Page 50 of Too Lethal to Love

Kane shot her a warning glare as if he sensed her sanity teetering on its precarious edge.

“We have two working theories,” Edgar said. “One, Chavez is mimicking the stalker to scare you further, so when he makes his move, you’ll give up the information with little persuasion.”

A phantom wind whipped through her body. “Persuasion?”

Kane snapped his head to her. “I won’t let that happen to you.”

She nodded but couldn’t stop the montage of “persuasive techniques” from streaming through her mind. “What’s the other scenario?”

“Your stalker is working with Chavez. Either way, somebody knew you would be visiting that cemetery. All they had to do was wait. We’re working on gathering more intel. Kaneis the lead on this job. Your orders are to listen to whatever he says without question.”

“Yes, Admiral.” She glanced at Kane, the enormity of the situation sinking in like a body being lowered into a grave.

“Good.” Edgar yawned. “Report in when you get to your location.”

Beth leaned back in her seat and stared out the window.

“We have a couple of hours’ drive.” Kane touched her knee. “Get some rest. You’re safe.”

“I know.” She stared out the window and kept her fears abouthissafety to herself.

“She believes in that curse crap, you know?”

“Scarlett?”Kane bit his tongue against saying her name out loud as he maneuvered the truck into holiday traffic on the Interstate. “How do you have access to my head?”Only Chris, Nic, Linc, and whoever was online at headquarters could access the mind comms, but Scarlett wasn’t in the office.

“I’m the one responsible for the voices in your brain, remember? Of course I can talk to you this way from wherever, whenever I want.”

“Okay then.”He was going to call her once he was alone, but now worked too. Beth breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth like she was centering herself and couldn’t hear his and Scarlett’s conversation anyway. “What’s the deal with Evangeline’s interest in your stepfather?”He relayed her adoration for Richardson and her eagerness to get in touch with him.

“I’m not surprised. The first words she ever said to me were, ‘Hi, I’m Evangeline. I’d love to work for your stepfather someday. Could you introduce us?’ She’d been relentless so I caved andinvited her to tag along with Beth to a party Henry threw for something or other he felt he deserved attention for. They spent some time talking in a corner. What about, I’m not sure, but Evangeline seemed pleased.”

Kane rubbed the back of his neck. “I hate to ask this, but is there any way you can meet with Henry and find out what the conversation was about? Anyone who worships a man like that is questionable.”

“You think she has something to do with Chavez?”

Kane’s leg buzzed with pent-up aggression.“I don’t think so. She seems too smart to tangle with a cartel, but Evangeline has been there for every death that Beth thinks is her fault, and she comes off as super jealous of Beth’s accomplishments. I don’t know how all of this is connected. Hell, I’m probably overreacting ’cause I don’t like the woman, but if anything, the connection to Henry is something to investigate.”

“Henry is the last person I want to have a conversation with, but I’ll see what I can do.”Scarlett sighed.“I wish Beth would listen better to our conversations about her so-called curse. No matter how many times I remind her that Conner, Matthew, and Danny’s deaths are not her fault, she still can’t let go of the fear that the next man she falls in love with will die.”

“That gossip brigade really did a number on her.”

“Yeah. She doesn’t date. Even though she comes off as a party girl, she never goes home with a guy, except for a couple of trusted friends with benefits, as she calls them.”

“Not anymore.”He wanted to be the only guy she trusted with her body.

“She can’t take another loss, Kane.”

“I’m not going to die, and neither is she.”The promise blasted the serve first, love later conviction he lived by. The force slammed him back into the seat. Sweat formed among the raised hairs on the back of his neck despite the cold air lingering in the cab. Not even an hour ago, he’d been talkinghimself out of even thinking about a future with the beautiful, tortured scientist. This morning he’d dismissed Gran’s prediction about Beth being the woman for him. Now, he was vowing to keep them both alive so neither one of them would have to live without the other.

Beth wasn’t the only one that couldn’t take a loss.

“How do I make her realize she’s not a black widow? That if I do die, it’s the fault of the bad guy who shot me, or blew me up, or ran me through with a sword or whatever, and not hers.”He shook his head.“It makes no sense.”

“But it makes sense to her. Until I met Chris, I thought the only thing that made me special was my brain. And Chris thought he was too dangerous to love. The lies we told ourselves were both wrong, yet we clung to them as irrevocable truth.”

Scarlett’s words hit him with the force of an eighteen-wheeler. Beth thought she was too lethal to love, which wasn’t true. Was his plan to serve first, love later, also a lie? Did it make sense to avoid what was happening between him and Beth because he thought his dangerous existence madehimtoo lethal to love?“How do I make Beth believe that she’s not cursed?”

“Keep fighting.”

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