UP IN FLAMES

The instant he left the room, closing the door behind him, Vanessa turned to Alaric. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a possibility I could face charges?”

He shrugged. “If I had, would you have come?”

She didn’t even have to think. “Of course not.”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“That’s why. I figured you’d have a much better chance if you came to them, with me vouching for you, than if they’d come out and arrested you.”

“You have a point,” she said slowly. “And while I understand their reasoning, don’t they have to have some sort of proof that I did something wrong?”

Alaric lifted one shoulder. “Don’t panic, okay? Let’s just wait and see what Bobby comes back with.”

A moment later, the door swung open and Bobby Brown returned. Vanessa’s heart sank at the serious expression on the other man’s face. This couldn’t be good.

“We’re willing to consider your request,” Bobby said carefully.

Alaric snorted. “Come on. You know you don’t have enough to charge her. From what I understand, we’ve got a ton of valuable information. Starting with a list of every buyer and distributor Christopher setup within the last couple of years. And where he laundered the money, as well.”

Bobby studied her. “If she knew all of this, that would make her an accessory.”

“Not hardly,” Alaric interjected. “She knew absolutely nothing about any of this prior to the time we got the thumb drive.”

“And I brought it to you at the earliest opportunity,” Vanessa added. “Do I get my immunity agreement or not?”

For a moment she thought Alaric’s boss would continue to try to stall, but instead he finally nodded.

“Agreed. I’m having someone draw it up as we speak. Now show me what you’ve got.”

Not sure they should until she had the signed agreement in hand, she looked to Alaric . He slowly nodded. “Bobby

gave you his word,” he said. “He’ll keep his promise.”

While she wasn’t sure she trusted Bobby, she did trust Alaric. “Okay,” she said.

She watched as Alaric dug the thumb drive out of his pocket, and passed it over to Bobby, “Here you go.”

Bobby watched the two of them with a bemused look on his weathered face. Finally, he took the thumb drive and plugged it into his computer. A few clicks later and he sat staring at his monitor. “You weren’t kidding,” he said, clicking through file after file. “There’s more than enough evidence here to not only put Chloe Davis away for years, but to completely shut down the cartel’s operations. I believe we will get numerous arrests out of this.”

Since she figured that was the closest Alaric’s boss would come to thanking her, she grinned at him. “I’m glad it was worth it.”

A soft knock on the door and a woman wearing a tailored navy suit entered. “Here you are, sir.” She handed a stack of paperwork to Bobby. “Everything you requested.”

He thanked her. Once she’d exited, he passed the papers over to Vanessa. “Take a look at these. I think you’ll find everything is in order. Once you’ve signed, I’ll have copies made for your records.”

She signed all the highlighted areas and passed the paperwork back to him. Bobby called his assistant and asked for photocopies. The woman nodded and carried everything away.

“Now that that’s taken care of,” Bobby began, steepling his fingers on the desk in front of him, “you should know Christopher’s assets will be frozen. Savings account, checking, credit cards-all of it. You won’t be able to access anything.”

“That won’t affect me at all.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice. “Christopher cleaned out everything a few days before he was shot. I haven’t been able to figure out what he did with the money. On top of that, he apparently stole three million dollars from one of the cartels.”

Bobby exchanged a look with Alaric. “So we’ve heard,” he said carefully. “The FBI has been looking into that, as well as the attempts made on your life. I believe they have a suspect in custody.”

Chris. “The Anniversary police picked up Christopher’s campaign manager earlier today. She came to the house with three cartel members and tried to take Alaric hostage.”

Bobby gave her one of those benevolent, masculine smiles that she’d always found irritating. “I’m aware.”

It was finally over. Bobby took Alaric with him to congratulate the team, leaving her alone in the conference room. She wondered what would happen if she simply walked out now to head home. She actually pushed to her feet, half intending to do exactly that, when Alaric returned. He looked both jubilant and weary, angry and sad and something else that she couldn’t identify. As if he’d just lost something or someone important to him.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Unaccountably tongue-tied, she nodded.

Side by side they left the building and walked to the garage. When they reached the spot where they’d parked the car, he stopped and turned to face her. “It’s finally over,” he said. “Chris and Chloe are in custody, as well as the BOS members who were instrumental in the drug trade. I heard they even arrested several key cartel guys.”

“That’s good. I wonder what’s going to happen to BOS now.”

“The club will survive. There are enough good guys. They’ll band together and keep things going. I’m sorry you got dragged in the middle of it all.”

“Me too.” Tears stung the back of her eyes and she blinked them away. “Thank you for everything Alaric. You literally saved my life. If you hadn’t let me come stay with you and trusted me, I don’t know if I’d even be alive right now. For that I’m really grateful.”

He looked down, then away, anywhere in fact, other than directly at her.” It was nothing, and honestly I was happy to do it.”

“I guess this is goodbye,” Vanessa continued. “I won’t be going back home with you.”

He felt like she’d kicked her in the stomach. “You won’t?”

She shook her head, “Like I said, it’s over now. We don’t have to keep this up anymore,”

He had to say something to keep her from leaving. They couldn’t end this way. He couldn’t let it happen, “What about your apartment?” he blurted out, “You still have to get it cleaned up and fixed. Where are you going to go?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. A hotel maybe. I’m sure the cleaning up wouldn’t take more than two weeks,”