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“We have our ways.”
“Are they legal ways?”
“Don’t ask me that. The less you know about our plan, the better.”
I gaped. How could it be that behind all the luster and beauty of 10,000 Lux lay something sinister and foreboding?
Worse … could it be deadly?
I slipped from Dane’s grip and his lap. I stood in front of the fire, trying to warm the frigid blood in my veins. Dane joined me, his large hands clasping my biceps.
/> “Ari, don’t let this upset you. We’ll get it under control.”
“By whatever means necessary?”
“I have the right to protect my empire. To protect everything that’s mine—I told you that before.”
“But within the limitations of the law. Right, Dane?”
“Of course, Ethan, Qadir, Nik, and I want to rectify this as simply and efficiently as possible. Understand, though, that when people of this magnitude strike, you have to strike back. It’s the only way they’ll respect our power.”
I didn’t want to hear any more. I didn’t want to agonize over what lengths they might go to save 10,000 Lux from shady poachers.
So much of me believed that Dane was correct—he’d had good intentions with the secret society. He’d had good intentions with the Lux. It was perfectly within his realm to want to defend and safeguard what he’d worked so hard to build. I didn’t doubt that for a second.
The terrifying part was that I truly did support him, because he deserved to be able to fight for his own legacy. It was the darkness around the fringes that tore at me. What was he willing to do? How far were he and the others willing to go—on both sides?
And why did I feel I was somehow caught in the middle?
That incident in the stairwell … Had it been all coincidence and really bad timing on my behalf? Or had that snake been lying in wait for me? The one person who used that emergency exit more than anyone else—maybe the only one to use it.
What about the fire? I’d been the only one around the media room at the time.
I shivered. Dane wound his strong arms around me.
“I will take care of this, baby. You just have to trust me. Do as I ask.”
“Stay out of stairwells and the media room?”
“For now.”
“Damn it, Dane.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He held me a bit tighter. “Believe me, I’m not happy about any of this. But when you’re dealing with the sort of capital wrapped up in the Lux, investors getting greedy isn’t uncommon. When it’s within their reach, these men are like junkies, Ari. Money is their drug. It’s never enough. They want more and more. It’s a natural rush, a high they don’t want to come down from, so they need bigger and bigger deals. No matter what they have to do to acquire them.”
“That’s what scares me. If they’re so bent on owning the Lux, won’t they do anything to get their hands on it?”
“Something tells me we’re about to find out.”
I wiggled out of his embrace and faced him. “Dane. This is serious.”
“Yes.”
Okay, he already knew that, but still.
His hands cupped my face. “You’ll be safe. Here with me.”
“I’m not quitting my job to be some caged animal, no matter how beautiful the house.”
