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“Good.” Brad glanced up. “Ari. Can you call General August?”
“Y-yes.” She backed toward the doors, and Mason handed over his phone.
He could hear her talking to the general. Sergeants Bancock and Mueller pushed through the doors a moment later, a warm rush of air coming with them from the solarium. They raced onto the patio, their bulk crowding it even more.
“We heard a muffled shot and screaming,” Sergeant Mueller explained.
“Thank you,” Mason answered. “Arianna is on with the general. He’ll get a medic for the wife. Can you secure the perp?” He nodded toward the man Brad had pinned to the ground.
“With pleasure.” The two large sergeants moved toward him.
Brad eased off the man.
The Gifted Genius tilted his head to the side and whimpered, “He broke my arm.”
Neither of the men answered him. Mueller cuffed him and then ripped him to his feet. They each took an arm and shoved him through the doors as he protested and squealed in pain.
“He won’t hurt anyone else,” the wife said. She slumped back against the balcony barrier and then crumpled onto her side in the snow.
Mason hurried to her, still holding his gun out in case she was faking unconsciousness. He kneeled and put two fingers to her neck. “She’s got a pulse. Probably passed out from blood loss or the shock.”
“You’ve got her?” Brad asked.
“Yes, my friend.” He tilted his head toward Arianna. She hung up the phone and was looking back and forth between them.
Brad needed no more prompting from his friend. He hurried to Arianna, opening his arms wide, and she collapsed against him. He took the phone and tossed it to Mason, then wrapped her up tight. Her body trembled and his neck grew wet with her tears, but she didn’t make a sound.
Suddenly, she looked up at him and whispered, “You saved me.”
Before he could respond, she arched up and kissed him.
Brad knew how to respond to that. He pulled her even closer and returned the kiss, praying she could feel how deeply he loved her and wanted to make things right with her and be together.
Arianna pulled back, stared at him, and then slapped him hard.
He blinked in surprise.
She grabbed his suit jacket and tried to shake him. “Why? Why do I always instigate the kiss?”
“I’m … sorry,” he managed. He’d happily instigate kisses every moment… if he knew she could forgive him and they had a chance.
She stepped away from him and glared. Even through the glass doors, he could hear a commotion coming their way. Soon they’d be separated for questioning.
“Ari, please.”
“Thank you for saving me, but this changes nothing between us.”
Before Brad could respond, General August and Lieutenant General Prescott, medics, and other military personnel burst through the patio door and onto the scene. The medics set to work on the wife. Brad was led inside the solarium for questioning. His last glimpse of Ari was the lieutenant general putting a blanket around her shoulders and leading her away.
ChapterEleven
Arianna walkedinto her bungalow in Traverse, staring around at the cozy, perfectly decorated space and wondering why it seemed so cold and empty. General Ray had escorted her home himself, waited stoically by her side while his men swept her small house, and then followed her in. There were two policemen watching her house from outside. She didn’t know why; the Gifted Genius and his wife had been arrested. There was no other threat to her. She was grateful for their diligence and supposed they were trying to help her feel secure and comfortable.
Chief Jensen had already gotten out of the wife that they’d snuck into the castle secured to the bottom of the baker’s box truck. The woman was obviously abused, but she swore this was the first time ‘Klein’ had forced her to help murder someone.
It was a relief to have the nightmare behind Arianna. To know she was safe and that man wouldn’t target anyone else.
All she could think about was that she hadn’t seen Brad again before she left. She needed time to wrap her mind around what he’d told her. To forgive him. If he didn’t love her, she’d have to figure out how to be friends with him again. It would be difficult being around him and having him see how she longed for him.
