“Hawk.”
Another exhale.“I went to Reyes’s house.”
The world narrows.“What?”
“I went to West Lake Hills.He was there.”Hawk clears his throat.“Sitting in a guest room he turned into a smoking lounge.”
I gulp.
Part of me hopes he pummeled Hernando Reyes into paper pulp.He deserves the worst.But another part of me is filled with dread.I don’t want Hawk in danger.I don’t want him in danger because of me.
“What did you do?”I finally ask.
“I asked questions.”
I swallow down nausea.“What did youdo, Hawk?”
A pause.“I put him on the floor.We fought.He swung first—well, second—but it doesn’t matter.He’s alive.”
My pulse spikes.“And now?”
“Now he’s…contained.”
Oh, God… I really feel the nausea now.I have to pull over to the side of the road.
“Dani?You there?”
“Yeah.”I gulp again.“Contained where?”
Silence again.Then, “In an old barn on the Bellamy property.”
I grip the wheel harder.The horn almost honks from the pressure.“You can’t do that.”
“I did.”
“You can’t take people.You can’t tie them up.You can’t—God, Hawk—this isn’t a movie.There are proper channels.”
“Dani…”
I pound a fist on my steering wheel.“I’ve lived my whole life with criminals.I can’t do it again, Hawk.I fucking can’t!”
He doesn’t reply.
“You’re a Bellamy,” I say.“You have more money than God.Use it.Don’t—” I choke on the rest.“Don’t put yourself in handcuffs for me.”
A pause.“I was doing it for your protection.”
“If this is what your protection looks like, I don’t want it.”
Silence.Thick.Heavy.
He says softly, “Say that again.”
“If this is your protection, I don’t want it,” I say, enunciating each word derisively.“I won’t be the reason you go to prison.”
“I’m not going to prison.”
“You sure?”My laugh breaks.“You followed a man.You broke into his home.You abducted another.You assaulted him.You’re keeping him in a barn like a—like a?—”
