Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 96: The Driver Didn’t Stop

"The truck was stopped. It was weird. The driver was stopped, but the second I pulled out, he gunned it. Teela, he meant to hit us," Bea said.

"Bea, are you sure?"

"It happened fast, but pretty sure."

"Okay, then let us do what we do best." I gave my friend a smile and a gentle squeeze of the arm. "I love you."

"I love you too. Sorry for worrying you."

I shook my head. "Nothing to apologize for. You’d do the same for me."

"She needs to rest now," CK said. "And you should rest. You’ve been awake for what? Thirty-six hours? More?"

"I’ll be fine. Take care of her."

I had a mission now. I left the room and marched down the hall. Alec was sitting in the waiting area with a laptop and a large coffee. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Dark smudges underlined his eyes. He’d stayed with me this entire time. Yesterday, his assistant brought him the laptop.

Lucky me.

"Hey, can I borrow that?" I asked.

"The laptop?"

"Yeah."

"Sure. Let me close out of this spreadsheet."

I took the laptop and sat on the floor. My fingers went to work, acting of their own accord as I planned out my actions, five, ten, twenty steps ahead.

This driver couldn’t get away from me. I knew something was hinky when Min said the guy disappeared. At first, I reasoned he left to avoid facing charges for causing the accident. But now, his motivations felt more sinister.

I was only vaguely aware of Alec sitting in a chair behind me, watching as I hacked into the city’s server and located the footage of Bea’s accident. In minutes, I was in and out with a copy of what I wanted before I moved on to pull a copy of the police report.

And then I wormed my way out without setting off any security features. How pathetic. I could have hacked this system in high school.

"Did you do what I think you just did?" Alec asked.

I put a finger to my lips to shush him.

Alec put his hands on my shoulders and whispered in my ear. "You’ve never been sexier to me than right now. That was amazing. That was movie-ready kind of stuff."

"You haven’t seen anything yet."

I pulled up the video and watched the accident location from a couple of minutes before the incident to when the missing driver left his truck and took off on foot.

I couldn’t help wincing and recoiling when the truck impacted Bea’s car. I could see the horror on her face when she realized they would be hit. The car flipped twice before resting. Car pieces flew everywhere, and the door and side panel caved in. I was thankful there was no sound, which would have made watching even worse.

After a couple more run-throughs, I was ready to pick apart the bits I needed. The bits I needed were the guy’s license plate and the best full-on headshot available.

The guy looked horrified, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of what he’d done or out of fear about going to jail. He should be worried that I would find him before the cops did.

Next, I read the police report. Joy. The truck was stolen. So much for the license plate. The cops had no idea who the driver was.

I grunted. Amateurs.

"I need my computer."

"Okay. Let’s go," Alec said.

He pulled out his phone and ordered a car to meet us at the entrance. Twenty minutes later, we were at the church, and I was booting my laptop. Forty minutes later, I had Paz Dante’s name, Social Security number, address, and much, much more.

If I didn’t find him, I’d find a member of his family.

I packed up my laptop and grabbed my car keys. Finding this guy was on me. He hurt Bea. He deserved to pay, and Bea deserved to know why she was targeted.

"Hey, where are we going?" Alec asked.

"To confront the driver."

Alec grabbed my arm. "That doesn’t sound like a good idea at least alone and on no sleep."

I shook him off. "Then stay here."

"Let’s call Min to go with us."

I smirked. "You really don’t know Min very well. Want to bet he’s waiting at the car?"

"Alright. Let’s go then."

I was right. Min was leaning against my car. "Where to?"

I gave him the address. So far, so good. At this rate, I’d have the hit and run wrapped up before dinner, only it wasn’t that simple. The address I had was to an empty lot across the city. The mother was in a nursing home for dementia and was of no use whatsoever. She was still stuck in the 80s.

All the riding around in the car made me drowsy, and I kept drifting off with my head on Alec’s shoulder. He never complained, but big, tough detective types didn’t sleep during an investigation. They also didn’t drool and yet Alec’s shoulder was wet, and I was pretty sure he didn’t slobber on himself.

"I am so sorry." I wiped at the wet spot to no avail.

"I’m not complaining."

The embarrassment from my actions had me wide awake and looking at our next step. The sister. The sister lived about a two-hour drive away, and with the luck we were having, I didn’t feel like driving all that way to find out she wasn’t home. I picked up the phone and made a call.

"Hello, Ms. Dante? My name is Tee. I’m a friend of your brother’s. You wouldn’t know where to find him, would you?"

"Which brother? I have six."

That was a lie unless there were stepbrothers or half-brothers that I hadn’t picked up yet.

"Sorry. I didn’t think of that. Paz. I went to school with him, and I’m fresh back in town from the coast. I was hoping to meet up with him."

"Paz? I haven’t seen Paz in over a year."

"What about a phone number? Do you have a current number for him, or can you give him mine?"

"I don’t know you. Why would I give you his number?"

This lady was getting on my nerves.

I pasted a smile on my face. "No problem. Let me give you my number. You might remind him that I owe him money. I came back with a little cash. I’d like to pay him back before it burns a hole in my pocket."

I set up a burner number on my phone and fed her the new number.

"Don’t you worry. If there’s money involved, Paz will be in touch. Then he can pay me back the money he borrowed last week."

Last I heard last week was more recent than a year ago.

I hung up the phone and turned to Min. "Can you arrange to have the sister followed? She just lied to me. She’s in touch with Paz whether she wants to admit it or not."

Min didn’t answer me. Instead, he made a call and arranged the tail.

"Now what?" Alec asked.

"Now we wait for a callback or for the guy Min arranged to follow the sister. He’ll need to come up with something before we move on."

Min added, "You should sleep while you can."

Alec said, "Good idea."

"Or I could go back to the hospital," I suggested.

Alec squeezed my knee. "You need sleep. We both do. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll fail others. You know that."

He was right, but I didn’t want to admit it, so I kept my mouth shut.

"My place is close by. You can rest there, and I’ll take you back to the hospital in a few hours. Or Min can take you to the apartment or the church. Your choice. I suggested my place because it is the closest," Alec said.

"Your place." The sooner I fell asleep, the sooner I could go back to the hospital without every man in my world giving me a hard time.

Min darted a look at me in the rearview mirror as if he had wanted to say something but knew he shouldn’t.

"Don’t you say anything, Min. I’m still upset with you and Jake. Don’t think I’ve forgotten just because I have a new fixation."

"I didn’t say a word."

"And I didn’t get my free time from before the accident. I’m not ready to go back to the church yet."

"Alright. I’ll send over a change of clothes."

Alec said, "No need. I’ll take care of her. She’ll have everything she needs while she is with me."

"I can bring her clothes."

"No need."

"She’s my responsibility."

"Enough!" I said with my head throbbing. "This is ridiculous. You guys are arguing over clothes. I’ll sleep at Alec’s. On the way back to the hospital, I will stop by the church and change, okay? Geez, I can do some things for myself."

"Whatever you want, Teela. I was trying to help," Alec said.

"Stop it. You’ve been walking on eggshells for like days now. Honestly, it’s not attractive. Be yourself."

I saw Min grin via the rearview mirror. "And you, get over this responsibility business. I am not a child. If you can’t treat me like a capable adult, I will personally take you back to King, got it?"

"Yes, ma’am."