all those years ago? Had they waited for the right opportunity to attack him? Had her father been as terrified as she had been? And how about Stacy? Had her cousin known what was happening to her?
She didn’t trust the ligaments in her legs to support her weight any longer, so she sank to the kitchen floor.
“Do you know what they wanted?” she managed to ask.
“Just that they needed to speak to you about some matter from long ago. You’re not in the witness protection program, are you?” He laughed.
She forced herself to join in, but didn’t trust herself to speak. If only he knew what was really going on.
“I don’t know if they’ll come around again—they didn’t leave any contact information—but I thought I’d give you the heads-up.”
She fought to keep her voice from cracking, but her hands shook violently and the phone almost fell from her grasp. “Thanks for looking out for me, Martin. I wonder who they are.” She had a glimpse of Dom raising a stake above his head and pounding it into that guy in the dark warehouse parking lot. “Must be someone else they’re looking for, but thanks for letting me know.”
AS HE WALKED down the labyrinthlike hallway toward the computer lab with Lily and Jackson, Dom felt as if someone had reached into his chest with a knife and sliced his heart in half. Mackenzie! Something was wrong.
“Go,” he told the others. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
He fumbled with the cell phone and dialed her number. Two rings, then her voice. For real. He leaned a shoulder unevenly against the wall.
“Mackenzie, are you okay?”
She didn’t answer him right away, but he could hear her breathing. “Yes.” Her voice was thin, barely audible.
Dios mio.
She had been worried or scared a moment ago, but now she just seemed angry. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor of the sterile hallway, cell phone cradled against his ear.
“What’s wrong? What just happened?” Dom asked.
“Other than you leaving me last night?”
“Mackenzie, I’m sorry. I wanted to stay, but you saw what I was capable of.”
“I saw a warrior last night, Dom. A man who was willing to fight for me, even to die for me. And yet—”
“Die for you? I practically killed you,” Dom said.
“Why do you not see yourself as I do?” She gave a sigh of exasperation and her voice had a sudden, cool edge. She was distancing herself from him, and that imaginary knife continued its sawing motion. “I have nothing here. No credit cards, no transportation, and my effin’ phone battery is almost dead. I’m fine, really. Maybe I’ll just walk home.”
“I said I’d be back and I meant it. What happened last night—”
“What happened last night was a nightmare. I just want to get the hell out of here and go home.”
He heard a click in his ear as she ended the call. He flew to his feet and pounded a fist against the wall, so hard that cement dust covered his boots.
She was mad at him now, but what had frightened her a moment ago?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
MACKENZIE HEARD A light tapping on the cabin door.
“Good morning. Or should I say, good afternoon.” Shirl stood on the top stair dressed in army green hip-wader boots. She held two empty buckets in one hand, two rakes pinched under her arm, and a to-go mug in the other, which she held out to Mackenzie. “It’s a two-percent mocha with extra whip. Sorry, it’s not nonfat. We don’t do skinny around here.” She laughed. “Thought maybe you could use some company, since I heard Dom freaked out and split.”
“Thanks. He called you?” Mackenzie pulled the lid off to dip her finger into the whipped cream. Dom must’ve told Shirl how she liked her espresso drinks. She would’ve been touched by his thoughtfulness if she hadn’t been so pissed off.
“Yeah, I can’t believe he left. He knows he could’ve come up to the main house and we’d have gotten him another room if he was so worried about hurting you. Hey, open the hall closet there and grab a pair of boots, will ya? I’m taking you clamming. It’s a minus tide and the water will be out at its farthest point soon.”
“I’m not really—”
“Nonsense,” Shirl said. “Let’s get going. The tide’s only out for another half hour or so. It’s not often we get such a low tide during the daylight hours, so we gotta take advantage of it. It’s usually in the