Chapter 7 - The Woman He Could Not Afford to Lose
Silvio froze.
For one second, no one moved.
Then everything happened at once.
Silvio fired.
Roarke shoved Adeline down.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Posy screamed.
Roarke fired back, forcing Silvio behind a steel column.
Adeline crawled toward Posy.
“Come here!”
The little girl ran.
Adeline caught her and dragged her behind stacked crates.
“Are you hurt?”
Posy shook violently.
“No.”
“Look at me. You're okay.”
Another gunshot exploded.
Adeline looked toward Roarke.
Blood soaked his shirt.
Her training returned before fear could stop it.
Pressure.
Bleeding control.
Assess consciousness.
She pushed Posy toward one of Roarke's men who had entered through a rear door.
“Take her!”
“No!”
“Go!”
Adeline ran toward Roarke.
He was kneeling behind a forklift.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you.”
“Get down.”
“I need to see the wound.”
“Adeline—”
“Shut up.”
Even bleeding, he looked offended.
She tore fabric away.
Entry wound high in the shoulder.
No obvious arterial spray.
“You're lucky.”
“I've been told.”
“Not tonight.”
Silvio fired again.
Then sirens sounded outside.
Roarke's people closed in.
Silvio escaped through a loading tunnel seconds before they reached him.
But Posy was safe.
That was enough for Adeline.
For the moment.
At the hospital, Roarke refused pain medication until he knew Posy had been examined.
“She isn't your responsibility,” Adeline said.
He looked at her.
“She became my responsibility the moment my world endangered her.”
“That isn't how responsibility works.”
“It's how mine works.”
Adeline sat beside his bed.
“You got shot because of us.”
“No. I got shot because Silvio's aim improved.”
She laughed unexpectedly.
Then covered her mouth.
Roarke smiled.
A real smile.
It changed his entire face.
Adeline stared too long.
He noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I've never seen you smile.”
“Most people haven't.”
“Why?”
“Not much worth smiling about.”
Something shifted between them.
Dangerous in an entirely different way.
Adeline looked down.
“Thank you for coming.”
“I said I would.”
“You also said you don't give anything freely.”
“I lied.”
Her eyes returned to his.
Roarke reached toward her face, then stopped before touching her.
The hesitation mattered more than the gesture.
Adeline closed the distance herself.
His fingers brushed her cheek.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then Posy burst into the room.
“Are you dying?”
Roarke withdrew his hand.
“No.”
“Good.”
She climbed onto the chair.
“Because Addie likes you.”
Adeline nearly choked.
“Posy.”
“What?”
Roarke's expression became suspiciously amused.
“She said you're annoying but not as terrible as she expected.”
“Please stop helping.”
Posy smiled.
For the first time since her mother died, Adeline felt something unfamiliar.
Not happiness exactly.
Possibility.
It frightened her.
Three days later, that possibility shattered.
Roarke's men recovered part of the ledger.
Inside was an account established eleven years earlier.
The beneficiary:
Eleanor Vance.
Adeline's mother.
Payments totaling $750,000.
Adeline stared at the documents.
“No.”
Roarke said nothing.
Silvio had claimed Eleanor was not protecting Antonio.
She had been working with him.
Selling information.
The evidence appeared undeniable.
Dates.
Transfers.
Signatures.
Adeline backed away.
“You think my mother betrayed your father.”
“I didn't say that.”
“You're thinking it.”
“I'm thinking someone wants us to believe it.”
“But what if it's true?”
Roarke approached her.
“Then we find the truth.”
“And if she helped kill him?”
He didn't answer.
That silence destroyed her.
Adeline packed that evening.
Roarke found her in the guesthouse.
“Where are you going?”
“Away.”
“Silvio is still out there.”
“I can't live here while you investigate whether my dead mother murdered your father.”
“I don't believe that.”
“You don't know what you believe.”
“Neither do you.”
“That’s exactly why I have to leave.”
Roarke blocked the doorway.
Then remembered the first night.
Her fear of powerful men expecting payment.
He stepped aside.
Adeline stopped.
He could have commanded her.
Could have surrounded her with guards.
Could have made leaving impossible.
Instead, he opened the door.
“If you go, security goes with you.”
“Roarke—”
“Not negotiable.”
She looked at him.
“Everything with you is a negotiation.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“Not everything.”
She left anyway.
That night, Adeline returned to her apartment with Posy.
At 2:13 a.m., someone slid an envelope beneath the door.
Inside was a photograph of Eleanor Vance.
May you like
Alive.
Taken yesterday.
