Page 113 of Safe and Sound

When Nick came home from work, he found me pacing the living room with a half-empty wine bottle in my hand and my phone in the other. His eyes widened with concern. “What’s wrong? Is it Wesley?”

I shook my head. “No. Not this time.”

He exhaled in relief. “Is Piper okay?”

Waving my phone, I replied, “Yeah. She’s upstairs in the playroom.”

He took the wine bottle from me and set it down on the end table. “Is downing half a bottle of wine about seeing Dare today?”

“In a way.”

His dark brows furrowed. “Come on, Ava. Talk to me.”

“This afternoon after I got home from Boston, Dare came to the house.”

“He wasn’t backing out was he?”

“Oh no. He’s fully invested. He insisted on sending me home with bodyguards. I didn’t even get to drive home.”

Furrowing his brows, Nick argued, “I didn’t see any guys outside.”

“One’s at the backdoor and another is parked across the street facing the house.”

Nick nodded. “So what happened when he came here?”

As Dare’s expression at seeing Piper flashed before my eyes, I reached for the wine bottle. “Piper answered the door.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Fuck.”

“Exactly.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing. The instant he put two and two together he ran out of here.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Shaking my head, I took a long drag of wine. “I wish.”

“I can’t believe the big bad mafia man ran at the sight of his daughter.”

“Me either. I thought for sure he would go off on me for not telling him.”

At the ring of the doorbell, Nick and I shot out of our seats. When I grabbed my phone to check the app, I gasped.

“Is it Wesley?”

“No. It’s Dare.”

He grimaced. “Do you want me to get the door?”

I shook my head. “Considering I asked the man to murder my ex today, I think I can handle it.”

My bravado was all a facade. Fear held me in a vise. Considering he’d driven an hour back to my house, there was no telling what kind of mood I was going to find him in.

When I opened the door, Dare’s dark energy permeated the porch. I hoped he couldn’t hear the sound of my rapidly beating heart. “Hello, Dare.”

“We need to talk.”

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