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Ava glanced over at him. Mark shook his head. “No. Mine was different.”
Davis vanished. She figured he’d gone to read the message for himself.
“What did it say?” Her voice was quiet.
His expression unreadable, Mark murmured, “He told me to stay away from you.” His eyes glittered down at her. “That isn’t happening.”
Footsteps pounded—Davis was coming back. Fury was etched onto his face. “Based on what you’ve said, the stalker’s events are seriously escalating! I’ve seen twisted stuff like this before. Too many times, and it doesn’t end well. A man gets fixated on a woman...” His gaze snapped to Mark. “And he can’t let her go.”
Beside her, Mark tensed.
Then Davis was glancing back at Ava. “You’re lucky that you weren’t in that room when the guy broke in. Maybe he wouldn’t have used that glass just to carve a message on a wall. He might have tried carving into you.”
She held her ground. “You think I don’t know that?”
Mark swore. “Stop it, Davis. You don’t need to scare her.”
Right. She was already scared plenty, with Davis adding to her terror.
But Davis fired back, “Maybe she needs to be scared. These incidents have been going on for weeks, and she didn’t tell us. She’s lucky she isn’t already dead.”
Ava flinched.
Mark surged toward her brother. “Don’t.” His voice was low and lethal. “Don’t you tell her—”
“Ava is my sister. What is she to you?”
Mark’s turbulent stare jumped to her. She thought of the kiss they’d shared in the guest room. Of how very close they’d come to sharing something else, too.
“Ava is—” Mark began.
“He’s my friend,” Ava said, her words clear and strong. She didn’t know what else he might prove to be to her, but on that point, Ava was certain.
Davis opened his mouth to say something else, probably to launch some kind of attack at Mark, but she wasn’t in the mood for that. “He was wearing a ski mask.”
Davis’s brow furrowed.
“A black one.” She inclined her head toward the study area. “One of the video cameras caught sight of the guy leaving, so now we know—”
“He’s big, probably about six foot one, maybe six foot two,” Mark said. “Fit. And far too familiar with my home.”
Because he’d just walked right in the door.
“We should get the cops out here,” Davis immediately said. “Get them to run a fingerprint check and use their crime-scene team.”
Mark’s shoulders tensed. “He was wearing gloves in the video, so I don’t think the guy left any prints behind. And after our last experience with the cops, I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to get them here again.”
Our last experience. She knew just what he was talking about. For years, the McGuires had been friends with Austin police detective Shayne Townsend. Most of the cops had seemed to give up hope of ever finding the men who’d killed their parents, but Shayne had kept working the case.
Or so they’d all believed.
But when Brodie and his girlfriend had come under attack, they’d all learned the truth about Shayne. The police detective had accidentally killed an unarmed teen years ago, and he’d been covering up the crime ever since. He’d been blackmailed into breaking the law.
And maybe even blackmailed into covering up the identity of the men who’d killed her parents?
That was sure what some of her brothers suspected.
“You never know who you can trust,” Davis murmured, his head cocked as he studied Mark. “And who you can’t.”
There was something in his voice that put Ava on edge.
“We’re calling the cops,” Davis said. “And I’ll want to talk with your men.”
Ava shivered a moment, thinking about how close that unknown man had been to her.
Mark pulled out his phone. Spoke quietly.
Davis closed in on her. “Don’t trust him.”
“Right, I saw the message on the wall. I got it—”
“This message is coming from me.” His gaze slanted quickly toward Mark, then back to her. “I don’t know what you think is happening between you two, but there are things going on you don’t know about.”
Her back teeth clenched at that. She didn’t know about those things only because her brothers liked their secrets. “He’s your friend, too.”
“I don’t know what he is, not right now.”
The whole situation was insane. “He saved me that night.” She’d never forget her first sight of him. Terror had filled her, and then—Mark had been there.
Davis exhaled on a rough sigh. “Right before Shayne Townsend died I asked him who killed our parents.”
Her heart stopped before pounding again in a double-time rhythm. “What did he say?”
Mark was off the phone. And he’d—he’d closed in on them. “Yeah,” Mark said, voice roughening, “what did he say, and why didn’t you tell us before now?”
A muscle flexed along the line of Davis’s jaw. “I didn’t tell you because I know how Ava feels about her friend Mark.”
She hated the stress he’d just put on that word. “You’re friends, too—”
“Montgomery.”
“What?” Ava exclaimed. “I don’t understand—”
“The last word he said was...Montgomery.” Davis turned his attention on a still-as-stone Mark. “So I have to wonder...why did Shayne use his last breath to name your family? Unless...the Montgomerys are responsible for the murder of our parents.”
She hadn’t thought the situation around her could get any worse. But it just had—so very much worse. Because as she stared at Mark, Ava could have sworn that she saw guilt creep across his face.
Chapter Three (#ulink_0f348456-08d2-52c7-96a4-f77b30422a2e)
“Ava, let me explain,” Mark said as he followed her out to her car.
The cops had come out to the ranch. Uniforms who’d questioned them all and who’d collected pretty much zero evidence. Mark wasn’t exactly holding his breath when it came to those guys breaking the case wide open. They were still nosing around the place, but Ava was fleeing.
At his words, Ava didn’t slow down. Instead, she seemed to speed up as she hurried toward her vehicle. He reached out to stop her.
Davis caught his arm. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Most folks in Austin were afraid of the McGuire brothers. Their reputation preceded them just about everywhere they went. Grant, the eldest brother, was a former army ranger. Davis and his twin, Brodie, were both former SEALs. Mackenzie “Mac” McGuire had been part of Delta Force, and Sullivan, the youngest of the brothers, was an ex-marine. Yeah, most folks hesitated before trying to tangle with those guys.
Mark wasn’t most folks. And he’d never taken any crap from the McGuires. “The game has changed,” he said, his low voice carrying only to Davis’s ears. “I’m not just going to sit back anymore. I thought she was safe. Happy. But she’s not. She still wakes up screaming at night. And now some new jerk is out there terrorizing her.” He shook his head. “That’s not going to happen. She’s not going to spend her days and nights afraid. I won’t let that happen to her.” He’d do everything within his power to protect her.
He heard Ava’s car door opening. He forced his back teeth to unclench as he said, “Why didn’t you come to me about this Shayne Townsend mess weeks ago? I wasn’t involved in the murder of your parents! I had plenty of people here at the ranch who saw me right before Ava came galloping up!” The idea that he was involved was ridiculous. He was—
“I know you have an alibi. I already checked that.”
Davis had been investigating him?
“It was your father who didn’t have an alibi. No one could account for him an hour before the crime or an hour after.”
Mark felt shock rip through him. “He was my...stepfather.” Like that distinction mattered. Technically, Gregory Montgomery had adopted him. Of course, most folks didn’t know that Mark had hated the bastard with every bit of his soul.
“He committed suicide two months after my parents died,” Davis said.
Mark glanced over at Ava. She was in her car, appearing for all intents and purposes as if she was about to drive away and leave him.
“Sometimes guilt can drive a man to take his own life.”
Davis seriously thinks that Gregory murdered the McGuires!
And...and Mark couldn’t say that he hadn’t. Because he knew just how twisted Gregory could be.
Ava cranked up her car.
Mark jerked away from Davis. “Ava, wait!” He lunged toward the car. Her window was rolled down, and his fingers pushed through the opening and locked onto the steering wheel. “Wait,” he said again, his voice softer.
She didn’t look at him.
“I didn’t hurt them, Ava.”
She nodded. Blinked several times. Oh, no, was she crying? He couldn’t stand it when Ava cried.
“I would never do anything to hurt you.”
Again, she gave the faintest of nods.
Davis was a few feet away, watching them far too closely.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked her. “You said you were starting a new job in Austin soon. You can’t just stay in some motel.” Not with that creep out there watching her. “Stay here. You’ll be safe.”
Her head turned then, and she finally stared into his eyes. He didn’t see any rage there. No accusation. Just the same trust that he always saw when she looked at him. “I don’t want to bring any danger to you. He was in your house. Whoever this guy is...I don’t want him hurting you.”
And I’d be destroyed if he hurt you, Ava. Can’t you see that?
“I’m going back to the ranch with Davis.”
“You hate staying there.” He knew Ava hadn’t stepped foot inside the main house, not since that night.
She shrugged. “There’s a guest cottage I can use.”
“You can stay here.” She’d been asking to stay hours before, and now she was running away.
But then Davis stepped forward. “We have better security at our place. He already got in here once. He won’t reach her there.”
Because the McGuire ranch had basically been transformed into a fortress after those murders. The brothers had wanted to make sure their home was always protected.
Even if that protection had come too late.
“I’m sorry I involved you,” Ava said. Her hands were curled around the steering wheel.
He leaned forward a bit more and caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “This isn’t over, Ava.”
“Mark, I—”
He kissed her. A fast, hard kiss, right on her lips. And yes, he knew Davis was watching. So what? It was time all the McGuires realized that Mark would be taking what he wanted.
And what he wanted most was Ava.
He pulled back and held her surprised stare. “I’ll be seeing you very soon.” She wasn’t getting away from him. Not this time.
* * *
THE COPS WERE USELESS.
He watched as they scurried around the Montgomery ranch. Were they seriously looking for clues? There weren’t any to find. He was too good. He hadn’t left any evidence behind, nothing that could be traced to him.
This isn’t my first ball game.
And Davis McGuire was there, too. Stalking around, questioning everyone.
Some of the idiots there actually stuttered when they talked to Davis. Like he was some kind of big deal. He wasn’t. None of the McGuire brothers were.
The only McGuire who mattered...that was Ava.
She’d left Mark. Good. She’d taken his warning. He’d already known that she was planning to move to Austin. He’d learned that during one of his trips to her place. He liked to keep tabs on Ava. To find out just what was happening in her life.
He was glad that she’d come back home. Back to me. He’d grown tired of waiting for her, so he’d started trying to...scare her a bit. Nothing too bad, of course. Just little nudges to make sure Ava realized Houston wasn’t the place for her.
She was back now. She’d left Mark.
