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“I know you hear me. I love you. And I will do whatever it takes to make this world safe for you.”
She didn’t sleep again. He held her as she cried for Harvey Wyle. For her friends. For the past and the present. When her tears stopped, he still held her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Confessing his love had probably not been the wisest decision of his life. Hunter understood that he probably should have played things a bit closer to the vest but…
She’d been in pain. She’d been crying. He’d just wanted to make all of her pain and her grief stop. He’d wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone. That she would not be alone, no matter what.
Because he fucking loved her.
He’d held her in the darkness. He’d run through the case over and over again in his mind, almost like he was stuck in some damn, endless loop.
He really wanted to know what Gabriel Parker was hiding in his house, though, by now, the professor had probably destroyed any evidence that had been inside.
“There’s a, um, very large man in the kitchen,” Shelby noted as she slipped into the den. “Pretty sure I remember him being called John Henry?”
He turned toward her. She’d just left the shower moments before. He’d heard her blow drying her hair in the bathroom. John Henry had brought them both clothes and toiletries. Even a new charger for Shelby’s hearing aid. The items had all been waiting at the safe house when Hunter and Shelby arrived. He was very grateful for the supplies because their bags had been blown to hell and back in the SUV.
“He’s making pancakes,” Hunter explained. “FYI, they’ll be the fluffiest, most delicious damn things you’ve ever had. The guy bakes to handle the stress in his life.”
She blinked. “Does he have a lot of stress?”
Considering John Henry’s past… “Yes.”
“Maybe I should try that. He could teach me baking, and I could teach him glass blowing.” A faint smile came and went on her face, but the smile did nothing to erase the shadows under her eyes.
He closed in on her. “I can talk to Nate alone. You can hang here with John Henry. He will protect you every moment while I am gone.” The prison that housed Nate wasn’t too far away. He could be there in an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Hunter didn’t want to be away from Shelby, but he knew he could count on John Henry.
“Thought you wanted me to be with you. Twenty-four, seven.”
Hell, yes, he wanted that. “I also would like you away from your homicidal ex.” Something he wanted with every inch of his being. Hunter also didn’t want her to watch him, say, lunge across a table and break the fucker’s neck right in front of her. Something he certainly had the know-how and power to do. Breaking a neck wasn’t quite as easy as it was depicted in the movies. But if you had the right skill set, it could be done. “I trust John Henry to watch over you. He’ll take guarding you as seriously as I do. If I tell him to stay here with you, in the house, to let no one else in until I return, he’ll do it.” No questions asked.
“I’m not staying behind. I need to face this particular demon.”
“Do you, baby?” Gruff. “Because I can eliminate him for you.” The words hung between them. Did she understand what he was offering? What he would do for her? In a heartbeat? “All you have to do is say the word.”
He’d stopped right in front of her. She searched his gaze, and he let his intent show.
“Hunter…” Her hand rose and pressed to his cheek.
He turned his head and kissed her palm. “He murdered your friends. He tried to kill you.” Plus, his gut said Nate was involved in the madness happening in Hathaway right then. “I can end him. You walk away clean.”
“I came to you because I wanted to be sure Nate was guilty.”
“He is.” Hunter was certain of it.
“I didn’t come for you to kill him. He’s already on death row. He can’t hurt me anymore.”
“Don’t be too sure of that.” What Hunter suspected….“He could be pulling the strings right now. I’ve learned a lot about killers since working with the Ice Breakers.” And because Declan had a particular interest in the workings of killers and their twisted minds. “If someone else did help Nate that long ago night, then you are looking at a duo. With a serial killing duo—something that is very, very rare—one is always a dominant. One gives orders. One follows them. Someone could just be following the orders that Nate gives.” Which was why he’d be learning the names of every single person who’d visited Nate at the penitentiary. Anyone who’d corresponded with him. Luckily, the Ice Breakers had connections that would get him that intel.
He also had plenty of cash that he could use so he could buy his way to that intel, if necessary.
“Say the word,” he repeated. Nate will be eliminated.
A little furrow dug between her eyes. “You would kill for me?”
Maybe that terrified her. Fuck, could he do nothing right with her? But as he’d told that dick professor, he was primal, especially when it came to Shelby. “Anyone hurts you…they die.” Simple. In his world, she was the priority. Her protection was what mattered. She mattered. Helpless, his head turned again. His lips brushed over her palm once more.
