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Fine.She could stand.
“Your car exploded.It’s gone.There was a bomb in it.The moment you cranked it, you would have been killed.”I stopped talking as her face paled.I shouldn’t have told her that way.
Her arms fell to her sides as she stared at me.“My … my car?Had a bomb?Why?Who did I make so angry?”Her words came out in a whisper.
“Can you sit down?Please,” I asked for my sake more than hers.She could pass out on me and hit her head, and I wasn’t sure I could take any more stress.
She nodded and walked over to the recliner and sat down stiffly.
“You didn’t do anything,” I told her.“You were targeted because of me.Just like Sarah and my mom and Porter were.”
Her head snapped up.“You said Sarah was okay!”Her color was back as she stared up at me with a wild look in her eyes.
“She is,” I assured her.“Oakley, if my daughter was hurt or in danger, would I be this calm?”
Her shoulders lifted and fell as she took a deep breath.“No, you wouldn’t.But, Wilder, what did you do?Who would go after us because of you?And why me?”She shrugged.“I mean, I am assuming someone came after people you care about to get to you, but I don’t fit into that category.
I started to correct her but decided with us being stuck down here, it was best she didn’t know how off she was about how I felt about her.Hell, I hadn’t known how deep those feelings went until I knew she was in danger.There was clearly no mental line I could draw to get my emotions in check with her.
“Sarah loves you.If something happens to you, my daughter would be devastated.”That was the truth.
Sarah had survived losing her mom, but I wasn’t sure she could do the same if something happened to Oakley.
Oakley nodded as if that made sense.“But who is trying to hurt you through the people you care about?”she asked.
I had already been given the permission from Blaise to tell Oakley the truth about us.He said now that her life was in danger because of her connection to me, she deserved to know.I knew she had some ideas of what our families were involved in, but she’d never been told anything.She knew the rumors the rest of the town did.
“The Kingstons, Salazars, Shephards, and Jones are connected, but you already know that.What you don’t know is how exactly—other than horse racing and friendship.”I paused and held her gaze as she stared up at me.
Her hands fisted in her lap, and her body tensed, as if she was prepared to bolt at any moment.
“Our families are part of the Southern Mafia.Have been for almost a hundred years,” I said, then stopped and let that sink in.
Her eyes widened, but she said nothing.
I decided to continue, “My degree was chosen for me because it was the best way I could help within the ranks.I’m not emotionless and lethal, like Thatcher, and I can’t charm a room, like King.But I can break into anything in the cyber world that the family needs me to.That’s what this is behind me.This is where we keep our database of enemies’ secure—or what was secure before I hacked into it—phone lines, security systems, and even financial information.”
Oakley shot up and put her hands on her stomach.“I feel like I can’t breathe,” she gasped.“This isn’t real.This can’t be real.”
“Oakley, you’re safe.This is okay.Everyone has been secured, and no one is going to be hurt.Except the bastard who is behind this.”
Her blue eyes swung back in my direction.“But what about you?Are you safe?You can’t die,” she blurted, and then her face flushed.“Sarah can’t lose you.”
I had to look away from her face.When I let those eyes lock with mine for too long, everything I knew about her didn’t seem to matter.I just wanted her.
“She won’t lose me,” I replied and started toward the kitchen area.“Are you thirsty?”I asked her.
She let out a laugh, and I turned back to her.
“You just told me that you’re in the Mafia, and now, you want to know if I’m thirsty?”she asked me, sounding amused and slightly hysterical.
“I need a drink,” I said, jerking open the fridge to get out a beer.
“Oh God,” she gasped.“Hamilton.He will be going to my house soon.The car … exploded.I assume there are police there?What about my dad?He will be notified.Do people know I’m alive?”
I closed the door to the fridge and turned back around as I opened my can.“Your car was removed from the property, taken to private and secure land, and the bomb was then detonated safely—for those handling it, not for your car.It’s gone.Your door will be fixed and closed by the time your boyfriend arrives.No one will think anything is wrong with you.Your car won’t be there.They’ll assume you went somewhere.”
“He’s not my boyfriend, and what if it’s not safe for him at my house?What if something else explodes?”
