Page 28 of Deadly Storms (Sunrise Lake #3)

She swallowed her protest. She dressed modestly.

She didn’t flirt with men. She didn’t go on dates.

Sometimes she thought about it, but she knew it wouldn’t be fair when her heart was already taken.

She wasn’t the kind of person who was going to fall out of love.

Her feelings for Rainier had grown stronger, not diminished, even though at times, his behavior toward her hurt.

She wouldn’t lead other men on. Still, she didn’t defend herself.

“Now you think you can use your body to lure my boys away from me.” He clenched his fists. “They know a little slut when they see one.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. Accusing. Certain of his facts.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out all about you?

Flaunting yourself in some foreign country when you were a kid.

Tempting those men. Naturally, you blamed everything on them.

Daddy paid hush-hush money, but you probably ran off with some boy and got yourself into trouble.

No one is gone for a year and a half unless they want to be gone.

You were playing house. Or whoring yourself out before Daddy could get you back. ”

Shabina froze. She hadn’t expected Bale to bring up her time in Saudi Arabia.

She had no idea why she’d been that na?ve.

Maybe she couldn’t bear to face it, to have it come out in the open.

Her father was a big deal. The kidnapping might have been kept under wraps, but the rescue hadn’t been.

Once she’d been returned, reporters had gotten ahold of the story, although they didn’t know the details, only that she’d been held captive by the notorious serial killer Scorpion.

There had been interviews with her father.

He’d been grim-faced in front of the cameras but refused to give details, protecting her.

She’d been surrounded by security and hidden away in their large estate, where no one could get to her, no one other than Rainier.

She knew she paled. She couldn’t stop that reaction, but she stayed composed. She had too much discipline to allow her distress to show.

“You may think you’re going to win, but you won’t. This is my town. These are my boys.” He hit the side of her door with his palm so hard it shook the vehicle.

Malik reacted instantly, leaping across Shabina’s body to block access to her. At the same time, he shoved his head through the open window, his teeth snapping viciously at Bale.

Bale escaped a nasty bite only because he had stepped back as he hit the door, presumably because he’d hurt his already injured hand.

Sharif and Morza roared a challenge, rushing the back windows.

All three dogs easily could have launched themselves from the car.

Shabina gave the command to hold. She knew if Bale suffered a bite, he would immediately go to the authorities and demand her dogs be put down.

Even if that didn’t happen, they would be quarantined, leaving her without protection.

Bale swore savagely, reached into his jacket and dragged out a revolver. He stepped back again, aiming it at Malik—or her— she wasn’t sure which. She raised her gun and made certain he knew exactly who she was aiming at. Her hand was rock steady.

“I suggest you leave, Bale. The security cameras have caught everything you’ve said and done from the time you first pulled up.

If you dare to pull that trigger, I’ll kill you.

Even if you get me, you’ll be dead. I don’t miss.

Not ever. I was trained by the best. The gates might be right here, but you’re on my property.

It will be self-defense.” She kept her voice very calm.

She hoped Rainier never viewed the footage.

He would be furious that she hadn’t shot Bale.

He’d told her a million times if she had to pull her weapon, not to hesitate.

To shoot. He would have killed Bale by now.

If he witnessed half the things Bale had done or said to her, she would be very concerned for Bale’s life.

Bale glanced around him, looking for cameras. For a moment, he looked as if he might try to shoot out the camera over the gate, but he thought better of it.

“This isn’t over by a long shot,” he snarled. “And if you think those recordings are going to help you, forget it. Lawyer Collins has been my friend for years. He’ll destroy every scrap of anything you have on me.” He spoke with absolute conviction.

She didn’t deign to answer him, nor did she lower her pistol. He spit on the ground, shoved his gun back in his jacket and stormed to his Jeep.

She sat for a long time, head on the steering wheel, too shaken by the encounter to move.

Just finding the spices and date was bad enough, but then facing Bale’s malevolent hatred was horrific on top of that.

Worse, he’d brought up her past, bringing the memories far too close, threatening to open those doors she kept barricaded closed.

She had no idea how long she stayed in her car before she became aware of the dogs’ distress.

They pushed around her, heads on her shoulders, Malik all but sitting on her thigh.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to open the gates.

Rainier had drilled it into her to put security first. She didn’t know if someone had broken into her home and stolen spices and dates out of her kitchen or if they had done so from the café.

Almost on autopilot, she allowed the dogs in the garden first, giving them the alert command to patrol.

She stayed just inside the gates, her weapon in her hand.

She’d already texted Raine asking for her to check the security feed at the café and at her home.

She also asked her to make certain she had her own recordings in case the ones in the café and at her home were wiped out.

Shabina was careful how she worded her request to Raine, not knowing if the FBI could already be monitoring her phone.

Could they legally do that without her knowledge?

She didn’t know. That was another question for Raine.

She feared she was becoming that needy friend.

She was so dependent on Rainier, now she felt she was putting too much on her friends.

She was sweating but cold. Shivering. Her legs felt stiff, every joint painful.

Her thigh throbbed with increasing agony.

Leaning her weight against the gate to help hold her up, she tried to breathe deeply to slow her pounding heart.

Her heart was racing so fast her chest hurt, making her nauseous.

She concentrated on staying on her feet and keeping air moving in and out of her lungs, trying not to think too much about the suddenly all-too-vivid details of her time spent with Scorpion, his hideous cabinet and his mercenaries.

When the dogs returned to her without alerting, she sent Malik and Sharif into the house.

Morza stayed with her, as was protocol in a situation where it was possible her home had been broken into, although part of that protocol was to inform Rainier there was a possibility of trouble.

She didn’t do that. She knew if she did, he would drop whatever he was doing and come. He always did.

The temptation to send for him was nearly overwhelming.

The only reason she didn’t was because she loved him.

She truly loved him, and she wanted him to have a life.

If she kept calling him and forcing him to drop everything and rush to save her sanity, he would never be able to find happiness for himself.

Above all else, even her own happiness, she wanted that for him.

She could barely stand. Her body felt so painful, as if she’d been beaten mercilessly, and there wasn’t an inch of her that had been spared.

She didn’t dare look at her left thigh, which she covered with her palm.

The fabric separating her hand from her leg felt slick with blood.

There was so much that she knew if she looked at the wounds inflicted in one of the many fits of rage Scorpion had, her thigh muscle would be gaping open.

She’d lived with that, with the infection that followed for weeks.

That had been one of the worst times. The beatings, the skin flayed from her back, her thigh stabbed numerous times to make a point.

When something triggered flashbacks, she felt every one of those wounds and hallucinated that they were open all over again.

Shabina had wanted him to kill her, but Iyad had intervened and reminded Scorpion she would die.

She’d lost too much blood. Shabina could see the sadistic insanity in Scorpion’s eyes.

His men could see it too. Most turned away to protect themselves, knowing he was quite capable of turning his wrath on them.

She couldn’t believe Iyad had risked his life by interceding on her behalf.

She didn’t want him to, but she was too far gone to say so.

She couldn’t speak, going in and out of consciousness.

Malik and Sharif returned, pulling her partially out of the dark abyss threatening to swallow her.

Both dogs were relaxed, which meant there had been no intruder in her home.

Stepping inside, she quickly closed the door and sagged against it, making another deliberate attempt to slow her pounding heart.

She slid down the doorframe to the floor, drawing up her knees and resting her forehead on the tops.

The flashbacks were becoming more vivid.

More intense. That was a bad, bad sign. She rubbed her pounding forehead back and forth over the tops of her knees as she hugged her legs tightly, folding in on herself, making herself as small as possible.