Beautiful Disaster

Part Thirty-two

It was almost midnight by the time Hugh walked out of Officer Brigley's office. Tim followed him out and wasted no time finding Theo so that the latter could be interviewed next. On the other hand, Hugh went in the opposite direction, following the hall to the waiting area where Izzy was. "You alright?"

"Yes," she answered, even though she almost dropped the cup of coffee that she was holding. She had a blanket around her shoulders, and her legs were tucked under her.

Hugh sat beside her and, by habit, brushed a stray lock of her hair away. His throat clogged while he said what he and the others had agreed upon. "Good. Mikey and Heather will be here to pick you up and bring you home in a while."

This startled Izzy. She forgot the coffee in her hands as she looked up at Hugh. She didn't like the feeling those words gave her.

"Aren't you going home with me?" She put the cup she was holding on the empty seat beside her so that she could turn to Hugh and hear him better.

Hugh sighed, taking one of her hands in his. It was now warm because of the coffee's heat, but it had been cold throughout their drive to the police station. "I'm sorry, Izzy. I can't."

"Why not? I need you."

"You don't need me, sweetheart. You have the whole town looking after you. Miss Haber's eager to get some chicken soup into your bones, and Tim is worried sick you might be too traumatized to accept his proposal," he joked as he extracted his hand from Izzy's grip.

It was difficult for Hugh to let go of her hand, but he eventually had to. He needed to forget about her and everything that had happened here in Towdee. "I need to get back to the city and talk to your father."

"Oscar Romero might send someone else," she whispered.

"That's not possible." Hugh pulled out his phone and pressed a few of the buttons. He showed the list of calls he'd received, finally scrolling down to where Mario Nacino's name was listed. "Your father called me some minutes ago, while Officer Brigley was taking your statement. He said that Romero was apprehended just this morning and that he'd be served enough life sentences to keep him behind bars until the sun turns into a supernova."

"So you'll be going now?" Izzy couldn't believe it. He was going just like that?

"I guess so."

"Can't you stay until next week? Until after the party?" She didn't want Hugh to leave her.

Her close brush with death had made her realize two things.

One, life was way too short and unpredictable to pass up on this new chance at love. It was time to stop dwelling on the carnage left by her broken engagement and take another shot at romance. Two, Hugh had become a part of her life, and she would do anything to be part of his.

"I can't, Izzy. Things have already gone beyond my control. I can't keep my head when I'm with you. Heck, I can't even do my job properly. I came here to guard you, but look at what happened. I almost got you killed!"

"Hugh, nobody knew Peter was that kind of person," she insisted.

Hugh held Izzy's face in his hands. He needed to make her realize that he wasn't strong enough to protect her. He was way too hypnotized by her beauty to be of any use to her whenever she was threatened.

"I should have seen the signs," he said, "but all I saw were these big, big eyes. And this pretty face."

"You're blaming me, then?" His words hurt her somehow. Izzy could take bull from anybody, but not Hugh.

"No."

"Yes, you are. In a way, your performance in this mission was all my fault."

"Izzy—"

Izzy got up from the seat and wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She felt cold, but it wasn't because of the weather. Something inside of her, an emotion she could not name, was spreading throughout her body and chilling it to the bone.

"If I wasn't so much of a distraction, you would have done an excellent job of guarding me. Maybe you would have even figured out who the gunman was before I did. And maybe you would have accosted him, handed him over to Daddy, and won his favor again. You would have liked that, right? My Daddy on your side, right?" she accused bitterly. "Fine. Just leave me here. After all, I'm used to people doing that to me."

"God! That's not what I meant!" Hugh erupted. He stood up too. "How did things get this complicated?"

Izzy swerved around and pointed at herself. "I chose to hear you out." She pointed at Hugh. "You chose to make things complicated. You chose to fall in love with me."

"Your father wouldn't approve of what I feel."

"And what I approve or don't approve of isn't as important as Daddy's?" Hugh needed to learn that her father had no absolute control over what she could and could not do. Izzy didn't understand why Hugh would think of something that ridiculous.

"Izzy, please."

"We can tell him, you know. He might not listen at first, but that hasn't stopped me before. We've always ended our arguments by compromising." Izzy softened her voice. "I thought I'd never get over what Peter did to me those years ago. I thought I'd be afraid of relationships forever. But somehow, everything changed when you came along. I'm not afraid anymore, Hugh."

"Well, I am." Hugh turned away.

It was true. Hugh was afraid that he would not be good enough for Izzy in Mario's eyes. He was worried that he would not be able to do his job well if things got too rough or too pleasant with Izzy.

Even now, he was afraid that he might have already lost his job. He hadn't been around when Izzy was almost attacked. There were so many things to fear when it came to the one you weren't meant to love.

♥

Continued

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