Chuck’s words were hollow, and Nicole knew it, too.
The devastation in her expression, her mottled cheeks, her liquid eyes, spun Riker off balance as she sat there, staring at the phone in his hand.
“He was stalling,” she said. “He had to be. He’ll come up with a plan.” She looked up at Riker as if trying to convince him that her brother wasn’t an asshole.
“He will. I would. I’d do everything in my power to save him, even if it meant jail. I wouldn’t let him die. He won’t let me die—”
“Hey.” He cut off her rambling before she went into a full-blown panic attack. “You’re not going to die. I was bluffing about killing you, Nicole. Your brother might be bluffing, too,” he said, although he suspected that wasn’t the case.
She rubbed her arms again, and he felt like a heel for letting her get chilled. “But if he doesn’t come through, I’m screwed. We’re screwed.”
He didn’t like the way she’d said that, both because it meant that Neriya was in jeopardy and because it also implied that they were in this together. Which he supposed they were. He just didn’t like it.
“It’s not over.” He snagged the black hoodie jacket hanging next to the door. “It’s your company. If Chuck
can’t help, you still have power.”
“I’ve been fired,” she said, her voice so devoid of emotion that he couldn’t get a read on her. “Daedalus is apparently no longer my company.”
“Fired?” He draped the jacket over her shoulders and carefully freed her red-blond hair from under the collar. His hand lingered longer than what was appropriate, but damn, her hair was so soft, so silky, and it looked good against the black leather. She gave him a fragile but grateful smile, and he returned the smile like a kid with a crush. His heart even hammered in a crazy rhythm. He was a dolt. A big, vampire dolt.
“Fired for what?”
Shivering as if he’d stripped her of clothing instead of giving her more, she looked down at her lap.
“For slaughtering dozens of vampires in a lab.”
His heart hammered harder, this time for a different reason. Just when he’d thought Nicole was a different kind of Martin—and a different kind of human—she hit him with this.
“And you killed them . . . why?” He spoke through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t,” she said in a breathless rush. “Yes, I mean, the vampires were killed, but I didn’t order their deaths.”
“Then why are they blaming you?”
“Because my signature is on the execution order.”
She lifted her gaze, the bold challenge in her eyes daring him to call into question her reasoning for signing the order.
Which was how he knew there was more to the story. Just forty-eight hours ago, he’d have believed she’d murdered dozens of vampires with no more thought than a butcher gave a cow. But now he wasn’t so sure. No, strike that. He was sure. The Nicole who had saved Terese’s ring and who had been so outraged at Lucy’s capture wouldn’t casually send dozens of vampires to their deaths.
“So what did the order say?” Putting a lid on his inner drill sergeant, he sat on the arm of the recliner, doing his best to come across as nonthreatening. Right now, he needed her cooperation, and her asshole brother had unintentionally given Riker a golden opportunity to swoop in and be the good guy. “Why werethey killed?”
“Apparently, the lab where they were being kept was over capacity.”
“They were murdered because the morons who work for you were too stupid to count?”
“That about sums it up.” She got up off the couch and stared at the wall, as if she was as lost in his quarters as she’d been in the forest.
He wondered what she’d do if he came up behind her and folded her into his arms. His desire to comfort her was beginning to become a regular thing, wasn’t it?
What was it Myne liked to say? Never dust off your give-a-shit. If you do, you keep having to use it.
“Nicole?”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you sign the execution order?”
“I didn’t.” Tugging the jacket closed tight at the front with one hand, she started to pace. “My signature is on the paper, but I don’t know how it got there.”
Frustration seeped into her voice. “I’ve stayed up so many nights going over it in my head, trying to figureout how the hell it happened. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Even if someone else had signed the order, I was in charge of the company at the time, so the buck stops with me.”
It was a command principle he knew well. Being a leader came with perks, whether that meant a lot of money, a lot of power, or a lot of fame. But it also came with a lot of risks. A single incident, even involving someone far down on the command chain, could end careers and ruin a lot of lives. The fact that Nicole was willing to take responsibility spoke volumes about her character, and he found himself softening toward her even more.