“If you touch him, they’ll throw the book at you,” Del pointed out. “And if you go to jail, what happens to me and Seth?”
They probably died. Fuck. And if he disrespected her wishes, was he any better than Eric?
Tyler gritted his teeth and dragged her into his arms. God, she felt good here, and he wanted to eliminate Eric because he couldn’t stand the thought of seeing Del hurt or threatened ever again. But in this case, she was right.
That didn’t stop the adrenaline from coursing through his system like a drug, revving him up. He was jagged, on edge. How the hell was he going to make her feel safe while taking the top off his frustration? He needed to either fight or f**k.
“All right. I won’t touch him.” Yet.
Emotional overload hit Del. She melted against him, trembling in his arms. Tyler did his best to manage his raving frustration and pulled her closer, where she’d be safe. But over her shoulder, he glared with blatant hostility at Eric.
“Thank you,” Del breathed.
She shouldn’t thank him yet. His restraint was only going to last for so long.
Tyler eased her back and thumbed the fresh tears from her face. “Let’s find your flash drive and go.”
He almost choked on the words. He really just wanted to kill the motherfucker, but Del needed his comfort and protection more than he needed to unleash his temper.
She gave him a watery smile and slipped her hand in his. The trust she showed him now, especially after Eric had abused hers so wretchedly, floored him.
Squeezing her hand, Tyler let her lead him through the house. They stepped over broken glass, around toppled furniture, their feet wrinkling papers beneath them. Finally, at the end of the hall, they entered one of the spare bedrooms. Del had used it for an office at one point. Now, it held Eric’s weight equipment, all scattered across the floor.
She trotted over to the closet and opened the door. The house had been built in the 1920s, and the tiny closet was almost nonexistent. The dark hardwood floors gleamed, and Del knelt and shoved her fingernail into a little ridge in the floorboard, popping the wooden plank up with the first yank. The board clattered to the floor as she stuck her hand inside the little hidden cubby.
A moment later, she froze and looked up at him with wide eyes. “It’s gone.”
***
AS soon as they left Eric’s house, Tyler folded Del into the car and pulled out his phone. Shit, she looked shell-shocked. Devastated. And his need to pound on the person responsible nearly pushed him beyond reason. He didn’t f**king know how to make this better for her. Eric claimed he didn’t know anything about her flash drive. Didn’t even know she’d ever hidden anything in that spot. He’d had some work done to the floors last month after the hot water heater had leaked and caused some flooding . . . right around the time Del had hidden the little device. And of course, someone had broken into the house. Anything could have happened. Anyone could have taken it.
Tyler didn’t like this shit. The urge to kill Eric still rode him hard. It had taken everything in him to leave the f**ker alive. Now, dread gripped Tyler as well.
He grabbed Del’s hand. “We’ll figure this out. Who would have broken into Eric’s house? I doubt it was random or a simple burglar. You told your friend Lisa that you’d hidden the flash drive here?”
“Yes. I know what you’re thinking, but I can’t imagine that she’d betray me.”
“No one ever wants to imagine that someone they trust would willingly hurt them, but we have to look at every possibility. Who else knew where you’d hidden your information?”
“No one. Carlson must have decided to hit Eric’s place on the off chance that I’d hidden something there.”
Maybe. Maybe not. He’d keep working all those angles.
“I was trying to be clever, but Carlson’s mind works a lot more deviously than mine.” Del sighed tiredly. “Every bit of my research is gone. I’d been sketching a timeline, keeping track of contacts I’d made. I can probably remember some of it, but not phone numbers and exact dates and . . . I’d even started drafting a story. I never imagined that he’d blow up my laptop and that I’d have to start from scratch. That will take longer. I don’t know if I have that much time before he’s named DA.”
“You didn’t back up at the office?”
She shook her head. “A colleague had his work stolen about six weeks ago. He was working late at night, and some goons came in, roughed him up, and took everything he had on his story. The paper is supposed to be instituting new security procedures, but they haven’t implemented them yet. So I didn’t dare leave my stuff there.”
And home wouldn’t have been any better. In fact, Tyler bet if they went by her place now, they’d see that it had been violated, too. This f**ker Carlson was thorough and seemingly one step ahead.
She blew out a deep, troubled breath, looking exhausted. “Maybe Seth and I should assume aliases and move out of the country. If I stay, there’s no way Carlson won’t hunt us down eventually and kill us. I don’t want to be always looking over my shoulder.”
Del covered her face with her hands. She didn’t sob aloud or shake with tears. But Tyler felt her desperation deep in the gnawing of his gut. He swore under his breath, even as he wrapped an arm around her. A deep sense of possession gripped him. No f**king way was she simply going to disappear. If she needed protection, he’d give it to her.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to help you.”
“I can’t ask you for more. You’ve already dropped your life to help me, been so supportive . . .”