And it hit her then. “You’ve been living here.”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t move. “What about the ... the tour guide company?”
“I rented it from them.”
Jericho’s hands held her.
“Okay, listen,” Gabe said as he walked back over to Sunni, crouched next to her, took her hand even as he looked at Harley. “I know what I did to you. Both of you. But really, I never thought it would be ... I thought it would be over in a year, tops—”
“Whatwould be over!” Harley’s voice shook, high now.
“Harley, maybe you should sit down.” Jericho’s calm voice and she glanced at him, stepped away from his grip.
“How?” The word tore out of her. “How are you standing here? How did you fake a death certificate? Abody?”
The brother in her memories had been lean, almost fragile. This man filled the space differently—broad, thick shoulders, fit and strong. No hint of tragedy, or years of drug use, his hands roughened by work. Sure, he wore lines etched around his eyes and in the firelight she saw the weariness carved into him.
Okay,take a breath. He’s sufferedtoo.
Then Gabe got up and took a step toward her. “Harley.”
Orlando’s growl started low, threatening. Jericho caught the dog’s collar, murmured something soft.
She held up her hand. “No ... just ... stay there. I can’t...”
In her periphery, she saw Winter move to the woodstove, the hinges creaking as she added another log. The smell of the leftover barley soup filled the air.
Topher had grabbed a couple split logs and now fed them into the fireplace, sparks spiraling up the chimney.
And it hit her, that niggling inside her—“Wait, Sunni, you don’t look that surprised. I mean, not like ‘Hey, my boyfriend has come back from the dead after five years’ surprised.”
Sunni looked away.
Harley shot Gabe a fresh accusing look. “What am I missing?”
“She knew I wasn’t dead.” He made a face. “We only made it look that way.”
She shoved against his chest. “We?”
He stepped back, jaw tight. “Witness Protection. Long story, but after you left town the first time, I got clean and I started working with Dad ... sort of undercover, rooting out the Sorros brothers’ operation.”
She stared. “What?”
“It wasn’t Dad’s idea ... I came to him with evidence that they were running drugs ... Anyway, he put it all together and got Brand and his boys in a sting.”
“What—you helped put them away?”
“I testified against them first time around, right before Mom and Dad died.”
Her mouth opened, closed. “What?”
“It’s a long story, but I did it by video because the trial was in Juneau. You were working in Anchorage at the time.”
“I heard about the trial, but I didn’t know you testified.”
“It was sealed to protect me. Clearly it didn’t work. Mom andDad died about a month later. I got sort of messed up again, and went to treatment, and Sunni was there. We got back together and I restarted my life. I’m not sure how they found out, but the DEA approached me about a month before the ‘overdose.’ I’d been clean again for a couple years, but they told me Mars was out, and they needed to send him back and asked if I could help them.”