With Every Breath (Slow Burn 4)

“What do we do?”

“Now that I have a better handle on the situation, I’m going to call Dane and tell him to be very fucking discreet and not to barge into town asking a bunch of questions that will raise suspicion. Their job will be to shadow Harrington once he’s released from jail and monitor his movements. They’re the best. He won’t know he’s being watched. But I want to know what he’s doing, where he’s going, so we’re prepared for any eventuality.

“As much as I fucking hate the idea of you going into town, you’re right in that it will be you he goes after and if he knows you’re with me then he’s not going to think you’re an easy target and that’s precisely what we want him to think. So you lay the seeds, leave a trail so you are not hard to find and with DSS trailing him plus my own team here for your protection then he’ll be walking right into our hands, which is exactly what we want. But you will not face him. You will not confront him. He’s mine, Eliza.

“But you aren’t going anywhere alone. I’ll be there, you just won’t see me. My men will be there but you won’t see them either. They’re the best at what they do and no one will ever see them unless they want to be seen. That’s all I’m willing to compromise on. If you can’t deal with that, then we go with plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Eliza asked fearfully.

“Plan B is me handcuffing you to this bed and me leaving my men to protect you while I go into town and make it known that you’re with me and making sure Harrington gets wind of it.”

“Not much of a choice,” she muttered against his chest.

He smiled. “No, but it’s the only two choices you get.”

She sighed. “Then we’ll go with plan A. I need to get up and get into town early. The diner is crowded for breakfast and with Thomas being released in a day, the town is a flurry of activity. All the locals are out. Most know I’m back and they don’t want to miss any drama unfolding. The media will be rolling in as well. It’s going to be a circus.”

Wade scowled because the very last thing he wanted was that kind of exposure for Eliza. She’d suffered the judgment of others for far too long and they’d crucify her, not only in town but in the media as well. It went against every grain for him to allow his woman to be hurt and tormented like that, but he also knew he had no choice if he wanted to permanently remove the threat of Thomas Harrington so Eliza could finally achieve the peace she so greatly deserved.

“I need to check in with Dane and make damn sure he knows what he and his team are to do and nothing more. They’ll be on the move shortly. I expect them to arrive by this afternoon and I need them in place. You want coffee?”

Her face softened at his offer but shook her head. “I’ll just shower and get dressed and head to the diner and have breakfast and coffee there. Go ahead and make your call and then let me know what’s going down.”

She paused a second, sorrow flashing in her eyes.

“Tell Dane . . . tell him I’m sorry I let him down.”

“You didn’t let anyone down,” Wade said fiercely. “They aren’t angry with you, Eliza. They’re worried sick about you.”

She nodded but the sadness didn’t leave her eyes as she gently extricated herself from his arms and got up to head for the shower. Wade didn’t waste any time placing the call to Dane.

After outlining everything Eliza had shared and listening to Dane curse long and hard, Wade outlined the plan and what he wanted Dane and his operatives to do. It clearly didn’t sit well with Dane not to take action and to be low-key but Wade was firm and reinforced his instructions with the fact that if they didn’t follow them to the letter, they could get not only members of Dane’s team killed but also Eliza.

“I need your best on this, Elliot,” Wade said with utter gravity. “Their job is to not be seen or noticed and to go absolutely undetected. Their only assignment is to tag Harrington the minute he’s released from custody and to shadow his every movement undetected. One wrong move and people die. And if anything happens to Eliza because one of your men fucks up, I’ll have his head and yours. We clear?”

“We don’t fuck up,” Dane said, ice dripping from every word. “We’ll shadow him and when he makes his move, we’ll be there when this all goes down. You just make sure that Eliza is safe at all times. You get her killed and I’ll have your balls.”

“Understood,” Wade said smoothly. “Now, how soon can you get up here?”

“We’re already on our way.”

There was a brief pause and then Dane grew quiet.

“You take care of her, Sterling. Make sure you don’t fuck up. I’m trusting you with one of the most important people in my life. And tell her . . . tell her I’ll always have her back and that isn’t ever going to change. I don’t profess to know what’s going on in her head right now other than she’s a goddamn mess, but you make damn sure she knows that nothing changes between us or anyone at DSS. She’s ours and she will always be ours.”

EIGHTEEN

TRUE to his word, Wade was not visible, nor did she spot any of his men, and he’d introduced her to them before she’d left the safe house to go into town. But she could feel his gaze and how she could discern his from the many other stares she was receiving mystified her, but she knew it was him. His interference and determination to protect her should annoy her—had annoyed her in the beginning—but now she drew comfort knowing he was so close even if she couldn’t actually see him.

Knowing—feeling—that he was watching her, never taking his eyes off her warmed her all the way through and made her feel . . . safe. More than safe. Cherished.

Rare and precious.

Those words he’d said with absolute sincerity, words she hadn’t put much stock in at the time, now meant something because he made her believe them, or at least made her believe that he believed them. He made her feel all of those things. Safe. Cherished. Rare and precious. And it was a heady, foreign sensation. Never before had she been made to feel so important to someone.

Oh sure, at sixteen she’d convinced herself that Thomas made her feel special but after learning of his abilities and the fact that the moment he was no longer able to manipulate her, her true feelings for him had emerged. He’d made her feel what he wanted her to feel. He’d wanted her to be as obsessed with him as he was with her, but it wasn’t real and it had taken her far too long to recognize that.