Daniel supported her shoulders with one arm and grabbed the bag from her. A syringe lay in the side pouch, and from the stunned glaze in Mary Elise's eyes, it didn't belong there.
Instincts went on full alert. Something wasn't right.
Trey charged back down the hall, Band-Aids waving from his hand like banners. "Got it. Two of them. One Tigger and one Ee-yore."
"Thanks, pal." Daniel snagged the bandages and wrapped an orange Tigger Band-Aid around the tip of Mary Elise's finger. "How about you fellas take your Game Boys to your room for a minute."
Austin's bottom lip trembled. "But I wanna say goodbye to Mary Elise."
"I promise you'll get to." He scruffed a hand through the tousled curls. "Meanwhile, let me see if I can talk her into staying a little longer."
Mary Elise exhaled, shaking free whatever had gripped her. "Please, Trey? Could you keep Austin busy for a bit? I promise not to go anywhere without talking to you first."
Trey shuffled from foot to foot, then shrugged. "Yeah, okay, but I want eggplant parmesan for supper."
Daniel faked a smile. "Sure kid, whatever."
Trey yanked his little brother by the arm, promises of Pokémon Nintendo fading with the close of their bedroom door.
Anger on a tight rein, Daniel jabbed a finger toward her. "Cut the crap. I'm not letting you walk out until you tell me exactly what's going on."
Mary Elise sunk back on her bottom. "Oh, God, Danny. I've screwed up so bad."
Mary Elise forced her hand to stay steady around the empty bottle, willed her teeth not to chatter. Still, the shaking swelled inside her.
She'd tried so damned hard to weigh the options and make the right choices to keep the boys from being traumatized. Yet, once the cargo plane had become airborne, her life had spiraled out of control until every option absolutely stunk.
Even if little Austin hadn't been frightened to the point of being immobilized and she could have run right away, Daniel would have been curious. Which would have led him—and therefore the boys—directly to Kent.
Except Kent had found her anyway.
She'd expected fear, and hell yes, fear stirred a storm within her. But she hadn't anticipated the blind explosion of fury.
How dare he do this to her? To the family she'd grown to care about so much? Rhetorical questions that served no purpose. Kent dared anything. And now she had to tell Daniel. Surely he would understand he needed to stay near the boys, protect them. Once he heard the truth, he would realize the farther all three were from her now, the better.
A horrific notion took root. She knew Kent had planted the bottle, but when? Her mind echoed with the rustlings when she'd showered. "Danny, once you and the boys left for IHOP, did you come back to pick up anything?"
"No." Impatience stamped his face. "The boys stopped to talk with Wren for a minute and then we left. What the hell's going on here?"
She flattened a hand to the carpet, slumping back against the couch. Nausea roiled. Bile burned. She dropped the bottle like a snake onto the glass-topped coffee table. "This isn't mine. Someone broke into the condo and put it here."
Kent, the man who dared anything and respected no boundaries, had placed it there. While she was n**ed in the shower.
Incredulity furrowed Daniel's brow, feeding her worries that he wouldn't believe her, either.
"What the hell for? Ah hell, whatever the reason," he reached for the phone on the chrome end table, "we need to call the cops, now."
"Wait!" She lurched to the side, flinging her hands over the telephone, the pinprick forgotten in a new panic.
He paused midreach. "The longer we wait, the farther away whoever it was will get."
"I know who it was, and no way is he anywhere near here now. He's left his message and will undoubtedly leave another, but not today."
His hand fell back to his knee as he sank down beside her. "Run that by me again?"
"I know who planted it there. Or at least I know who was responsible." And damn it, she prayed she hadn't made a huge mistake in lingering at Danny's this long.
"Want to share that nugget? Because I'm getting pretty torqued off thinking about someone slipping in here when the boys may have been around."