Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (10 page)

As her muscles began to
ache, she sighed. She hadn’t realized how just the exercise of walking downtown
had tired her. She stopped on the cross-street, waiting for the light to
change, when she saw her father’s picture on the front page of a newspaper yet
again, she stopped to buy it. She folded the paper and stowed it inside her
bag.

As she pushed the stroller
towards her condo, she just couldn’t face going back into the empty apartment
and finally having to surrender to her thoughts. As she came to a quaint café
with outside seating, she parked the stroller and sat. After placing her order
with the waiter, she reached into her bag and pulled out the newspaper.

Her father, Judge Arthur
Grace, was featured prominently on the front page. Even being in his
mid-fifties, he was still a very distinguished-looking man. His hair was a
silvery-grey, which only intensified the grey of his eyes. The bold headline of
the article had her jaw clenching - 
Do and Die!
 - 
it
 screamed. Quickly she scanned the article.

The heat on Judge Arthur
Grace has reached a new high. The high-profile case involving Natalie Ludlow, a
thirty-two-year-old, white female, who alleges she shot and killed Benson
Donaldson in self-
defense.
 Ludlow alleges Donaldson,
a thirty-seven-year-old, African-American male, broke into her home on April 27
^th
 of
this year, and brutally raped her. Ludlow alleges she was able to get away from
Donaldson and upon retrieving her handgun, shot him three times in the chest.
Donaldson, after being initially revived in the ambulance, died from
complications sustained from his injuries later the following day. Ludlow was
taken into custody, but upon questioning, it was initially determined, she had
acted in self-defense and released.

Outcry from the family of
Benson Donaldson claimed Ludlow lured Donaldson into her home and killed him in
cold blood. It was further stated this case violated Donaldson’s civil rights.
His family alleges the police didn’t attempt to investigate Ludlow as she was a
white woman and he a black man. Rumor has it, if Judge Grace allows a not
guilty verdict to come out of his court on this case, he would be targeted.
Security for the Judge has been heightened. Judge Grace is probably best
remembered for the kidnapping of his wife and daughter which resulted in the
death of his wife when the Judge was then the District Attorney. Article
continued on page six.

Trinity sat back in her seat as she contemplated the words from
the article. Her thoughts immediately returned to nearly a year before when
she’d stood and watched the stain-glassed window shatter and her father falling
to the floor in a slump after being shot. He’d had a security detail then as
well, but it hadn’t stopped the bullets. A small, evil part of 
herself
 felt he might deserve his current plight. He
had agreed to the plan to have her and her mother kidnapped years before which
had resulted in her mother’s death. Not that she wanted her father dead… just
scared a little.

As she ate the sandwich
placed before her, she flipped the newspaper to page six to continue reading
the article on her father’s case. The food in her mouth turned to
sawdust as she stared at the grouping of pictures in the center of the page.
She struggled to swallow. The pictures had been taken the night before at her
engagement party. There were several pictures of her and Rush, but the one
which set her on edge was the one in center of the collage. It was of Rush and
a beautiful, dark-haired woman. They were standing together and her hand was
wrapped around his neck. His hand was raised and rested on top of hers as if to
hold it there. He was looking down into her pouting face with a small smile of
indulgence. Her stomach turned. Quickly, she scanned the words beneath:

Is Rush Drayton really
ready to forsake the old for the new? Sources close to the mega-millionaire
state he might be walking on both sides of the fence. It was obvious in the
beginning of the year passions ran hot for Drayton and Olivia Terry, daughter
of investment banker, Oliver Terry. Sources further revealed in the week prior
to his public engagement to Trinity Grace, daughter of the Judge, he was
spotted having dinner with Terry.

The blood drained from Trinity’s face. She’d been so stupid. She’d
actually believed him. She’d thought he wanted to build a life with her and
Blake. Bile rose up in her throat and she struggled to swallow it back down.
Reaching quickly into her wallet, she threw money on the table to cover her tab
and jumped up, now desperate to be alone in her apartment. She covered the
short distance from the café to her brownstone apartment complex quickly.

      When she pushed the stroller
into the elevator of her building, Blake began to cry… then wail. She removed
him from the stroller and raised him up against her chest and bounced him up
and down, trying to calm him as tears spilt down her cheeks. When the elevator
doors opened she backed out of the elevator’s doors, while still jostling the
baby, she reached forward and grabbed the handle of the stroller and pulled it
out. She turned to maneuver the stroller around when suddenly she was bombarded
with flashes of light and a crowd of people shouting questions at her.

So startled, it took her a
moment to realize the crowd was reporters. Their questions began to
make their way through the commotion. 
How’d you meet Rush
Drayton? How long have you been together? When is the wedding? Did you sign
a 
prenup
? How much did he pay you to have the
baby? Did you know about Olivia Terry?

She kept her head down and
tried barreling her way through them, but they began to crowd in on her, their
voices getting louder and more demanding, their questions more vulgar and
invasive. 
Is the baby his? Did you get pregnant to snag him? Was
marriage the price for you having the baby? Are you willing to share him with
Olivia Terry?

Panic and claustrophobia
began to fill her. The need to protect her child became her main objective. The
reporters began to reach out to tug against Blake’s blanket in order to get the
first pictures of the newest Drayton heir. She began to yell and twist against
them. Their hold on the blanket was such that she nearly dropped Blake as they
tugged and pulled. Finally, she shoved the stroller into their midst and turned
and ran back the way she’d come… to the elevator. Stepping into it, she slammed
a hand against the buttons and thankfully the doors closed before the reporters
got to her. Stepping into the small lobby area, she exited the building quickly
and ran down the sidewalk and turned around the first corner she came to. She
hurried quickly down the side street and turned again onto a different one. She
moved quickly until she reached a small coffee shop. Stepping quickly inside,
she took a seat in the back.

Feeling her stress, Blake
began to wail. 
Tears of fright, pain, and frustration
streamed down her face.
 She hugged Blake close to her and
concentrated on rocking him gently and smoothly to lure him back into sleep.
With hands that trembled violently, she dug her cellphone from her bag and dialed
Rush’s number – not knowing who else to call.

Blake was asleep against
her shoulder and her free hand was clutched around a cup of tea when Rush
finally got to her. Her trembling had ceased and now she stared blankly at him
when he slid into a seat across from her.

He laid a hand against her
wrist. “Are you and Blake okay? I’m so sorry. Someone leaked the news of our
engagement along with your address to the newspapers.”

She stared at him
emotionlessly for a long moment before saying softly and simply, “I want to go
home.”

Keeping his eyes focused on
hers, replied, “I don’t think that’s possible right now. Let me take you to my
house. Okay?”

Wordlessly, she rose and
waited for him to do the same. He followed suit, concerned by her total lack of
emotion. He pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around both her and Blake.
He pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’m so sorry, baby. I don’t know how
this happened,” he murmured.

He felt her throat move as
she swallowed hard. “Please take me home,” she whispered again into his chest.
It was then he realized it wasn’t that she was emotionless; it was that she was
hanging on by a very thin thread.

“Here, let me take Blake,”
he offered, as he reached to take him.

Jerking away from him, she
nearly yelled, “No,” as she clutched him even tighter to her chest. Her loud
voice and tension startled the infant, causing him to wail. Tears began to
streak down her face as she realized her actions. Not trusting herself, she
transferred the baby to him and walked out of the café. Reaching into his
pocket, he flipped money onto the table for the tab as he jiggled his son in an
effort to soothe him. He found her on the sidewalk with her arms wrapped around
her middle shivering as if she were cold. Radcliff, his chauffeur, was standing
in front of her with the door open but it was as if she didn’t see him. Moving
up behind her, Rush placed his free hand against the small of her back and
propelled her gently into the backseat of the 
towncar
.

She slid over to the window
and turned her head towards it before murmuring, “We don’t have a car-seat.”

Leaning forward he said,
“Radcliff, go by Ms. Grace’s condo, please.”

Her head jerked towards
him. “I can’t go back in there,” she exclaimed, panicked.

He laid a calming hand on her
arm. “I’ll go. I’ll have Radcliff drive you and Blake around the block while I
go in and gather a few things. Okay?”

With her chest heaving, she
only nodded. When Radcliff stopped outside her building, he handed Blake to
her. She took and cradled him close to her body. She looked down into his
little face and her powerlessness to actually protect him overwhelmed her
again. What kind of mother was she? So lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t aware
Rush had left the car until she felt
  it
 begin
to move into traffic. She buried her face into Blake’s small body and let his
blanket absorb her tears. No matter how much she loved him, he would always be
a target because of who he was; Blake Andrew Drayton, heir to the Drayton
fortunes. There’d always be someone out there looking to cash in on his name,
in one form or another. He was barely six weeks old and already they’d been run
out of their home. She should have expected it, but she hadn’t. Again, what
kind of mother did that make her? Wasn’t she supposed to be discerning enough
to think about possible dangers?

She forced herself to calm
down and stop the tears. She needed time to think things through and she really
needed for Rush to go back to work. If she continued being a raging lunatic, he’d
feel obligated to stay with her and Blake. For the hundredth time since
becoming a mom, she wished she had her own mother to turn to.

She was sitting calmly when
Radcliff stopped a block from her apartment and Rush opened the trunk and
dumped in a leather bag before climbing into the car and began the process of
buckling in the car-seat. When he was done, she calmly put Blake in and buckled
him quickly.

Rush met her eyes, “Okay?”

“Better. Sorry about
before. They just took me by surprise. I didn’t expect to it to be like that,”
she said as evenly as she could manage.

He kept her eye for a long
moment before giving a quick nod of
  his
 head,
satisfied with whatever he saw in her eyes. “I’m afraid for the time being,
you’ll need to stay at my house. I can protect you both better there. I know
it’s not what you want, but it’s what’s best for now. I’ll be adding additional
security for you and Blake.”

As casually as she could,
Trinity turned her head to look with unseeing eyes out the window. This was the
life she’d tried to run from with her father… the protection… the control. And
now, here she was right where she’d started. She forced her breathing to remain
slow and even.

“I wish there could be
another way,” she heard Rush continue. She gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

When they reached Rush’s
house, she gathered Blake from the car-seat and followed Rush. The last time
she’d been here was the morning she’d been pregnant and had run from
him with a raging migraine. . Now, here she was, engaged to him and the world
he belonged to. Sadly, she felt no surer about their future today than she did
on the morning she ran from him. Actually, she felt even less sure. At least on
that day, she had hope he’d only wanted her and not Olivia Terry.

“We’ll have to make do for
today, but tomorrow, I’ll call around and have some things delivered for the
baby,” he said as she stood standing in the middle of the living room, still
holding Blake in her arms. When she only nodded, he moved to her. “Why don’t I
go lay Blake down then we can sit and talk. Okay?”

Everything in her body
longed to cling to the baby and beg Rush to go, but she restrained herself and
stiffly handed the baby to him.

Rush headed down the hall
and carefully laid his son in the middle of his massive bed. He carefully
propped pillows around him in the unlikely event he would roll in any
direction. He stood for a moment and let the events of the last hour wash over
him. He’d barely been able to make out her words at first when Trinity had
called him. It’d taken every ounce of self-control to keep his frustration from
spilling out over to her. When he’d finally understood what had happened, he
gotten to her as quickly as he could. He was used to reporters and knew how to
avoid them; he’d been doing it his entire life. If he ever found out who’d
leaked her address to the press, they would be very sorry.