Page 16 of Let It Burn (The Barrington Billionaires 4)
“Yes, I can,” he said harshly and began to haul her back toward the car.
“What is wrong with you?” she cried. “Everything I need to know is in there. For all we know, everything you came to find is in there, too. We can’t just do nothing.”
“Yes, we can,” he ground out.
“No,” she said, pulling back as hard as he was pulling forward. “I will not give up on my uncle. All he wants is for me to be safe. I don’t believe he killed anyone. And I won’t believe it unless I see hard proof, and it’s in that house. You have to help me, Andrew. Help me get it.”
He grabbed her by both arms, lifted her an inch off her feet, and shook her. “Let it burn. There is nothing in there worth your life or mine.”
“You’re hurting me,” she cried out, and he came fully back to the present.
He instantly lowered her, released her arms, and pulled her to his chest. Shame. Fear. Guilt. It all gripped him as he wrapped his arms around her. Tears filled his eyes, and he hid his face in her hair. “I can’t let you go in there, Helene. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t lose you, too.” Emotions he’d held in for too long ambushed him, and he shook against her as tears silently ran down his face.
Chapter Nine
Feeling Andrew break against her shifted her focus from her uncle’s pain to his. Several realities were rammed home fast: she’d clung to the possibility that things were not as bad as they seemed, but there was no longer a way to deny that the danger was real. The fire before her was proof of exactly how serious her uncle thought the threat to them was.
Good or bad, criminal or unwilling accomplice, her uncle had run like a coward and that was difficult for Helene to process. He may have asked Andrew to get her out of Aruba, but he hadn’t stuck around to make sure she was safe. The man who was holding her had. The man who’d let her glimpse his fear: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t lose you, too.
Helene wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. His sorrow was so intense she found herself weeping with him. She cried for whatever happened to him that had damaged him so deeply and the role she was playing in making him face it again. I’m such an idiot.
She leaned back so she could see his face. “I’m sorry, too, Andrew.”
He shook his head and laughed without humor. “You’re the only one in this shitfest who has done nothing to be sorry for.”
She tenderly wiped the tears from his cheeks. “That’s not true. You warned that I’d probably get us killed, and I wouldn’t listen. I wanted to be right so badly that I wasn’t thinking straight. We could have been on our way back to the States by now.”
He smoothed her hair with his hand. “You couldn’t leave your uncle.”
“He didn’t have a problem leaving me.” She looked away and blinked back fresh tears.
Andrew didn’t refute that, but what could he say? Her uncle was not only a coward, but he’d also admitted to having been the cause of the death of Andrew’s brother. “You must hate me.”
Andrew kissed her forehead and pulled her back into his arms. “If by hate you mean I want to carry you off and lose myself in that sweet body of yours all night, then yeah, sure.”
She frowned up at him. “How can you think about that right now?”
He shrugged one shoulder, settled her more firmly against his excitement and asked, “How can you not?”
Passion flared through her even though she felt very close to disintegrating into tears. “You’re crazy, do you know that?”
A slight smile curled one side of his mouth. “I’ve questioned your own sanity at least five time since we met, and it’s only been a couple of days.”
She chuckled without humor and turned her head so she could see her uncle’s house. “What do we do now?”
He stepped back and took her hand in his. “Now I take you home.”
She searched his face. “To my parents?”
An odd expression came and went on his face. “Of course.”
Disappointment ripped through her, confusing her even more. Of course. How else did I think this would end?
They returned to his car and were well on their way to the airport before Helene spoke. “Where do you think my uncle is?”
“The world is a pretty big place when a man wants to hide.”
She nodded, still trying to come to terms with how much had happened over the last few days. “What do you think will happen to the clinic and its patients?”
He switched gears. “It’s not the only medical center on the island. We all think we’re indispensable; we’re not. The clinic will probably close, but life will go on.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I am.”
She hugged her arms around herself, feeling cold despite the warm air temperature. “I’m grateful to you, but I may start calling you Mr. Positivity.”
“Do it and I’ll call you . . . let’s see . . . sugarlips.”
“I’m sure my parents would love that.” She froze as a thought occurred to her. “Are you going to meet them? I mean, once we get back to the States there won’t be a reason for us to see each other, will there?”
He met her eyes briefly. “I’m not leaving your side until I’m sure you’re safe.”
She hugged herself tighter and tried not to think too much about how his words made her feel good and bad at the same time. They rode along in silence for a while, then she asked, “If you ever want to talk about what happened to you, I just want you to know I’ve helped many creatures overcome trauma.”
“Creatures?” he asked in a slightly amused tone.
Helene bristled a little defensively. “I’m not joking. Animals experience pain, fear, and loss just as deeply as we do. We had this spider monkey once who had been brought into the United States illegally as a baby. When his owner died, he bounced around, getting more violent and out of control with each new home. By the time he came to us, the road back to trust was long, but we eventually reached him.”
“Have you always been involved in animal rescue?”
“My parents started their rescue straight out of college. You could say I was born into it. I grew up bottle-feeding tiger cubs and treating injured animals. I almost became a veterinarian.”
“What stopped you?”
She stared out the passenger window as she answered. “My family doesn’t have a lot of money. Whatever came in went for the care of the animals and the upkeep of the rescue. There was a period of time, just about when I was heading off to school, when the rescue almost went under. My parents couldn’t afford to pay someone to replace me if I left. I had to choose between saving the animals at the rescue or saving animals in the future. The choice wasn’t easy at the time, but I don’t regret choosing the rescue. We’ve successfully returned hundreds of animals to their natural habitat. There’s so much wrong with the world that thinking about it can be overwhelming. I know I can’t change everything, but whenever we have a success story I feel like I did something to tip the scales in the right direction.” She glanced back at him. “You probably think that’s silly.”
His answer was to raise her hand to his lips and kiss it. “What happened to the monkey?”
She instantly wished she’d picked a different example. “Not every case has a happy ending. He did well for a while with us, then we sent him to an animal Primate Rehabilitation Center in Belize. They have a high success rate and are passionate about what they do. Spider monkeys are endangered so each one that can be returned to the wild tips the scales in the right direction. He was socialized with a troop he was given time to bond with. They worked on predator avoidance skills, tagged him, and released him.”
“And?”
“He was eaten by something a couple of weeks later.” Andrew coughed and Helene shook his hand in reprimand. “It’s not funny. It was awful.”
“I’m sure it was,” he said in a serious tone, but one side of his mouth twitched as if he were suppressing a smile. “I’m just
remembering your elephant story and wondering if you need help choosing inspirational examples.”
“You’re an ass,” she said and pulled her hand free of his, although she could see how he’d find humor in what she’d said.
“No, I’m an angry elephant.”
The comparison instantly cut through her. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.” The edge in her voice surprised even her.
He took her hand again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of something that’s important to you.”
She clung to his hand and looked out the passenger window again. He’d misunderstood what had upset her. She hated that she and her family hadn’t been able to save the elephant, but she accepted that not every animal that came to them could be rehabilitated. It was a harsh reality she’d found a way to live with, but in that moment she understood how he’d felt when she wanted to run into the fire. The idea of losing Andrew, especially to his anger and sorrow, was more frightening than anything she’d faced in Aruba. She didn’t know how to express that fear to him so she didn’t. Instead she simply tightened her hold on his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said tightly.
