“Stop fidgeting,” Kade murmured. I stilled.

The door opened and an old man, clad in a butler’s uniform, stood there.

“May I help you?” he asked.

“I’m looking for William Gage,” Kade said.

The man glanced from Kade to me and back, then said, “I’m sorry, but he’s not accepting visitors right now—”

“That’s all right,” Kade said, moving past the old butler. “This won’t take long. Where is he?”

Kade’s voice was like steel and I knew the coldness in his eyes well. The butler took a good look and didn’t question him, but just pointed to a doorway down the hall.

Our footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor as we walked down the hallway. I couldn’t take my eyes off Kade’s back, belatedly realizing my abrupt departure had caused him to forgo getting medical attention for his burns.

Nice one, Kathleen.

Kade pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and stepped into the den. It would have been a bright, cheery room if heavy drapes hadn’t been drawn over the windows. The air was stuffy and too warm. But I noticed and then forgot all that in a flash, my attention drawn to the man sitting in a wheelchair behind a behemoth of a desk.

Gage had changed since I’d last seen him, his body withered and bent. The disease was obviously taking its toll. I wished I could feel sympathy. Instead, I found myself only sorry it was taking so long to claim his life.

He looked up when the door opened, surprise evident on his face before he could conceal it. “Dennon,” he said carefully, “to what do I owe the pleasure?” Gage glanced at me and it took him a moment to recognize me, his eyes narrowing before realization struck. Then his thin lips pressed together and his face grew mottled with anger. “What is she doing here?” he hissed.

I gritted my teeth and moved forward, but Kade stopped me in my tracks, his hold unbreakable.

“She’s with me,” he said, walking right over to Gage. “I hear Blane Kirk stopped by to give you a warning about this obsession you have.” He let go of my hand to press his palms flat on the desk and lean closer to Gage. “And today you went too far.”

Gage’s smile was cold. “Oh, I wasn’t trying to kill her.” He leaned forward. “I just want to hurt her, terrify her, and make her regret the day she was born.”

I shivered, a chill spreading across my skin at his words.

“That’s nice,” Kade said, nonchalant. “It’s good to have goals. But here’s the problem. Today you hurt me.” Menace dripped from his voice and Gage blanched. “The girl is under my protection now, and I would take it personally if something were to happen to her.”

Gage recovered, his gaze hardening. “This is none of your business, Dennon,” he said.

“I’m making it my business,” Kade bit out.

“Then I suggest you watch your back,” Gage said.

Kade straightened and once again took my hand. “Your choices are your own, Gage,” he said. “But hear this—if anything else happens that so much as harms a hair on her head, my face will be the last one you see.” He tugged on my hand, pushing me in front of him as we left the room.

“You don’t scare me, Dennon!” Gage called after us. “I’m already at death’s door.”

Kade paused. “Just say the word, old man, and I’ll shove your ass right on through.”

Gage spluttered in rage, grabbing a paperweight from his desk and throwing it at us. It bounced harmlessly off the wall as Kade hustled me down the hall and out the front door.

I got back in my car, sliding behind the wheel and taking a deep breath.

Kade leaned into the open door. “Go straight to Blane’s,” he ordered. “Nowhere else.”

I frowned at him. “But you need to go to the hospital. I can come with—”

Kade was already shaking his head. “I’ve got to give a statement to the cops. We kind of ran out on them, you know.”

“Then will you go to the hospital?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. If you’ll do what I say.”

I nodded. “To Blane’s. Nowhere else. Got it.”

Kade stepped away, but something occurred to me and I called out to him. “Kade, wait!” He turned. “How did you know?” I asked. “You tried to warn me. How did you know?”

“It’s a trick I’ve seen before,” Kade said. “Rigging the door. They were just a little messy or I wouldn’t have seen it.”

“Where have you seen it?” I asked. I hadn’t seen a thing and even now as I searched my memory, I came up blank.

Kade seemed to hesitate before finally saying, “I guess it’s not so much that I’ve seen it before as that I’ve done it before.”

I stared at him, unable to conceal my dismay. “You’ve… blown somebody up?” I asked. I wasn’t stupid, I knew what Kade did for a living, it just rarely smacked me in the face like this had.

Kade just looked at me, resignation in his eyes, until I glanced away, unable to hold his gaze. Guilt ate at me for what I’d said. It wasn’t my place to judge him; he couldn’t change his past.

“I’ll see you at Blane’s later,” he said before closing my door. I watched him as he walked to his Mercedes, his shirt in tatters across his back, the burned skin showing through. Then suddenly I was up and running after him. I was breathless when I reached his car and knocked on his window. He rolled it down. He’d already donned his sunglasses and I couldn’t see his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he said with a frown. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yes, I just forgot something.”

“What?”

I leaned inside, kissing him hard on the mouth for a long moment. When I pulled back, I said, “Thank you.”

I was gone, heading back to my car, before he could reply.

I called Alisha while I drove to Blane’s.

“What the hell happened?” were the first words out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I kind of… lost it for few minutes.”

“Can’t say I blame you,” she replied. “I’d lose it, too, if someone blew up my apartment.”

I winced at the reminder. “So what did the firemen say?”

“It was localized in your apartment,” she said, “and they managed to put it out before it spread back into your bedroom, so it’s not as bad as it looked.”

Well, that was good news. All my family photo albums were in the bedroom closet. I felt a little better. I hadn’t had a lot of personal things in my living room and kitchen, just furniture and appliances. My memories were all in the bedroom.

“Thanks for your help,” I said.

“No problem. You need someplace to stay until they repair the damage?”

I hesitated. Staying with Alisha was tempting, but I didn’t want to bring more trouble or danger into her life. “Um, that’s okay. I have a place to stay.”

“Where?”

“Um, yeah. I’m, uh, staying with Blane for now.”

Silence, then, “Are you out of your mind?” she screeched. I winced, pulling the phone slightly away from my ear. “Don’t you remember what he did? The things that piece of shit said to you—”

Alisha had been with me, had comforted me, when Blane had broken our engagement. She’d seen my heartbreak and her animosity toward Blane had reached a new high.

“It’s not what you think,” I broke in to her tirade. “We’re not getting back together. Kandi Miller—remember her?—she was murdered.”

“Oh.” Alisha’s voice betrayed surprise now. “I saw that on the news. That was her? His ex?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. Geez. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” which was an absurd thing to say—it wasn’t okay, but what do you say? “So, anyway, Kade and I are staying with Blane for a little while, until after the funeral and stuff.”

“Kade and you?” she asked, disbelief edging her voice.

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that going to be a little… awkward?”

She didn’t know the half of it. The desire to tell my friend what had happened between Kade and me was strong, but I held my tongue. “Yeah, it’s been a little… tense.” Understatement of the century.