a man’s roaring cry—a cry of her name. Then the blast of the gun. The thud of flesh hitting flesh. She’d raced through the dark, terrified that she’d miscalculated, and Antony had been hurt. Fear had stolen her breath, and she’d been so afraid she’d find him in the dark, dead.
But she hadn’t found a dead man in the dark. She’d found…something different. An Antony who attacked his opponent with vicious force. An Antony who had stared at her with a dark fire blazing in his eyes. Who’d had his face locked into rigid lines but had still exuded a hard, driving tension. A deadly power.
It wasn’t as if she’d looked at a stranger in the darkness. No, as crazy as it seemed, when she’d seen him that way, she’d just felt like…
Ah. So this is the last bit you were hiding from me.
“I can give you that ride.”
Her shoulders stiffened. The male voice had come from just a few feet away. Her head turned. She swallowed.
Dex gave her a crooked grin. “Don’t look at me that way. I don’t bite.”
Eric cursed.
“I’ll give you that ride. It will give us a chance to talk. We need to talk, you and I. Clear up some things.” He offered his hand to her.
She stared at it. Then up at him. “You’re going to take me to Antony?”
“Of course. Where else would I take you?”
Where, indeed? She reached for his hand.
But Eric’s fingers closed around her shoulder. “Bad idea, Ella. I’ll take you wherever you want to go. You can trust me.”
What he didn’t say but what she understood was…You can’t trust him.
But she kept her focus on Dex. Mysterious Dex—out in public. There for her. “Dex and I need to talk.” To clear the air. “Don’t worry, I can handle him.”
Dex laughed.
Ella didn’t.
A few moments later, she was driving away with Dex.
***
“Tell me that didn’t just happen.” Jacob put his hands on his knees as he sucked in deep gulps of air. He’d raced a good two hundred yards in order to reach Eric Wilde’s side. Not that Eric had been his target. He’d been trying to get to Ella. Before she’d gotten in the car with Dex.
But he’d been too late.
“It happened.” Eric pulled out his phone. He fired off a quick text. “I think Antony needs to know who is giving his lady a ride.”
Dex and Ella. Shit. “That’s a bad combo.”
Eric turned his gaze to Jacob. Studied him in silence.
They weren’t strangers. Unfortunately, a few of Jacob’s cases had led him to cross paths with Eric before. The first time they’d crossed paths, the Wilde boss hadn’t known that he was one of the good guys. Or, mostly good.
“Why’d Dex bring you in on this one?” Eric asked.
“That’s classified.” Because Ella is my family. Because he knows I’d take a bullet for her in a heartbeat. But an interesting trivia point that Jacob had picked up that night…Not only would Antony take a bullet for my cousin, but he’d kill to protect her with no hesitation.
“Antony is worried there might still be another player out in the dark,” Eric revealed. “He wanted Ella to have Wilde agents on her. But if she’s with Dex, I can’t exactly send a team to tail them, now can I?”
Nope. Dex wouldn’t stand for that. He’d lose any tails on him in an instant.
“They are supposed to be going to Antony’s place,” Eric added.
“On it.” He didn’t need to hear more. If Antony thought there might be more danger out there, then Jacob didn’t intend to lower his guard. Hell, he never lowered his guard. That was just his rule of thumb. Betrayals could wait around every corner.
A hard life lesson.
He sure hoped it wasn’t a lesson that Ella would have to learn.
Chapter Seventeen
“Secrets have a way of turning up and biting you in the ass.” Dex drove easily through the city.
Ella sat tensely in the leather seat. When he’d led her to the sleek, black sports car, she’d just lifted a brow. Figured Dex would tool around in something like that—and, of course, he would drive it to a crime scene. Why not?
“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued as the radio played softly in the car. “I like secrets. I use them all the time against my enemies.” A considering pause. “And my friends.”
Ella wished he’d stop playing around. “I know what this is about, Dex.”
“Um, do you?”
She swallowed. “I have to tell him.”
“I was worried you’d say that.” Dex didn’t sound