She hated that she had to nod. “Yeah.”
"I want you to go stay next to the fire truck," he said, taking her arm and guiding toward the large red vehicle. Police officers and firefighters were everywhere. "Do you have your bags packed in the car like I told you to?"
“Of course. I put everything in there the first night just like you said.”
"Good." He paused and looked her in the eye. She'd known him as her neighbor for the past two years, but she'd never seen this expression on his face. His face was stoic and stern, but she could see a flicker of fear in the back of his eyes. He was worried about her.
“What's going on, Mike?” Her voice came out as a whisper.
“If I'm r
ight, you're going to need to get out of town for a while,” he said quietly. He looked over at the fire. “God, I hope I'm wrong.”
“He wasn’t wrong, was he?” Dylan asked.
Bonnie shook her head. “It gets worse, though.”
She remembered the fire chief saying that the cause of the fire was her stove. He said that she'd placed a book too close to the gas cook-top and it had caught fire. She said that was impossible, but the fire investigator was adamant. She had put the book there.
According to his report, she'd set the paperback copy of a book called, “You're Next” on the stove. It was a crime thriller by an author she'd never even heard of. She had told the police it wasn't her book, but there was no way to prove it.
The investigator made sure the cops said the fire was an accident. It was his signature on the report that said this fire had nothing to do with the Trio. Since the police had no evidence of a threat against her, they couldn't protect her. They didn't have the manpower or money to protect her without proof that the Trio was after her to get to Brett.
She was on her own.
Except, Detective Patton believed her. He didn't believe that the fire was an accident for even a minute. He knew the fire was a warning to both her and her brother, even if he couldn't prove it. The Trio crime organization didn't want her brother to testify.
He was the one who told her to run. He helped her as much as he could.
She was just glad she'd already put her important belongings in her car the night of the murder. Detective Patton had told her to do it as a precaution. She was still packed the day of the fire, so she had enough clothes for a couple of weeks and all of her legal papers. She'd nearly left her photo albums in the house, but had tucked them in at the last minute. She knew she was lucky in that regard.
Dylan sat there for a moment, then whistled. “Sounds like they need a new investigator.”
Bonnie burst out laughing without meaning to. “Yeah, he’s a real piece of work.”
“Your brother’s dead set on testifying, then?”
Bonnie nodded. “He has always done the right thing, and there’s no guarantee the Trio would leave us alone even if he decided to back down now. But they’re still going to try. And the police apparently don’t have the funds or enough evidence to prove I’m in danger, so I’m on my own. That’s why I have to leave.”
She stomped over to where she had kept her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Before Dylan had a chance to say anything, she was out the door again. She knew that he was going to try to get her to stay, and she knew she had to keep her resolve. For Dylan, and Tyson, and Mia, and all the residents of this ranch.
She didn’t hear anyone coming, and she was so revved up that she screamed a little when he put his hand on her shoulder. The emotion of the moment was too much, and she buried her head in Dylan’s chest as the rain came down all around them.
He wrapped his arms around her, and for a brief moment, she felt safe.
Chapter 20
Dylan
Bonnie shook in the wind like a leaf. All he wanted to do was keep his arms wrapped around her and protect her. It was strange. He was actually relieved there wasn’t an ex. There wasn’t someone she was pining over. This was the one time the mob was actually the better option.
“You don’t have to run,” he told her. His arms ached to pull her to him. He took a step forward, and she retreated from him.
“I can’t do this to you,” she whispered. He barely heard it over the rain.
She looked up at him, her eyes big and soft. Her delicate features were wet with rain and her hair plastered to her head. It reminded him of the night they met. She was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Thunder growled around them, and the wind shook the trees. But they were in their own world. Just the two of them. He barely felt the rain. He wasn’t cold anymore. He needed her to stay. He could feel it in his bones that she was the one.