"How long ago did the campaign launch?" I asked, trying to keep my anger in check. It wasn't their fault; they just hadn’t been fucking thinking.
Or hell, maybe they had. They’d weighed the risks and decided it was worth it to try and surprise me. Which... yeah it was kind of sweet they wanted to do something like that.
"About two hours ago," Steele replied. He snagged two of the glasses of bubbles from the table where Kody had poured them, and handed me one. "What can we do to bring the mood of five minutes ago back?"
I squinted at him, but took the wine and gulped half of it. Dutch courage for what I was about to suggest. My lips suddenly felt dry, so I licked them nervously, my eyes dancing across all three of my men. Holy shit, I'd struck the triple jackpot.
Archer seemed to catch the shift in my mood before anyone else, and his scowl deepened. "Kate, I won the fight. You're mine tonight, and I don't want to share."
I propped my free hand on my hip, giving him a healthy dose of sass with my answering glare. "Then you should have considered that before pissing me off, Archer. Now I'm calling the shots again, and I want—"
My declaration was cut off by the peal of sound from Archer's phone.
He didn't make any move to check it, just held my gaze, daring me to finish my sentence. But then it rang again immediately after stopping, and his brow furrowed.
"Check it," Steele said.
"No shit," Archer muttered, fishing in the pocket of his hoodie for his phone, then swiping his thumb over the screen to answer the call. He said nothing as he brought it to his ear, simply listening to whatever the other person needed to say so urgently.
Within seconds, his expression morphed to fury, and he shot out of his seat. "Switch me to video call," he snapped at whoever had called, then lowered his phone to peer at the screen. Unable to contain my curiosity, I crossed over to where he stood and looked over his arm at the video call.
Archer seemed to know exactly what he was looking at, his hand clutching the phone so hard I was amazed it didn't shatter in his grip. As it was, his whole body vibrated with fury. To me, though, it just looked like a huge bonfire.
A moment later, when whoever held the phone moved to a different location, I sucked in a gasp as I recognized the image. That was no bonfire, it was a house fire.
Our house. The one Archer and I had just spent a life-changing weekend at, fucking on every available surface. Before we'd left at the end of the weekend, he'd told me that it would forever be our sanctuary. That goddamn house meant more to me than I had even fully comprehended until that moment as I watched it burn to the ground.
"Mother fucker!" I screamed, throwing my champagne flute against the window and watching it rain down glittering shards of glass.
"Thank you for the call," Archer said to whoever was on the phone. "Any signs of the responsible party?"
"No, sir," the caller replied in a gruff voice. "Security feeds were looped; we only knew what had happened after being alerted by the attending fire department."
Security feeds looped, just like at the mansion, allowing my stalker to deliver gifts undetected. They were always looped or wiped or just plain angled the wrong way. How was my stalker doing this?
"We'll be there in just under two hours," Archer told the caller, who I guessed to be someone on his security team. "Don't let anyone leave the scene until we arrive. No one. Understood?"
"Got it, boss." The man ended the call, and Archer threw his phone down on the couch with a long exhale. Neither Kody nor Steele spoke, waiting for Archer to fill them in.
"Wisteria was set on fire," he eventually ground out, his teeth clenched hard. "Arson."
Both guys breathed curses, and I found I needed to swallow past a lump in my throat. Shit. It was just a house... right? Why was I getting so fucking upset about it?
"We need to get out there," Archer announced. "I want to personally interview anyone on the scene and check for messages. He is escalating, and sooner or later, he's going to slip up."
"And it's pretty common for arsonists to return to the scene to admire their handiwork," Steele agreed, nodding. "He could well be hiding in plain sight somewhere."
Kody stood up from the couch, all business. "I'll grab our bags and call the valet for the cars."
Steele was already on his phone texting someone while Kody hurried to grab our bags out of the bedrooms. I just stood there, frozen to the spot with the giant illuminated billboard of Archer and me at my back.
My mind wandered, lost in the storm of emotions caused by watching Archer's cottage, Wisteria, burn down. I only jerked free of that dark headspace when a pair of heavily tattooed, strongly muscled arms wrapped around me.
"I'm sorry, Kate," he whispered in a husky voice, pulling me tight into his chest. I looped my arms around his waist, holding onto him just as hard as he held me, soaking up the comfort in Archer's embrace.
I let out a short, bitter laugh. "I don't know why you're apologizing to me," I told him with my cheek against his chest and no desire to move. "It was your house that got burned down. First he explodes Steele's favorite car, then he sets fire to your cottage? It's becoming an expensive and dangerous activity to be close to me."
"Fuck the house," he growled back. "This prick can destroy my entire estate, and you'll still be worth it. I'm only sorry because I knew you liked that house, and the look on your face when you realized it was gone damn near broke me."
I tipped my head back, peering up at him from the tight circle of his arms. Before I could get any words out, though, Kody called out that we were ready to go.
Archer kissed me quickly but meaningfully, then linked our fingers together as we hurried out of the presidential suite again. All four of us piled into the elevator, the mood somber, until Kody—typical Kody—broke the tension with a question already on the back of my mind.
"So..." he said into the tense silence. "We're calling a raincheck on tonight, right? 'Cause I have a feeling I know what MK was going to suggest and—" Archer whacked him around the head. "Ow, dude. Not cool."
I met Kody's eyes with a mischievous smile, though, and mouthed my answer at him.
Raincheck.
41
The drive back to Shadow Grove was tense and silent. I took the passenger seat of Archer's car, wanting to stay close to him, seeing as this attack was aimed at the two of us. He drove fast, way faster than I'd have normally been okay with. But the steady weight of his hand on my leg the whole way kept me grounded.
Steele and Kody in the other car kept pace with us the whole way, pulling into the crowded driveway of Wisteria just seconds after us.
The four of us climbed out, and Archer took the lead as a rough-looking, middle-aged guy with tattoos covering his throat approached us. They greeted each other like they were already acquainted, and I guessed this was the man from the video call.
I tuned them out, though, staring instead at the charred, smoking remains of the beautiful cottage. It’d been devastating to see it in flames on the video call, but seeing it in person as little more than a pile of ash and burnt out framework? Utterly heartbreaking.