Flash Burned (Burned 2)

He drew up short. “You’re not on your own.”

“Come on, Kyle. You’ve been great. No doubt. But you have a life, too. You’ve all but abandoned it to be with me.”

“No, I haven’t,” he insisted. “I have a job. It just happens to be at the retreat where you’re living.”

“You’ve been so helpful,” I reiterated. “Serious, life-saving helpful. But … I don’t like to talk much about the baby with you because I know it pisses you off that I’m pregnant.”

He slumped back into the chair, disgruntled. “Couldn’t you have waited? I mean, you got engaged one night, married two nights later, and then a month goes by and we find out you’re having a baby? Jesus Christ, Ari. Take a few breaths in between.”

“It was an accident, like your sister, Shell.” I smirked. “Water under the bridge, anyway. Well, except that … I’m totally right about Dane.” I shoved the paper Kyle’s way. “The names I circled? Good guys. The ones with the lines through them? Bad guys. Corrupt members of a secret society Dane belonged to.”

His jaw fell slack. “A what?”

I groaned. This was about to get complicated for him. “A political-economic society that tracks, trends, and analyzes markets and financial shit I can’t even begin to understand. Suffice it to say, the goal was to effect positive change by influencing leaders and others with power. But five of the nine members, instead, used the information for personal gain. These guys,” I said as I waved the sheet in my hand.

There was a distinct edge to my voice and fury no doubt reflected in my eyes, riveting Kyle.

I told him, “Dane just brought down the first two—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kyle leapt to his feet again. “First of all, Miss Conspiracy Theorist, how the fuck is there some sort of secret society?”

“An Illuminati faction, to be exact.”

“Like in Tomb Raider?”

I laughed. I’d said something similar, with the same amount of disbelief, when Dane had told me about his dual life.

“Kinda sorta, but not really. Anyway, it’s been around for generations. Dane is the only one recruited who wasn’t born of a founding member, from my understanding.”

“And why is this list important now?”

With an agitated sigh, because I’d expected him to keep up, I said, “They’re the original investors in 10,000 Lux. Long before Dane realized they’d used the think-tank intellectual property of the society to line their own coffers, while others suffered the economic downfall. Dane, Ethan, and those I’ve circled did everything they could to put a stop to it. But they weren’t wholly successful, so they’ve tried to extricate themselves.”

Kyle shook his head once more, this time quite sharply. “Of course he’d be part of a secret society. Was there anything normal about the guy?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” I conceded.

“Jesus.”

Rushing on, I said, “Remember that, after I’d been kidnapped, I told you Dane had cut out the corrupt members from the Lux before construction was underway? That’s what all the trouble was about. The sabotage, the explosion, everything. They’re responsible.”

“Goddamn, Ari. You know, your life would have been much less disastrous—and a hell of a lot safer—if you had just stuck with me the night of Sean and Meg’s wedding. But no, you had to get wrapped up with Dark and Dangerous.” Kyle’s tone was harsh, his voice thick with anger. Even his sky-blue eyes burned with rage.

This was a side of him I’d slowly seen emerging when it came to all the things he disapproved of in my life. And now it radiated from him.

Trying to diffuse his anger, I said, “Now’s hardly the time for a lecture, Kyle.”

“Oh, I beg to differ!” he erupted. “’Cause I’m thinking I’ve given you way too much of the kid-glove treatment, when what you clearly need is a healthy dose of reality. For fuck’s sake, Ari! People could have died!”

I jumped to my feet and slammed my palms against the desktop. “People did die, Kyle! At least—” The angst drained quickly. I plopped back into my chair. “That’s what we were led to believe.”

“Oh, Christ.” He rolled his eyes and paced again, hands on his waist.

“Just listen, okay?” I was breathy once more, my chest heaving. “After the kidnapping, Dane promised me he’d find a legitimate way to bring these guys down. He was putting the squeeze on them, one way or the other. I have no idea what his plan was. But he obviously pushed them over the edge, because they planted a bomb inside the Lux. A bomb!”

“That killed your husband,” Kyle said acridly.

I glared at him.