Page 562 of Dark Love

That’s doubtful if Shock came running down here like that. “Play it.”

He walks over and plugs a thumb drive into my computer, and a few seconds later my blood starts to boil.

Not serious.

Not serious!

“Dahlia, you and I have some very different ideas about what’s serious. When a man threatens you, ‘that is serious.’”

“Do you need a hug? You look like you want to kill someone.”

What!?! “What did you just say?”

“You look like you need a hug before you kill someone.”

My sweet, innocent Dahlia. “You can hug me—”

She wraps her arms around me.

“—but I’m still going to kill him,” I whisper in her ear. “No one ever threatens you. No one hurts you ever.” Now I need to know if that means the end of us. I pull back and stare into her eyes, waiting for a final judgment.

Losing her will hurt, but even that won’t stop me from killing the man who made this phone call.

“You’ll be careful? He might try to hurt you.”

That’s it. “You can have one quilt, but it needs to fit in that cabinet over there.” I point to one of the built-ins along the wall.

“Huh?”

She’ll figure it out later. I stand up. “Shock, tell me you have an address for this guy.”

“Texting it to you now.”

“Thanks.” I turn to Dahlia. “Are you up to walking, or should I carry you to Payne’s office?”

“Why are we going there?”

“Because you’re going to visit with Imogene, so she isn’t alone while Payne and I go out.”

“Oh.” Her lips freeze in a little ‘o’.

They’re all too kissable. If Shock wasn’t there, I’d let her distract me for a few minutes.

“I can walk.” She takes the hand I hold out immediately.

“Um, one more thing…” Shock stops me. “He lives in his mother’s basement.”

How charming? Mommy dearest needs to go so we can do the deed. A surprise vacation might be just what she needs. “Thanks again.”

Shock nods.

That doesn’t mean I won’t kill him if he walks in without knocking again.

***

“Well, smarts aren’t a family trait.” Payne sets down his phone. “The mother just stepped onto a plane to enjoy the vacation she won from a sweepstakes she never entered.”

“Gotta love trusting people.” I slide out of the car parked down the street from our new friend’s house. He also conveniently lives on a dead-end in the middle of the woods just outside of Urbium.

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