Page 61 of Hush Money

I catch my breath, swim back to my starting point, pull my goggles off and wipe the streaming water from my eyes. A towel appears in my face, startling me. I look up, and that’s when I get the shock of a lifetime. It’s not Tamsyn, as I’d foolishly hoped, or Roman or even Winwood.

It’s Ravenna.

Staring down at me as the breeze blows a few strands of that dark hair across her still face. The forehead bandage is gone, leaving her healing wound, still an angry red, plainly visible. She’s back to calm and composed, wearing an ethereal white dress that skims her shoulders and is thin enough to reveal the points of her dark nipples.

Her calmness scares the shit out of me. So do her glittering eyes. But my fear is nothing compared to my sudden, blinding rage. This fucking bitch has crept up on me and disturbed my peace for the last time. I swear it. Swear it.

I ignore the towel and heave myself out of the pool, determined to remain calm and not show her how shaken I am by her sudden appearance when I’ve got security patrolling the grounds to keep her out and far away from Tamsyn. I’d be less surprised and more prepared to find myself confronted with a couple of snarling T. rexes. How the fuck did she get here? The side road? No. There are so many cameras back there. Maybe she just climbed over the fence and kept to the shadows along the main drive. Maybe she flew in on her broomstick. Doesn’t matter now. I’ll get it figured out later.

Right now I need to keep my wits about me and focus on getting her the fuck out of here as soon as possible.

My teeth are gritted. I unclench my jaw and force myself to stay quiet and steady. “What are you doing here, Ravenna?”

“I live here.” Her appreciative gaze skims over me as I snatch the towel from her. I roughly run it over my head and body before tossing it back on the lounger, sliding on my shoes and pulling on my T-shirt. When I emerge, I discover that her attention is glued to my crotch, which is not excited to see her. “You look amazing.”

“Why are you here, Ravenna?” There’s no keeping the gravel of anger out of my voice at this point. I don’t even try. “What do you want?”

Her sultriest smile answers me. “I want you to fuck me hard on the lounge chair.”

Well, she’s nothing if not predictable. “That’s not happening.”

A tinge of sadness enters her expression. That and something else. Something I can’t analyze but dislike on sight. “I know. You’re not ready yet. She’s gotten into your head.” There’s a heavy pause. “That’s why I had to take matters into my own hands.”

I stiffen, cocking my head to make sure I heard her correctly. “Excuse me?”

She comes closer, that filmy white dress rippling around her. “What did you expect, Lucien? For me to sit quietly at the hotel and sign the paperwork your lawyer sent over? For me to take your hush money and go away like a good little girl so you can live my life with some other woman? Don’t you know me better than that?”

Yeah. I do. I knew better than to expect swift acquiescence, but hope springs eternal. “I know you’re clever enough to take the smart option.”

“No, Lucien. I’ll do anything to get you back. I told you that. I’m sorry it’s come to this, but this is your own fault.”

Dread crawls over my cooling skin with prickling feet. “Come to what?”

No answer. Just a fleeting flash of triumph.

My dread mushrooms into stark terror. “Come to what?” I repeat, murder in my heart as I take an aggressive step toward her, determined to get the information out of her or die trying. But that’s when I get the answer, and she doesn’t have to say a word. It’s right there in the air all around me.

The sudden acrid smell of heavy smoke.

My heart slams to a stop. I glance in the direction of the cottage several hundred feet away, desperate to be wrong. But the flickering orange flames rising on the other side of the trees are enough to convince me that I’m not. They’re enough to make my soul leave my body, because they’ve already eaten half the cottage. “Jesus Christ.”

“Poor Lucien,” comes her jeering voice behind me. “Your silly little girlfriend left a candle burning, didn’t she?”

Rage briefly overcomes my terror as I turn back to this triumphant demon with flashing eyes and an abyss where a human heart should be. The bellow is already surging up and out of me.

“I will kill you for this.”

Ravenna tips her head back and laughs, the sound joyous against the crackling flames and welcome shriek of sirens in the distance.

I turn my back on her and take off at a dead sprint, determined to either save Tamsyn or die in the flames with her. I cannot exist in a world where her light is extinguished. Will not. But when I hit the driveway, two things converge to keep me away from the cottage: the force field of heat and shrapnel coming from the exploding windows and the people—random employees plus Roman and Winwood—determined to keep me away.

“No, Lucien. No!” Roman hooks me around the waist. “You’re not going in there!”

This slows me down at a moment when I have no seconds to spare. I roar with frustration and impatience. Roman has no idea what he’s dealing with tonight. He’s my brother, yeah, but anyone who comes between me and Tamsyn right now is a mortal enemy. Someone to eradicate. I aim a vicious swing at him, connecting with his jaw. He drops hard, yelping with pain and clearing the way for me. I take off again. Winwood darts in and tries to get hands on me, but I dodge him and make it the rest of the way, ducking my head, barreling through the stinging air and kicking the cottage door open because instinct tells me that touching the doorknob will burn my hand off.

Heat surges past me, nearly knocking me off my feet in its eagerness to get to the all that fresh air behind me.

God.

---