He had a full-out grin now. “Can’t wait to hear it.”
“He called me, jealous about the idea of us together. He said that you had a reputation of sleeping around, and he didn’t want to see me get hurt.”
His smile faded a touch.
“I got mad at that, so I asked how he knew I wasn’t interested in doing that to you.”
“Are you?”
“You know I’m not.”
Victory flashed in his eyes. “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”
40
SHAWN
Once lunch was over,we each focused on business.
When the time was right, I was going to convince her to come to Osterhägen. Incentive Systems had granted her as much leave as she needed to recover from her ordeal, and that should be more than enough time to persuade. The alternative, her seven hours away from me in Maastricht, was unacceptable.
When I was back on top of things, we still had five hours before landing.
“Let’s take a nap,” I suggested. “As long as you can be an adult and keep your hands to yourself.”
I’d said it as a joke, but the truth was I was hyperaware not to push. After what she’d been through, I didn’t want her to feel any pressure, and I wasn’t going to move faster than she was ready for.
She’d be the one to guide us forward.
Victoria turned down the couch, converting it into a bed. She drew the shades, plunging the cabin into near darkness before retreating to the galley and shutting the door to give us privacy.
I took off my tie, jacket, and shoes as I listened to Kara stretch out on one side of the bed. Even though it wasn’t huge, it was double the size of the hospital bed she’d shared with me last night. I climbed in beside her, settling onto my back until the wound there painfully reminded me not to do that.
“What happened to Ethan?” she asked. “I thought I saw him in the square.”
“When the cameras came out, he had to disappear.”
“Is he okay? He was bleeding pretty bad.”
“He’s all right. He stayed near, and he...” I was unsure whether to continue. “He helped Jason with the body.”
“Helped him?”
“Jason didn’t give me a lot of details. Ethan took the body and the authorities barely questioned either of them, or where the guns came from, or the fact that he shot a man dead in front of several witnesses, all caught on video.” It had been stunning how quietly it had been handled. “He took care of every aspect. The way he explained it, this was them putting right the wrong they’d done by letting Juric escape.”
She paused. “Did you kill that man in the woods?”
I wasn’t sure if she’d seen that or not. “He was going to kill you, or Ethan, or both of you.”
There was acceptance in her eyes. She’d been forced to kill a man to protect us, and now I’d done the same.
Her small, soft hand found mine.
It was then that the story spilled from her. She told me about the splatters of red the bodies left when she’d first been delivered to Juric. The unexpected fall she’d taken into the basement. The knife he used on her. How she’d hidden my business card, and how difficult it had been to sacrifice, and return to the monster.
Finding out that Juric had been the one to kill Rhodes was a shock, but his motive for doing so was even greater. That Juric’s obsession had completely shifted from Laurel to Kara.
Then came the topic I was dreading.
