Alethea laid her head on his chest. “I don’t hate you.”
He chuckled against her hair. “I know you don’t.”
In the quiet seclusion of their bunker, in this place outside of time, Alethea felt closer to him than anyone else, and felt compelled to explain herself. “You were right. I was afraid.” She waited for him to make a joke out of her admission, but he didn’t. He rubbed her back with one of his strong hands, and that comforting move encouraged her to open up more to him. “I barely sleep. I wake up terrified. I go to bed terrified. I never feel safe. Not in friendships or relationships. I’m always waiting for an ugly truth to be revealed.”
“Those are some deep scars, Alethea. What happened to you?”
She shook her head and closed her eyes. There had been a time, long ago, when she’d tried to get people to believe her, but she’d learned the hard way to keep some things to herself. “Nothing.”
He took her chin in his hand and raised her face. She reluctantly met his intense blue eyes. “You can trust me with more than your body, Alethea. I don’t care who has let you down in the past. I’m not them.”
What if he doesn’t believe me? What if, like everyone else, he dismisses it as something I came up with for attention? With a shaky breath, Alethea said, “My father was murdered.”
Rubbing a thumb almost absently across her jaw, Marc said, “The police records said he had a heart attack at work.”
“They were doctored. And how do you know that?” Duh, because it’s his job to have anyone associated with the Corisis investigated. And I’m part of that job. “Did you enjoy sifting through my personal life?”
“Absolutely,” he said lightly, then became serious again. “So, you think the police lied?”
“Yes. The day he died, a man came to our home and said my father had left important papers on his desk. I let him go into his office. I didn’t know my father was involved in anything dangerous. My father was dead by that night.”
“No chance it was a coincidence?”
“That’s what my therapist said. Mother hired her to convince me that those two events were completely unrelated, but I have always gotten this nauseous, anxious feeling when something is not quite right. Like when we never saw his body. They said the morgue had to do an autopsy and then accidentally had him cremated before his funeral. A slipup my mother didn’t protest. Why? Because she must have known we couldn’t see him without discovering the truth.”
“What truth?”
“I don’t know. She would never admit it and I’ve only collected crumbs of proof. Not enough to prove anything. Someone had my father killed. Someone powerful enough to be able to cover it up and have fake police reports written.”
“Do you think he was involved in something illegal?”
He believes me.
“I’ve spent most of my life trying to find that out.”
“Have you told anyone about this?”
“Not since middle school. Even Lil doesn’t know. I involved her in some of my attempts to dig up proof but never told her why. I let her believe they were just crazy stunts I did for attention. I love Lil, but she’s not exactly a vault when it comes to keeping a secret.”
Letting out a deep breath, Marc held her closer. “You can trust me with your secret, Alethea.”
She looked up into his eyes. “I believe you, Marc. I don’t know why, but I do.”
“We all have secrets,” he said softly. He ran a hand gently through her hair, then said, “I understand fear, Alethea. I know what it’s like to not be able to sleep at night because your mind won’t turn off and exhaustion is preferable to the images you’ll see in your dreams. I’m not a hero. I’m just a man who thought enlisting would pay for the education my parents couldn’t afford to give me. A man who ended up in the wrong place at a bad time.”
“You went back for five men who had been shot. That’s heroic in my book.”
“I barely remember that part of the day.” He looked up at the ceiling as the memories took him far away from her. “We were doing a routine patrol in what was supposed to be a friendly village. A roadside bomb went off that took out the lead Humvee. Sniper fire split our unit in two sections. I knew I was a dead man. No one was getting out alive. Men were dropping beside me. I don’t remember doing the acts they say I did. I remember being scared. I wanted to run for cover, but I couldn’t leave everyone. I knew those men. I knew their families. I knew they wouldn’t leave. I vaguely remember the Apache helicopters arriving and then nothing else. I woke up in a hospital and they called me a hero, but they’re wrong. Those men died anyway. I didn’t actually save anyone. I should have died with them.” He took her hand and laid it on the scar he had on one side of his abdomen. “They sent me home to heal, but you don’t heal. You never heal. And you never forget.” He tucked her head beneath his chin and said, “All I can do is get out of bed every day, go on, and try not to hate myself.”
“You did the best you could in what was a horrific situation. It’s not your fault they died.”
“And if your father was going to be murdered for what he knew, there was nothing you could have done, even if you had known.” He hugged her closer to him. “But knowing that doesn’t make sleeping easier, does it?”
“No, it’s doesn’t,” she said sadly into his chest.
He reached over for a remote and dimmed the lighting in the room. “You’re the first woman I’ve told about that day. The women I’ve dated couldn’t handle it. They want the hero. They don’t want to know the truth.”
Deep in her chest her heart soared, even as she warned it not to. Real panic set in soon afterward. She would have bolted if there were a way out of the bunker, but, since that was impossible, she retreated into her mind and pretended to fall asleep.
Marc watched her and wondered if he was right to push her. He knew she wasn’t sleeping. “What is going on in that beautiful head of yours?” he asked in her ear, and felt her tense against him.
She met his eyes angrily. “Do we have to do this?”
He played with one of her long tendrils. “You’re not going to threaten to kill me again, are you?”
She pushed ineffectively at the arm he still had wrapped around her waist. “Stop.”
“What?”
She waved a hand around them. “This. The after-sex pillow-talk flirt. Why bother? If I wasn’t locked in here with you, I’d be long gone.”
He sat up and pulled her to him until she was pressed against his chest, looking down at him. “What is this about?”
She opened her mouth to deny it, but closed it again with a click. She just glared at him, anger warring with another emotion in those beautiful green eyes. “We end the moment that door opens. Why pretend that’s not what’s going to happen?” When she shifted away from him, he pulled her back.
“You want the truth? I like you. You’re borderline paranoid and abrasive as all hell, but I don’t care. I can’t get enough of you. I love to watch you work a room. You can talk your way around most people with an ease that should be logged in the Guinness Book of World Records. And the way you find flaws in security plans—it’s like magic. A real gift. I’ve never been with a woman who excited me on so many levels. This isn’t just about sex. I’m not going anywhere. Not tonight. Not after we leave here.” Settling himself back down on the bed, he wrapped both arms around her again. “What would happen if you let yourself believe in us?”
She tensed against him and said, “Us?”
“Yes, us. Go to sleep, Alethea.”
He expected an argument but didn’t get one. It took her almost an hour, but her breath finally deepened, and she turned and buried her face in his chest. He hugged her closer, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
Not with desire as it had earlier, but with something he’d never felt before.
He wanted to be her haven—her hero.
Chapter Twelve
Alethea woke up alone and padded into the main part of the hou
se. Sunlight streamed through the window, but since it was simulated, she wasn’t sure what it meant, time-wise. She found her dress hanging beside a change of clothing in the bathroom. Linen pants and a simple silk blouse. Yesterday she’d dressed for a battle. Today she chose the tamer option. She showered and readied herself the best she could.
Returning to the living room, she hugged her arms around her and took a moment to savor the memories of the night before. Her cheeks warmed at the memory of how she’d woken in his arms, how they’d made love tenderly, wordlessly, and then fallen back to sleep wrapped around each other. A deep, refreshing sleep she’d thought impossible to achieve in adulthood.
As she stood smiling, she acknowledged that she felt at peace with what they’d done. She was filled with a calm that had little to do with the orgasms she’d had and everything to do with how it had felt to sleep in Marc’s arms. To hear the steady beat of his heart in her ear, and for the first time in nearly a decade, feel safe.
Safety is an illusion, she reminded herself harshly.
Just like allowing herself to believe that Marc is here because he wants to be. This is his job, and last night was no doubt an entertaining way for him to pass what would otherwise have been a tedious amount of time locked away from the world.
He’d said all the right things to her.
But that’s what men do. They say whatever they think a woman wants to hear.
She spotted him on his phone, walking up and down the path near the lazy river. Who was he talking to? Dominic? Had Jeremy cleared or convicted Stephan?
Either way, their time in the bunker was likely over.
I should be happy.
I can get back to my life now.
She thought of her empty apartment and her schedule that, although full of work-related appointments, lacked a social component. No need to rush home, since no one is waiting for me. Not even a cat.
Oh, my God, I’m losing my mind. Is this what happens when everyone around you gets engaged or married? You start to think you need that for yourself? I don’t. I’ve done perfectly fine on my own.
Marc spotted her in the window and started toward her. Sauntered, really. Practically whistling. He was perfectly groomed in one of his charcoal suits. His short brown hair was perfectly styled and he had the look of a man who had spent the night doing exactly what they’d done.
When he sprinted in the door, smiling, she asked harshly, “Did you get the go-ahead to let me out of here?”
His smile didn’t waver. “Morning, sunshine. I wanted to be there when you woke up, but you were sleeping so peacefully, I decided to get some work done instead. I see you found the clothes I left you.”
“Did you have them delivered or were they here already?”
“I like to call it being optimistically prepared.” He winked. “And it worked out well last night.”
Her cheeks warmed a bit at his reference to the handcuffs. Distance. I need to distance myself if I’m going to be able to regain my balance here. “So what is the plan for today?”
He studied her expression for a moment, then said, “Jake wants to see both of us.”
“Did Jeremy find out anything?”
“He didn’t say, but he told me to bring you up to see him as soon as you were ready.”
She’d never been one to avoid confrontation. Better to go up and get it over with. Without hesitation, Alethea said, “I’m ready.”
Marc tossed her cell phone to her.
Alethea caught it easily and held it up between them. “You trust me with this now?”
He closed the distance between them with two large strides and took her face in his hands. “Yes,” he said, and claimed her mouth hungrily.
It took everything in her to not throw her arms around his neck and give in to the waves of desire that rocked her. She kept her hands clenched at her sides, but moaned with pleasure when his tongue swept over hers in an intimate greeting.
When he stepped back, Alethea stood immobile for a moment, unable to disguise her longing for what she was determined to refuse. She shook her head to clear it and said, “Let’s get out of here then.”
Now, before I forget this isn’t real.
Before I throw myself in your arms and beg you to take me back to your underwater bed.
She checked her phone log simply to give herself something to look at. Lil had called. Repeatedly through the night. Alethea had never ignored her, but the sting of their last encounter was still fresh. If her time off the grid had made Lil regret not trusting her, perhaps it was not a bad thing.
She looked up to see Marc watching her closely. He said, “Our time here is over, but we’re not. Far from it.” He turned and walked out the door of his underground house, leaving her with little choice but to follow behind him. Each door they passed through required a passcode of some sort. The level of security was as impressive on the way out as it had been on the way in.
Inside the elevator, Alethea stood beside Marc and stole a glance at him. He was firmly back in work mode. Gone was the man who frolicked, hilarious in his state of undress, and teased her. Just like her, he had a face he showed the world, and it was firmly back in place.
What had he meant they were far from over? Did he imagine because she’d slept with him once—okay, three times—that he had some sort of weekend pass to her? If so, he was in for a harsh letdown.
They went all the way to the top floor where very few were allowed. Jake’s secretary announced them through her intercom and instructed them to go straight to Jake’s office.
Jake stood when they entered and crossed to greet them. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He waved them to take a seat. Neither of them did. There was an energy in the air that wouldn’t allow even a pretense of relaxation. “Jeremy should be here in a couple hours. I’m flying him in. He spent the night retracing Whitman’s findings and he’s come to the same conclusion. All paths lead back to Stephan.”
Marc swore. “Does Dominic know?”
Jake ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I haven’t told him the latest bad news, but I spoke to him yesterday. I was hoping we’d find something to clear Stephan. Nothing. I don’t get it. Dominic is not going to sit back and wait for us to solve this. I’ve asked my parents to help Jeremy with this.”
With the Waltons’ involvement, Alethea didn’t doubt that the culprit would be found. However, Jake was right that Dominic was the time bomb in this scenario. Could they uncover the truth before Dominic went after Stephan and the entire situation flew out of control?
“You’re that sure he’s innocent?” Marc asked.
“I’m that sure we need him to be,” Jake answered. “You don’t want to see what Dominic is capable of if Stephan is using his sister as a cover. He won’t care if he goes to jail over it.”
At least Jake wasn’t in denial when it came to the nature of his best friend. Nor was Marc, judging by how he seemed to silently agree.
“What do you need me to do?” Marc asked.
Unable to stop herself, Alethea cut into their conversation. “If we work backward from the assumption that Stephan isn’t guilty, then we have to conclude that whoever is setting him up is better than Jeremy.”
Jake stopped pacing to look at Alethea. “I’ve never met anyone better than him.”
“Yes, you have. Sliver.”
The mention of the man whom they had thwarted less than a year ago brought a frown to Marc’s face. “I thought he’d been dealt with. Isn’t he underground somewhere, licking his wounds and reduced to repairing DVRs or something?”
Alethea started pacing the room. Her mind raced with possibilities. “What if we weren’t as successful as we thought and this is all connected? What if Sliver is taking another swipe at Dominic, this time using Stephan? We don’t know the man Stephan gave Dominic’s Chinese server access codes to. What if it was Sliver? Someone like that wouldn’t have rubbed shoulders with Stephan without planting some sort of backdoor entry into his
system. And he would be smart enough to use Stephan’s history against him.”
Jake rubbed his chin. “It sounds a bit far-fetched. Not impossible, but improbable. Stephan knew his hacker. He worked for him.”
Alethea’s eyebrows shot up. “Exactly. The ones who can hurt you the most are the ones you’ve let closest.”
Although Marc didn’t look happy with her comment, he nodded in agreement. “Stephan is either a villain or an unsuspecting player in someone else’s game. Sliver’s real name was Stanley, wasn’t it? Jake, have you ever crossed paths with someone by that name?”
“No, not that I know of.”
Tossing up a hand in frustration, Alethea said, “If Sliver was methodically coming after Dominic, and smart enough to use a decoy perpetrator, I’m pretty sure Stanley could be an alias.”
Jake and Marc exchanged a look. Jake said, “Alethea, your theory is based on too much conjecture and not enough fact. That’s a lot of effort to put into what is currently presenting as little more than coding errors. Easy enough to find and fix. Hardly worth the trouble your conspiracy theory requires. Do you have any evidence linking Stephan and Sliver?”
Alethea shook her head and conceded, “No.”
Marc stepped closer to Alethea and asked, “Then what makes you think you’re right?”
He wasn’t being sarcastic; he was interested, so Alethea answered honestly. “It’s a hunch I have. Just a gut feeling.”
Marc looked down at her and nodded slowly. “If you’re right, this security breach goes beyond what Jeremy can patch. I’ll increase my men around Dominic and his family, but the players in this game may already be planted deeply.”
He believes me.
What if . . .
No, don’t read more into this than there is.
Jake went to stand beside his large office window and said, “Dominic gave me twenty-four hours to handle this. You have much less than that. He’s meeting me here in”—he glanced at his watch—“seven hours. Bring me something before then.”