Her first awareness that anything was wrong occurred when she tried to lift her arm. It felt heavy, cumbersome. Concern grew into panic when she realized one of her legs wouldn’t move at all. Alarmed, she went for her knife at her bedside. Found nothing. It was gone. Grey had given her the knife, and she hadn’t slept without it in years. Her heart raced at the implication. Dark still had her.

“Irelyn. Listen to me. You’re fine.” A soft light appeared in a corner, and big hands gently cupped her face. “Look at me, Irelyn. It’s Grey.”

The panic washed away. “Grey?” She blinked up at the hollow-eyed, beard-stubbled man. “What happened? Where am I?” She winced at how raspy her voice sounded, how dry her throat felt.

“I’ll tell you everything, but first, do you want some water?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

She heard the sound of water splashing into a glass, and then a small cup with a straw appeared. She took a sip and then another, finding instant relief.

“Not too much. Take it slow.”

After another few swallows, she nodded her thanks. “Where are we? How did you find me?”

“You’re in a private hospital in York. I found you at Hill House. Do you remember what happened?”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and everything flooded back at once. Anxiety slammed through her. “Sister Nadeen and Somer. Dark took them. Are they all right?”

“I called them. They’re fine. Worried about you, but they’re safe.”

She took in a breath, hissed at the throb of pain that permeated her entire body.

“Do you remember what else happened?”

Yes, she remembered it all. Waking up in that hideous white room at Hill House. Dark had been standing, smirking. He had shown her recordings. They had fought and then…

Her thoughts grew hazy, and she frowned up at Grey. “Did I burn down the house?”

He grinned then, and despite feeling lousy, she felt her heart click up several beats at just how sexy he looked.

“To the ground. Flattened it.”

Hill House was no more. Just that bit of news gave her a peace she hadn’t felt in years.

“What about Dark? Did he die in the fire?”

“No. He’s still out there.”

She sighed. “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

“You feel up to telling me what happened?”

“Yes, but first, what’s going on with my arm and leg? You said I had surgery. What for? Why is my voice so raspy? Why does my chest hurt? And why does my head feel like it’s twice its normal size?”

As he told her about her injuries, memories of how she’d received each one returned. The fight with Dark had been brutal.

“Wait.” Irelyn held up her hand. “How’d I break my leg? I remember running through the house as I set it on fire.”

“I think you must have fallen from the floor above. We found you in the foyer.”

“Dark grabbed for me. I think he might have slugged me. I fell backward.”

“Another one of the million reasons why I’m going to kill the bastard.”

“I should have done it myself.” She grimaced and shifted uncomfortably. “Poor execution leads to poor results. I could have come back later and destroyed the house.”

“You had the chance to kill him, and you didn’t take it?”

“Insane, I know. I just… I had a choice to make. Go after Dark or destroy the house.” She threw Grey a wry look. “Guess I made the wrong choice.”

“What do you mean, go after him?”

“We were in the midst of fighting, and he just turned and ran.”

“Hell, Irelyn.”

“I know. I know. I should have just gotten out. But I remembered seeing paint thinner and matches in the janitor’s closet when I was there before. I couldn’t resist destroying the house.”

“You think you hesitated killing Dark because he ran from you?”

“Yeah, maybe so. I saw what I could have become if you hadn’t saved me. He didn’t have someone like you to lean on. If I hadn’t had you—”

“I’m not going to take credit for something you did. You did the work, baby. Not me. I was just there to lend a hand and a shoulder to cry on. You made yourself into the woman you are today.”

She wouldn’t argue with him. Part of that was true, but she also knew that without Grey’s support, she might have returned to the cesspool that Hill had created.

“So what’s the plan? Do we have any idea where he’s gone?”

“The plan is for you to recover. I’ve got a network of people looking for him. He won’t stay hidden for long.” Picking up her hand, he kissed it. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m sorry I had to leave that way.” She told him about the men at the airport, about the laser light that had been focused on the little boy’s stuffed animal. “I didn’t know if it was really a gun aimed at him. Would’ve been hard to get one in the airport but crazier things have happened. He might’ve been bluffing but I just couldn’t take that risk.”

“Charlie hacked into your email account. I saw the video of Somer and Sister Nadeen, knew why you left. Took me forever to get clearance for Lily to take off. How did Dark get you to England so quickly?”

“I have no idea. As soon as I got into the limo, he knocked me out with some kind of sedative. When I woke, I was at Hill House.”

“When I finally got to the house, and we couldn’t find you, I almost went crazy.”

The pain was there in his eyes. She had put him through hell.

“I’m so sorry, Grey. Apparently, Dark added new rooms. It was apparent that he’s been planning this for a long time. He played us.”

“How so?”

“He knew how Reed died.”

“How the hell did he find that out? We vetted every single person involved.”

“It wasn’t any of our people. Reed told him he was meeting me that night.” She hesitated to tell him the next bit of information, but they had agreed to keep no more secrets. “He was planning to kill me then.”

“Reed was going to kill you? Shit. Then all of this is my fault. I was the one who insisted you make that appointment with him. If I hadn’t had you set up that meeting, he—”

“Would have killed me at another time. He had apparently decided I couldn’t be used anymore and would never return to Hill House. I know this seems crazy, but you saved my life by setting it up that way.”

“I am sorry for the way it went down, but I can’t be sorry he’s dead.”

“I’m not sorry about either one—that Reed is dead or the way it went down. If Sebastian did nothing else, he made me realize how glad I am that I was the one to kill Reed.”

“How so?”

She told him about the recordings, about how they’d had the opposite effect on her than what Dark had expected.

“Seeing everything he did to me, all the horrendous things he put me through, I realized what a gift you gave me. You gave me closure.” She smiled and added, “You gave me justice.”

He kissed her hand again. “I love you, Irelyn Raine. I love you so damn much.”

“I’ll never tire of hearing you say that.”

“Still going to marry me?”

“Absolutely. Once Dark is out of the way, nothing is going to stop us.”

“I’ll take care of Dark.”

“That’s not—”

He squeezed her hand. “Darling, you’ve done all the heavy lifting up until now. It’s my turn.”

“But—”

“No buts. My turn. You just get better. Understand?”

“I can’t lose you, Grey.”

“You won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Have I ever broken a promise to you?”

“No.”

“I don’t plan on starting now. We’re in this together, Irelyn, for the long haul.”

“The sixty-year plan. Right?”

Blue eyes gleaming with warmth, he leaned over and whispered against her mouth, “We’ll renegotiate at sixty years.”

“Deal,” she said softly.