Page 70 of Dare to Love Again

“What about events?”

“Well, lately, that’s been you, Martin Lopez, and Rossi.”

“Why would that upset her?”

“I don’t know, but it did. She turned as white as a ghost, said she’d forgotten something, and the next second was gone.”

A ghost. That had to be it. Something Latrice said must have triggered something, and he was certain it had to do with her dead husband.

“Fuck,” he stated emphatically. He could fight a man and help her deal with demons from her past, but how did he defeat a ghost?

“I’m worried about her, Master Keiran.” This came from Val who stood beside Eric, both having arrived unnoticed during his discussion with Latrice. “I can’t be sure, but this seems like more than unresolved grief. It sounds more like triggered memories, perhaps flashbacks, like a victim of PTSD.”

“You see her on Thursday?”

“Yes, but I’d planned to talk to her as a friend, away from Decadence, and offer her referrals. I can’t ethically treat her since we’re moving in the same social circles now.”

He looked up at Eric. “I need to talk to her.”

“If she’s been through a trauma, perhaps you should find out what you’re up against first.”

“There’s something deeper at play here,” Keiran stated, the weight of his concern for Esme settling like a boulder in his gut. “I’m going to dig and find out exactly what happened in Baltimore. I’ll call Jonas in, if necessary. Once I find out, I’m going to her, and we’ll deal with it.”

“Be careful,” Val warned, her hand squeezing his forearm to relay the seriousness of what this was. “She’s fragile. If you push too hard, she could break.”

“Maybe I was wrong to give her that ultimatum,” Eric stated, while rubbing his face, clearly agitated by his role in the situation. “I just thought—”

His wife placed her hand on his chest and leaned into him. “You saw a submissive in trouble and wanted to help. There isn’t anything wrong with that, master. We all could tell something wasn’t quite right. You cared enough to do something about it.”

Covering her hand with his, he nodded but didn’t look convinced. “If we could reach Ryan Paxton, he’d have the answers.”

“I’ve got a friend in the Bureau,” Samson offered. He’d been leaning on the bar listening, but now he stood and pulled out his phone. “If he’s undercover, it might take a few days, but he’ll eventually check in.”

“I can’t wait a few days,” Keiran growled. Determined to resolve whatever this was with Esme ASAP, he turned to leave. The press of bodies hampered his exit, however. “What the hell is this? A concert?”

“Yes,” Sam, Eric, and Val all said at once.

“Fucking hell,” he growled, which instantly cleared a path through the group of giddy fan girls in front of him.

He was still within earshot when Val commented, “He fell for her fast.”

“Baby, you know as well as I do, here at Decadence, things tend to happen that way.”

---