Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

Instead of heading home right after the funeral, we spent the rest of the week in Crescent Lake. I showed Grace all my favorite places from my childhood. We enjoyed fishing with Frank off the boat dock, on the lake shore on the land where our future summer home will be. I showed her where my dad took me fishing as a kid.

We spent hours in that spot fishing and talking about anything and everything that came to her naturally curious mind. I loved every minute with her. She is a remarkable child, and I will enjoy watching her grow into an outstanding young woman.

Annora and I spent our nights recreating the summer we fell in love with long hours lying on a blanket under the stars talking about the future we now wanted. That future didn’t change much from what we dreamed about in the past. One thing she wants more than anything else is to finally be my wife.

A wedding in the near future is a fantastic idea. So, we set a date. Three months from now.

When I asked if that would be enough time, she laughed at me. She told me that she had been dreaming of our wedding since she said yes to my proposal. With the help of her mother, Shawna, and Rylan, the planning stage will be a breeze.

If we add Victoria and a highly paid wedding planner everything will go off without a hitch.

I hope.

There is only one loose end I want to tie up before 1 make Annie my wife.

That is where I am now. At the police station to confront Dionne. I am not alone in this. Annie

will be going with me for this.

We got back home last night and planned to go see Annie’s doctor this morning. Vincent called us as we were eating breakfast. He told us that Dionne was willing to plead guilty to kidnapping Grace if she could have thirty minutes alone with Annora to talk first.

I want to know why she wants to talk to Annie. What is there to say? Why Annie and not me?

Even though I do not really want to have another thrilling conversation with Dionne, I am curious

to hear what she has to say to Annie.

So, here we are at the police station waiting for Arison to take us to see her. He agreed to let me

watch them through the two-way glass behind the interrogation room. Vincent will be in the room with Annie and Dionne as per the agreement.

hy do y

“Why

you think she wants to talk to me?” Annie asks for the third time sinc. Vincent called

this morning.

“I have no idea. She is very skilled at getting into your head so don’t take anything she says to you too seriously.”

“Trust me, I have no intention of taking anything that b**h says seriously. She is delusional and I hope everything comes crashing down on her like the house of cards she built with her lies.”

That pretty much sums it up in my opinion.

The sound of loud footfalls makes me look towards the hallway that leads back to the interrogation room. Ethan is stomping angrily down the hallway. His face is red with anger, and his eyes are burning with something close to murderous intent.

He pauses in his angry march down the hallway when he spots us sitting in the visitor chairs. When he turns in our direction, I take a deep breath then let it out on a sigh. This won’t be a fun

conversation.

As he approaches us, I stand up.

“Greyson.”

“McAllister. What brings you here today?”

“The same b***h that you are here to see no doubt.”

Well, this is a nice change of view. He has gone from defending her like a mad man to railing against her like a man with his blinders off. It is about time.

“I am guessing that your conversation with your wife didn’t end so well.”

Ethan runs a hand down his face then shakes his head. “I served her lawyer with divorce papers as well as full custody demands for Logan.”

I look at him with a look of surprise on my face. This time I look closely at him. There are dark

circles under his eyes, his hair is a mess, and it appears like he has lost a little weight since I last

saw him.

Granted, that night I didn’t give his appearance much thought.

Dionne did a real nasty job on poor Ethan.

He looks at me with a sly smile that truly takes me by surprise.

“She was pi**d when my lawyer gave her divorce papers and a copy of our prenup. I have solid proof of her infidelity which breaks the prenup. Her cheating ** won’t get a dime of my money.

Annora chuckles then looks down at her lap when I glance at her.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Oh, I found it funny too once I thought about it. Evan snuck that clause into the prenup without me knowing about it. My brother never liked her and now I can see why.”

I look back at Ethan. “Evan is a good man.”

“He is an excellent brother even when I didn’t deserve it. He recently reminded me that I was once a good ntan too. I have decided to take my son back to New York. California has never felt like home.”

Then he surprises me ever further by holding his hand out for me to shake.

I shake his hand then wait because I sense he has more to say.

“I am sorry for my role in bringing Dionne to California. I am even more sorry for everything I did to your company once I was here. She made me believe the worst about you and convinced me that you were the devil”

He shakes his head sadly.

“If you are ever in New York, we should have that drink.”

I nod my head then watch silently as he walks away. It is about time he was freed from Dionne’s insanity. Maybe one day I will take him up on that offer.

When he is gone, I hear Annie laughing behind me. I sit back down and then just look at her. She regains her composure and glances over at me.

“What?”

“What is so funny?”

“Dionne is getting what she deserves for f**king with other people’s lives. Ethan made a wise choice by deciding to move to New York and taking Logan with him. I am laughing because I can just imagine the look on her face when he dropped the news of the broken prenup.”

I can too which makes me chuckle.

“It makes me curious about what other lies she told him. We both know the massive lie about Logan. He now knows she was unfaithful. That truth didn’t surprise me at all. Not since she showed up at your door that day.”

“I wonder much the same. However, I have one request after we leave here today.”

She looks at me then takes my hand in hers. “After today we will not speak of Dionne Masters. That b** has no place in our lives.”

I laughed as she took the words right out of my mouth. “Exactly.”

Before I can add more to that thought, Anson walks towards us. He smiles as he does. Why is he smiling?

Unless it is the fact that after today, we won’t see each other again until we all go to court for the sentencing hearing. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Dionne being sentenced for her crimes will be one of the highlights of the year.

“That woman is a piece of work. She is currently having a meltdown with her lawyer. I find that hilarious after the conversation she had with her husband.”

The sound of a door slamming makes him turn around to look down the hallway. Dionne’s lawyer stomps down the hallway until he sees Anson. He glances at me then looks back at Anson.

“My client is ready to see Ms. Winters now.”

“Good. Let’s get this over with so we can transport her to the county jail. Dr. Winters if you will

follow me.”

Annora stands up and follows Anson down the hallway. Shortly after he returns and leads me to the observation room. He offers me coffee as we enter but I decline.

I face the glass as he presses a button on the wall. I assume it is to allow those on this side of the glass to hear what is being said in the room beyond. I don’t hear anything at first but realize it is because they are just staring at each other.

I look at Dionne.

This may be the first time I have seen her look so unkempt.

No make-up on her face, which makes her look older than she is. Her hair is pulled back with a few greasy strands falling loose over her forehead. There are dark circles under her eyes like she hasn’t slept in days.

Good

I hope she is miserable. Karma f**s **es like her in the a** hard with out the courtesy of lube. She had to have known that one day all her manipulations and lie. ould eventually catch up to her.

“Where were the two of you when I wanted to meet before today?” Dionne asks.

“Why does that matter to what you need to say to me now?” Annora says. Her voice is annoyed.

Dionne laughed. “You are right. It doesn’t matter but I want to know.”

“We were at Lake Crescent with my family and our daughter. Time away from San Francisco was needed after you kidnapped her.”

Dionne rods her head and leans back in her chair as she studies Annie in a way

I have seen h

study me before. I don’t like how this is going already. Nothing worthwhile can come out of this meeting.

“When I first met Quinn, he was practically feral. He was angry at everyone and everything. The wounds to his body healed over time but I was hired to heal the wounds in his mind.” Donne says.

She smiles at Annie in a way that makes me clench my fists at my side. It is a calculated smile I

have seen on her face before. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now.

“There was an instant attraction between us. We both know that blurring the lines between doctor and patient is a violation of our duties. Yet, I wanted him from the minute he walked into my

office.”

“We both know he wasn’t the first patient you crossed the line with. Neither was your husband, Ethan. Just how many men did you manipulate as your playthings?” Annora asked, bored.

“Women too. I am bisexual.

That is something I always wondered about. Not that it really matters to me if she likes women too. Having it confirmed is not as enlightening now as it would have been back then.

“Fine, women too. How many people have you messed with like you did Quinn and Ethan?”

“Do you really want me to name my conquests here and now? That seems very high school-like.

We are both adults here, let’s not name names.”

Annora laughs out loud. “Trust me, I don’t need their names. Your files are already under review

by the ethics committee. I was just curious about the numbers. I know three at least.”

Anger crosses Dionne’s face. Guess she didn’t expect that. It was one of the things Annie did while we were still on Lake Crescent. She made a call to the ethics committee to inappropriate behavior with her patients.

ort Dionne’s

There is no way she will have her medical license by the time she is released from prison. It won’t stop her from stringing men along with her silver-tongued lies but she will no longer be able to do it in a professional capacity.

“Did you really think I would sit back and let you get away with all the sick***t you have done? Spinning lies to your husband, another patient of yours by the way, to get him to hate your ex boyfriend.” Annie laughs. “Then convincing him and yourself that your son was Quinn’s was just a bit too much. Did you really think that would work in your favor?”

Dionne glares at Annie. “I think you are jealous of all the time he spent in my bed while you raised your daughter alone. We were going to get married. I bet knowing that he had moved on with his life pi**es you off.”

“Did he really?” Annie waves her t

light.

hand in Dionne’s face. Her engagement ring sparkled in the

“That ring doesn’t mean you will get married. I had one too. Seems he gives them out too easily.”

“Is your name tattooed on his body?”

Dionne’s face turns red. She never mentioned that tattoo to me when we were together. I think it was mainly because she never really paid attention to any of my tattoos because she didn’t like the concept of them on anyone.

“Wait, you acted shocked when I told you that his first love was me. You thought she was dead. If you saw that tattoo and knew her name, you had to have put the clues together when we first met.”

“He made me believe that the woman was dead. Why would I think you were her? Why would I think that when we first met, I barely knew you?”

Annie laughs. “You don’t know me now either. Funny part is, you never knew Quinn as well as you thought you did either. It was just sex. That is all you were to him. He told me he never loved you.”

Ouch.

“That is fine. I never really loved him either. Oh, I wanted to. I really wanted to love him the way my mother loved my father. Wholeheartedly. However, just like my father, I am incapable of loving

had one persons.”

“Why did you want to speak to me instead of Quirin? Annie asks in a bored and slightly annoyed tone. “Did you ask me to come here so that you could try to get into my head? Do you think you can manipulate me like the others? What is it that you want from me?”

That is what I want to know too,

“There is already a c** in your relationship with Quinn. One that, no matter how hard you try, there will be no fixing

“Oh, really? How so?”

Dionne smiles in a satisfied way. “Because no matter how much he denies it, I meant something to him. There was a connection between us that can never be severed. I was in his head and knew him far better than he knew himself.”

As Annie laughs loudly, she stands up and walks to the door. She bangs on it to signal the guard then glances back at Dionne. Her eyes sparkle with laughter.

“No, you only know the wounded and broken man he used to be. The one that yearned for unconditional love. Your kind of love had conditions. Mine never will. THAT is the difference between an excellent woman and a psychotic w**e like you.”

The guard opens the door and Annie walks out leaving Dionne sitting at the table with anger in her eyes.

1 f***ing love Annora.

Before I move to leave the observation room, Dionne turns to face the glass with a smile on her face. She waved at me like she knew I was there the entire time. She knew there was no way I would not be involved in this conversation..

“Don’t worry lover, we will see each other again. You can never forget me. I will always be a you.”