Page 22 of Alchemy of Secrets

Adam looked almost the same as when Holland had met him in his office: ripped jeans, plaid shirt, perfect arms, freckles across the bridge of his nose.

He made her think of a grad student once again.

Someone like her, someone she could trust. But there was no reason for Adam to be in the Professor’s ransacked house. Not any good one.

“I can explain.” Adam stopped just past the doorway, as if he didn’t want to frighten her. But it was too late for that.

“What are you doing here?” She tried to sound demanding, but the words came out breathless and scared.

Adam ran a hand through his golden hair, turning it more disheveled than tousled, no doubt trying to make himself look even more disarming. “January said you wouldn’t be able to let the Professor go.”

“Wait—what—” Holland stammered. “How do you know January?”

“She’s the reason I’m here.” He took another cautious step.

“No—no—no—no—no—” Holland backed farther away.

“She asked me to look out for you,” Adam said.

“No,” Holland repeated. January wouldn’t have sent two people into Holland’s life. Unless she was really scared for Holland, or…

One of them was lying. After the night she’d been having, that seemed like the more likely answer.

“January said that you were attached to your mentor, so she thought that might be a good role for me.”

“A role?” Holland repeated, her skepticism growing.

Adam looked half-apologetic, half-surprised she’d actually believed him, and Holland felt incredibly foolish. Of course he wasn’t a professor, he was just another guy trying to trick her.

“I didn’t want to lie to you.” Adam’s eyes were now entirely apologetic. “She asked me to protect you from a distance, so I tried. But”—he paused and took a look around the demolished office—“it doesn’t really seem to be working.” He took another step closer.

“No—” Holland put out her hand as she moved closer to the garden door. “Stop right there.”

“Holland, we don’t have time for this. We need to get out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. You already lied to me once today. If you want me to believe this story, I need proof. Let me see your wrist.” Holland’s eyes shot to the thick watch band covering the space where January and Gabe had matching tattoos.

“What will that prove?”

“Just do it.”

Adam took off his watch, and there it was. A tattoo just like Gabe’s and January’s. Adam watched her impatiently as she stared at it. “Is this proof enough?”

Holland shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would January send you and Gabe?”

Adam’s expression turned alarmed. “Your sister only sent me. Whoever Gabe is, you can’t trust him.”

“That’s funny, I was about to tell her the same thing.” Gabe stepped in from the open garden door and quickly pushed Holland behind his back. “ Run ,” he muttered.

“He’s the one you need to get away from,” Adam said.

“You need to run,” Gabe repeated.

“I don’t think she wants to listen to you.” Adam took another step toward her.

“Don’t move.” Gabe reached inside his coat and pulled out his gun.

Across from him, Adam moved incredibly fast, and then he was holding a weapon, too.

“No—no guns!” Holland yelled. “Nobody needs to get hurt.”

Both men looked as if they disagreed.

Gabe held his gun in a way that made Holland think he had probably slept in the cradle with one. And Adam looked alarmingly comfortable with his as well.

“I don’t know what he’s told you,” Adam said. “But you can’t believe a word.”

Gabe made a sound too angry to be called a laugh. “You could have at least worn different clothes when you tried to seduce this one.”

Seduce.

Holland froze.

Did this mean Adam was the one who had been dating her sister?

Adam vehemently shook his head. “You can’t listen to him, Holland. I came here to protect you.”

“He’s lying,” Gabe shot back.

“I swear I’m telling you the truth. I work with your sister, January. She is my partner. She sent me here to watch out for you.”

“You can’t believe him,” Gabe said. “He lied to January and now he’s lying to you. I’m the one your sister sent.”

Holland wanted to tell both of them to stop. Her head was spinning again, telling her to climb out of this rabbit hole, to get back to a life of champagne problems, to leave both of these men behind.

“Holland.” Adam softened his voice, as if he knew she was on the verge of breaking or running or both.

“I swear, I’m telling you the truth,” he said.

He looked at her as if his entire life depended on her, as if all that mattered was what she was thinking, as if he’d take a bullet if she’d just believe him.

And for a split second she wanted to believe him.

Then everything seemed to happen at once.

Holland’s eyes were still on Adam’s pleading face when she heard the gunshot.

It sounded like the world ending. The earth splitting. Mountains shattering.

Then broad hands were grabbing hold of her arms, dragging her toward the door.

Gabe. He was dragging her.

She could see his lips moving but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Her ears were ringing. The room was turning into one of those unfocused pictures where everything was blurry except for one thing. And the one thing in focus was Adam, slumped on the floor in the middle of the room.

“No!” Holland screamed, and the world suddenly snapped back into focus. She could feel the cold from the door behind her warring against the heat of Gabe’s murderous hands as he tried to drag her away. “Let me go!”

“We have to get out of here,” Gabe growled. Then he was picking Holland up.

“Put me down.” She kicked her legs. “You didn’t need to kill him!”

“Don’t worry, that bastard is a lot harder to kill than you think. And—” Gabe took a shuddering breath as he pulled her closer, cradling her to him. “He shot first.”

That’s when she felt the wet on his chest. The blood.

She hadn’t seen Adam pull the trigger. She’d been too focused on his eyes, the same way she had been in the office, when just one look had made her flushed.

He’d beguiled her again. Then, with a sick, sinking feeling, she wondered if it was the same thing he’d done to her sister.

Holland briefly stopped kicking. “Put me down. You shouldn’t be carrying me.”

“I’m not dying,” Gabe grunted. But Holland could already feel his grip loosening. Carefully, she extracted herself.

Across from them, Adam was still slumped on the ground, eyes closed, golden head at an angle. But on second glance, he appeared to be breathing. He was shot, right near the heart, but somehow still alive.

“We need to go!” Gabe grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “We don’t want to be here when he wakes up.”