“Sorry I didn’t check in, but mistakes happen.” Saxon shrugged, not looking the least bit intimidated in the face of Victor’s glare. “Elizabeth and I are alive, so you need to calm the hell down.” And some anger—hot and heavy—entered his voice as he said, “And I don’t like the way you just talked to her, either.”
“Neither did I!” Elizabeth snapped.
Victor glared over at her. She glared right back. “Don’t yell at me, and don’t talk about my sex life!” Her chin notched up. “You don’t know me well enough for crap like that.”
Victor shook his head. Then he shook it again, as if he just couldn’t make sense out of what was happening around him. “People are dying,” he said, “while you two are out here playing house.”
They weren’t playing house. A faint sound reached Elizabeth’s ears. She glanced over at the window. But…then she didn’t hear the sound again.
“We’re damn aware there is a target on her,” Saxon said as he took a step toward Victor. “And I’m doing you a favor by keeping Elizabeth alive.”
Wait. Hold the freaking phone. “Did you just say I was a favor?” Hurt was there, splintering across her chest. Because she’d thought…never mind.
Saxon’s head jerked toward her. “Elizabeth…” He looked lost for a moment. Confused. “No, that’s not what I meant.” His hand raked through his hair. “Look—”
Victor holstered his gun and shoved Saxon in the chest with his hand. “No, you look. Those three bastards who came after you at the motel? The ones you wanted me to find? I already found them. It was real easy, considering their bodies were left in room number thirteen.”
No, that wasn’t possible. Elizabeth shivered even as she said, “You’re lying. They were alive when we left.”
“No, Ms. Ward, I’m not lying.” He didn’t glance over at her, but kept his attention on Saxon. “Those men are dead. They were all shot, and their bodies were dumped in your motel room. Someone killed all three of them and took out the kid who was working at the check-in desk.”
This was horrible. “Why?” Elizabeth demanded as a fist seemed to squeeze her heart. So many people…dead.
Victor didn’t answer her. Just kept right on glaring at Saxon. So she marched across the room, grabbed his arm, and whirled the guy around to face her. “Why were they killed?”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “At first, I thought someone might be protecting you. Eliminating anyone who might threaten you.”
“The check-in clerk wasn’t any threat.” She’d never even seen him.
“If he could identify the killer, he was a threat.”
This was out of control. Six people were dead now—six! Taggert, Locke, the three men at the motel and…a desk clerk—some poor soul that I never even met!
“That’s what I thought, at first,” Victor continued. “That maybe someone was out there, eliminating any danger to you.”
“By killing?”
His head tilted as he studied her. “Then I learned about your parents.”
It was her turn to shake her head.
Saxon surged forward. “What do Elizabeth’s parents have to do with anything?”
“Luther Bates took out a hit on them.”
Those goosebumps on her arms turned into a full-on chill. “What? Luther Bates?” Yes, she knew the name. Who didn’t? The guy had made serious national headlines when he’d been arrested. It wasn’t every day that a drug kingpin like him went down.
“Drop the act,” Victor ordered. “You had to know he was the one who went after your mom. She tipped off the DA about him, and he sent out the hit on your whole family.”
She thought about slugging him because there was so much fury and pain twisting inside of her. “My parents died in a car accident!” And this guy was going to try and tell her that some drug kingpin had killed them? No way. No. Car accidents happened. They were sad and tragic but they just happened.
“Their brake line was cut. It was no damn accident, and you know that. The cops said—”
“They said nothing to me about a hit being placed on my parents!” Elizabeth was yelling. She had to stop that. She had to get her control back. Her hands clenched into fists at her side. “They told me it was an accident. That’s all. Accidents…they happen.”
“Then maybe they didn’t say anything to you because they didn’t have proof…maybe they thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know that Luther Bates had been gunning for you. Hell, ignorance can be bliss, right?” His face hardened. “But if it was just an accident, then why did you run out of town? You ran fast and you ran hard and you didn’t go back.”
Saxon was watching her, his gaze carefully guarded now. He was staring at her almost as if…as if she were a suspect or a criminal. Not the woman that he’d just made love with.
No, we didn’t make love. We had sex. We fucked. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Nothing more…
“There wasn’t anything for me there. Why would I stay? They were gone, and being there without them hurt.” She’d felt haunted in that old house. So she’d gone away, trying to run from the pain. Too late, she'd learned the pain followed her wherever she went.
“You had a hit on you, and you ran to stay safe,” Victor charged. “Only the bounty stayed on your head, and when you turned up here in Miami, someone made the connection and decided to collect. I’m betting Locke is the one who put the pieces of the puzzle together. He was a junior man in Luther’s organization a few years ago.”
It felt as if her head were about to split open. “A-a bounty has been on my head? For two years?” Impossible.
His lips thinned. His stare met Saxon’s in some kind of silent, suspicious communication, then Victor glanced back at her.
“Say something!” Elizabeth yelled.
And that was when it happened. Gunfire. The sound was familiar to her now, thanks to that horrible experience at the motel. Like fireworks exploding right outside the cabin. No, tearing into the cabin.
The window shattered. Victor spun to pull out his weapon and Saxon—Saxon grabbed Elizabeth and threw her to the floor. Then he covered her with his body as the bullets kept hitting into the side of the cabin.
“You led them to her!” Saxon accused Victor. “You brought them here!”
Victor fired a shot through the window. “The hell I did! No one followed me.”
More gunfire erupted. Elizabeth stared up at Saxon, her heart racing. “Do we run?” Where were they supposed to run? To the swamp?
And then…the gunfire stopped. There was an absolute silence that was chilling. Elizabeth caught her breath as she waited. What would happen next?
The silence stretched. She felt like her nerves were about to shatter.
“Saxon…” His name was a whisper from her.
But his hand lifted and pressed to her mouth. He gave a slow shake of his head even as he moved a few inches and looked over at Victor.
She craned her head, too, and saw Victor give a fast hand motion to Saxon. She had no idea what that move meant, but Saxon leaned closer to her. His mouth brushed against the shell of her ear as he said, “Don’t move. Stay in here and stay silent, and you’ll stay alive.”
Then he was…gone. He checked his weapon and went toward what she figured had to be the cabin’s back door. Even as Saxon opened that door, Victor was firing his weapon through the now-broken window. Providing cover fire for Saxon?
She stayed on the floor as the gunfire seemed to echo around her. Saxon had headed out to catch the man—or men—shooting at them. Once more, he was risking his life, for her.
But what if I’m not worth the risk?
***
Saxon tried to move as quickly but as carefully as he could. Victor was shooting, providing him cover while Saxon went to take out the bastard firing at them. It was a routine they’d run plenty of times before.
His gaze scanned the area. No one was returning Victor’s fire. The guy out there was biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
He wouldn’t get that moment. There was no way Saxon would give the fellow a chance to hurt Elizabeth. She was his priority right then, and if he had to kill in order to protect her, then so be it.
He used the twisting grasses and gnarled trees as cover. If he’d been planning to shoot at the cabin, he would have done it from the area up ahead and to the left. That spot would provide the most cover while also making sure that—