Page 79 of Damned
By the time Bree finished lying to Robin, her mother and dad, telling them she was fine, she felt better. She’d steered clear of mentioning Kruze, just said he was out hunting with his brothers, which was mostly, sort of, true. Then she cut the call short and promised she’d call again as soon as she could.
“I love you, sillykins,” she told Robin. “Mister Kruze and I will see you soon.”
“Okay,” said the most innocent, trusting child in the world. “Take good care of my boyfriend, Mommy.”
“I will, and you hug Nana and Grampa for me. Bye, Robin.”
“Bye-bye!”
Bree could have cried when Sullivan came back on the line. “Listen,” he said. “You call me any time you want to, you hear?”
“Thank you, sir. I will.”
“It’ll all be over soon, young lady. Kruze will be back before you know it. When you see him, tell that man of yours I’m damned proud of him.”
“I will. Thanks for everything.”
“Been my pleasure. Goodbye, Ms. Banks.”
“Goodbye, Senator Sullivan.” Bree disconnected the call and took a deep, cleansing breath. She hadn’t realized it then, but Kruze had given her a unique gift while they’d sat together at the Morristown Community Center. He’d shared the most horrifying experience of his life, and Bree now understood why he could be so unbearably bossy. He needed to be in control. What happened in Panama must never happen again. He could never fail another woman like he’d failed Juliana. That explained his womanizing, too. He hadn’t been able to love anyone after the way he’d lost Juliana, and Bree couldn’t blame him.
She’d been just as helpless to save the sweet, gentlemanly, Turkish photographer who’d gone with her to Eastern Anatolia. Mehmet’s screams would haunt her until the day she died. Was Juliana still haunting Kruze? Of course she was.
“Poor Juliana,” Bree whispered. “Poor, poor Mehmet.”
Lifting to her feet, she set the phone back in its charging dock. She had some thinking to do. Might as well do it in the kitchen while she worked. She’d just stepped out of Kruze’s office and onto the polished hardwood hallway floor, when the front door burst open. Harvey Lantz stood there, the rifle in his hands pointed at her.
Oh, Lord…
