Chapter 19 Grae
GRAE
This wasn’t happening. The image in front of me couldn’t be real. Flames twisted and danced against the backdrop of an inky-black sky.
“My house,” I whispered.
Caden quickly pulled to the side of the street and parked. The moment the SUV stopped, I jumped out, rushing toward the crowd. Caden cursed, jogging to catch up.
Clint, one of the officers who worked with Nash and Lawson, stepped into my path. “Whoa. You can’t go up there.”
“I-it’s my house,” I stammered as if that would explain it all.
The home I’d worked so hard to build for myself.
Growing up with wealth had given me so many advantages, but the combination of that and my Type 1 diagnosis had made me determined to stand on my own two feet.
I’d worked my ass off to save up the deposit for this place.
Even harder to afford to fix it up and decorate it.
And now it was going up in smoke. Literally.
Caden wrapped an arm around me, but I could barely feel it.
“Let them do their job,” he whispered.
I turned to him, tears stinging my eyes as I burrowed my face into his chest.
“What do you know?” he asked, his voice gruff.
“Not much,” Clint said. “A neighbor called it in ten minutes ago.”
Tires screeched, and doors slammed, but I didn’t look up.
“Is she okay? She wasn’t hurt, was she?” Lawson demanded.
“No,” Caden said. “We weren’t here. We were at dinner with my family.”
“G,” Nash said quietly, his hand rubbing my back.
I didn’t want to look up. Didn’t want anyone to see me cry.
Another door slammed. “What the hell is going on?” Holt barked.
“We don’t know yet,” Clint explained. “They’re still trying to get the fire under control.”
I swallowed my tears, forcing myself to straighten, but Caden didn’t let me go. He kept one arm wrapped around my shoulders as I turned to face my brothers.
A mixture of worry and anger lined all their faces.
Lawson’s gaze flicked up to the blaze. “Did you leave a curling iron on or something?”
I glared at him. “No. And they all have automatic shutoffs now anyway.”
Caden squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s wait until we hear from the fire chief. He’ll know how this happened.”
A truck peeled down the street, skidding to a stop. Roan jumped out and jogged toward us, panic in his expression. “You’re okay?”
Guilt swamped me at the sight of his pale face. “I’m fine. I wasn’t even here.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “This isn’t a coincidence. Your SUV and then your house?”
Caden’s hold on me tightened as he looked down at me. “You need to tell them.”
Pissed-off energy crackled in the air.
“Tell us what?” Lawson growled.
I swallowed hard. “The other day, I thought someone might’ve broken into my house.”
“What?!” Nash snapped. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”
“I wasn’t totally sure. The door was open when I got home, and a picture was moved, but I didn’t realize anything was missing until later.”
Caden’s muscles hardened to granite. “You told me nothing was missing.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “I thought it was a prank.”
“What was missing?” Holt gritted out.
I stared at the pavement. “A set of pajamas from my hamper.”
Curses filled the air around me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Caden asked, his voice tight.
“I didn’t want you to freak out.”
“The question is, why the hell didn’t you tell me what happened?” Nash snarled at Caden. “You’re supposed to be my best friend. This is my fucking sister. I deserved to know.”
“Hey,” I snapped, shoving Nash’s chest. “This is my life. My choice about who knows what. You want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at me.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We are,” Lawson clipped.
Holt held up a hand. “Let’s all take a breath. Start from the beginning.”
I worried my thumbnail with my forefinger. There was no getting around it now. I told them about hearing someone outside my window and about the break-in. We went over the vehicle fire and the events of tonight.
Holt’s brows pinched. “Has anyone been paying you unwanted attention?”
I swallowed hard, glancing at the firefighters who had now extinguished the blaze. “I went on a couple of dates with Rance. He didn’t seem to get the message that it wasn’t going to work out.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Lawson growled. “I would’ve talked to him.”
“Because I don’t want you fighting my battles. I wanted to handle it myself, and I have. He backed off.”
“Unless he just torched your house,” Nash muttered.
My stomach twisted.
Roan moved in closer. “Anyone else? Not just overt advances, but someone getting too close? Making you uncomfortable?”
I glanced up at Caden.
“Who?” he asked, his voice rough.
“Gabe,” I confessed. “He’s always made me uncomfortable, but in the coffee shop the other day, it was more. He was angry.”
A muscle in Caden’s cheek popped. “He couldn’t have done this. He was at dinner with us.”
Relief swept through me. The idea that Caden’s brother might have set fire to my house was almost too much to bear. I took a deep breath. “This could all be a coincidence. Maybe bad wiring caused this.”
Holt pulled out his phone. “She’s right, but I’m going to have my team at Anchor run a risk assessment. If there’s something to find, they’ll get it.”
“You don’t have to do that—”
Holt cut me off with a look. “You’re my sister. I’m still part owner of a security company. Do you seriously think I won’t use every resource I have to keep you safe?”
“Grae!”
Rance strode toward me, still in his fire gear. “You’re okay?”
I nodded. “Fine. How bad is it?”
He winced. “Not a total loss, but your bedroom is pretty much gone.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes.
Lawson glared at Rance. “Heard you’ve been giving my sister some trouble. I’m going to need to ask you a few questions.”
Rance paled. “What? No. She and I are friends.”
“That’s not what I heard. I heard you weren’t happy that she didn’t want to keep dating you. Maybe you’re one of those firefighters who has become a little too obsessed with fire.”
Anger flared in Rance’s eyes as he shot me a scowl. “She wanted to date this asshole, so I backed off. I was trying to be her friend, but obviously, even that isn’t worth it.” He turned his focus back to Lawson. “You want to talk to me? Call my union rep.” Then he stalked off.
“Seriously, Law?” I snapped.
His jaw worked back and forth. “I needed to see his reaction in the moment.”
“And now you won’t be able to talk to him at all,” Caden grumbled.
Lawson glared at him. “If you would’ve told us what was going on, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
“Just stop!” I yelled. “Please, just stop.”
“All right,” Holt said, his voice going soft. “Let’s get you somewhere safe for the night so you can rest. You can come stay with Wren and me.”
But I didn’t want to stay with any of my brothers. Not when they were in this heightened state and pissed the hell off at me and everyone else. I’d never hear the end of it.
Caden’s voice cut through the night. “She’s going to stay with me.”