„Why not?“

„He wouldn’t say, but I know there’s bad blood between them.“

„Then I take it he’s not dead. Yet.“

Drake shook his head. „I get the feeling his death wouldn’t be the club you’re looking for. I had a black rose and a note left on her mother’s pillow last night.“

Jacob’s lips twisted in a sneer. „Melodramatic, Drake.“

Drake shrugged. „It was meant to be. My man’s posing as an investigator following up on the flower and the note. If my man can’t dig anything up, there isn’t anything there.“

„Everybody’s got something. Even squeaky clean ASA Mayhew.“

Drake didn’t look convinced. „We’ll see. Your thug who attacked her Sunday night told her that if she didn’t talk, people around her would die.“

„Yeah. I told him to tell her that.“ He’d meant it, too. „So what?“

Drake grunted, still displeased with the maneuver. „So I built on that. She’s had no significant others in the last five years that I’ve been able to trace, but lately she’s been spending a lot of time with Detective Abe Reagan.“

Jacob scowled. „If Reagan’s guarding her, that’ll make her harder to corner again. Mayhew’s no dummy.“

„Which is why I didn’t want her attacked in her own home,“ Drake said angrily.

Knowing Drake was right just added to his frustration. „So what are you going to do about it?“ Jacob demanded. „I want that vigilante.“ He clenched his fists. „I want the man who beat my son to death and Mayhew knows who he is. She has to.“

„I really don’t think she does, Jacob. I think if she did, he’d be in jail.“

„I don’t want him in jail. I want him here.“ Jacob thumped his desk.

Drake’s brows lifted. „She’s spent time with Detective Reagan and his family.“

Jacob relaxed. Family always made for good leverage in any negotiation. „Good. I want an answer. I don’t care where it comes from.“

Drake’s grin was wolfish, stirring his own blood. „That ball’s in motion.“

Tuesday, February 24,

7:00 p.m.

Abe pulled into his parents’ driveway and shut off the motor, his hands shaking with a barely suppressed mixture of fear and fury. He looked over at Kristen who still peacefully slept in the passenger seat, her face slightly flushed, her chest rising and falling rhythmically. She’d been out like a light almost as soon as they’d pulled away from the station. She’d missed the trill of his cell phone, his muttered oaths in response to Aidan’s urgent summons. Then she’d missed the melodic chiming of her own phone. And again more epithets as he answered, listened to the mocking voice of the caller who refused to give his name.

His eyes flicked over the collection of cars in front of his parents’ house. Everyone was here. Sean and Ruth and Aidan and Annie. He and Kristen would simply add to the number that gathered in support.

She would blame herself. She would be wrong, but she’d blame herself nevertheless. He couldn’t put it off any longer. He shook her shoulder briskly. „Kristen, wake up.“

She turned in the seat, leaning into his arm, murmuring something unintelligible. She turned her face into his palm, so trustingly he felt his heart clench. When this was all over he was going to take her far away, to someplace where it would be just the two of them. Someplace where she could finally relax, take out those damn hairpins. Someplace where he could take her in his arms tenderly and teach her to unlock the mysteries of her own sensuality. Show her that she wouldn’t, couldn’t disappoint him. Ever.

„Kristen, honey, wake up.“

He watched her lashes quiver, then lift. Slowly she came awake, then lifted her chin with a jerk when she realized where they were. „You said you were taking me home.“

He closed his hand over the back of her neck and gently squeezed. „I will. First I have to see my folks.“ He hesitated and she sat up straighter in the seat.

„What’s happened?“ She studied his face in the darkness of the SUV’s cab, then sagged back against the seat, her expression defeated and for that alone he wanted to catch both Conti and their humble servant and make them pay. „Who?“

„My dad,“ he said unevenly and she closed her eyes. „He says he’s okay, but I didn’t want to take his word for it. Aidan says he’s pretty banged up, but…“

„Let me guess,“ she said bitterly. „Whoever did it wanted to know who ‘he’ is.“

He wouldn’t lie to her. „Yes.“

Wearily she rubbed her forehead. „I told you I shouldn’t come around your family. I shouldn’t be here right now. Go in and see your father. I’ll call a cab to take me home. Truman’s on tonight, I think. I’ll be fine.“

I’ll be fine. The words echoed in his head and something just snapped. He twisted, bringing his angry face within inches of her startled one. For a second they stared, then he took her mouth with a ferocity he immediately regretted. He was angry, but not with her. She was fragile and vulnerable enough without his making it worse. He pulled away, but her hands pulled him back, holding on almost desperately. She kissed him hard and long and when she finally let him go they were both breathing like spent athletes.

„You are not fine,“ he whispered against her lips. „You’re scared and so am I.“

„I’m sorry, Abe. I’m so sor – “

He cut off the apology with another hard kiss, gentling it after the initial searing contact. He adjusted the angle, seeking a closer fit, finding it, backing off only long enough to let them both catch their breath, then returning for more. He ended it without ending it, pressing kisses to the comer of her mouth, her temple. The hollow behind her ear and down her neck, forcing himself to remain gentle when her body shuddered.

„When this is over, I’m taking you far away,“ he murmured, the deep rumble of his voice shaking her down to her core. „We’ll lie on the beach and forget all about this.“

Don’t make promises, she wanted to say. They were here because someone had beaten his father. Because of me. That wasn’t something even the Reagans could easily ignore and she just didn’t think she could bear their reproach, no matter how much they deserved to feel it. Kristen turned her face into his hand and kissed his palm. „Go see your father,“ she said. „I’ll wait.“

„You’re not staying here by yourself. Come with me.“

It wasn’t a request, she knew. Just as she knew it would be foolish to tempt fate and stay in the car alone. Unprotected. So when he opened her car door, she slid down without a protest and walked, his strong arm around her shoulders.

From the laundry room she could smell Becca’s dinner cooking, but there was a forbidding quiet that was foreign to the Reagan household. Abe pushed open the door to the kitchen. Five pairs of eyes turned to look at them, all filled with rioting emotions, Becca’s with fear, Aidan’s with fury. Sean and Annie’s held disbelief. Ruth stood beside Kyle, holding a roll of gauze and she shook her head slightly. Kyle kept his face stubbornly averted and Kristen saw Abe swallow hard before approaching his father. His eyes slid closed and his throat worked as he struggled to keep his composure.

„How bad is it?“ she heard him murmur to Ruth.

„I’ve had worse,“ Kyle snapped, but his speech was slurred. „I’m a bloody pulp, but I can still hear and talk.“

„How?“ Abe asked simply.

Becca drew in a breath. „He was leaving the grocery store and a man – “

„I can tell it, Becca.“ Kyle struggled to sit up in the chair and Aidan was there to help him, but Kyle pulled away. „I can do it. I was leaving the store and a man stuck a gun in my kidney. Told me to walk quietly and took me behind the store.“

„How many were there?“ Abe asked.

„Four,“ Kyle answered and Kristen shuddered from her spot in the laundry room. „Told me to tell you to figure out who the vigilante was or they’d move on to the rest of the family.“