Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
G eorgette looked between the two men, waiting for a punchline that never arrived. “You kidnapped Siggy?” she said at last.
“You said you wanted to meet him,” Burke said.
“Somehow I thought there’d be fewer ropes and gags involved,” she mused, staring hard at the man she’d been talking to the past year. She’d wondered what he would look like, and wasn’t exactly disappointed. He was decently mediocre, nothing outlandishly attractive or unattractive about him. An average guy she would have passed on the street without a second glance, but one whom she could imagine falling for on further inspection.
She had also wondered how she would feel seeing him, and now she had her answer to that, too. Maybe it was the lingering effects of the alcohol in her system, but she felt detached, as if viewing a stranger. One who was still very much bound and gagged and terrified, if his panicked expression was any indication.
“You couldn’t have invited him to tea?” Georgie said.
“I didn’t intend to make contact with him at all. I wanted to track him down and check him out, make sure he was okay. But then I began digging and, well,” he reached forward and unbound the gag around Siggy’s mouth. “You tell her.”
“Help,” Siggy screamed, struggling fiercely against the restraints on his arms and legs as he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Burke motioned around the attic space. “It’s sound-proof.”
“You sound proofed it, even though I can’t hear you?” Georgie asked.
“Sometimes I work at night; I didn’t want to bother the guests. Also, stuff like this might occasionally pop up.” He motioned toward Siggy who had started to cry gently.
“Smart,” Georgie said.
“Always thinking ahead,” Burke agreed. He tapped Siggy with his toe. “Tell her. And look at her when you talk. Also, the weeping makes it hard for her to understand you. Stop it.”
Siggy stopped crying and sniffled pathetically a few times, trying to pull himself together. He didn’t want to talk, that much was obvious, but a glance at Burke’s resolute face convinced him otherwise. “I met you on purpose, I planned it,” he finally confessed.
Georgie was shocked. “Me? Why? What could you hope to gain from me? I have no money.”
“What did he tell you he did for a living?” Burke asked.
“He owns a book store,” Georgie said.
Burke toed Siggy, who sighed. “That’s partly true, I sell books. But I also sell other antiques. I saw a video of your inn online, and I noticed something in the background.”
Georgie searched her mind for anything valuable and came up blank. “What?”
“This,” Burke said, holding aloft a mini globe.
“You wanted my globe?” Georgie asked.
“It’s a pocket globe from the mid-nineteenth century. If you open it, it contains an accordion fold illustration of famous astronomers and explorers. A guy I know collects them. I told him about this one, and he went crazy for it, practically began salivating for it and offered me a finder’s fee. I told him I’d get it.” He swallowed hard and broke eye contact, glancing at the ground.
“You did all that, tracked me down and met me online, talked to me for months, just for a globe?”
Siggy looked up. “In the beginning, yes. But I liked talking to you, Georgie. I liked you. I felt really conflicted, that was why I didn’t make a move for so long. But then you sort of went radio silent for a while, and I thought it was over.”
“Tell her what you did,” Burke commanded.
Siggy sighed again, cheeks flushed with shame. “I hired a guy, a thief, to break in to the inn and try to steal it, but he wasn’t supposed to touch you, I swear. It was supposed to be an in-and-out job.”
Georgie remembered the man she saw, how terrified she’d been, and shuddered. She blinked furiously, assimilating the new information. If not for Burke, he might have hurt her, could have killed her. And for what? “How much is it worth?”
“About fifteen thousand dollars. He’s going to give me five.”
Five thousand dollars. That was what her life was worth to this man. He’d been willing to lie and manipulate and even endanger her for such a paltry sum. She turned to Burke, who regarded her with a worried frown. “What do we do with him now?”
“That’s up to you.”
“What are my options?” Georgie asked.
“Legally? Not much. But I’ve never had a problem circumventing the law when vengeance is on the table,” Burke said, and Siggy whimpered.
Georgie pretended to think it over. Of course she wouldn’t hurt Siggy; she wasn’t that crazy, and she wasn’t even that upset. What did it matter that he’d lied to her? He was a stranger. She saw that now, and she let it go. On the other hand, it was pretty annoying, the way he’d played puppet master with her life, for the sake of a stupid globe. “Hmm,” she said, tossing Siggy a considering glance.
“Please,” he sniffled, and she couldn’t stand the sight of him a moment longer. She turned back toward Burke.
“Let him go.”
“Are you sure? I’m up on all the latest ways to dissolve a body,” he said, and she was fairly certain he was exaggerating for the sake of teaching Siggy a lesson, too. Probably. But it was also Burke, so who knew?
Siggy whimpered again, and Georgie nodded, anxious to have him away from her inn and out of her life. “Yes, I’m positive.”
Burke gave a little nod, pulled a wicked looking knife from somewhere unknown and slit the ties that bound Siggy’s hands and ankles. Siggy rubbed them, now staring mutinously at his captor.
“I’ll sue. I’ll prosecute. You kidnapped me. This isn’t over.”
Georgie began to feel alarmed. How well had Burke covered his tracks? If Siggy went to Brody, he would have to do something about the allegations. Burke must have thought the same thing because he held the globe out for Georgie’s inspection. “Do you actually like this thing?”
She shook her head. She never wanted to see it again. From this moment on it would be tainted by Siggy’s betrayal and her own na?ve idiocy.
Burke shoved the globe hard into Siggy’s chest. “Take it and go.”
Appeased, Siggy clutched the globe and took a step toward the door. Burke grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back, turning him to face Georgette. “What do you need to say to her?”
Siggy’s cheeks flushed red, but Georgie didn’t know if it was sorrow, shame, or the embarrassment of being manhandled like an errant puppy. “Sorry, Georgette,” he mumbled. She gave him a little nod, but Burke didn’t release his hold. Instead he tightened it, momentarily cutting off Siggy’s air as he brought him close to his face and spoke.
“From this moment on, she doesn’t exist to you. Lose her number, lose her name. Mention her or me again, and I’ll make good on the threat to dissolve you. Are we clear?”
Siggy nodded furiously, the globe now clutched to his chest like a security blanket, as if it were all that was keeping him sane. Maybe it was because this time when Burke released him he scrambled madly for the door, practically falling over himself in his haste to escape.
When he was safely away, Burke finally faced Georgette.
“Are all breakups like this?” she asked, and he did the most unexpected thing: he laughed out loud.
When he had fully recovered, he stepped forward and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know, Burke. I don’t know anything anymore.”
“What don’t you know?” he said. “Ask me, and I’ll tell you.”
“I don’t know how to go through life like this.”
“Like what?”
“Constantly rejected.”
His hands moved from her shoulders to her neck. It could have been a scary gesture. If he squeezed even a little, he’d cut off her air. But it wasn’t scary, it was soothing and supportive, careful, gentle, and intimate. “I’ll tell you. Are you ready?”
She nodded.
“Stop caring what stupid people think.”
She blinked at him. “That’s it? That’s your grand life advice?”
“Yes, because here’s why: if you constantly chase the good opinion of people, you’re going to feel amazing when you have it. But anything that has to be earned can also be lost, just as easily, and then you’ll feel terrible when that happens. And it will, because those people who bestow and revoke their opinions at will get high on the power of doing so. You’ll get caught in a perpetual cycle of trying to earn love and approval. So forget them, because they don’t matter. Find your ride or die people and focus on them.”
“How do you know when you’ve found your ride or die people?”
“They’re the people who show up, who don’t just say the words, they’re the people who actually show up and do the work.”
She thought of Brody, of Elyse and Cotton, who had pitched in to carry her tonight when she was out of her head. They hadn’t complained, hadn’t berated her, had merely done what needed to be done and continued to love her. And she thought of Burke, who’d driven to Boston to track down Siggy, to make certain he was safe. Of Burke, who had given so much of his time, effort, and energy to help her the last few months, who had renovated her attic at his own cost, who had hired decorators to complete her dream of a fantasy Christmas, who had washed her dishes and defended her to Jenna, who had been in the background of her life the last few months, ready and willing to swoop in and save her. She took a shaky breath and let it out in a whoosh, taking a step closer to him as her hands reached out and gathered his shirt.
Burke tensed but not, she realized suddenly, with displeasure. Always before when he’d tensed this way, she’d assumed it was because he was uncomfortable with her close proximity, with her unwelcome presence invading his hard-earned space. But tonight for the first time she saw it for what it was: Burke tensed because his body was aware of her, maybe even wanted her. This tension had another name, and now she called it what it actually was: attraction. Burke wanted her, maybe desperately, a fact that was confirmed when he swallowed hard and smoothed his thumb along her windpipe, staring at her lips.
Georgette stood on her toes and tipped her face toward his. Short of installing a blaring PLEASE KISS ME sign on her forehead, she wasn’t certain how she could make her wishes any more clear. But instead of kissing her, Burke took a step away.
Before she could become offended by that, she realized an alarm was blaring from somewhere nearby. Flinching, she glanced around to see if anything was on fire, but it wasn’t that sort of alarm. Georgie knew because she’d had the fire alarm hard-wired to the lights, so she’d be certain to notice. The lights didn’t flicker, meaning this was something else.
Burke pushed open a panel, typed something, and the outside cameras flicked to life. Georgette watched as two people, dressed in black, began attempting to break in the back door of the inn.
With an annoyed sigh, Burke reached for a remote control and typed something into it. Fascinated, almost as if she were watching a movie, Georgette saw something fly out of the blackness and land on the two people, knocking them to the ground and pinning them there while they squirmed furiously, attempting futilely to get away.
This was the most intense, fascinating thing Georgette had ever witnessed, but Burke’s expression remained flat, almost annoyed, as he faced her. “I have to go deal with this. Don’t leave this room. I’m locking you in.”
And just like that, he was gone.