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“So glad we finally located you,” said a voice that sounded human but somehow wasn’t. “When you failed to show up at your meeting tonight, the Master became very concerned. He’ll be pleased to hear that you are on your way now.”

Ben struggled against his captors, but it was no use. They stuffed him into the trunk and slammed the lid, plunging him into darkness.

CHAPTER Twenty-four

The early-dawn colors seemed brighter to Tess, the November air crisply invigorating outside her apartment as she finished up her short walk with Harvard. As she and the terrier jogged up the stairs of her building, she felt stronger, lighter, no longer weighed down by the awful secret she’d been carrying all these years.

She had Dante to thank for that. She had him to thank for so much, she thought, her heart throbbing, her body still humming with the sweet ache of their lovemaking.

She’d been hugely disappointed to wake up and find him gone, but the note he’d left folded on her nightstand took away most of that sting. Tess dug the piece of paper out of the pocket of her fleece track pants as she pushed open her apartment door and let Harvard off his leash.

Strolling into her kitchen in need of coffee, she read Dante’s bold handwriting for about the tenth time, her broad smile seeming permanently stuck on her face: Didn’t want to wake you but had to leave. Have dinner with me tomorrow night? I want to show you where I live. I’ll call you. Sleep tight, angel. Yours, D.

Yours, he’d signed it.

Hers.

A wave of fierce possessiveness swamped her at the thought. Tess told herself that it meant nothing, that she was foolish to read anything into Dante’s words or to imagine that the powerful connection she felt toward him might be mutual, but she was practically giddy as she set the note down on the counter.

She glanced at the little dog who was dancing around her feet, waiting for his breakfast. “Well, Harvard, what do you think? Am I getting in too deep here? I’m not actually falling for him, am I?”

God, was she…falling in love?

A week ago she hadn’t known he existed, so how could she even consider that her feelings might go that far this fast? But somehow they did. She was falling in love with Dante, maybe already had, judging by the sharp tumble her heart was taking just thinking about him now.

Harvard’s eager bark snapped her out of the emotional free fall. “Right,” she said, looking down into his furry face. “Kibble and coffee, not necessarily in that order. I’m on it.”

She filled her Mr. Coffee machine with Starbucks grounds and cold water from the tap, hit the button to start it brewing, then went to retrieve a bowl and the dry dog food from the pantry. As she passed her kitchen phone, she saw that the message indicator was flashing.

“Here you go, baby,” she said, pouring a serving of Iams into Harvard’s dish and setting it down on the floor. “Bon appétit.”

With more than a little hope that the message might have been from Dante calling while she was out walking his dog, Tess pressed the play button and put the voice mail on speaker. She waited anxiously, punching in her pass code and listening as the automated greeting announced that she had one new message, time-stamped from late last night, and began playing it back to her.

“Tess! Jesus Christ, why aren’t you picking up your fucking phone?”

It was Ben, she realized, her disappointment over that fact swiftly draining into alarm at the odd tone of his voice. She’d never heard him sound so panicked, so unglued. He was breathing hard, panting, his words spilling out of him. He wasn’t merely afraid. He was terrified. Worry clutched at her with icy talons as she listened to the rest of his call.

“—needed to warn you. The guy you’re seeing, he’s not what you think. They busted into my place tonight—him and some other dude. I thought they were going to kill me, Tess! But it’s you I’m afraid for now. You’ve got to stay away from him. He’s into some fucked-up shit…. I