Dishonorable

I sat on the chair beside her bed for the next few hours, watching her sleep, still smelling the fire on her, on myself. I’d almost been too late. If Lina hadn’t called, if I hadn’t heard Sofia’s cell phone and woken up, Sofia would have died up in that bedroom. That thought kept me from sleeping until almost dawn. It had me looking at her, watching the monitors measuring her steady heartbeat, making sure she was really okay.

The feel of her hand on mine was what finally woke me later that morning.

“Hey,” she said.

I straightened myself up, rubbed my face, and checked my watch.

“Hey.” My voice came out hoarse and groggy, much like hers.

“Thank you.”

Why did I think it was a strange thing to say? And what should I say back? Turned out I didn’t need to reply. She spoke before I could.

“Charlie?”

“He’s fine. Damon picked him up and took him home.”

She smiled, then her face grew serious again.

“Is it gone?”

“Yeah.” I hated to be the one to tell her. “Everything is pretty much destroyed.”

She nodded. “How did you know I was there?” she finally asked.

“You’d forgotten your phone, and your sister kept trying to call you. It woke me up, and when I realized you were gone, I scrolled through your phone and found you’d called a taxi. It didn’t take me long to get the address they took you to.”

“My sister!”

She tried to sit up but then lay back down again.

“I have to call her.”

“I already did. Relax. You can call her later.”

“Thank you. Again.”

She tried to sit up again, and this time I helped her, adjusting the bed and pillows at her back.

“You shouldn’t have left.”

“I couldn’t stay.”

Awkward silence.

“I guess it was all for nothing, huh?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t have to marry me after all. My inheritance is up in smoke.”

I studied her pretty caramel eyes, watched them fill up with tears, watched her hold them back.

“Oh, wait,” she continued. “Insurance. I guess you’ll be paid off with insurance money.”

There were a hundred things I could have said. I should have said. Things like “I’m sorry.” Or “I didn’t mean what I said.” Or “I love you.” But I didn’t say any of those things. Instead, when my cell phone rang, I looked at the display and left the room to answer it.

It was the investigator. “You were right,” he said. “Gasoline canisters were found throughout the property. The person who set this fire wasn’t hiding the fact that this was arson.”

“Which rules out Marcus Guardia.” I wouldn’t put it past him to destroy the winery, so I wouldn’t get my hands on it. So he could cash-out. But he would be careful to hide the evidence.

“And what the girl told you is right. Marcus Guardia is using the German company as a cover. He’s the one who put the bid in on your house.”

I’d told Moriarty the other day that I had a buyer. That he wouldn’t get the property because I’d already sold it. Could Moriarty have known all along that it was Sofia’s grandfather? Could this fire have been set to punish the old man?

“Thanks. Keep me updated, will you?”

“I will.”

When I opened the door to Sofia’s room, I found her sitting on the bed with her phone at her ear, her forehead wrinkled as she listened.

“Lina, are you sure?”

The concern I heard in her voice made me curious. She met my eyes then shifted her gaze away.

“Okay. Okay, I have to go. Let me think about this. I’ll call you back.”

She hung up and looked at me a bit awkwardly. I wanted to ask what she’d been talking about with her sister. It had obviously upset her. But I didn’t feel that I could. A few minutes later, her doctor walked into the room to tell us she’d need to take it easy but that she would fully recover.

“When can I leave?” she asked.

“Later today,” the doctor said. “I’ll sign off on your paperwork.”

“Can I fly?”

The doctor seemed confused, so I stepped in. “You’ll stay at the house while you recover, Sofia.”

“But—”

“But nothing.” I walked out with the doctor to discuss a few things. When I returned, Sofia sat on the bed, her face unreadable.

“I need to ask you something,” she said.

“Ask.”

“Was it an accident?”

I studied her. Truth. I’d promised her truth. I’d already broken that promise once. I wouldn’t do it again.

“No.”

She swallowed, blinking several times, and looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to me. Her voice had an edge to it when she next spoke.

“Did you have anything to do with this?”

I snorted, shook my head, and quashed the emotion bubbling in my gut. The hurt at her accusation. “I never wanted you dead, Sofia.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sofia

Arson.

Somebody had deliberately set the fire that destroyed Guardia Winery.