Burned Hearts (Burned 3)

I did, but as soon as we landed I was at it again with the questions. Dane didn’t have anything new to say, not that I expected him to. I was just too agitated to let it all slip.

When we reached home, I couldn’t get Amsel in my arms fast enough. Dane was practically breathing down my neck, but it took a bit longer than I’d imagined to relinquish my hold on our son.

I gave him over and said to Kyle, “More trouble headed our way.”

“Ari.” Dane glared.

The ominous news seemed to perk Kyle up. Not a good thing. He needed to get over this adrenaline rush he was riding.

“What’s going on?” he enthusiastically asked.

“It’d probably be a good time for you to make a decision on the FBI or CIA,” I told him. “Start your training. Leave all of this behind. Because it’s burned deep—into a lot of lives.”

“Whatever it is, bring it on,” he said, his chest puffing out. He looked all studly and determined and it made me admire his courage as much as I loathed him not getting a break from the danger any more than the rest of us. Worse, he seemed to crave it these days, thrive on it.

I left Dane, Amano, and Amsel and dragged Kyle into the kitchen. “I need ice cream,” I told him. “Drowning in chocolate. Stat.”

“Easy enough.” He whipped up sundaes while I explained the current predicament.

“Whoa,” he said when I was done. “Did not see that one coming.”

“I know, right? Ethan playing double agent? And since 1978?”

“That sucks for Dane.”

The bit of empathy stunned me, coming from Kyle. But I appreciated the sentiment.

He continued. “To not really have a clear family history and then to have something this severe heaped onto you? Very uncool.”

His compassion touched me. “It’s all a pretty big blow to him, yes. I can’t quite figure out what he’s feeling, though. He has his moments of angst, but then he tries to conceal it all and pretend it’s just a math equation to work out.”

“Some equation. His best friend and mentor fucked him royally.”

“Probably did the same to Dane’s father, too. And I strongly suspect Qadir and Nikolai have no idea they’ve been played by Ethan as well. They weren’t part of the society at that time. Their fathers were, though. And included in the investment group.”

“So now the secret society implodes. Good riddance to a faction that should have stayed the course and didn’t. Dane testifies against Ethan with the evidence he has on the hard drive and that asshole goes down, too.”

I swirled some hot fudge around the tip of my spoon and asked, “Got any caramel or butterscotch? I need it.”

“The double whammy?” His gaze narrowed on me. “What gives?”

I sighed, not the least bit thrilled to drop the bomb. “There is no evidence. Whatever might have served Dane well in this scenario is missing from the laptop Ethan retrieved from Switzerland. He removed a hundred and sixty files before he handed it over to Amano.”

Kyle stared at me as though I’d just grown a third eye.

“Kyle?”

“Oh, no way.”

“Way.”

He whirled around and went for the butterscotch, which he warmed up and then added to my sundae.

“Come on, Ari,” he said. “Your dude and I do not gel, but now I’m feeling the sucker punches myself. Ethan, of all people, betrayed Dane—all of us?”

“I know. It’s pretty painful.”

“And deadly.”