Martin let out a low whistle. "Damn, Woods. That is some f**ked-up shit," he replied.

"Yeah, it is. Can you come check her tonight?"

"I'm on my way. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Are y'all at your house?"

"Yeah, thanks, man. See you in a few."

Della hadn't been thrilled about Martin checking her out but I'd held her hand while he felt her ribs. She was bruised but that was it. He'd left her some pain pills. They had successfully knocked Della out within thirty minutes. I wasn't going to be able to sleep, though. I had something I needed to do.

Jace arrived ten minutes after I called him. He didn't ask questions. He just agreed to watch Della and call me if she woke up. He seemed to understand that I wasn't ready to talk about this. I started for the door.

"Don't do anything that could take you away from her. Be careful how you handle this. Don't kill a bitch; I don't want your ass in jail. I would want revenge too. Just . . . just be careful. Use your head."

Rush must have told him. I didn't look back at him. I only nodded, then opened the door and headed outside. I was going to make sure Angelina understood that this was her only warning. She had one hour to get her shit and get on a plane and not come back. I couldn't beat the hell out of a woman but I could make her wish she'd never been born. She'd crossed a line.

When I drove up to my mother's house, Angelina's car was missing. She was hiding or she wasn't home yet. I took the stairs to my mother's house two at a time and knocked once before pulling out my key and opening the door.

My mother was walking down the staircase in her robe. "Woods? What are you doing here so late? You scared me."

"Where is she?" I asked, trying to control the anger in my voice.

"She left. What did you do?"

I let out a hard laugh. "What did I do? I just stood over Della as a doctor checked her for internal bleeding and broken ribs because Angelina beat the shit out of her. If Blaire Finlay hadn't shown up and pulled a gun on her crazy ass she would have killed Della. So tell me now, where is she!"

Mother covered her mouth with both her hands as her eyes went round in surprise. "What? That's . . . that's ridiculous. Angelina is a sweet girl. She'd never do something so awful. Della has lied to you."

"No, Mother. Rush and Blaire Finlay found them and stopped Angelina. I have witnesses. She isn't sweet, she was using you to stay near me. She's a f**king psycho."

"Watch your mouth in my house. I won't listen to this. The poor girl left here in tears saying you'd hurt her too many times. She wanted to stay with me but she was going home to her parents and starting over."

She was going to refuse to believe me. I shouldn't have been surprised. She had always chosen my father over me. Now she was choosing Angelina because she was my father's choice for me. What mattered was that Angelina was gone. The bitch was gone. She had better never come back.

"If you speak to her, let her know that if she steps foot in Rosemary again I will have her arrested. I have witnesses and I will press charges. I don't give a f**k who her daddy is."

I didn't wait for my mother to respond. I turned and left the house, slamming the door behind me.

Della

I stared down at my phone after I hung up with Woods. He had called me four times today already to check on me. It had been this way all week. Since Angelina had attacked me he had been afraid to leave me. He had a country club to run but he kept calling me. I mentioned getting a job again and he panicked and begged me not to. He said he couldn't focus on work if he was worrying about me.

We were at a standstill. This wasn't healthy. He needed to be able to live without worrying over me. I needed to be able to live. His protective nature was starting to smother me and I loved him too much to hurt him by saying something about it. I was going to have bad moments. I was going to slip into my head sometimes and he couldn't always be there for me. I just didn't know how to get him to understand this and accept it. How could we make this work? This couldn't be forever.

I wanted this forever but Woods deserved so much more. I was holding him back. This relationship would destroy him. I would destroy him. I felt sick to my stomach. I did this. I let this happen. I let myself fall so helplessly in love with him. I let myself believe he could fix me. That we could fix me. But it isn't happening.

My phone rang and I looked down to see Tripp's number. He hadn't called in two weeks. I thought about telling Woods that Tripp checked in with me a couple times a month, but I hadn't found the right words to explain that. Woods seemed jealous of Tripp. He had no reason to be, but he was. I didn't want to give him something else to worry over.

"Hello," I said as I stretched my legs in front of me on the sandy beach.

"How are things?"

"Good, I guess," I replied.

"You guess? That don't sound good."

"Angelina beat me up and Blaire Finlay pulled a gun on her and scared her off. Woods is now more overprotective than ever and he's always worried about me."

Tripp was quiet for a moment. I let him digest my words.

"Holy shit. Blaire has a gun?"

I laughed. That was his response to what I'd just told him?

"Sorry. I don't think that was the point. But damn, I can't picture that hot little blonde with a gun."

"Yeah, it was a shock," I replied, smiling out at the water crashing against the shore.