CHAPTER SEVEN
His fingers were too tight on her arms. Logan knew it. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to step back. There was so much anger, no, rage in Juliana’s eyes. He hated that.
Even as he knew he could do nothing to change the past. “We were just kids, Julie. Two confused kids.”
“I was twenty. You were twenty-two. It’s not like we were playing in the sandbox back then.”
She wouldn’t make him flinch. Terrorists, killers—he’d faced plenty in his time. He’d taken bullets and been sliced by knives. He hadn’t flinched then.
I hate the way she’s looking at me. “We were too young. It wasn’t love. Wasn’t meant to be forever.”
She just kept staring at him, as if she could see through his lies. “No, it wasn’t.” Her breath rushed out. “I counted the minutes on that stupid clock in the bus station. That stupid, huge clock that hangs over the counter. I counted until midnight, when I had to give up.” Her stare was burning him alive. “At midnight, I promised myself I’d never let you betray me again. But…I guess I was wrong about that, too.”
The woman was carving his heart out of his chest with every word she uttered.
“Forget it.” Then she shoved away from him with more force than he’d expected. “So I get an implant, huh? That’s the next big deal? Someone to slice me open, whether I want it or not.”
He wanted the tracker on her, just as a precaution. After the way things had gone down at the cabin, he wanted to make sure he’d have a way of finding her. “Hostages, witnesses—they’ve been taken before. They’re stripped, their bags are tossed. We realized a few years ago that we needed technology that wouldn’t be ditched so easily.” The tracker was tiny, barely noticeable at all, and easily inserted under the skin. A little piece of tech that Uncle Sam hadn’t shared with many others.
“A few hours after the insertion, you’ll barely even notice it’s there.”
She finally glanced away from him. “I’ll notice.” Her words were clipped. So unlike her usual voice. “But I’ll do it anyway because if Guerrero does get to me, the EOD had better haul butt to save my life.”
He would.
Juliana had already turned from him and headed for the door. He should let her go but he had to speak. “I really am…sorry.” The apology came out sounding rusty and broken.
She pulled open the door. “For what?” Juliana didn’t bother looking back at him. “Leaving me before…or setting me up now?”
Both. “I wanted you to be happy. You wouldn’t—you wouldn’t have been happy with me.” The line he’d told himself for years. She deserved better. She’d have better. It was only a matter of time until some Prince Charming took her away.
His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles ached.
“Don’t tell me what I’d be,” she said, her spine stiff and too straight. “I’m the only one who understands how I feel and what I want.”
Then she walked through the door, calm and poised. So what if she was barefoot and her cute little toenails were flashing bright red? The woman had held court too long in her life not to walk with that easy grace.
“Come on, Doctor,” she called out and he knew that Liz Donaldson had to be close by. “Let’s get this over with.”
Logan exhaled slowly. He looked up and stared straight into the mirror that was less than five feet from him. His reflection stared back. His jaw was lined with stubble, eyes and face worn.
She wouldn’t have been happy. The words were stubborn, but they weren’t his, not really. Her father had been the one to first speak them.
You can’t make her happy. When she finds out what you did, how do you think she’ll ever be able to look at you again?
His teeth ground together, but he managed to say, “Come on out, Jasper. I know you’re in there.”
After a moment, he heard the slow approach of Jasper’s booted feet. Then the Ranger was there, filling the doorway, shaking his head even as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You are one dumb SOB,” Jasper said.
“Don’t push me now,” Logan ordered. Jasper was always pushing. In the field, in the office—everywhere. Death wish? Yeah, he had one.
Jasper’s mouth lifted in his usual sardonic smile. “Left her there all alone, huh? Didn’t even go to see the pretty girl at the bus station. That’s cold.”
He stared at Jasper but didn’t see him. “A blue dress that fell to her knees. A ponytail pulled to the side. A small black bag at her feet.” He forced his hands to unclench. “She was sitting five feet from the front desk, turned so that she could see the entrance.”
But he’d been there long before she’d arrived, hidden in the shadows, watching what he couldn’t have.
A furrow pulled up Jasper’s brows. “You were there, but you didn’t say anything? Man, what are you—crazy? Why’d you let a woman like that walk?”
“You know what I am.” Jasper had seen him at his worst, covered in blood, fighting for his life. More animal than man. He’d seen Logan when his control broke and the beast inside broke free.
Born to kill.
He’d been told that for so long.
“No, man, I know what you think you are,” Jasper said with a sigh. “But I tell you this…if a woman like her ever gave me the look—the kind of look I saw her give you—I’d do anything for her.”
He had done anything. He’d given her up. That had been everything. “Don’t push me on this,” Logan warned. He’d hate to have to kick his friend’s butt again.
But Jasper just blinked slowly and kept his smile. “Maybe I should be talking to her, comforting her.”
“You stay away from her.”
“Like that, huh?” Before he could answer, Jasper gave him a long, considering look and said, “At twenty-two, I can still see you being a dumb kid who could manage to give her up. But now, after everything you’ve been through, after all we’ve done, I’m betting that sweet slice of paradise is pretty tempting, isn’t it?”
She’d tempted him from day one and was still tempting him. When he’d had her beneath him at that cabin. When he’d been touching her skin, feeling her soft flesh beneath his…
“You really think you can let her go again?”
Logan didn’t speak.
Jasper nodded. “Thought so.” Whistling, he stalked away.
This time, Logan didn’t look at his reflection. He didn’t want to see the man who stared back at him. The man who just might be desperate enough to try to force Juliana to stay with him.
Even when he knew she deserved more.
* * *
JULIANA SAT ON THE small bed in the lab room, her head down, staring at the tiled floor. Logan stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her.
But then her head tilted back, and her gaze found his.
Silence, the kind that said too much.
He hesitated, then said, “I’ve got clothes for you. Shoes.” Logan strode forward and put the bag down beside her. Then, because he couldn’t help himself, his hands rose toward her.
She tensed.
“Easy,” he whispered. “I just want to check…” He brushed back her hair, knowing exactly where Liz would have placed the implant. His finger slid up her neck, then slipped around beneath the heavy weight of her hair. The bandage was small, barely an inch long, and flat.
“I’m fine,” Juliana said. He stood close to her, intimately close. And Logan didn’t remove his hands.
He didn’t want to. “Are you sure? Any pain, any—”
She shook her head.
Step back. He pulled in a breath and dropped his hands. “Once you’ve changed, we’ll head out.”
Her hand grabbed his arm. He was the one who tensed then. “Where are we going this time? Another cabin in the woods? Another safe house?”
“No.”
Confusion filled the darkness of her gaze.
“No more hiding.” The order had come from above. From the man who’d formed the EOD. Syd had picked up rumors online that Guerrero was on American soil. Rumors they suspected were fact. He was close…they just had to make him come in even closer.
And Logan’s boss wanted them on the offensive.
“We need to make Guerrero afraid. We want him to worry that he’s been compromised.” Mercer’s words. He’d talked to Logan on the phone less than five minutes ago. “When the woman is hiding, he knows he has the power. Get her out. Put her in public. Make Guerrero think we’ve got the evidence on him. He needs to be the one running.”
Easy for Mercer to say. He didn’t know Juliana. She was just a witness to him. An important one, no doubt, but the idea of putting her in danger wouldn’t rip his guts out.
“Where are we going?” Juliana asked again, then her eyes widened. “Unless…maybe there’s no ‘we’ now, maybe the EOD—”
“We’re staying with you.” As if anyone could pry him away when she was in danger.
She nodded, exhaling.
“But we’re not hiding. Guerrero’s power is fear. He wants you afraid. Pulling you away from everything you know. He wants to isolate you. That’s key for him.” The man knew how to intimidate and control his enemies.
And his friends. Luis Sanchez…hell, he still couldn’t believe the guy had chosen to shove a knife into his heart instead of talking.
“Marie…”
He pushed the memory away, just like he did all the bloodstained memories that wanted to haunt him.
As far as the EOD was concerned, it was time for a new tactic with Juliana. “My boss—Mercer—he wants you seen in public. We want to make Guerrero become the one who’s afraid. We want him to think that we’ve found the evidence. That we’re secure. The idea is that he’ll get desperate when he thinks we’re closing in, and desperate men make mistakes.” He’d seen it happen over and over again.
“Do I have a choice in this?”
Her words stopped him cold, and in that instant…
Logan realized that some things were more important than following orders.
“Yes.” He kept his voice calm with an effort. “You do. If you want me to take you out of Mississippi, to get you as far from Guerrero and his goons as I can, you say the word.”
Her lips parted.
“If you want to stay here, to stand off against him and make him become the hunted, then we’ll do that. It’s your life. You make the choice.” He’d back her up, even if he had to go alone, without the other EOD agents riding shotgun.
So Logan waited.
Her hand rose. Touched the small bandage on the back of her neck. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running.”
Logan knew people who had spent years running. That life—it stunk. Always looking over your shoulder, never letting your guard down.
But there was something else she needed to understand before she made her choice. “Mercer’s worried we have a leak at the EOD. That if we tried to take you to another secret location…” It wouldn’t be secret. “Guerrero shouldn’t have found us so quickly. Shouldn’t have known the things he did.”
So Mercer was saying that hiding wasn’t an option. No, that hiding with the EOD wasn’t an option.
Logan was pretty sure he could make Juliana disappear just fine on his own.
He could see the struggle on Juliana’s face. Safety…where did it lie?
With me. If she’d just trust him again.
“No hiding.” Juliana gave a slow nod. “That’s not…that’s not the way I want to live. I don’t want to be afraid, every day, that he’s coming after me.”
Did she even realize how strong she truly was?
“I want to go after him. I want Guerrero to fear. He took away so much.” She swallowed and exhaled slowly. “It’s time for me to take away from him.”
Damn straight.
“Let him think I have the evidence. Let him think we’re tearing his life apart.” Her words came stronger now. “And then let’s destroy him.”
“We will.” A vow.
* * *
DIEGO STARED AT THE MAN before him. A man who sat, bound, with his arms and legs tied to a chair. A black bag covered his head and the fool was screaming at the top of his lungs.
Did he actually think help would come?
Diego sighed. “Why were you getting ready to leave town, Mr. McLintock?” Because he had been. Diego had sent a man to follow McLintock months ago. Back when he’d first realized that the senator was holding back.
The senator had to trust someone. Someone had been there to help with all the deals.
The someone who’d just stopped screaming.
“I—I was just going to visit my mother. She—she lives in Florida.”
It was the wrong response. Ben McLintock should have been asking why he was being held. Demanding to know who’d taken him.
Not rushing to answer with a pat response.
“After all that happened with the senator, I—I needed to get away.”
Still wrong.
Diego nodded to his men. The bag wasn’t needed any longer.
One man stepped forward and yanked it from McLintock’s head. McLintock’s gaze flew around the small room, then locked on Diego.
“You know who I am,” Diego said as he stared right back at the other man.
McLintock gave a small nod.
“That will make things easier.” Diego lifted his hand and gave a little two-fingered wave. His man, Mario, knew what that signal meant.
A knife was immediately shoved into McLintock’s shoulder.
The senator’s aide screamed.
Diego dropped his hand. “You were working for the senator.” The authorities had to know that, too. So he’d had to be so careful when he made his move on this man. But lucky for him, McLintock had been the one to escape from the guards that the government had put on him.
His man had been driving the taxi that picked up McLintock.
“I—I don’t know what—”
Sighing, Diego lifted two fingers.
“No!” McLintock said. Mario paused and Diego cocked a brow. “I—I was… I just delivered packages for him, okay? I didn’t even know what was in them, not until the feds came in and started asking all their questions.” Blood soaked his fancy shirt. “Then Aaron offered me money to keep quiet.”
Sure, as if Diego believed that was the way things had gone down. This man had known about the deals. Probably from day one. He’d been taking money, stashing it away just like James had.
But James hadn’t escaped. Neither would McLintock.
“Where’s the evidence?”
“I don’t know. I swear!”
Diego gave his two-fingered wave. The knife sank into McLintock’s left shoulder this time. More screams. More blood.
“I’ll ask again.”
“I don’t know!”
The knife sank into his left thigh.
“I need that evidence…”
“J-James said he was giving it…to his daughter…s-safekeeping…”
The knife sank into his right thigh.
“I don’t know anything else!”
He could almost believe him.
“Please…let me go…”
Was the many crying now? How pitiful. “I will,” Diego promised him. What would be the point in keeping him? A few more moments, and he’d know if McLintock had any more secrets to tell. After that…
He could go free.
“Tell me, what do you know about the bomb in the cemetery?”
McLintock flinched. “Nothing!”
“Lies just make the pain last longer.” He knew exactly how to get to this one. Pain. McLintock howled when Mario went to work on him again.
“I didn’t set it! I didn’t!” McLintock was definitely crying now.
He also sounded honest. Pity. McLintock had been one of the few with open access to the senator’s house and to his car. But if it hadn’t been McLintock, then that did narrow down his pool of suspects.
Diego nodded to Mario. “You know what to do.”
A muscle flexed in Mario’s jaw.
“Y-you’re gonna let me go, right?” McLintock was soaked in blood and straining against his bonds. “You’ll let me go?”
“Of course.” Diego turned away. “Once I’m sure you don’t have any other secrets to tell…”
Fear tightened McLintock’s face.
“So perhaps you’d better keep talking,” Diego advised, “or else Mario will keep cutting.”
* * *
THE MANSION THAT SAT high up on the hill, its stone walls stark and cold, had never seemed like home to Juliana.
The building had felt more like a tomb.
It sure looked like one from a distance.
“We’ve got a press conference scheduled for eight o’clock,” Gunner said from his seat up front. “You’re gonna focus on Guerrero during that talk. Time to start rattling the SOB.”
Right. She nodded. She’d say or do whatever was necessary. No more fear. She wasn’t going to stand in the middle of any more bloodbaths. As it was, Juliana had more than enough gore floating around in her mind to give her plenty of nightmares, thank you so much.
The SUV pulled to a stop. A cop car was behind them, another in front. Their escorts. Juliana knew that a large guard force would stay at the mansion. Added cover, sure, but the bodies were also designed to attract extra attention for them.
Here I am. Come and get me.
So they could get Guerrero.
Gunner exited the SUV and headed for the main entrance. Juliana knew the heavy iron security gates would have already closed behind them, locking the vehicles inside.
She glanced over at the house. This had been her father’s place, not hers.
“Why did you always hate it here?” Logan’s quiet question surprised her.
Shrugging a little, she said, “Because it’s cold inside. It’s just a big fancy tomb.” Her palms flattened against her jeans. “My mother died one week after we moved into this house. She was coming home and a drunk driver slammed into her.”
Juliana had been twelve. Her mother’s death had torn her whole life apart.
And her father—he’d become someone completely different. He’d stopped caring about people. Only focused on things. More wealth. More houses.
“It was never home,” she said, staring at all the windows. “And it always smelled like a funeral.” Because of the flowers. So many had come after her mother’s death. For weeks the house had been overflowing.
Then the flowers had started to wither and die.
She glanced back at Logan and was surprised by the pain she saw flash across his face. “Logan?”
“I’m sorry about your mother. I heard…she was a great lady.”
This part she could remember so well. “She was.” Her mother had been the good that balanced out her father. She’d always made him be better. Without her, he’d fallen apart.
Juliana reached for her door. Her shoes made no sound as she headed up the elaborate walk. Logan was at her side and—
“You’re alive!”
The woman’s high cry had Juliana’s head jerking up. Then she saw Susan Walker, her father’s assistant, rushing toward her.
Susan caught her in a big, tight hug, a hug that smelled of expensive body lotion and red wine. “I thought you’d died! You disappeared after the explosion and no one would tell me anything….” She pulled back, gazing up at Juliana with wide, worried eyes. “I mean, on the news, they said that you’d survived. But I never saw you!” Susan’s words tumbled out too fast. “And I was so worried!”
Susan’s perfectly smooth face gave no hint to her age. She could have been thirty; she could have been forty-five. The woman had been a fixture in her father’s life for the past eleven years.
His closest confidant. The person who organized his life.
And…
Juliana was pretty sure, her father’s lover.
“We need to go inside,” Gunner said in a quiet voice.
Susan jumped, as if she hadn’t even noticed the men surrounding them. Then, after a frantic look around, she said, “Yes, yes, of course…” She ushered them inside the house. She was in a robe. A white silk robe that skirted around her ankles.
When Juliana entered the house, she heard the faint strains of music playing in the background.
They entered the den, and Juliana saw the wineglass on the table.
“I, um…I was just trying to relax a bit.” Susan’s lips pressed together for a moment. “You knew I moved in last spring, right?” She asked as her fingers nervously toyed with the robe’s belt. “I mean, it just… The move gave me better access to your father. There was so much work to do and I—”
“You were sleeping with him.” The words just came out. She wasn’t in the mood for more lies or sugarcoating. Her mother was gone. She’d known her father had lovers, and Susan—well, the woman had always been kind to her.
Susan paled. “I was his assistant! I was—”
“His lover.” Juliana rolled tired shoulders. “It’s all right. You don’t have to pretend with me.”
Logan and Gunner were silent, assessing. She knew they’d run a check on Susan, on all the employees who worked so closely with her father.
All of the employees had turned up clean, no connection to Guerrero. But Logan was still suspicious, and she knew the EOD was still digging deep for dirt.
“Who are these men?” Susan glanced first at Gunner. Then Logan.
“Her protection,” Logan said with a smile. “In light of all that’s happened, I’m sure you understand why we’ll be staying here with Juliana.”
“Here?” Susan parroted as her eyes widened.
Right. Well, with her father dead, the house was technically Juliana’s. Even if he had been sleeping with Susan. Talk about awkward. She didn’t want to make Susan feel uncomfortable, but this was where they needed to be, at least for the next few days. Just tell her. “We’re going to be moving in for a while.” Hopefully, it wouldn’t be for long. But in case it was longer, Juliana desperately needed a base to use so that she could get back to her life. She wanted to paint. Painting was her livelihood and she had work to deliver, but more, painting gave her a release. It could help take her mind off all the death.
Logan had told her that supplies would be brought in to her. When he’d said that, she’d almost kissed him. She’d caught herself, though, because she knew just where a kiss would have lead them.
To us both being naked. The awareness simmered between them.
“You can’t stay here.” Susan’s rushed denial had Juliana blinking. “This isn’t… You’ve never stayed here, Juliana.”
It was late. Juliana was exhausted. She wanted to hit the bed and fall into oblivion. “I’m going to be staying here now. So are they.” Simple.
Susan just shook her head.
“Which rooms are free?” Juliana asked her. “There should be more than enough for us to use.” She was already getting a chill from being inside the house. The place was always so cold. Her father had restored every inch of the old antebellum. Or rather, he’d paid folks to restore the house. Maybe it was cold because the place was so big and drafty.
Maybe.
She knew her father kept a small staff in the house. A driver. A housekeeper. A cook. And—
“Take any room you want,” Susan said softly as her shoulders sagged. “Take everything… It’s yours, anyway.” Then she brushed by Juliana. “I’m in your father’s room.”
Juliana felt badly about upsetting Susan. She knew the woman was hurting, too. She was pushing into this place—where I don’t belong—and ripping into Susan’s life. Bringing her hell right down on the hapless woman. “Susan…” She wanted her to be safe. Juliana took a breath and though she hated to say it, she forced the words out. “Maybe you should leave for a few days, until…” Until it’s safe. Until I’m not afraid you’ll get caught in the cross fire when Guerrero attacks.
Susan truly had always been kind to her, and when this nightmare was over, Juliana would give her the house. She could take it and be happy.
Juliana sure didn’t want the place. She much preferred her small house on the beach. It never seemed cold there.
Susan’s pretty face tightened. “You’re kicking me out?”
And she’d screwed up. Juliana tried to back up. “No, no, that’s not—”
“For your protection,” Logan inserted smoothly. “The government will be happy to provide you with temporary lodging for a few days, until the situation becomes more stable.”
Susan just shook her head. Her gaze seemed to swim with tears. “I’m not in any danger. No one would want to hurt me!”
“I’m sure that’s what Charles thought, too,” Juliana said quietly. She’d arranged to send flowers to his family, but she’d do more for them, too. When her father’s estate was settled—after the government had their turn to go through everything, she’d see that they were taken care of.
“Wrong place,” Gunner added darkly. “Wrong damn time.”
Susan flinched. Then her eyes focused on Juliana. “Why? Why is this even happening?”
“Because my father was involved with some very dangerous people.” Susan would have been the prime person to realize that truth, only, she seemed clueless. “Now they want me dead.”
“We’ll be escorting you out tonight, Ms. Walker,” Gunner said. “Just show us to your room, and I can help you pack up.”
Susan was still staring at Juliana. “I told you. I shared a room with the senator.” Then she turned away, moving toward the circular staircase with her head up. But at the stairs, she paused with her hand on the banister. “He was going to marry me.”
Juliana barely heard the quiet words.
“We’d planned… He was going to give up his office. Retire. Stay with me.” Her head tilted and Juliana saw her scan the house. What did Susan see when she looked around?
Not death and ice, like Juliana saw.
Antiques, wealth, good memories?
“It’s all gone,” Susan whispered and she climbed up the steps.
Juliana’s gaze darted to the closed study door. Her father had died in that room. He’d put one of his prized guns to his head and squeezed the trigger.
Susan had found his body. So that meant she must have found the suicide note, too. She knew that the senator had fallen far from grace.
It’s all gone.
Yes, it was.
* * *
THE LITTLE BITCH was back.
Susan closed the bedroom door behind herself. Flipped the lock—then slapped her palm against the wood.
The pain was fresh, staggering, and it helped her to push back the fury that had her whole body shaking.
Juliana had just marched in…and kicked her out.
After all of these years. After all the work she’d done.
Juliana hadn’t stayed around to look after Aaron. She hadn’t been there, day in and day out, working to keep the man on a leash. Working to make him look sane when the man hadn’t cared about anything.
Or anyone.
Susan glanced at the ornate bed.
I was here.
And everything—it was supposed to be hers now. Aaron had promised to take care of her. Only, he hadn’t.
He’d been weak until the end. Weak and desperate, and he’d taken the easy way out.
A bullet to the brain. She would have made him suffer more. He’d dangled his promises in front of her for so long.
It should all be mine. The money. The houses. The cars. Every. Single. Thing.
She was so tired of pretending. She’d pretended for years. Yanked herself out of the gutter. Pushed her way into Aaron’s life.
His weakness had been an advantage for her, at first.
But now…
Her gaze roamed around the room. Right past the paintings that he’d ordered hung on the wall. Juliana’s paintings. Her precious work.
Did the girl even realize her father had bought them? That he’d ordered the pieces, paying far too much, and had them delivered back here?
Susan hated them. Storms, dark skies and threatening clouds.
Susan had been so tempted to slice the paintings in the past few days. To just rip them apart.
Payback.
But she’d kept up her image, for all the good it had done her. Kept it up even when she’d shattered on the inside.
“Ms. Walker.” A rap sounded at her door. “We’ll be leaving soon.” An order.
She recognized the voice, of course; it belonged to the first man who’d come into her home. The dark man with the darker eyes.
His stare didn’t scare her. She’d seen plenty of darkness as a kid.
“Just a minute,” she called, trying to keep her voice level. Now wasn’t the time to lose her control. Now was the time to keep planning. To keep her focus.
She headed for the nightstand and the small safe that she knew waited inside.
There were files in that safe. A small handgun. Sure, the police and the FBI and who the hell knew who else had been in the house, and they’d searched everywhere, but…
But they didn’t see the papers inside the safe.
She’d made sure of it. She’d taken those papers, hidden them, then brought them back when the agents backed off.
I knew I could use them.
Another rap. “You need to hurry, Ms. Walker. A car’s waiting downstairs for you.”
Her jaw ached, and she forced her teeth to unclench. She’d recognized the other man downstairs. He’d changed over the years, yes, but she’d still remembered him.
His eyes were the same.
She pulled out the papers from the safe. Flipped open the file.
Logan Quinn’s eyes stared back at her.
Once upon a time, Senator Aaron James had wanted Logan Quinn eliminated from his daughter’s life.
Susan had taken the necessary steps for that elimination. She’d been the one to do the research. To destroy the budding romance.
She knew all about Logan’s secrets. It was time for Juliana to learn about them, too.
You think you’re safe, don’t you? Her gaze darted back to the paintings. You think he’ll keep you safe. But what happens when you learn about all of his lies?
Susan left the safe open just a few inches, and she left the manila file pushing out.
Juliana would find it soon enough.
Then she’d be vulnerable.
And Juliana wouldn’t survive the next attack on her life.
Susan exhaled slowly and made her way back to the door. She flipped the lock and opened it carefully. “I’m sorry…” A quaver entered her voice. “It’s been a…rough few days.”
He nodded. “I understand, and the move—it’s just for your safety.”
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. Not her usual type. Too rough. She’d felt the calluses on the man’s fingertips, but…
Sometimes it wasn’t about what you liked.
It was about what you could use.
Susan rested her fingers on his chest. “I’ll be able to come home again soon, right?”
He glanced at her hand, then back up to her face. The guy’s expression hadn’t thawed any. “When it’s clear.”
It would be clear, just as soon as Juliana was rotting in the ground.
* * *
JULIANA WAS STANDING at the foot of the stairs when Susan came down. Gunner was just a few steps behind, carrying her suitcase in his hand.
It looked as if Susan had been crying.
Great. Juliana shifted her body and blocked the bottom of the stairs. “It’s just temporary, Susan.”
Susan’s eyes were red. She had been crying. “It’s not going to be my home. You and I both know…in the will, he left everything to you.” Anger thinned her lips. “You couldn’t be bothered to see him, but it all still goes to you.”
“I don’t…” Want it. “This isn’t my home any longer. As soon as Logan and his team stop the man who’s hunting me…”
Susan’s gaze flickered to Logan. “I remember you.”
He was by the door. Arms crossed over his chest. At her words, his head cocked toward Susan.
Susan stared right back at him. “Aaron always told me that you were dangerous.”
Juliana eased to the side, blocking her view. This wasn’t about Logan. “Susan, when this mess is over, I’ll call you. We’ll sort everything out. The house, the will—everything.”
Susan’s lips twisted in a sad smile as her gaze focused on Juliana. “He loved you. Probably more than you’ll ever realize. It’s too bad you didn’t know anything about him.” She brushed by Juliana. “Maybe you should take a look at what’s on the walls of his room. It might surprise you.”
Then she was gone. Gunner followed behind her, shaking his head.
But Juliana saw Logan grab Gunner’s arm before he could walk through the doorway. “Find out what she knows.”
Gunner gave an almost imperceptible nod.
The door closed behind him with a click.
Juliana rubbed at the bandage on her neck. She’d almost forgotten about her injuries. Her head had finally stopped throbbing. She just—
“Don’t.”
Logan stalked toward her. He caught her fingers, pulled them away from the small bandage. “Don’t do anything to draw attention to it.”
“No one’s here to see.” His team had cleared out the house. They were alone—all of the guards were stalking along the exterior of the place.
Alone with Logan. When he was this close, the awareness between them burned. But she turned away. “I’m…I’m going to shower.” She didn’t want to see what waited in her father’s room. Not then.
She wanted to wash away the memories of blood.
Logan’s fingers curled around her wrist. “Are we going to talk about it?”
Her throat went desert dry. “It?”
“You…almost coming…”
There’d been no almost about it. She glanced back, and from the look in his eyes, Juliana knew he realized that truth.
“Or are we just going to pretend that it didn’t happen?”
Juliana gave a slow shake of her head. “I’m not that good at pretending.”
His gaze searched hers. “You’re mad because of the setup. I get that.”
Good for him.
“But I swear, I wouldn’t risk your life for anything. You’re my priority.”
She believed that. After all, wasn’t keeping her safe his job?
His fingers tightened around her wrist. “You’re just going to walk away, aren’t you?”
It was what he expected. She knew that. But there was more at stake right then.
Juliana had realized just how vulnerable she still was to Logan. He’d gotten into her heart once, and no matter how hard she tried, she’d never been able to shove him out.
She still cared for him, probably always would.
But she couldn’t let herself love him again. It was too dangerous. Too painful.
Take the pleasure he can give you. A tempting whisper from inside. Then you be the one to walk away.
Only, there was a problem with that plan. If she took him back to her bed, Juliana was afraid she might not want to walk away.
So she pulled her arm free, and before she gave in to that temptation, she headed up the stairs.
I can walk away now.
Juliana just wasn’t sure that walking away was what she really wanted.
* * *
DIEGO SHOOK HIS HEAD as he stared at the man seated in front of him. McLintock couldn’t even keep his head up anymore. Blood and sweat coated his body.
“I didn’t have anything to do with that explosion at the cemetery. I promise!” Ben McLintock mumbled, voice rasping. He’d already said this over and over, and Diego actually believed him.
Why keep lying at this point? McLintock had no one to protect. No family. No lover. The guy had always just been out for himself.
But if it hadn’t been McLintock… Diego’s eyes narrowed.
He waved the guard back and strolled toward McLintock. He put his hands on the other man’s shoulders and shoved him back. McLintock blinked blearily as Diego leaned in close. “This can all be over,” Diego promised him. “I just want to know who’s after Juliana James. I want to know who set that bomb in her car.” Who’d almost screwed his plans to hell.
I need that evidence. Another loose end. There were too many.
“I…don’t know! I swear—I don’t…”
His hands tightened around McLintock’s thin shoulders. “Did you know that Mario over there—” he tilted his head toward the guard “—has one thing that he’s particularly good at? Death. He can kill in a hundred different ways. He likes killing.”
McLintock was crying. Had been for a while now.
Did he realize that no matter what happened, he wouldn’t get out alive? Probably not. People always clung to hope so desperately. Even when they had no reason for that hope.
“Did you see anything…anyone suspicious at the cemetery?” Diego pressed. “You rode over in that limo. Who was there when you got in it?”
“Just…the driver, Charles…”
The man wouldn’t have killed himself.
“Cops were…there.” McLintock licked his lips. Tried to hold up his sagging head. “Federal…agents. I thought—I thought everything was…safe.”
No place was safe.
With the cops swarming around, though, the person who’d planted that bomb would have needed good
access—an “in” at the mansion.
“I rode…in the car, just…me, Juliana and…Susan…”
Susan. Diego paused, remembering a woman with sleek blond hair and too-sharp eyes. He’d seen her before, with the senator.
He’d seen Susan, but she’d never seen him.
Aaron’s lover. Would a lover kill a daughter?
Yes.
“When it was time to leave the cemetery, why weren’t you in the limo?” This was the important question. From what he’d learned, Juliana had been about to climb into the limo. What about the other passengers?
“Susan…Susan said she wasn’t…feeling well.” The words were soft. Weak. The blood loss was definitely taking its toll on the man. “She…asked me…stay with…her. Wanted to get…some air. Said we could get…ride back…with someone else….”
Diego smiled. “Was that so hard?”
Looking confused, McLintock actually tried to smile back even as his eyes flickered closed.
Diego fired a hard glance at Mario. “Find the woman—this Susan. Bring her in to me.”
McLintock drunkenly shook his head. “No. Susan…didn’t do this… She doesn’t know anything about—”
“A man’s lover always knows him better than anyone else.” That was why Diego made a habit of not leaving his lovers alive. They’d just betray him if they lived.
There was too much betrayal in the world.
His father had taught him that lesson early on. In Mexico, his father had amassed a fortune by dealing in the darkness. The law hadn’t applied to him. But…he’d always been so good to Diego. Given him a good life, nice clothes, toys. A home.
Diego had known his father was a dangerous man, but he’d trusted him. A boy trusted his father.
Until that night… He’d heard screams. He’d followed the cries. Found his mother dying, and his father—covered in her blood.
“She was selling me out!” His father had wiped the bloody blade of his knife on his pants. “Trying to make a deal with those Americans… She was going to take you away from me!”
His mother had looked like a beautiful angel. Lying on the ground, her white nightgown stained red.
“No one will take you from me!” his father had snarled. “They think they can use you against me, make me weak!”
His father had been so good to him before.
But Diego had seen the real man that night.
No one is good.
His father had stalked toward him with his knife. The knife he’d used to kill Diego’s mother. “No one can use you against me.”
And he’d known that his father had snapped. He’d cried as he looked at his mother and he’d realized—He’s going to kill me, too.
Only, Diego hadn’t been ready to die.
They’d fought. The knife had cut into Diego’s flesh. He still had the long scar on his stomach, a permanent reminder.
Trust no one. Especially not those close to you.
But Diego hadn’t died. At twelve, Diego had killed his father. Then when he’d walked out of that house, covered in blood, with the bodies of his mother and father behind him…
El Diablo.
His father’s men had given him a new name—and they’d feared him. Everyone had.
Diego realized that he was staring down at McLintock. The man was barely breathing, and the hope was almost painful to see in his bleary eyes.
Giving a slow nod, Diego stepped back. “You’ve given me the information that I needed.” And he was sure that Susan would be coming to join him very soon.
“You’ll let me go? Please?” The man’s voice was thready, so weak. No man should talk like that. Diego barely held his disgust in check. No man should beg. His father hadn’t begged.
“The knife,” Diego said as he opened his hand. Without any hesitation, Mario gave him the blade.
McLintock sighed raggedly. Did he think Diego was going to cut his bonds and let him go?
“You’re free,” Diego told him and drove the knife right into McLintock’s heart.
When he turned away from the body, he saw the fear…the respect…in Mario’s eyes.
El Diablo.
As long as there was fear, he didn’t need trust or loyalty.