“Ethan—”
A phone rang. She glanced around, the sound oddly jarring, and then she saw Ethan’s phone on the floor.
They should ignore the call. Just forget it, but…
But we nearly died yesterday. What if that’s the FBI? What if something else happened?
She was the one who grabbed his phone. And she saw Sophie’s picture on the screen. She handed the phone to Ethan, suddenly becoming highly conscious of her nudity.
Ethan didn’t answer the phone. His fingers curled around it, but he kept staring at Carly. “Can you live with what my love means? Can you live with me?”
The phone stopped ringing.
“I don’t want to try living without you again.” She’d meant exactly what she’d said before. “I love you, Ethan. And I can handle your darkness.” She wasn’t saying it would be easy. But the one man on earth who made her feel protected and cherished—it was the one man she’d seen kill.
Twisted? Insane?
Maybe.
But maybe not.
“Can you handle mine?” Carly asked him.
His phone started ringing again. She looked at the screen. She could see Sophie’s face once more.
“Something could be wrong,” Carly said. “Answer it.”
His gaze was still on her. “You don’t have a darkness, baby. You have light. A bright, fucking shining light that makes my whole world better. And if anyone else says different, I will kick their asses.”
The phone stopped ringing.
“I don’t want to scare you again,” he rasped, “but, baby, you always come first for me. Your safety—that’s it for me. If you’re put at risk, you know how I’ll respond.”
She did. And it was the same way that she would respond.
Someone started pounding on the door then. They both turned at once, and Ethan rushed from the bedroom. She grabbed for her discarded gown and yanked it over her head. She hurried after him—
The suite’s door was shoved open before Ethan could reach it.
She caught sight of Victor Monroe. Behind him stood a guy who appeared to be a hotel employee—based on his uniform. And—Sophie was there too, crowding in with the men.
“What the hell?” Ethan snarled. “I was coming to the damn door! You didn’t have to bust in!” He glared at them. “What did you think, I was attacking her in here?”
The hotel employee still had a keycard in his hand. He yanked the keycard back and leapt behind Sophie.
Victor stepped into the suite. His gaze went first to Ethan, then to Carly. “Actually, I thought it might be the other way around.”
“What?” Ethan shook his head.
“I thought…” Victor continued as he advanced. Only he wasn’t advancing toward Ethan. He was closing in on Carly. “I thought she might try to hurt you.”
Goosebumps covered her at those words.
“Hold the hell up,” Ethan said, raising his hand. “You were worried about me? Me?” He laughed. “Sweet. Really, touching, agent, but—”
Victor’s jaw hardened. “Look, asshole, it goes with the badge, okay? You find out that someone could be in danger, you react.”
Ethan’s gaze raked him. “You seriously think I’m in danger, from Carly?” He waited a bit, then bluntly stated, “Not happening.”
“I don’t think…” Victor began carefully as his gaze slipped to Carly. She felt far too exposed in her gown. “I don’t think you know her as well as you believe.”
Ethan stepped in front of her, shielding Carly with his body. “I know her plenty well.” He glanced back at her. “Baby, why don’t you go get dressed? I’ve got this guy.”
She started to back away.
“You have a history of hurting men, don’t you, Ms. Shay?” Victor asked, his voice ever so careful. Almost…sad.
She stopped retreating. After all, there were some things that she couldn’t run from in this world. Carly knew that now. She stepped around Ethan and she caught a glimpse of Sophie’s worried face. The other woman moved forward quickly and caught Ethan’s hand. “The next time I call you,” Sophie snapped. “Answer the phone!” Victor’s voice had been soft, but Sophie’s was hard with an edge—of worry.
This isn’t good.
Ethan pulled away from Sophie and focused on Victor once more. “What’s going on? I told you I’d come in today to answer your questions and sign your damn paperwork.”
“I’m not here for you.” Victor crossed his arms over his chest and his expression hardened even more. “This time, I came for Carly. It’s over, ma’am. Your shrink talked. I know your secrets, and I know just what you’ve done.” Again, his voice wasn’t rough, even though his face sure was. He was talking softly to her, and Carly thought that she saw a flash of pity in his eyes.
He was doing his job, but the guy didn’t like it.
A shudder worked over Carly’s body. “No.”
“I want you to come downtown with me.”
She shook her head. “No, you’ve got it wrong. I-I don’t know what Dr. Nelson told you—”
“I have to admit, when I first saw the video of Quincy’s death, I totally bought that you were a victim, but then the shrink started talking, telling me about what you’d threatened, about the men you’d hurt.”
The men she’d—
“You don’t like for your lovers to get too clingy, do you? When they push for too much, when they push for what you don’t want them to have…you turn on them.”
It was hard to breathe. “Stop.” This wasn’t happening.
But Victor didn’t stop. He continued, in that soft, almost sympathetic voice. “That’s what the doctor said about you. He said you confessed all in your sessions.”
She hadn’t. Not to Nelson. She’d always been careful with him. Hadn’t that been one of the reasons she terminated therapy? If you couldn’t share openly with a shrink, what was the point? And she’d shared so very little in her sessions with him because he’d made her feel so on edge.
Victor turned his attention to Ethan. “Did you know that she was put in a psychiatric hospital when she was seventeen, after she took a knife and attacked a twenty-one year old
man named Jon Mathers?”
Jon’s image flashed in her mind.
Carly shook her head once, violently. “Nelson shouldn’t have…told you that.”
“She was deemed to be a threat to others, so she was locked up.” Victor squared off with Ethan. “Did you know that about her? Because I don’t think you did. I don’t think you knew that they had to restrain her because she kept attacking the staff in that facility. That they had to strap her down and drug her because she was so dangerous.”
Ethan’s face bleached of color. He shoved Victor out of his way. “Carly?”
She blinked, refusing to let any tears fall from her eyes. “I didn’t want you to know…”
“She was a victim,” Sophie fired at the FBI agent. “Of course, it stands to reason that she had an episode after the attack by Quincy. I don’t even know the particulars of that case with Jon Whatever-His-Name was, but I’m betting it was probably some guy who got a little too handsy with her. He gave her a flashback to her attack…”
Everyone knows now. Everyone.
“And she snapped. She reacted. I’ve seen other abuse victims respond the same way. It’s survival.” Fury dripped in Sophie’s voice. “And you, Agent Monroe, should know better. You should—”
“I did think the same thing, ma’am. At first. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of shit go down.” Victor’s breath expelled in a low rush. “And, unfortunately, one of the things I’ve seen is that victims…they can be changed. Their pain makes them into something new. Predators.”
“I’m not,” Carly whispered.
“Defending yourself doesn’t mean you’re a predator!” Sophie threw at him.
“No, but targeting other prey does.” Victor rocked back on his heels. “Dr. Nelson has been tracking Carly, since she became his patient. He discovered three other men that Carly dated…men who have since gone missing over the years.”
Ethan had moved closer to her. He lifted his hand and touched Carly’s cheek. “I should have been with you.”
“Tracking her?” Sophie repeated. “Did you say Nelson was tracking her? That sounds obsessed to me. I think you need to—”
“I checked out his story. Those men have vanished. Without a freaking trace. And their only link is Ms. Shay here. According to her shrink, she admitted to wanting to hurt those men. Wanting them to feel part of the pain she carried.”