by Cynthia Eden
Roman whirled toward him. “You don’t know a—”
Bam.
The bullet blasted at Roman. “No!” Harper screamed.
Roman stumbled back. Fell.
“Doesn’t matter,” the man with the gun said. “Neither of you were ever getting out. And whoever is coming? They’ll die, too.” He hauled Charity’s body out of the doorway, yanked the door shut and, a moment later, Harper could hear the sound of his retreating footsteps.
Chapter Nineteen
“Don’t you dare die on me.” Her foot poked him again. “Get up, Roman. Get the ropes off me, and let’s get out of here.”
He opened his eyes. Blood soaked his shirt. “The fucker shot me.”
“I suspect he’s about to do a whole lot more. I heard him lock the door. And he said that anyone coming after us was also going to die. So, you know, the whole place just feels like one giant trap. How about we get the hell out of here, now?”
Excellent plan. He ignored the burn in his chest. Pushed the pain aside. Grabbed for the ropes around her. He had been lying before—he did have a weapon on him. He pulled out the knife he’d hidden, and he sliced through the ropes. Then he tugged Harper to her feet.
She threw her arms around him.
He…held her. Roman couldn’t help himself. His arms curled around her, and he held her tight. God, baby, I love you so much.
“You shouldn’t have come after me,” Harper muttered. “I’m glad you told Wilde. At least, they can try to get us out of here and—”
“I didn’t tell Wilde.” She felt so good in his arms. “I would never do anything to risk you.”
Her head whipped back. “What?” Then she blanched. “That’s a lot of blood, Roman.”
“Barely a scratch.”
“You’re lying.”
“I love you.”
Her eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“I’m sorry for what my father did. I wish—I wish everything could be different. I wish I was somebody different. I tried to be, but it didn’t work out for me.”
“I like you just as you are. Arrogant, too silent, and mine.”
“Harper—”
“We’re getting out of here. Now.” She pulled free. “No windows in this place.” She grabbed for the doorknob. Twisted. Yanked. “I can probably take off the hinges.” She eyed the hinges on the door. “Then we can get out and—”
He curled his fingers around her shoulder. Pulled her back.
Her brows rose. “What are you doing?”
He kicked at the door. Once, twice, three times. The wood shattered in heavy chunks.
“That was nice, but I think you alerted—”
He shoved her to the side just as gunfire erupted. The bullet missed her, but he jerked, hard, when it thudded into him.
***
Dex stilled. “Fuck.” Another gunshot. Roman’s enemies just weren’t going to stop. They would attack and attack until he was dead.
Dex’s gaze cut around the secluded scene.
Time to give them what they want.
***
“Roman?” Harper whispered.
“Eric was right about you.” His head dipped toward her. “I loved you from the moment I saw you.”
She touched his chest—blood. Warm, wet—
He pulled away from her and ran out of the bedroom. He kicked away the parts of the door in his way.
“Roman! Wait for me! You don’t leave your partner!” She rushed out after him. Saw that he’d pinned one man in black against the wall and was beating the hell out of him. Well, okay, that took care of one perp.
Where is the bastard I scratched?
She caught sight of him. It looked as if he’d just come out of an old kitchen, and he was raising his gun— “No!” Harper shouted.
His head swung toward her.
Too late. She was already running toward him. Running as fast as her still-somewhat-drugged body could go. She didn’t so much tackle him as she flung her body onto his. They crashed together and hit the floor. She rammed her elbow into his nose. Gave him a deep, bloody matching scratch on his other cheek, and she reached for the gun that had—
“Got it, sweetheart.” Roman. He had the gun, and it was aimed at their assailant. “You can get off him now.”
Before she got off him, she kneed the bastard in the groin. Just because. Then she stood at Roman’s side.
“There’s one more of them,” Roman rumbled. “I think he might have gone outside already. I need you to go track him down. I don’t want any of them getting away.”
She nodded.
“Here.” He slid the gun into her hand. “Take this.”
She took the gun.
“I have my knife, and it will be my pleasure to use it if this jackass twitches…” Roman growled. “Now, go, baby. We can’t let him get away.”
She was going, but she was planning to find a phone and get him an ambulance. Harper raced away. She yanked open the front door.
***
“Who are you?” Roman asked. He looked at the blade of his knife, and then he looked at the man sprawled on the floor before him.
“Christos Hybrek.”
The name meant nothing to him. “Let me guess. I did something to you or your family. Or my father did or—”
“No. I just decided to collect the bounty on your head. When you’re offered a lottery, you don’t fucking walk away.” He smiled. “The woman, Charity, she thought I didn’t know how much money people would pay for you. She was wrong.”
She was also dead. Roman had checked her body when he’d rushed out of the bedroom.
“We should get out of here,” Christos said. “Now.”
“Because you wired the place to blow?” Like he hadn’t considered that possibility. It was the reason he’d sent Harper out.
A shrug. “It was what Charity wanted. She wanted to watch you burn. Said it was the ending you deserved. Nothing personal.”
“No? Funny. I take burning to death very personally.” He stared down at the man. A stranger who wanted him dead. “There’s always going to be someone else. Always someone else in line who wants that lottery.” He glanced toward the doorway. Harper was gone.
I told her that I loved her. The words had just tumbled out. But he’d meant them. He loved her. He wanted a shot at a life with her. He sure as fuck didn’t intend to die in that cabin.
Harper is outside.
“Come on, asshole,” Roman ordered. “Time to go.”
The bastard smirked at him. Then lunged up—with a knife of his own.
***
She nearly ran straight into Antony.
He grabbed her. Held tight. “Harper!”
“Roman needs an ambulance!” The words tumbled out. “He was shot, and there’s a lot of blood, and I have to get the jerk who ran out because there were three of them—”
“We’ve got him,” a female voice announced. “Don’t worry about him. He’s unconscious and cuffed.”
Harper’s head swiveled. “Lacey?” She hadn’t seen her friend in weeks. She’d missed the wedding because Harper had been out of the country, and she hadn’t even got to meet the mysterious groom who’d swept Lacey off her feet—
Lacey pulled her in for a tight hug. “Where’s my brother?” Lacey asked.
“What?”
“Roman,” Lacey said as she eased back a little from Harper. “Didn’t he tell you?”
Another secret. How many secrets did he possess?
But Harper looked back toward the small house. The front door hung open. “He’s inside. He’s hurt.” Now that she knew things were taken care of out there, she could rush back to Roman. “Come on. He needs us.”
She took a fast step toward the house.
And the explosion knocked Harper off her feet.
***
“Completely unnecessary,” Roman growled as he watched the flames shoot into the sky.
Harper flew onto the ground.
He i
mmediately surged toward her.
“Dumbass!” Dex grabbed his arm and hauled him back into the shadows. “Are you seriously trying to undo all of my work? Do you know how hard it is to set a scene like this with the zero amount of notice I had going on? I needed hype. I needed witnesses. I need your ass dead. You can’t be dead if you’re rushing after your girlfriend because she just slipped onto her ass. The woman is okay. Take a breath.”
Harper was back on her feet. Trying to run toward the burning house.
“See?” Dex sighed.
Lacey grabbed her. So did Antony. They held her back.
“The two men in the house were dead. You shoved your knife into that one jerk’s heart, and I had to take out the second when he tried to jump me. Idiot.” Dex’s breath heaved out. “When the smoke clears, I’ll make it seem that one of those guys was you. The evidence will be overwhelming. You won’t need to look over your shoulder any longer.”
“Harper is crying.”
“Yes, well, that’s because she loves you.”
“She thinks I just died.” She was still trying to get back to the house. Breaking his freaking heart. “I need to tell her the truth. She can’t—she can’t think I’m dead. I can’t…let her hurt.”
“Why not? You were going to leave her. According to my sources, that was your plan all along.”
He didn’t look away from Harper. “Your…sources?”
“You’re bleeding a lot. We should probably get you some care before you pass out.”
Lacey was dragging Harper back. “Does…my sister know?”
“Well, of course, I told her the plan. Can’t very well have my wife getting upset and thinking I let her brother die, now, can I?”
But it was okay for Harper to think that? Roman rounded on him. “Harper is in pain! We have to tell her—”
“This is a long time coming, my friend.” Dex drove his fist into Roman’s jaw.
***
“I want to see the body.”
Antony blanched as he stood at the foot of Harper’s hospital bed. She’d been brought to the hospital—over her very, very loud protests. The docs had poked and prodded her, and inside, she’d been silently screaming every single moment.
Roman. Roman isn’t dead. Roman loves me.
“It was a really hot fire, Harper. They haven’t even put it out yet.”
She sat up.
“Not all the way,” he added roughly. His gaze cut away from her.
Her eyes narrowed. “Where is Roman?”
“Dead, Harper. Roman Valentino is dead.”
He wasn’t meeting her stare.
“Antony—”
The door flew open behind him. “Antony Kyle!” A woman with sleek, strawberry blonde hair rushed inside. “What in the hell is going on?”
Harper wasn’t in the mood for more drama. “I want my partner. I want him now.”
“He’s dead, Harper,” Antony said. He frowned at the other woman. “Ella, how did you know I was here?”
“Because I’ve been following your phone. You were at a bomb scene earlier. A bomb scene! I heard on the news that some poor man got blown to pieces in that—”
He grabbed her arms. “Not now. Don’t say more.”
But Harper had heard too much. “It’s fake.”
Antony and the blonde looked at her. “Excuse me?” the blonde said.
“It’s fake.” She needed Antony to confirm this for her. “Something you did.”
“I…have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a game designer.”
Harper looked at the woman he still held. “You’re his head of security.”
“I—yes. I’m Ella.”
“He’s lying to you. And he’s lying to me.” She climbed out of bed. Stupid paper gown. “I know a staged scene when I see one. I want my partner.”
Ella pushed away from Antony. “What’s he lying about?”
Antony’s lips parted.
“Get me Dex,” Harper commanded before Antony could reply. “Tell him that I want a private meeting, right the hell now. If I don’t get what I want, I will be on the news in thirty minutes, and I will be telling the world a story that no one will soon forget.”
Chapter Twenty
“I expected more from you, Harper.” Dex had appeared—as if by magic—in Harper’s hospital room. Antony had vanished, and he’d taken his furious head of security with him. “Demanding to see me. Threatening to tell some wild story to the media. I know grief can do many things to a person but—”
She stalked toward him. Stopped right in front of Dex. “I know what you did.”
His brows climbed. “Saved you. Dispatched the bad guys?”
“He always planned to leave. That’s what he said. But using me—making me watch while the house exploded, and I thought he was inside…” Her breath shuddered out. “That was cruel. When he said he loved me, was that just to set the scene? Just so I would hurt more and it would be more believable? Was it—”
“No.” Clipped. Quiet.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach.
“He’s under the knife right now. His wounds were worse than I thought, or else I wouldn’t have slugged the guy when he tried to get to you.”
What?
“Roman didn’t know what I had planned. The only person who knew was Lacey. I told her at the last minute. The opportunity presented itself—a chance for Roman to die in a dramatic way, a chance for him to be safe—so I took the chance. When Roman realized what was happening, he lost his damn mind. He couldn’t stand to see you in pain. He was rushing out of the shadows to get to you, so I had to knock him out.”
She bit her lip and felt tears slide down her cheeks.
“He’ll pull through. He’s too tough and too much of an asshole for anything else.” Dex nodded. “Then you’ll have a choice to make. You can either stay here and keep your life. From what I’ve seen, it’s a pretty good life. Good job. Good friends. Good home. You can have it. Or you can start over with him. In order to do that, though, you’d have to leave this world behind. Have to become someone new, because that’s what he is doing. You’ll have to give it all up, and you’ll have to be very, very sure…is he worth it?”
Roman isn’t dead. Roman isn’t dead. “I want to see him. Now.”
“Can’t happen. He’s in a secure location. He’s in surgery. He was hit by two bullets, and that Christos asshole drove a knife into his ribs.”
Christos?
“You’re high profile at the moment. You were abducted—twice—and you were just at the scene of a major explosion. If you disappear right now, that will make things look suspicious. You’ll ruin all my hard work. Work that I did so that Roman could be safe. So that you could be safe.” He held her stare. “He wasn’t wrong, you know. Because he cared about you, that put a target on your back. That’s something for you to consider. I’m doing everything I can to bury him, but…if you choose the path that takes you back to Roman, there will always be some danger.”
Roman is alive.
Dex turned away. “I’ll return to you again when things have cooled down. You can tell me your answer then.”
“He said he loved me.”
Dex paused near the door. “I think that man has spent his whole life wanting someone to love him and thinking that he would never be worthy of love at the same time. So when you make your decision, Harper, be sure. He can handle attacks. He can handle betrayals. But…” He looked back at her. “I don’t think he can handle it if he believes he’s getting a life with you, then you decide two months in that it’s just too much. You decide that it—he—isn’t something you can deal with. The glow wears off, and suddenly, you’re not so sure it was love, after all.”
Her chin notched up. She strode toward him. Lifted her hand. Jabbed her index finger into his chest. “There is no fucking glow.”
His brows climbed.
“Roman has driven me crazy from the beginning. He’s secretive and bossy. He doesn’t
talk nearly enough, and…” Her voice turned ragged. “And when I thought he might be in that house, my heart ripped open. There is no stupid, pretty glow. There is need and pain and a link that cuts straight to my soul. He’s mine, and I’m his.” She nodded. “You tell him that. You tell him to get well. You tell him that I remember what he said to me, and you tell him to remember this…”
Dex waited.
“I would go to hell and back for him, and if it meant that we could be together, I would enjoy the ride no matter how much it burned.”
He blinked. “That’s…um, I suppose it could be sweet, in a twisted, screwed-up kind of way.”
“Tell him.”
A nod.
“And I will be seeing you again, Dex.”
“Count on it.”
***
But five weeks had passed. Five of the longest weeks of Harper’s life, and she hadn’t seen Dex again. Hadn’t seen Dex or Lacey or even Antony. There had been no word from Roman, and Harper was about to go crazy.
So she marched straight into her boss’s office. Slammed the door shut behind her. Eric Wilde glanced up. A flash of worry dotted across his expression, and his shoulders straightened as she closed in on him.
“Hi, Harper,” he began slowly. “Is there something wrong—”
She slapped her hands down on his desk and leaned toward him. “I want my partner.”
“You want a new partner, right. Working on that. I am actually in the process of recruiting a woman who I think will be a great addition to Wilde. She has worked as the head of security for—”
“I don’t want a new partner,” Harper gritted out. “I want my old partner. I want Roman.”
He swallowed. “Harper. You know that’s not possible.”
“I know that it’s you and it’s me in this office. I also know you’re tight with that jackass, Dex. You know where my partner is. I want to know why I don’t know that.” Her heart twisted. “He survived the surgery. Tell me he—”
Eric’s right hand closed around hers. Squeezed.
She took that as a yes. For a moment, her head dipped forward. “Then he just doesn’t want to see me?” She’d made it obvious that she wanted him.