Burned Hearts Read online

  Tears suddenly prickled the backs of my own eyes. Maybe I was hormonal. Or perhaps it was that I suffered from long absences from my seriously sexy husband and the fact that nothing about my pregnancy had been commonplace. I wanted everything following the delivery to be perfect. And I wanted our son to have stability in one home—not be moved from location to location because of extortion, explosions, high-speed car chases, and the like.

  Dane’s handsome face became a mask of hard angles. I’d seen the expression before. He went to a very dark place in his mind when dealing with this terrifying nightmare we all endured.

  “Baby—”

  “I’m not complaining about this house,” I was quick to say. “The estate is incredible. It’s just … not home. Not our home, even if you did have it built for us. We both know where we belong, Dane. And I want He-Who-Will-Hopefully-Be-Named-Soon to have roots. Not a transient life.”

  “I agree. If you want to go back to the creek house, we’ll make it happen.” He kissed me tenderly, making my toes curl. “Whatever you want.”

  “You and this kid will suffice,” I said with a smile as my fingers swept through his hair.

  Dane did his usual schooling of expressions to erase the tense one. “FYI, though. Kyle’s not going to live with us. Not after I’m done with the FBI.”

  “I don’t know,” I mused. “He’s really gotten into this bodyguard stuff. I think he might self-appoint for a gig looking after our so—”

  “Not a chance,” Dane grumbled.

  I laughed softly as I reached for my glass of orange juice and sipped while Dane seethed over his mug of coffee.

  I turned back to him and said, “We do have the space, that’s for cer—”

  “Hey,” Kyle interjected as he returned from the walk-in pantry, his voice sharp, tinged with just enough holy shit to send a dark shiver through me. “What the hell is that red dot on Ari’s forehead?”

  chapter 2

  Dane’s gaze snapped up from his cup and he apparently saw the dot, too, because his ceramic mug went sailing across the room and he leapt to his feet, whirling around. I stood paralyzed where I was, staring at Tom Talbot, head of the watchtower security detail. He held a high-tech rifle in his hands with a scope on top. The barrel was pointed right at me.

  My heart launched into my throat. Dane took one step to the side, his body shielding mine.

  “Oh, hell, no!” he roared in a harsh tone. “You are not threatening my wife and child.”

  “Move out of the way, Dane,” Tom said. “You’re not the target.”

  “The fuck I’m not. She has nothing to do with this.” His voice was grave and dangerous—I had no delusions his chiseled features were as well.

  I could barely breathe, could barely process this new peril we suddenly faced.

  Kyle twitched. Dane told him, “Don’t move. Not unless he tells you to. Do whatever he says, Kyle. Don’t take any risks.”

  Dane had read Kyle’s expression, I had no doubt. My best friend would have instantly been plotting in his head what course of action to take in order to rescue me.

  “He’s right, Kyle,” I said from behind Dane, surprised I even got the words out, I was so terrified.

  “This is a huge mistake,” Dane told Tom. “You’ll regret even considering this. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “She’s your biggest weakness,” Tom explained. “Since Vale couldn’t complete his mission, I have no choice but to—”

  “Vale’s still alive,” I said, peering around Dane’s thick biceps.

  “Ari,” Dane all but growled.

  I shifted so that I was concealed behind him again. “I’m just pointing that out.”

  “You’re wrong,” Tom said. “He is dead.”

  “But the snakes…,” I muttered.

  I was sure my rapidly beating pulse wasn’t good for my current condition, yet I couldn’t slow it or pull in a full breath. Fear slithered through my veins. This was not a scenario I’d ever anticipated any of us finding ourselves in.

  “Kyle, move over there with them,” Tom instructed.

  “No!” I cried out. “Leave him out of this! Let him go—please!”

  “Shut up, Ari,” Kyle grumbled. “As if I’d walk away.” He joined us and swiftly pushed me backward, behind him, so I had a double layer of protection.

  Tears stung my eyes—not just because of the massive scare factor of knowing that ominous red dot was now on my husband’s forehead and that Kyle was in equal danger, but also because I was monumentally pissed off at how Tom had turned on all of us.

  “If Vale is dead,” I managed to say, “then who put the snakes on the patio?”

  “I don’t know,” Tom told us. “Someone from the society network. I left the gate open while you were all out last night and turned a blind eye.”

  “You son of a bitch,” Dane said.

  “I had to do as instructed.”

  “But there’s no Lux!” I shouted, the anger getting the best of me. “It’s over. It’s all over!”

  “No,” Dane reasoned. “Because Tom here has compromised the entire society network by telling them I’m still alive. Right?”

  “I haven’t told anyone anything. Only took the directive and said I’d eliminate Ari.”

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” I contended, trying to see around the two brick walls protecting me. “If there’s no hotel, what is the point in continuing this attack on us?”

  “It’s the principle of the matter,” Dane explained. “They destroyed the Lux as a last resort. The ultimate statement. But they didn’t get the checkmate they sought, because I’m the one who produced all the evidence for the indictments. That’ll be confirmed for them today, thanks to Tom. And if he doesn’t take my queen in this living, breathing game of chess, he’s a dead man. Aren’t you, Tom?”

  “I’m glad you understand. This isn’t what I want,” the security guard said. “But I have to do what’s required of me.”

  “Problem is,” Dane countered, “I’m the knight protecting the key component of your strategy—and you’re not getting to her.”

  “I don’t want to shoot you, Dane. But have no doubt—I will. In the leg or the shoulder. Whatever it takes to get you out of the way. Kyle, too. Ari’s the mark.”

  I swallowed hard, understanding the motivation here was to cripple Dane for his involvement. Not physically, but emotionally. By taking his family out. Right before his very eyes.

  I’d had enough exposure to the shady side of the secret society to accept that those who’d crossed the line did so with the full intention of going all the way to get what they wanted. Empires and legacies were at stake. And even those who were simply the soldiers within the network had so much to lose or gain, so much to shelter, that they’d allow themselves to be manipulated—as Tom had—just to get their piece of the pie.

  It was sickening. Chillingly frightening. But not exactly a new world order. It was a different kind of gangster warfare—the billionaires’ mafia.

  “This isn’t in your nature,” Dane told Tom. “If it were, you would have taken the shot when you had it. But you hesitated, giving me the chance to intervene. So put your weapon down and we’ll work this out. Otherwise … You realize you won’t take another breath if anything happens to Ari and my child.”

  His menacing tone made my heart thunder and my insides seize up. I knew how deadly this could get when it came to any threat against me. With our baby involved—and even Kyle—that would make Dane even more determined to win this game. By any means necessary.

  “Dane,” I nervously whispered. “This is out of hand again.”

  “Actually, it’s all coming together.”

  “What?” I couldn’t see around Kyle’s sturdy frame and that frustrated me.

  Dane said, “You only get one shot, Tom.”

  “You’re not going to be able to stop me, Dane.”

  “Be glad.”

  I heard Amano’s voice across the room, in the direction from where Tom stood. He was supposed to be with Jackson Conaway, our lawyer, working out some logistics for when the trials started and Dane was fully sequestered.

  In a menacing tone, Amano added, “If it were up to Dane, he’d save the bullets and kill you with his bare hands. I’ll be sparing you the drawn-out agony by simply shooting you in the head.”

  I gasped.

  Amano must have deduced from his grilling last night that Tom was the culprit, our breach in security. Now apparently Amano had crept up behind Tom, but Christ, I couldn’t see a thing! All I knew was that a standoff ensued … and I didn’t expect Tom to amiably surrender and back away. These people didn’t operate that way. It was all or nothing when it came to this precarious endeavor.

  My stomach knotted. I reached out for Kyle, my fingers curling around the material of his tight tank top at his spine. I leaned toward him, needing the support. My knees nearly knocked together and I swayed a little as horror rolled through me.

  Kyle muttered, “Step back, Ari.”

  “Behind the counter,” Dane added. “Crouch low.”

  I was afraid to move. Too petrified to move, what with a gun pointed at my husband, and Kyle in the line of fire as well.

  “Do it,” Kyle insisted. “He’s got no clear shot of you. Trust us.”

  I did—explicitly. That didn’t keep me from shaking from head to toe.

  “Ari,” Kyle practically snarled. “Fucking do it!”

  I released his shirt, hunched down, and crept to the end of the island, hunkering further, not daring to steal a peek around the corner for fear there was some small gap between Dane and Kyle that Tom could aim through to get to me.

  Then I remembered there were tall glass patio doors behind me, so I spared a glance over my should
er and watched in the reflection of the panes as the impasse unraveled.

  “Stand down,” Dane said to the gunman.

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Is whatever they’re paying you really worth this?”

  Tom shook his head. “It’s not the money. They have my wife and kid.”

  Oh, my God!

  “Dane.” That one word wrenched from my mouth and filled the quiet room.

  “Fuck!” he yelled, enraged. I could practically feel the angst radiating from him. “Who the hell contacted you? Was it Bryn Hilliard?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say. Obviously he’s high enough up the chain of command to capture Candace and Ruby, and instruct me on what to do in order to get them back safely. He put them on the line briefly and they sounded terrified, so he wasn’t bullshitting me about kidnapping them.”

  “Goddamn it.” Dane’s fury reverberated within me.

  “You really think I would have chosen this?” Tom insisted in a low tone. “You really believe I would do this if I had any choice whatsoever?”

  “Jesus Christ!” Kyle’s violent outburst scared me all the more, because he was a bit of a loose cannon while he still learned the bodyguard ropes. There was no telling what he might do to save me. The very reason I’d asked him on more than one occasion to reconsider this new quest of his to protect me when Dane couldn’t be here with us and when Amano had FBI business to attend to.

  “They forced my hand,” Tom continued. “That’s the only reason I let someone on-property to plant the snakes. The only reason I’m standing here, pointing a gun at you.”

  “You won’t hit your mark,” Dane said. “I won’t let you. It was a good attempt, but you’re not getting to Ari. Whatever happens to your family because you failed is on you.”

  “I know that.”

  Despite Dane’s cold words, I suspected his mind worked feverishly with how to get Candace and Ruby out of the clutches of Hilliard’s henchmen. Dane wouldn’t let them suffer if there was anything he could do about it.

  I watched as Tom’s arms dipped in defeat, in surrender. My eyes squeezed shut from relief—and to fight back tears.

  He wouldn’t shoot Dane.

  Yet a heartbeat later the sound of a gunshot ripped through the house. I screamed. The noise and the sinister, horrific implication jolted me. My eyes flew open. Dane reeled backward, plowing into Kyle.

  “Dane!” I cried out.

  Just as Amano slammed the butt of his gun to Tom’s temple.

  Tom Talbot dropped to the floor.

  I stood and whirled around to face everyone. Tom’s rifle hit the tiles and Amano kicked the weapon away. I scrambled around the counter as Kyle helped Dane to a chair, which he slumped into.

  “Oh, shit!” I stared in shock at the blood gushing from the gaping hole in his shoulder. Kyle bled, too. The bullet must have exited Dane’s shoulder and grazed Kyle’s biceps.

  A rush of adrenaline propelled me forward. I snatched two clean linen napkins from the kitchen table where Dane sat and pressed them against Kyle’s arm. “Hold these firmly.”

  Then I raced back to the island, jerked open a drawer, and extracted several dish towels. I hurriedly returned to Dane and held the thick material to his wound, applying as much pressure as I could with shaky hands and panic vibrating through me.

  Kyle had to help me with his free hand while keeping the napkins to his arm. Dane fished his iPhone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. Amano was on the phone, too. From the sound of the conversation, I’d venture to say he spoke with Jackson. A man who knew how to handle dire situations such as this.

  I certainly didn’t know what the hell to do.

  Luckily, Dane had a private physician, and that was whom he called.

  Amano also told Jackson about Tom’s wife and daughter being in jeopardy. All the while, Amano kept his gun trained on Tom. Who didn’t so much as flinch. He was out cold.

  To be honest, I was surprised Amano hadn’t shot him. It must have tested the very limits of his restraint not to have inflicted mortal injury when it came to someone he’d trusted with all of our lives—who’d betrayed us all. Someone who’d just threatened my life and used Dane for target practice.

  “This is getting a little too real.” Kyle’s voice was tense, rough around the edges. “Like, seriously? Now we’ve reached the point of dueling over breakfast—to hell with high noon?”

  “Pressure’s on the society,” Dane said. His gaze slid to me. “It’ll get worse before it gets better. So you get your wish. Creek house. And you don’t leave Amano’s or Kyle’s sight. Do you hear me?”

  I nodded, not even capable of cracking my usual joke about whether they’d follow me into the ladies’ room. Tears crested the rims of my eyes and streamed down my flushed cheeks. My heart still pounded; my pulse still raged. I was a mess. Though I tried really hard not to show Dane how freaked out I was.

  “He could have killed you.” I bit my trembling lower lip, desperately hoping I wouldn’t fall apart.

  “Don’t think about that,” he said.

  “How can I not?” I quietly demanded. “He actually pulled the fucking trigger.”

  “He did what he had to do, without taking it to the next level. He didn’t want to shoot either one of us. Hilliard will make him pay for the screwup. Either before Tom heads off to prison or while he’s inside.”

  Dane contacted FBI Agents Daugherty and Strauss, whom he’d worked with as he handed off evidence against the society.

  When Dane wrapped up the conference call and shoved the cell into his pocket, I asked, “Could it have been Wayne Horton who was sent in with the snakes? He does seem to get off on terrorizing me.”

  “Doubtful. He worked directly for Vale. No paycheck attached to being a lone wolf,” Dane said, clearly fighting a wince of pain. And trying to keep the look of sheer agony from me as he continued to bleed—too much for my comfort. The dish towels were already coated in crimson.

  He added, “I can’t imagine Horton would go to all this trouble without a funding source. And Bryn wouldn’t be able to count on him, since Wayne and Vale failed their mission the first time around.”

  “Not necessarily,” I said. “Wayne could very well have been the one to bomb the Lux.”

  Kyle snorted. “Probably hoping Ari was inside. She’s right—seems he’s taken a personal interest in making her suffer.”

  “You think he’d come after her for the sport of it at this point?” Dane lobbed the question out there, but he didn’t sound convinced Wayne would pursue this avenue without Vale to provide the directives.

  Kyle said, “You didn’t see Horton chasing us up the switchbacks with hairpin turns and no shoulder on her side of the car—just a forty-five-hundred-foot drop into Oak Creek Canyon.”

  Dane’s scowl deepened. “Don’t think for a second that I’m letting him off the hook. Not after all the damage he’s done. That asshole’s on my list, believe me.”

  “Dane.” I didn’t like that lethal blade to his voice that sliced through me.

  He was slipping back into that dark and dangerous place in his mind.

  I knew he wanted vengeance. And he certainly deserved it. Yet it was what he was willing to do in the name of retribution that alarmed me.

  “Kyle, you’re on-watch,” Amano said as he gestured to Tom, then shoved his gun in his holster. “Don’t touch the rifle. We don’t want to smudge the prints on it.”

  “You got this?” Kyle asked me of Dane’s wound.

  “Yes.” I bucked up. Forced my hands to steady.

  Kyle crossed to the other side of the kitchen and said, “My GLOCK’s in my room.”

  “You’ll survive.”

  “Seriously, you’re leaving me unarmed with him?”

  “The man is unconscious, Kyle,” Amano stated in a flat voice.

  “Or dead,” Kyle mumbled.

  “He’s still breathing. Just keep an eye on him. If he comes to, you know what moves to use on him.”

  Kyle’s chest puffed out a bit. “You got that right.”

  Amano left us briefly, evidently to retrieve Dr. Forrester from the other side of the massive walls surrounding the estate, which sat in a secluded portion of a box canyon in Sedona. Though we were surrounded by breathtaking red-rock formations, I currently found no beauty in our grim world. Not with my insides twisted and Dane and Kyle bleeding. The scent and sight of it made me nauseous, but I tamped down the bile burning my throat.