Page 31 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

ASHER

“Buchanan is refusing to provide a list of men at the reception, or with access to the hall. He insists that all his men have been thoroughly vetted. He said if the threat came from anywhere, it was more likely that it was within our own ranks, seeing as how you recently acquired the organization,” Chase said.

“How could this not have to do with one of his men? Those attacks were before it was even known that we were getting married.”

“Unless it was someone high up in his ranks,” Chase argued. “I’m telling you, something is very wrong with this whole situation. The way he so willing continued to put Jade in harm’s way is unbelievable. He let those guards loose at the bridal shop for a reason.”

I frowned as I thought about that. “Yes, but what reason? I still can’t figure out why he would go to all the trouble of getting me to marry her, only to try and get her killed.”

“Two birds one stone,” he said again. Chase was dead set on the idea that Ambrose was setting me up to take the fall so his organization could take over. And it was all under the disguise that his daughter’s marriage to me would seal the deal between our families. I still wasn’t buying it.

“Unless the attacks have nothing to do with Ambrose.”

He scoffed. “Come on, man. Do you really think that someone’s after Ambrose and he’s not chomping at the bit to find out who’s behind it?”

“Not if he thinks we’re the ones behind the attacks. The bridal shop was after we were engaged. The bombing was during our wedding.”

“Yet, he allowed you to bring her home with you,” he said, pointing out the flaw in my plan. “Nothing really makes sense. And I think the more you try to figure it out, the wilder your theories are going to get. We need to wait for his next move. No one can reach us here. If anything else is going to happen, it’ll be when we’re back on solid land.”

“Yeah, and by then, Lock’s team will be heading home.” I sighed and paced the small, secluded spot on the beach. Talking in my bungalow was out of the question with Jade there. At least we didn’t have a lot of men here. “We need Lock to train these me.”

Chase laughed, but when he saw I wasn’t joking, his face turned stern. “Ash, you really think our guys are going to appreciate getting lessons from the outside?”

“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that’s important right now is Jade’s safety.”

“And yours,” he emphasized.

“I can take care of myself. Jade is…”

“She’s a fucking liability,” Chase muttered.

My head snapped up to glare at him. “She’s my fucking wife now. Whether any of us like this or not, if she dies, Ambrose will come after me. And guess who’s left holding the cards then? And that’s if he lets you live,” I said scathingly.

“If you want people to think she’s someone important to you, that they need to protect her, then you should actually give her the time of day. You haven’t spent the slightest time with her since we arrived.”

“Because she was sleeping.”

He pointed to the beach. “She was just out wading in the water not long ago, looking less like a new bride and more like a depressed woman that wanted to slit her own wrists!”

My mind flashed back to the scars on her wrists. Was that what happened? It couldn’t have been. Those were circular, like she’d been tied up. And that pissed me off all over again. I was trying to keep my distance from her so I didn’t lose focus, but I knew Jade had been suffering, and part of me wanted to make that okay. Hell, if it weren’t for the job, I would be the first one there to comfort her.

“Get Lock and Scottie on training immediately,” I snapped. I turned to walk away.

“Where are you going?” he shouted.

“To spend time with my wife!”

I trudged through the fucking sand until I reached the bungalow. Except, instead of finding my wife relaxing peacefully, she was tense, even in her sleep. I walked over to her, wanting to wake her up and make her feel better. She looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, yet I was the one with her life in my hands.

“Jade,” I said quietly, wanting to wake her up and find out what was wrong.

She murmured something in her sleep, and when I shook her again, she gasped hard and shot up in bed with wide eyes. Her breathing was erratic and though she was staring straight at me, she didn’t see me. I’d seen that same fucking look before with men who’d returned from war with PTSD. She was lost.

“Jade,” I said carefully. “You’re not there. You’re on a beach.” Still no response as she struggled to breathe. “Can you hear me?”

Her eyes moved quickly from side to side as a tear slipped down her cheek. She was lost to me, and I wasn’t sure how to help her. She wasn’t violent or on the verge of running. She was just sitting there with her mind torturing her.

Slowly, I scooted forward and wrapped my arms around her, just like I had the day she lost it after the accident. She stiffened immediately and made a keening sound that broke my heart. I could swear her heart was skipping beats the closer I pulled her.

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