Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(83)

She stood over him, staring down at the man who had terrorized her in more ways than she’d even known. “Go to hell. I don’t need you.” She reached back, found Reece’s hand, warm and strong and comforting. “I have everything I need right here.”

The arson investigators moved in, dragged Jason to his feet.

Jude grinned at her. “You knocked him flat! Remind me to never piss you off.”

Behind her, Reece snorted. “You piss everyone off at one time or another.”

“I’m not the only one in the family with a kickass right hook,” Eva said and looped an arm around Shelby’s shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. “I’m proud of you.”

Stunned and kind of numb, she watched the cops take Jason away. “All this time…it was him?”

Reece’s hands settled on her shoulders, rubbed. The weight of them was comforting, and she leaned back into the warmth of his body.

“Libby figured it out,” he said. “Mallory never actually charged you for drug possession, and the statute of limitations ran out last year, right around the time he demanded you break up with your ex-boyfriend. He had no legal control over you.”

“So he used fear instead.” Hands on her hips, Eva scowled, watching the officers stuff Jason into the back of a waiting patrol car. She sighed. “Shel, I’m so sorry you didn’t feel confident enough in me to tell me about him. I could have helped a long time ago.”

Shelby shook her head. “But why would he…?”

“You were too valuable for him to lose,” Eva said. “Over the years, your information has helped him collar some huge names in the criminal world, made him a big deal in the ATF, and when you tried walking the straight and narrow by buying The Bean Gallery, he saw his career going out the door. Must have figured if he scared you enough, you’d go to him begging for protection.” She smiled over at Reece. “He just didn’t count on you going to Reece instead.”

Shelby glanced at Reece, then at each of his brothers, then back at the building behind her as she mentally connected all the dots. Pain sliced through the center of her belly. “Steven, my ex-boyfriend. He wasn’t the pyromaniac, was he?”

Eva rolled her lips together, shook her head. “He was innocent. Or at least as innocent as a guy with a rap sheet can get.”

“He’d done bad things, but he wasn’t a bad person.” The pain grew teeth and Shelby shut her eyes. “And I killed him.”

“No.” Hands still on her shoulders, Reece spun her to face him. “Your father killed him, and Mallory set it up. He saw you slipping out of his control and decided Steven had to go.”

She sniffled. “I cared about Steven.”

“I know you did, and it’s not your fault he died, okay?”

She wanted to believe him, but the guilt was too heavy. “Jason was going to burn your building down. Just like he did my neighbor’s house, your parents’ house.”

“Nah,” Cam said and slid an arm around Eva’s waist. “We were ready for him. Made sure he saw us taking The Bean Gallery’s sign down and moving it here. The last thing he wanted was for you to reopen, so we hoped he’d take the bait and resort to his usual tactics when Reece brought you here.”

“Aaand,” Jude said, finally smothering the last of the trashcan fire, “he did. Obviously.”

Her heart sank. “So, the sign…it was only part of the sting?”

“No.” Hands still on her shoulders, Reece spun her to face him. “If you want to reopen The Bean Gallery, this space is yours.”

So many things flung through her mind, a whirlwind of questions and thoughts and feelings, and she didn’t know what to say. Reece had forgiven her. She was finally free from Jason. And now this?

“Please.” Jude clasped his hands in a pleading gesture. “We need some good coffee around here.”

She gazed around at all the hopeful faces. Even Vaughn’s eyebrows were raised in question, which was about as hopeful as the big guy got.

So this was what family looked like, felt like. She could get used to this.

“Okay,” she said and saw Jude punch a fist toward the sky in triumph out of the corner of her eye as she turned to Reece. Her heart swelled at his grin. “But right now, I really just want to go home with my husband.”

They barely made it inside the door before they were on each other, hands roaming, mouths fused.

“God,” Shelby said between kisses as she tugged at his shirt. “I thought I lost you. When I saw you lying on that bathroom floor…”

“Shh. You didn’t lose me. You never will.” He ducked to let her pull his shirt off over his head.

She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe you dyed it blue.”

The dimple in his left cheek flashed as he straightened. “Yeah, that’s not all I did.” He pointed to his side, and her gaze tracked down his lean body to the healing ink along his ribs.

“Oh my God. You got a tattoo!” She dragged her fingers over the design, and he squirmed as if it tickled. “It’s beautiful, but why an anchor?”

A slight flush worked up his chest and neck. “It’s a not-so-subtle reminder to myself that I have a tendency to drag you down—”