The universe had answered his prayer all right. He had his enemy, but destroying Shaw would in no way cure Jenna.
“I need Shaw’s head on a silver platter,” Steel growled out. “He did this to hurt Jenna, not me.”
Ghost nodded, his face hard. “We’ll get him. We have his name now.”
“We’ve had his name for nearly a month,” Steel snapped, “and it has gotten us nowhere. We are no closer to finding him today than we were yesterday or months ago when he had me fucking arrested.”
Ghost didn’t argue, but he also didn’t back down. “Our enemy has nothing to lose, Steel. He’s patient, he’s strategic, and he’s trained. That’s a very dangerous combination. But make no mistake, wewillget him. And when we do, I’ll buy you the biggest silver platter I can find.”
Jenna had builtLittle Shoes Consignments from the ground up. With Jack retiring and their move to Mount Grove, Jenna finally had the opportunity to start the business she’d always dreamed of owning. In the military, where they were stationed was too unknown to create a business that catered to the kids of low-income families. Plus, she was raising three kids of her own while her husband was deployed. But her kids were teenagers by the time they moved, and Carter was already off to college. The timing had been perfect; Jack was starting the club, and Jenna could finally start her business.
And now it was gone.
Jack wouldn’t let her anywhere near the disaster until days after Valentine’s when Captain Hunter from the fire department had assured them that it was safe. Seeing her beloved store as just a pile of rubble was…awful, and the smell was even worse. Like the time they’d come home to find Carter had put fish sticks in the oven and then forgot about them. For hours. That crisp, burnt smell would be in her nose for a while now.
She tried to keep her stress and emotions down, but there was no stopping the tears when she saw what little remained. Brick, glass, and plastic shards and chunks were everywhere. The fire department had cleared the road to make it usable again, but that just pushed all the debris under the police tape. It didn’t take it away.
The store next to Jenna’s was also destroyed. Mr. Gaunt’s upholstery repair business had been there longer than the consignment store. Mrs. Gaunt refused Jenna’s apology, saying that this was the push Mr. Gaunt needed to retire, but Jenna could not stop the guilt.
Jack said it was an RPG, a rocket propelled grenade, that had destroyed the stores. That meant intent. It wasn’t like one of those was available atWalmart. Griffin Shaw, a man who had once hugged her and gave her condolences on the loss of her father-in-law, had set out to destroy her husband. She didn’t know what the man’s plan was with salting the icy pond. Had he wanted the kids to fall into the water too? Her? Jack? Or had any one of them been worthy, so long as it caused terror? It was possible he hadn’t wanted any of them in the water and just wanted the ice to crack, but Jenna didn’t think so. Not with the man’s history of killing for hire.
Had he thought Jenna and Jack were inside the store? Jack didn’t think so. His belief was that Shaw knew they were up on that overlook and had planned the attack for them because of their vantage point. Which was just sick. Anyone could have been hurt. What if Mr. Gaunt had been working late? It wasn’t unusual for the man, and the only reason he wasn’t was because of the holiday. What if some young couple, like Ollie and Aaron, had been walking by when Shaw had shot his weapon and they’d been caught by the blast?
As she stood by the edge of the rubble that had once been her store, she had to wonder why. All this for revenge? Jackhadn’t set Shaw up for murder. He’dcommittedthose murders. He’d taken his military training and used it to line his own pockets. Hewasguilty. Yet he held resentment for Jack? After all this time, enough to try to make Jack suffer? The only reason Jenna could think was if there was something more. Something that had either happened to Shaw in prison or that he’d missed because he was in prison that made him blame Jack.
Therehadto be more. There had to be a better reason than Jack turning him in to the authorities thirty years ago.
There just had to be. Because if all of this was senseless? If Jack got arrested, if Scar went into that freezing water, and if her store had been destroyed fornothingbut some twisted game of a sick man, then she really would lose it.
Jack’s arms circled her from behind. Jenna hadn’t realized she was starting to sag until she felt him take her weight. His lips touched the shell of her ear, raising goosebumps all over her body. “We’ll rebuild. Maybe not here, but we’ll rebuild. I’ll give you back your dream, even if I have to do it brick by brick.”
Jenna closed her eyes, not wanting to see the destroyed building anymore. It would be a while before they’d be able to start cleaning up and seeing if there was anything salvageable underneath. She highly doubted it, but it never hurt to be hopeful.
Jack’s words struck her hard, though. To start over terrified her. She barely had the energy to run her store now, or the store before it had been destroyed. Did she really want to start over? She wasn’t sure, and the worst was the fact that she knew Jack would give it to her. He’d sit her down and do all the work himself just to give her back what she’d lost. He wouldn’t allow her to lift a finger, and he would keep going until it met her specifications perfectly.
She couldn’t do that to him. Maybe Mrs. Gaunt had a point. Maybe she should look at this like an opportunity, rather than a tragedy.
Jenna shook her head, “No.”
Jack stood upright. He kept his hold on her as he shifted around to face her, placing his back to the rubble and blocking her view of it. She opened her eyes to look up at him. “No?” he questioned back.
“No,” she repeated. “I don’t want to rebuild.”
“Jenna, baby, this was your dream,” he started, but she put a finger to his lips to stop him mid-sentence.
“It was,” she agreed, “but dreams change. Yours did. You gave up the club for me. I would have never sold the store or quit because I loved my store. And it fucking sucks that it’s gone. But I don’t want to rebuild, Jack. I don’t want to start over.”
He stared down at her for a long while, as if he was looking for something. Checking she was telling the truth? “What do you want to do then?”
Jenna took a deep breath, and the acrid stench of burnt plastic filled her nose. She crinkled it. “First, I want to get out of here. You were right, and I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry I made you bring me.” Jack had valiantly fought Jenna on bringing her here, but in the end, she’d convinced him. She’d been wrong. “Second, I don’t know yet. It’s not something we have to decide today, though. Right now, Jack, I want to go home and just curl up in bed with you. I just want to forget the outside world for a while. Can we do that?”
He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “Anything you want, baby.”
He helped her turn, keeping a strong arm around her waist as he walked her back to the SUV where the prospects waited. They’d retrieved the old truck from the mountain the morningafter Valentine’s. They checked it over for trackers or sabotage, but Jack said nothing was wrong with it.
Jenna’s stomach growled as Jack was buckling her in. “Can we stop by the diner first?”
He smiled and kissed her before repeating, “Anything you want, baby.”
