Burned Hearts (Burned 3)

“Shouldn’t you be monitoring the south side of the property?” he asked.

Kyle raised his iPad. “On it.” To me, he said, “Back to the daily grind.” He left the office.

Amano turned his steely gaze on me. “What’s with the photos?”

“Just needed something on the walls,” I lied. Unsuccessfully. He harrumphed, then sauntered off. I wondered if he’d tell Dane but then considered that there wasn’t really anything to tell at this point.

So I went back to my plotting.

chapter 6

A month passed, and I couldn’t have been antsier.

Or more paranoid.

Not just over the trials that had begun and the fact that Dane hadn’t been back to visit us since he’d left, but because I didn’t want Amano catching me during my secret discussions with the people who were going to help me reconstruct the lobby of 10,000 Lux.

With my new accomplice, hotel security guard John—who’d been instrumental in my rescue from Vale’s kidnapping ploy—and several destroyed cell phones later, I had a plan in place.

The good news was, it sounded as though the entire structure would not have to be demoed and rebuilt.

The bad news was, we really couldn’t “break ground” so to speak without Amano finding out.

I had proof I was the beneficiary of the Lux, and had the capital to do with it what I pleased, so we pretty much had the green light. I just needed to be strategic in how it all unfolded.

In the midst of sneaking around behind Amano’s back so he didn’t report my resurrection plans to Dane, I’d picked out the vast majority of furniture for the nursery and had it shipped to Jackson’s house for Kyle to retrieve, given that Amano wouldn’t allow deliveries within our gates. I also had a color scheme going on that I currently liked. I couldn’t commit to it, though, because it was the fourth theme I’d fallen in love with in as many weeks. No need to get excited.

Names were grabbing me just as fast and leaving me just as furiously.

Who on earth would have thought this would be such a difficult part of having a baby? For God’s sake, it was only a name.

Then again, I was a firm believer in the fact that a name helped to shape the person. Case in point, were I having a girl, I’d likely stick to the Js. There seemed to be a lot of strength associated around J names. Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Jackie Joyner-Kersee. J. Lo. JHud. J. Law. Jennifer Aniston.

I winced.

Scratch that one. She made me think of glamorous Mikaela.

Still, I felt I was on to something with the Js. For girls.

For boys, however, I was at a complete loss. And all over the board.

Dane called randomly—against Agents Daugherty and Strauss’s advisement, but he refused to lose all connection with me—and one evening I asked, “How do you feel about ‘Kennedy’?” Since the Jackie KO thing was in my head.

“As a president?”

I laughed. “As Kid’s name.”

“Hmm.” He fell silent a moment, then said, “Gotta tell you, I’m not a fan. Everyone would call him Ken.”

“Good point. Too preppy. Not at all the mysterious, edgy sound we’re going for.”

“That’s what we’re going for?”

“Sure. You really think he’s going to be a normal child?”

“Well, I’d sort of hoped.”

With a smile he couldn’t see, I said, “I don’t mean he’s going to be weird, or anything. But he is your son. So you have to consider—”