The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(45)

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Willa had landed on her stomach and she flipped herself over, groaning as she looked up, her eyes wide with shock. “What happened?”

“There was a bomb,” he said, knowing that was a dramatic understatement. “We need to move. Are you okay? Can you stand?”

She nodded as she started to push herself up. It was only then that James allowed himself to look out at the street. Austin was helping Jennifer up while Hart ran straight into the building. Damn hero complex.

But then James realized what he was going after. Jennifer, Austin, Hart, Willa, and he had all been on the street. Toni hadn’t been. His eyes traveled up the building until he saw where the explosion had hit. It wasn’t Willa’s apartment. It was the apartment below. Someone had been aiming for Toni’s setup. “Let’s go.” He helped Willa up and led her across the street. There were a few other civilians around them on the street, but no one seemed seriously injured.

He was willing to bet that there were a lot more casualties in the building, though. There was probably some serious damage. He’d felt the shockwave rip into him even down here, a ways away from where the actual blast took place.

This had been a precise attack that was designed to kill and send a message. Once they were across the street, James once again looked Willa over to look for any sign of injury. One of her knees looked a little banged up, but that was about it.

“Toni....”

“Hart is going in to get her.”

Willa’s eyes were glazed over and he knew she was going into shock. She was strong as hell, but this kind of stuff was way out of her league. “Willa!” he shouted, breaking her out of her trance until she looked at him. “I need to get you somewhere safe.”

She nodded a few too many seconds for him to feel comfortable. “We can, um....” She started to look at the wreckage again and James moved to stand in front of her so she looked right at him. “We can go to a hotel.”

“Okay. We’ll need to walk out of the area to get a cab.”

She nodded and the loud blaring of a cell phone started to cut through the craziness around them. Willa pulled out her phone and looked at it for a few long seconds without answering it until the ringing stopped. “It was Daddy,” she said, almost in despair. She looked back up at James. “Did he do this? Did he try to kill me?”

“I don’t know,” said James honestly. “But this doesn’t feel like him. He is subtle. He goes behind the scenes to get things done. Whoever did this, it wasn’t about you. This was sending a message. I think this is Sterling. He’s cleaning house. Getting ready to come back.”

The phone rang again.

“Don’t answer it,” said James. “I’ll get you out of here. You’re never going to have to deal with him again.”

She was quiet, which was terrifying on a whole different level.

“Just drop the phone and we’ll leave. You’ll never have to look back.”

When she looked into his eyes, she knew what she was going to do before she even started to move. “I’m sorry, James.” She hit the Answer button and brought the phone to her ear. “Daddy?” Her voice sounded small and just as freaked out as she looked. “Can you come pick me up?”

“What are you doing?”

She told her father where on the street she was before she hung up the phone. “If I leave now, I can never get back in my father’s good graces again.” She pointed to the destruction above them. “This isn’t acceptable. This isn’t something I can pretend isn’t happening. I can’t run and I can’t stick my head in the sand. Even if I end up homeless on the corner, I don’t care. This is ending now.”

James leaned in. “I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”

“Good.” Willa’s voice trembled. “Because I really don’t want to die doing this.”

He cupped her face with both of his hands. “I don’t say this a lot, so I want you to really listen. Please, please don’t do this. I don’t want to lose you.” The words were ripped from him. Not because he didn’t mean it. He meant every single word. But he already knew that Willa wasn’t going to change her mind.

She pushed up and kissed him. It was different from any of their other kisses. Slow and steady. “I can’t not do this,” she said.

Even though James could think of a million reasons why she shouldn’t, he kept quiet.

“Go help the rest of them. The car will be here any minute. Daddy might judge me for making out with the help.”

“I’m going to be close.”

“I know. I’ll never forget.”

James forced himself to leave her as he ran across the street. He wished like hell he knew she’d be okay for now, but nothing was safe at the moment. Jadon would pick her up and he’d be looking for any reason the Murray women had been setting up camp right beneath his daughter’s place.

For the moment, James’s cover was still in place, but he knew that he was vulnerable. Considering he’d played a part in Jennifer and Austin getting away and he was so new to the team, eyes were going to be on him. He knew his credentials were pretty bulletproof since he was using his real name, but he didn’t know what these new guys were capable of.