the office on Monday morning, but was going to work from Quantico if the team got called away for a case. She was enjoying having him home; thoroughly enjoyed not heading in to her own office so she could spend time with him. Even just being in the same apartment was comforting to her.
An e-mail caught her eye; a house was coming on to the market and looked to have most things the two were looking for. She forwarded the e-mail off to her mother and Derek's e-mails to let them both check it out. Maybe after all, she could move somewhere where the Hanson family could not bother them.
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