Mine to Have (Mine #5)(29)

They weren’t playing house. A faint sound reached Elizabeth’s ears. She glanced over at the window. But…then she didn’t hear the sound again.

“We’re damn aware there is a target on her,” Saxon said as he took a step toward Victor. “And I’m doing you a favor by keeping Elizabeth alive.”

Wait. Hold the freaking phone. “Did you just say I was a favor?” Hurt was there, splintering across her chest. Because she’d thought…never mind.

Saxon’s head jerked toward her. “Elizabeth…” He looked lost for a moment. Confused. “No, that’s not what I meant.” His hand raked through his hair. “Look—”

Victor holstered his gun and shoved Saxon in the chest with his hand. “No, you look. Those three bastards who came after you at the motel? The ones you wanted me to find? I already found them. It was real easy, considering their bodies were left in room number thirteen.”

No, that wasn’t possible. Elizabeth shivered even as she said, “You’re lying. They were alive when we left.”

“No, Ms. Ward, I’m not lying.” He didn’t glance over at her, but kept his attention on Saxon. “Those men are dead. They were all shot, and their bodies were dumped in your motel room. Someone killed all three of them and took out the kid who was working at the check-in desk.”

This was horrible. “Why?” Elizabeth demanded as a fist seemed to squeeze her heart. So many people…dead.

Victor didn’t answer her. Just kept right on glaring at Saxon. So she marched across the room, grabbed his arm, and whirled the guy around to face her. “Why were they killed?”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “At first, I thought someone might be protecting you. Eliminating anyone who might threaten you.”

“The check-in clerk wasn’t any threat.” She’d never even seen him.

“If he could identify the killer, he was a threat.”

This was out of control. Six people were dead now—six! Taggert, Locke, the three men at the motel and…a desk clerk—some poor soul that I never even met!

“That’s what I thought, at first,” Victor continued. “That maybe someone was out there, eliminating any danger to you.”

“By killing?”

His head tilted as he studied her. “Then I learned about your parents.”

It was her turn to shake her head.

Saxon surged forward. “What do Elizabeth’s parents have to do with anything?”

“Luther Bates took out a hit on them.”

Those goosebumps on her arms turned into a full-on chill. “What? Luther Bates?” Yes, she knew the name. Who didn’t? The guy had made serious national headlines when he’d been arrested. It wasn’t every day that a drug kingpin like him went down.

“Drop the act,” Victor ordered. “You had to know he was the one who went after your mom. She tipped off the DA about him, and he sent out the hit on your whole family.”

She thought about slugging him because there was so much fury and pain twisting inside of her. “My parents died in a car accident!” And this guy was going to try and tell her that some drug kingpin had killed them? No way. No. Car accidents happened. They were sad and tragic but they just happened.

“Their brake line was cut. It was no damn accident, and you know that. The cops said—”

“They said nothing to me about a hit being placed on my parents!” Elizabeth was yelling. She had to stop that. She had to get her control back. Her hands clenched into fists at her side. “They told me it was an accident. That’s all. Accidents…they happen.”

“Then maybe they didn’t say anything to you because they didn’t have proof…maybe they thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know that Luther Bates had been gunning for you. Hell, ignorance can be bliss, right?” His face hardened. “But if it was just an accident, then why did you run out of town? You ran fast and you ran hard and you didn’t go back.”

Saxon was watching her, his gaze carefully guarded now. He was staring at her almost as if…as if she were a suspect or a criminal. Not the woman that he’d just made love with.

No, we didn’t make love. We had sex. We fucked. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Nothing more…

“There wasn’t anything for me there. Why would I stay? They were gone, and being there without them hurt.” She’d felt haunted in that old house. So she’d gone away, trying to run from the pain. Too late, she'd learned the pain followed her wherever she went.

“You had a hit on you, and you ran to stay safe,” Victor charged. “Only the bounty stayed on your head, and when you turned up here in Miami, someone made the connection and decided to collect. I’m betting Locke is the one who put the pieces of the puzzle together. He was a junior man in Luther’s organization a few years ago.”

It felt as if her head were about to split open. “A-a bounty has been on my head? For two years?” Impossible.

His lips thinned. His stare met Saxon’s in some kind of silent, suspicious communication, then Victor glanced back at her.

“Say something!” Elizabeth yelled.

And that was when it happened. Gunfire. The sound was familiar to her now, thanks to that horrible experience at the motel. Like fireworks exploding right outside the cabin. No, tearing into the cabin.