Page 35 of Shattered Hearts

I lift my chin. “Why would it?”

Gage shifts and nudges me behind him, cutting off the cop’s access. “She’s not a part of this.”

“How do you know?”

Inhaling a deep breath to calm my stomach, I step away and Baby follows me, her body tense and on high alert, her leash dragging on the ground. I turn my back to the camera crew and call Stella’s phone. There’s no way I’m calling Zane—he’ll go absolutely ballistic. Stella understands what it’s like to be targeted. When she teamed up with Richard Denton, my father’s business partner, Ash paid someone to push them into the Renegade while they were in his car. My engagement ring is still at the bottom of the river. No one bothered to pull the car onto dry land.

“Zarah, hey,” Stella answers, and right away I know calling her was the better choice.

“Someone blew up Gage’s truck,” I say to get that out there as quickly as possible.

“Oh, God,” she whimpers, and I’ve never heard her sound so scared. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. We weren’t near it.”

“Gage and Baby, too?”

“Yeah. We’re at the park, on Lex and Ventura. There are a few people hurt and a couple of ambulances are here, but we were far enough away. Baby was chasing a squirrel.” I try to hold back tears of panic and relief, and my voice comes out as a squeak.

She breathes into the phone, and I realize she’s trying not to cry, too. “Did you call Zane?”

“No, I called you first.”

“He’s in the city...he went to the office to do some paperwork. You need to tell him. We can’t keep secrets, even if we’re scared of what he might do.”

I kick at a pile of snow. “I know. He went to the office on New Year’s Day?”

“He said he’s got a big meeting tomorrow. Is Gage talking to the police?”

I glance at him. He and the same two cops who approached us are in a deep conversation, and two others joined their group. “Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll ask Douglas to drive me into the city. It might be a good idea if you didn’t talk to Zane alone.”

I’ll always prefer facing Zane with Stella by my side and don’t turn down her offer. “Thank you.”

“If you have to go to the police station, text me. I’ll meet you in the lobby of our building.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Gage hears me say goodbye and turns to me. There’s a tight pull of tension around his eyes and mouth. I shove my phone into the pocket of my jacket, and he says, “They want me to go to the station. They’re going to tow the truck and inspect it.”

“I’ll go with you. Stella wants to meet us at Zane’s office when we’re done.”

He rubs his hands over his face. “Shit. He’s going to kill me.”

A cop is holding the little girl I saw running away from the fire. She’s crying, calling for her mommy. I don’t see the woman on the ground. An ambulance must have taken her to the hospital.

The shakes set in, and I stumble, falling hard onto the curb.

Someone blew up Gage’s truck. We could have been inside it.

He hauls me to my feet, and I press my face into his chest. “It’s going to be all right. I promise. I’m going to find out who did this, and I won’t stop until he’s locked up for the rest of his life—after I bash his face in.”

I lift my head. “Please,” I whisper, asking him to kiss me. I don’t care if the news crew is still filming. I don’t care who’s watching. I need him, need his lips on mine, need him to reassure me that he’s going to keep me safe.

Someone is after me, or him, or both of us, but unlike Stella, I don’t have the smarts or the courage to keep myself alive.

Gently, his hands cradling my cheeks, he brushes a kiss to my lips.

---