Page 28 of Hunted Hearts
This wasn’t just an accident. It wasn’t random.
Someone wanted her off that stage.
She grabbed Denver’s arms. “My team!”
But he wasn’t looking at her—he was lookingthroughher. His lips were moving, and took her a moment to pick out his words from above the noise of frightened people hurrying to escape a burning building.
His words were low, urgent. “Theo, talk to me. Where are you?”
Juliette rocked on her heels as if slapped.Theo.The man went through that wall of flames to get her violin.
In her panic to retrieve her violin, he went back in for it. When it came down to it, she’d put him in harm’s way. And she couldn’t live with herself if anything happened to him.
“Theo, answer me. Theo?”
Her fingers curled into Denver’s steely forearms, her wide gaze fixed on his face. On the surface, he wore a mask of calm, but the turmoil in the depths of his gray eyes revealed that he wasn’t so composed on the inside.
“Theo. Juliette is safe. Answer me.”
Her fingers convulsed on Denver’s arms, biting into the pristine black dress shirt he wore.
His eyes seemed to focus on her.
“How can you be so calm?” With every word, her voice rose in rattled increments.
“We’ve trained for this, and Theo won’t do anything to jeopardize his life.”
She felt her knees wobble, and her body sway to the notes of horror rather than the music she loved performing. The violin was insured. Even though it belonged to her grandmother and had a history bigger than anything Juliette could ever know in her lifetime, the instrument could be replaced.
A man couldn’t.
She pried her fingertips out of Denver’s muscle and dropped back a step, swaying with terror.
“Theo, talk to me.”
She fixed her stare on Denver’s face, picturing her bodyguard running into the burning room. He never would have gone back if not for her. This was all her fault.
Denver’s questions kept coming. “Theo, you’re not doing anything stupid, right?”
He didn’t seem to be responding.
“Theo, talk to me, goddammit!” Denver’s grating tone sent ripples of goosebumps up and down her arms.
She took a step toward Denver, cursing her diminutive height and that even with high heels, she didn’t have a chance of seeing over the crowd of people swarming the parking lot.
People called out for loved ones and friends. Juliette wrapped her arms around her middle to try to quell her shakes.
“Thank fucking Christ.” Denver’s tone made her snap to attention. The man raked his fingers through his hair and twisted to scan the crowd.
When he shifted, his body created a window so Juliette could see through the crowd.
Theo was coming toward them.
She let out a squawk and clapped both hands over her mouth as she watched her bodyguard weaving through the crowd …
Cradling her violin.
He stopped in front of her and held out the instrument.
