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“You get her bags,” I snap without looking back at Flynn. “Come here.”
I open my arms, clenching my hands open and closed like I would if I were urging a scared animal to trust me.
She swallows again, but only spends a minute contemplating her move before she stands. I lift her, holding her to my chest like a bride, and when she buries her nose in my neck, I realize just how fucked I really am.
***
She didn’t say a word when we got in my truck.
Didn’t ask a question when we ended up in a parking garage or when we climbed into a black sedan.
She didn’t look confused when we pulled out with five other vehicles identical to the one we climbed in the back of.
I don’t know if she’s ever participated in a shell game before, but she didn’t seem concerned. At least no more than she already was when we left the hotel suite.
The driver drops us off at my ranch three hours after I carried her past Mendoza without a word. I regretted having to let her go when I placed her in the pickup and every second since.
I know she’s in shock, and I know how to comfort her, but it’s the walking away when she’s calm that I’ll suffer with until the end of time.
My body is humming with the need to head over to Benton Park West and burn the entire shitty neighborhood to the fucking ground for even thinking they could walk in that room and hurt her.
The police are heading to the address that was written down along with Petrovich’s number. If I had to guess, the piece of shit was ordered to get her to that location so she could be tortured until she revealed where Dani is.
I didn’t tell Mendoza that my men were already en route to the location before he arrived at the Four Seasons. They found it empty which means they still had someone outside of the hotel waiting for their guy to come out with her. They were tipped off and scattered before my guys could get there. Hence the need for the shell game.
I brought this trouble to her door. They followed me there. I know Anna was worried about the nights I wasn’t there with her, but those were the nights she was safest. I put her in trouble this time, and that knowledge sits in my gut like a bomb waiting to explode. The trip back from Cote d’ Ivoire gave Petrovich enough time to put measures in place to track me. Wren is working on the hows, and I feel utterly safe on this land. Not only can this place not be tracked by normal means, but I have enough weapons and ammo to overthrow the government of a small country.
Finding Dani is crucial right now. The sooner I can do that, the sooner I can let this woman get back to her regular life without the worry of someone wanting to hurt her. She’ll never be safe around me.
I scrub my hand over my face for even considering being around her longer than it takes to track down my ex-wife. It’s impossible. My life isn’t made to have someone in it. I wouldn’t put a woman through that. The loneliness and isolation are what killed my marriage. Anna deserves better than anything I could ever offer her.
I’m wondering when the shift occurred, when I went from hating her to wanting to be around her as I unlock the front door. Anna looks around, taking in the huge wraparound porch and the acres of land surrounding the home before stepping inside.
“Let’s get you settled.” I head to the stairs, knowing which room I’m going to put her in.
Early morning sun streams into the house as we climb the stairs.
“This room gets the least light in the morning.” It’s the one that’s also the furthest away from my room, not that I anticipate sleeping much while we’re here. “I know you’re going to want to nap.”
“Thank you,” she whispers when I drop her bags near the dresser. These are the first words she’s spoken since I picked her up and held her to my chest in the suite.
She must know she won’t be here long because she doesn’t make a move to unpack.
Unsure of what to say to her, I nod and walk out, pulling the door closed behind me. I wait just outside of the door, ready to go back in if I so much as hear a whimper from her perfect lips, but the only sound that makes it to my ears is the creak of the antique metal bedframe.
I feel the burden weighing me down the farther I walk away instead of the relief I expect. I haven’t even spent that much time with her since she called me weeks ago, but the draw to her is unmistakable. Anna has always been fiercely independent, and somehow her reaching for me, the need I could see in her eyes when I crouched down in front of her while trying to coax her from the room nearly burned me. I feel the same desire deep inside. I feel the same urge to touch her, to comfort her, to make promises I’m not sure I’d ever be able to keep.
