Page 118 of The Villain

The kiss swallowed us up into our own little bubble. It pushed out the past and the dangers that had almost claimed my life and then his. It kept away the pain of betrayal and the fear of loss. It left only the two of us with what we’d had all the way at the beginning—each other.

And that was everything.

“Dare—”

The door to my room burst open, Harm filling the wide space, followed by Rob and one of the doctors, distinguished by his white coat and scrubs.

“I told you he’d be in here,” Rob muttered and strolled around Harm with a loud sigh.

I looked at Dare. “Did you leave your room?”

“I had to see you.”

I bit my lip, my heart feeling like it wanted to explode.

“You could’ve left a note,” Harm grumbled, coming to stand beside Rob as he addressed me. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. All things considered.”

“Good.” He let out a deep breath, his firm expression dissolving into pure emotion. “Thank you.”

“Me?”

“For saving my brother’s life.” His voice cracked at the end, and the glimmer in his gaze revealed his own tears that threatened.

“That was a heck of a stunt you pulled off,” Rob chimed in with a tipped smile of awe.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Dare growled at her. “We’re taking abreak for danger. I think we’ve had more than enough for a while.”

A break from danger. Did that mean…

“Is Wenner…is he…”

“Dead,” he assured me before I even had to finish the question. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks. I hadn’t even felt them lining the edges of my eyes until they dripped free.

“Hewas at the house that morning,” I said quietly, drawing the attention of the entire room.

Dare stiffened at my side, his fingers closing just a little tighter to remind me he was here. “You remembered.”

I lowered my chin. “He came up to me in the gallery, and I remembered his face—I remembered the last of that morning.”

Dare lifted my hand to his mouth, pressing kisses to the back of my hand and wrist like he could fix my hurt through sheer will.

“I went to drop off the paintings, and Wenner came to the house. He was clearly upset, so Rich—Ray—took him back to his office. I didn’t feel…comfortable, so I was going to leave, but I heard them talking.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat and pushed forward, the drugs in my system dulling the pain in my head I knew I would be feeling right about now. “I don’t know why, but I went toward the room, and I heard him—heard Wenner say that they had to get rid of me. That he was taking care of it.”

“Jesus,” Harm muttered.

“I ran, but not before Wenner saw me through the door.” My eyes closed then, retreating into the darkness for a moment where there was nothing else to focus on except that this nightmare was finally over.

“He’d already planned the bomb,” Dare said low, breaking the silence. When I looked at him, he continued, “Wennermust’ve been working with Ivans to blackmail or overthrow Belmont. It was why the account tied to the house belonged to GrowTech. Why it was the same account that paid Brandon?—”

“Why Brandon didn’t recognize Ivans,” Harm added. “It was Wenner who’d paid him.”

“Wenner was pulling the strings the whole time. He was using Ivans to get them both what they wanted, and when Ivans became too much of a liability, he hired Brady to take him out, and then got rid of Brady for good measure.”

“He’s been cleaning up after Belmont for a decade,” Rob said, her voice strained with anger. “If anyone knows how to cover his own tracks, it would be Wenner.”

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