Burned Deep (Burned 1)

I wiped away more of the fat drops that wouldn’t stop flowing. My doorbell rang and I jumped. Then I realized it was Amano. I wrapped the towel around me, adding my thick terry-cloth robe. I pulled the sash tight at my waist. I was still crying when I glanced through the peephole and opened up for him.

He arranged my clothes and bags neatly on the kitchen table.

Then he turned to me. “You don’t look any better.”

“I’ll never be better,” I said. More tears fell.

“Ari. Vale Hilliard isn’t dead. He’ll recover in a private facility. He won’t come near you again.”

“Dane has seen to that?” I asked a bit acridly. I didn’t understand how all of this worked.

“It’s complicated. Hilliard has disgraced his family by failing the charge given to him.”

Really, who were all of these people that they had such control over these background Machiavellian machinations? It was too surreal.

“So it’s over?”

With a nod, he said, “I think so. Dane’s with Ethan right now. They’ll figure it all out. But, Ari, he’s—”

“Don’t,” I softly pleaded. “I can’t talk about him. I don’t want to hear anything about him, Amano. What I want,” I explained as the apprehension and agony ripped through me, “is for you to take my laptop back to 10,000 Lux and tell Dane I quit. He’ll have to find someone else to fill the Events Director position.”

From what I’d gleaned over the months, Amano was not an expressive man. But he was running the gamut this evening. He dragged a hand down his face and said, “Ari, he’ll never accept that.”

“He has no choice.”

“You don’t understand what you’re saying … suggesting … doing.” He shook his head in dismay.

“I can’t be with him, around him. Not after what happened. What I saw.” My eyes closed. I envisioned Dane whaling on Vale. My lids snapped open. “There was no stopping him. I had to tackle him, Amano. He could have killed that man. I can’t be a part of that. Not now. Not ever.”

“Sometimes the lines aren’t black and white, Ari. There’s a lot of gray area when you’re dealing with billions of dollars and people who want things from you that they can’t let go of—and they won’t let you out of their crosshairs.”

“I’m going to naively stick with the adage that two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“Understood.” He headed to the door but spared a glance over his shoulder. “I’m going to stay in the SUV tonight, outside. If you need me.”

“Amano. You don’t have to make all these sacrifices for me. I’m not with Dane anymore.”

The tears flooded my eyes again.

“I can see that.” He watched the fat drops crest the rims and roll down my cheeks. “I’ll be here anyway.”

“Wait.” I reached for

his arm. “Wayne Horton. I think he’s your inside guy. Vale had him work on-property to send everything awry.”

“You’re sure?”

“Best guess.”

“Okay. Thank you. Call me if you need anything.”

I nodded. He left me to the crying jag that started anew.

How, exactly, would I exist post–Dane Bax?

I shoved a chair from the kitchen table under the doorknob because I was that terrified someone from Vale’s faction might break in. Despite the bodyguard holding vigil in the parking lot. Then I made sure all the windows were locked and I searched for things sturdy enough to set in the metal tracks to keep anyone from being able to slide open a window in the event they could bypass the locks. If there was a fire, no way in hell would the firemen get to me unless they crashed through my patio doors. Over those I pulled the drapes closed.

I settled on the sofa, my pulse still rapid. My heart aching like nothing I’d ever known before.