Sometimes I really hate it when I’m right.

Darkness fell and with it came the inevitable.

I was dozing, my head drooping down to my chest, when the lights went out in the office, plunging me into darkness. I jerked awake as emergency lighting clicked on, a dull red glow. I listened hard, then started when I heard yelling and gunshots.

The door flew open and David barreled inside.

“What is this shit?” he gritted out.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“I don’t fucking know. The lights went out, and when they came back on my men were gone. No one is answering their radio and the front desk security is silent.” He looked panicked, his eyes darting around wildly. The gun in his hand shook slightly.

“Kade’s here.”

David’s gaze whipped to mine.

“Untie me,” I said, trying to get through to him. “Let me go. There’s still time.”

“No, there’s not.”

Both of us looked toward the door—in the direction the voice had come from—just as a gunshot sounded. David yelled in pain and dropped his gun. Kade was there in an instant, kicking the weapon away. It skittered across the floor.

“David, why’d you have to go and be an asshole?” Kade chastised him. “Our arrangement was working out so well. It’s not my fault you’re fucking incompetent.”

David glowered at him, cradling his injured hand. I was glad Kade hadn’t hurt him too badly.

“Fuck you, Dennon,” David spat.

Kade ignored him and walked over to me, careful not to turn his back to David. I lowered my head, letting my hair obscure my face. I didn’t want Kade to see, not yet. I just wanted to get out of there.

“You all right?” he asked softly, crouching down to cut through the bonds on my wrists. I hadn’t even seen him pull his knife.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, flexing my freed arms. I winced when I rubbed my wrists where the ropes had scraped me.

I was grateful for the low light and kept my face averted as Kade finished freeing my legs.

“Let’s go,” he said.

But as I stood, my knees buckled immediately from having sat for so long. Kade quickly caught me around the waist, keeping me from falling. I turned my face away, but he was too quick. Catching my chin in his hand, he forced me to look at him.

Kade went very still when our eyes met. I didn’t move, barely breathing, afraid of what he’d do. His gaze moved slowly from my swollen eye to my cheek.

“Go wait for me in the hall,” he finally said, helping me to the door. His voice was quiet and calm, which was utterly terrifying.

“No, Kade, don’t,” I whispered. “Let’s just go.”

His fingers barely brushed my damaged face. “Do as I say,” he said, and this time his tone was such that I knew better than to argue.

I walked out of the room and Kade closed the door behind me. The hallway was empty and I stood there, straining to listen, praying Kade wouldn’t kill him.

A crash came from inside the office and my nails bit into my palms. I heard grunts and thuds, glass splintering, a man’s scream. Was Kade all right? What if David got the upper hand? Should I do something? But Kade had said to wait here.

I was nearly hyperventilating when Kade finally emerged. I threw myself at him, relieved to find him unscathed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and his circled my waist.

“It’s okay,” he said softly in my ear. “You’re safe now.”

I drew back to look him in the eyes. “I was never worried that I wouldn’t be.”

Kade frowned a little at that, his thumb brushing my cheek, but I took his hand and stepped back. “Can we go now?”

He nodded wordlessly and moments later we were heading toward the front doors of the building. A black man, bigger than the other men I’d seen, stood nearby, holding a lethal-looking rifle. I froze in my tracks, my grip tightening on Kade’s hand.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I know him.”

I was still fearful and Kade seemed to sense that, pulling me closer as we neared the man.

“Thanks, Badger,” Kade said, clasping hands with the guy. “Appreciate your help.”

“Anytime,” Badger said. “Did you leave the little fucker alive or is there a mess to clean up?” Badger had the same British accent as David.

“He’s alive, but there’s a mess,” Kade replied.

“Did he shite himself?”

They both laughed at that, hardy-har-har, but I really wanted to leave. I pressed Kade’s hand in a silent message.

“Gotta go, my man. Thanks again,” Kade said, taking the hint and clapping Badger on the shoulder one last time. He helped me out the door and into his rented Mercedes. I relaxed against the seat with a sigh.

Kade took my hand again once he’d started the car, and he didn’t let go until we were back at our hotel. I grabbed his sunglasses from the dash and put them on before I got out, using one hand to finger-comb my hair over the bruised side of my face. When Kade saw this, his jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything.

Once back in our suite, I headed straight for the bathroom. I was in there a long time. I knew I had to do damage control with Kade but was putting it off.

I showered and brushed my teeth and tried to avoid looking in the mirror, which wasn’t easy. I put Kade’s shirt back on when I was through, finding it somehow comforting to me in a way I didn’t want to examine too closely.

After pawing through my makeup bag, I spent several minutes caking makeup on my bruises. It helped a little, but other than an icepack, there was nothing I could do about my swollen, bloodshot eye, so I put the sunglasses on again.

The smell of food made my stomach rumble and had me hurrying to finish brushing my hair. It had been twenty-four hours since I’d eaten and I felt more than a little shaky. When I came out of the bathroom, Kade was standing in front of the windows, his back to me, a drink held loosely in the hand at his side.

“Something smells good,” I said with forced cheerfulness as I headed to the dining table. It was laden with dishes, the aroma making my mouth water. It seemed Kade had ordered one of everything on the menu for me. I grabbed a plate and started helping myself. “You don’t mind if I start, do you?” I asked over my shoulder. “I’m starving.”

“That’s fine,” Kade said, his voice flat.

I avoided looking at him, rounding the table to sit cross-legged in a chair before attacking the food piled on my plate. I heard the clink of ice in his glass as he made another drink.

Several minutes passed in silence that grew thick and heavy. I barely tasted what I ate, the churning in my stomach telling me what was coming though I resolutely tried to ignore it. Denial had become a favorite state of mind lately.

“It’s good,” I said. “You should come have some.”

I felt more than heard Kade approach. He took the seat next to me and set his drink on the table. I caught a glimpse of his hand. The knuckles were raw and torn. I briefly wondered how well David had fared against Kade’s rage, then decided I didn’t really care. He’d hurt me and I was sure that now he was very, very sorry he had.

Kade sat on my injured side, which bothered me. I kept my hair hiding my face. I didn’t want him to see, didn’t want to talk about it. But he reached out and removed my sunglasses.

“No, leave it,” I said, trying to grab the glasses back, but he’d already whisked them away. My fork clattered to my plate and I looked him in the eye. Time to tackle this head-on.

“I’m. Fine,” I said firmly. “I know it looks bad, but I’ve been through worse. It’ll heal in a few days, okay?”

“It’s not ‘okay,’ ” Kade said. “You could be dead—”

“I’m not,” I broke in. “And thank you, for not killing him.”

“I wanted to,” he said matter-of-factly. “Nearly did.”

“But you didn’t, and we should focus on that.” I smiled, but Kade didn’t smile back. His eyes were bleak as he studied me, and my smile faded away, too.

“This is my fault,” he murmured. “What was I thinking? That I could go legit and everything would be hunky-fucking-dory?”

“It is not your fault. It’s David’s fault, the slimy asshole. You made a deal and he didn’t keep his part of the bargain. You couldn’t have known what he was going to do.”

Kade’s smile was bitter. “I’m like the kiss of death for you, princess.”

“What? No! Don’t say that.” I was dismayed. I pushed back the midnight lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes, then cradled his cheek. “You rescued me,” I said. “Like I knew you would.”

“You shouldn’t need to be rescued.”

His words were so serious, and so final, that my breath caught.

“What are you getting at?” I asked, afraid of his answer.

His hand covered mine, the faint whiskers on his jaw softly abrading my skin as he turned his face into my palm and pressed his lips there. When his eyes again met mine, they were unusually bright.

“Tomorrow I’m taking you home,” he said. “And then I’m leaving. You won’t see me again.”

I couldn’t have heard that right. “What did you say?”

“It’s not worth it,” he said. “I won’t risk you again.” He stood, giving my fingers a squeeze before releasing my hand and heading back to the windows.

My hands turned to ice and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I stood up so fast, my chair toppled behind me.

Kade turned around, his dark brows drawn, his mouth turned down in a frown.

“You are not going to do that,” I gritted out. “How could you even say that? I thought we were friends, Kade, and friends don’t just ditch each other when it’s convenient.”