Stolen Life (Beauty in the Stolen 2)

I fold my fingers automatically around the handle. “Huh? Oh, nothing.”

She laughs. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re in love.”

If only she knew.

One of the men who stands guard runs to the Jeep and returns with my gardening gloves and the cup of tea. “Here you go, Cas.”

“Oh, um, yes. Thanks.”

I take the cold tea, drink it without tasting anything, and fit the gloves. Setting out to work, I quickly fall into the rhythmic routine of driving the shovel into the soil. The mindless work calms me, and an hour later, I feel a lot less disoriented and frightened.

Excitement starts to surpass the uncertainty and concerns. My parents were great with me, and while I didn’t particularly plan on having kids, and definitely not so soon, I know I’ll enjoy being a mom. I can be a good mom for a little person, a brand new little soul, like my mom had been for me.

The more I think about it, the more the idea grows on me, until, when it’s time for lunch, I know for certain I can’t give this baby away. By the time I straighten over my shovel with a sore back, my biggest concern is no longer the news itself. It’s how to tell Ian.

I’m about to have a lunchbreak with the women when Danai walks up.

“Cas.”

“Danai.”

She glances around as she hands me a folded note. “I have a message for you.”

I take the piece of paper reluctantly. “What is it?”

“Read it,” she says.

I unfold the note.

Meet me at three o’clock at the Elephant Hills tea garden.

Wolfe.

PS: If you don’t show, you’re as dead as Ian Hart.

I go cold in the heat of the day. Dread fills me until my limbs are too heavy to move. Danai takes in my reaction with a smirk. The set of her chin is victorious.

“Oh, my God.” Horrified, I push the words through dry lips. “What have you done?”

She leans in, her breath fanning over my face. “Nobody rejects me.”

She ran to Wolfe because she’s jealous? She used the information Ruben stupidly shared with her against us because she’s a woman scorned. Does she understand the consequences of her action? Wolfe could have us surrounded by now. He may arrest me for being an accomplice in the gang’s crimes, but Ian will be put on trial for first-degree murder. Leon and Ruben too.

“You have no idea, do you?” I whisper as the paper trembles in my hands.

Already stalking away, she says from over her shoulder, “Don’t take me for a fool.”

Chapter 18

Cas

No, Danai knew exactly what she was doing. She wants Ian to pay for rejecting her. She wants both of us—him and me—arrested. She doesn’t care that Ruben and Leon will be collateral damage in her vengeful betrayal.

The fact that Wolfe hasn’t attacked and taken us all by force yet tells me he wants something else. Maybe he’s still hoping to get the information he wanted me to gather. That’s why he wants to meet with me. He’s hoping I’ll give him what he needs and cut a deal. There’s no doubt in my mind he’ll shoot Ian on the spot if I don’t cooperate. He’ll say it was self-defense, and knowing Ian, it will be, because Ian isn’t going to go quietly. He’ll put up a fight.

If I tell Ian, it will end in a full-blown war. Ian isn’t Nick’s killer. I don’t believe it. Now that I’ve lived with Ian and gotten to know the man behind the criminal better, I know he wouldn’t have done it. He’d kill for family, not for money. He said so himself, and from how he cares for the community living on his property, I believe that statement. I’m not going to make a cop killer out of him by playing into Danai’s hand.

I have to meet with Wolfe. I don’t have a choice. Maybe I’ll lie and say I need more time. Will he believe me? Can I put him on a false trail and convince Ian to escape? Will Ian give up the home he loves and never look back? Because if Ian goes on the run, he can never return here. Wolfe will always be on the lookout, always waiting.

Whatever the case, I only have an hour before I’m supposed to meet Wolfe. I’ll think of something. I’ll create some kind of diversion. Surely I can come up with a convincing enough lie to win Ian the time he needs to slip away. He must be on his way to the airport to fetch Shona. Is Wolfe having him followed? The idea makes me nauseous. I don’t know what I’m going to do. All I know is that Wolfe needs to be far away from here before I tell Ian or else there’ll be a bloodbath.

Making up an excuse about needing to get supplies from town, I rush back to the Jeep and drive home. I strip before I’m inside the dressing room, exchanging my shorts for a pair of jeans. The too-big size and baggy cut make the legs wide enough to hide an ankle holster. I pull open the drawer where Ian keeps the key for the gun closet. The closet is nothing short of an iron vault behind a wooden door panel in his dressing room. Since he gave me a gun, I have access to that closet. There are no more locked doors and keys between us.