Chapter Eight #4
His eyes had taken on that crystalline-green appearance, an almost laser-like quality. “I’ve told two people. You and Rainier. Blom has no idea, and no investigator would ever find the evidence. If he didn’t teach me anything else, my father taught me how to get rid of bodies permanently.”
“Why Rainier?” She stroked her fingers along her temples, working to keep her breathing even.
“Unfortunately, my father is actually my biological father. I have his blood in my veins. I carry his genetic makeup. He was a monster unlike anything I’ve seen since, and I’ve seen plenty of men who were killers.
Rainier is one of the few men I respect.
All of them would keep my confidence, but if I ever took a bad turn, Rainier is the only one who has a chance of successfully tracking and neutralizing me.
It’s a hell of a thing to have to ask a friend, but he’s a man of honor. He would follow through.”
“You aren’t your father any more than I’m my father,” she protested in a whisper.
“You don’t have a mean bone in your body, Harlow,” he said.
“And yet I have no problem with what you did,” she pointed out.
“I’m not a saint. I know my father’s behavior escalated over time.
He attacked those young girls. Raped them.
Deported them when they wouldn’t cooperate with him.
His attacks became more violent the more he got away with them.
I couldn’t stop him. I tried, but I was portrayed as the jealous, high-strung daughter who was ungrateful and privileged.
In the end, I withdrew, which made me no better than my mother.
How many young women did he harm before making this last one disappear?
That’s on me, Wilder. Had I been more like you, so many of those young girls wouldn’t have suffered at his hands.
And this last one? What if she is dead? What if he murdered her? ”
“It isn’t on you, Harlow. You know better.”
“You say you have your father’s blood flowing in your veins. I have my father’s.”
“I refuse to allow that to define who I am,” he said. “If anything, I double- and triple-check every assignment given to me to ensure whoever I’m sent after needs to be neutralized.”
“That’s such a delicate way of putting it,” Harlow said. “I’d like to neutralize my father. It sounds so much better than what I really have in mind.”
His hard features softened momentarily. “I think it best if only one of us does the actual neutralizing of anything. As it has been my profession for many years now, I think I’m a little more qualified.”
“Don’t brag. It isn’t very becoming.”
Wilder burst out laughing, the sound rich and beautiful, music to her ears. The tight knots in her stomach eased. His gaze remained on hers as he came back up the stairs to stand on the porch. “Mon rêve, you are truly an amazing woman.”
She found herself smiling back at him. “I’m grateful you think so.
But you have to promise me you’ll never talk about what happened when you found your brother again.
For all we know, there could be listening devices everywhere.
Our phones listen. Our watches. Everything does.
How old were you? Seventeen? It wouldn’t matter. ”
“You tossed your phone into the yard a good distance from us. You don’t wear a watch that is going to record everything you say or do, and neither do I.”
“You have a phone,” she pointed out.
“It’s secure,” he assured. “We’ll be getting you a secure phone as well. This one can be the decoy. The crazies can leave you a hundred messages. You won’t hear a thing.”
“What are you going to do?” She indicated the phone in his hand. He hadn’t returned it to her, nor did it look as if he intended to.
“Have a brief talk with your father or mother, whichever one is being inconsiderate at the moment.”
Her heart did the skip-a-beat thing that irritated her.
She had to be okay with Wilder making his own decisions.
She couldn’t change him, nor did she want to.
She recognized that the senator would always be a trigger for her.
Wilder might believe the senator couldn’t touch him, but powerful men in suits, with endless money at their disposal, could make things happen.
Someone had set Wilder up to be ambushed and killed during a mission no one should have known about. If that shadowy figure could get to someone in Blom’s organization, or Blom himself was involved, someone like her father could do so as well.
Wilder’s palm came down on her joined hands very gently. She realized she was twisting her fingers together in anxiety.
“Trust me, Harlow. The senator isn’t ever going to be the most dangerous man in your life. You have me standing in front of you.”
“I realize that, but who is standing in front of you?” Her eyes met his.
He leaned into her, dipping his head to brush her lips with his. A small flickering ember that burned hotly remained after he lifted his head.
The phone burst into another obnoxious song, and Wilder stepped away, but kept his gaze on hers as he hit the button to open the line on the speaker. At once the furious voice of the senator spewed a litany of foul words. Wilder held his phone close to hers as her father began to berate her.
“You stupid, ungrateful bitch. Let me tell you what’s going to happen.
Your mother and I will be there in a few days with carefully chosen reporters.
You will act like a lady, a daughter horrified at the accusations made against her father, and you’ll do exactly as you’re told to help clear up this mess.
If you don’t, be prepared to lose your nursing license, your silly reputation as an artist and the home you love so much. Do you understand me?”
“Senator Frye? I’m afraid you didn’t reach your daughter. I hope the line you called from is secure.”
There was instant silence. Heavy breathing. Harlow had heard that particular sound many times in her life while her father struggled to bring his temper under control.
“Who is this?” His voice was much calmer. He was sliding down to reasonable and making bargains.
“Is this line secure?”
“No.”
“One would think a man of your stature would know better than to make threats over an unsecured, open line. This conversation has been recorded. I want you to hear me very clearly. Understand what I’m saying to you.
You will stay away from Harlow Frye. Hopefully, you’ll be intelligent enough not to follow through with the threats against her. That would be…unfortunate.”
“Are you threatening me?” The senator’s voice shook with anger.
“I don’t make threats.”
A shiver crept down Harlow’s spine. Wilder didn’t make a threat. His voice was soft. Low. But he sounded more dangerous than she’d ever heard him. He looked it too, but the moment he ended the call, he looked at her and smiled. That smile transformed his rugged features from tough to almost boyish.
“I think we found a good job for Raine, something that will make her feel very useful. It will force Rush and Rainier to give her back her laptop. She can ensure the senator doesn’t attempt to carry out his threats against you.”
“That would make both of us very happy, Wilder. Thank you for thinking of it.”
“We’ll get you a different phone. I think it best to keep this one so the senator, when he gets a secure line, can call again and rant and rave.”
“He does a lot of that if he doesn’t get his way.”
She was especially happy that Wilder hadn’t identified himself.
“Let’s get some sleep, Harlow.” Wilder held out his hand to her. He led her back into the house and indicated the guest room. “This room or yours?”
Her heart stuttered. “Wilder?”
“Sleep. That’s all.”
She took the plunge, indicating the guest room. She didn’t want his scent all over her sheets and pillows if things went sideways between them.
“Don’t look so scared, mon rêve, I’m just going to hold you so you feel safe. That nonsense with the senator is just that, but you’ll have nightmares if I’m not here to stop them.”
That could very well be true, so she didn’t argue with him. It was strange to slide under the covers and have a warm, hard body wrap itself around hers. One leg tangled with hers, his thigh over hers. His arm circled her waist, pulling her into him.
“Sweet dreams, baby,” he whispered, and settled his head close to hers.
At first, her heart beat too fast, and she was far too aware of every inch of his body that was tight against hers. He breathed evenly. Rhythmically. She found that soothing and began to relax. He didn’t attempt to speak again. In fact, she didn’t know if he had fallen asleep or not.
Misha had curled up at the end of the bed rather than go into the primary bedroom without her.
She found the presence of her dog nearly as comforting as being held in Wilder’s arms. His body was warm.
His heart and breathing, steady. Once again, he was right in that she felt safe.
So safe she drifted off to sleep and didn’t have a single nightmare.