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“We need to get you to the hospital,” one of the paramedics stated.
“I said I’ll get it taken care of,” Ace repeated. The paramedic backed down immediately. There was so much authority in Ace’s voice, Dakota could understand the man backing down.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Officer Johnson asked.
Dakota was the one to speak up now. “I was just in my house minding my own business when these two men showed up and pushed their way inside,” she said in frustration.
The next twenty minutes saw her and Ace replaying the events as the officers took down information. They verified Ace was who he said he was, and the paramedic bandaged Ace’s arm, though he was obviously frustrated Ace wouldn’t go with him in the ambulance.
Throughout the entire event, Dakota watched Ace. He was so controlled. She was seeing a side of him she hadn’t yet seen. The officers had the utmost respect for him.
Sure, he was the brother of her best friend’s husband, but that didn’t mean he was safe or even sane. She really didn’t know much about any of the Armstrong men, though she’d thought, up to this point, at least, that they were a good family—a safe family.
The adrenaline from the last hour was wearing off. Dakota was standing there in nothing but her thin silk robe, tremors beginning to rack her frame. Ace tried to put his arm around her, but she scooted away and held herself. She didn’t understand any of this.
“It looks like there has been a series of burglaries around your neighborhood,” the officer stated. “Some people haven’t been as lucky as you.”
What resided in his eyes scared her even more. Those neighbors hadn’t had GI Joe bursting in through the back door and jumping over counters to save them.
The officer talked a little longer, and then her house finally began to clear out—everyone except for Ace. She found herself standing there with him and a broken door. Ace didn’t say anything as he went and looked at it. There was no way to lock it now.
“Do you have a hammer and some nails?” he asked.
It took a moment to process the question. “Yes, in the garage.”
He left her standing there and then came back with a hammer, nails, and a two-by-four that had been out there since she’d tried to build planters before giving up on the project. It didn’t take him long to seal the door shut, making it unusable. Air still drifted in through it, but at least someone couldn’t push it open.
“I know you’re a bit freaked out right now, but I think the best thing we can do is get out of here for a while and let you calm down,” Ace told her.
Him telling her to calm down pissed her off all over again. She glared at him as she tried to calm her breathing so she wouldn’t end up saying something she knew she might regret. He wasn’t the bad guy here. She just wasn’t exactly sure who he was.
“Telling me to calm down isn’t going to make it happen,” she finally said.
“I’m sorry,” he replied quickly. “Let’s get out of here, please,” he added.
She looked around again at the mess that was now her kitchen. The bad guys had been caught, so she didn’t understand why she was still so afraid. But she did feel as if someone could walk in her door at any minute. She felt like a target.
“Where?” she asked.
“We’ll go to my brother’s place,” he told her.
“Okay.” She said the words before really giving herself time to think about it.
The two of them moved to the hallway. She grabbed a coat, slipped on a pair of shoes, and followed him out the door. Neither of them said anything as he helped her into the passenger seat of his car before moving around to his side to drive.
As they moved swiftly through traffic, Dakota clutched her seat belt with shaking fingers. They took a corner entirely too fast, making her body slam into the locked door to her right. Ace had the heater on full blast, but she was still shaking uncontrollably.
“Ace, I . . . I don’t understand how you came in my house like that,” she said when the silence was stretching on long enough to make her feel as if she were beginning to lose her mind.
She heard his intake of breath, and though he didn’t turn to look at her, she knew he was very aware of every move she made. This was a side of the man she hadn’t yet witnessed. Yes, she’d known he was different, but this man beside her, this man she’d made love to only hours before, was a total stranger.
“It seems like danger is always following me around,” he said, his voice calm. She couldn’t see him well in the darkness, but she had a feeling that even if she could see his expression, it would give nothing away.
“Why would you say that? Those men had nothing to do with you,” she said. “I don’t even understand why they came after me.”
Ace sighed as he ran his hand down his face before meeting her eyes briefly as he drove. Dakota didn’t like the determination she saw in his expression. It didn’t bode well for what was to come next. She had a feeling her ordinary life was about to take a drastic turn, and not for the better.
“I didn’t come home for a long time because the cases I was working on for the CIA had me deeply undercover. A few months ago, we busted an operation wide open, and the head of the family was killed. I don’t believe in coincidence. It scares me that you were targeted tonight,” he told her.
