Out the door in fifteen minutes, she turned the corner in the path toward Natasha’s cabin when her phone rang.
Thinking it would be Chase again, she eagerly grabbed the phone, but a quick check showed Burnett’s number. “What now?” she muttered and prayed it wasn’t bad news. Prayed it wasn’t him reminding her that her time with Chase had ended.
“You up?” Burnett asked.
“On my way to see Natasha and Liam. Why?”
“Can you come to the office instead?”
“Why?” she asked.
“See you in a minute,” he said, not answering her question.
Damn, damn, damn! Her gut said this wasn’t going to be good.
* * *
Burnett waited inside Holiday’s office. Holiday wasn’t here, so maybe that meant it wasn’t too bad. She’d noticed when things were gonna be bad, he had Holiday around to magically make bad news more tolerable.
Della had no more stepped into the room when she got Holiday’s scent and she came stepping out of the bathroom. And she didn’t look happy.
Della inhaled and sat on the sofa before they insisted she do just that. Holiday came and sat beside her.
“What is it?” Della asked.
Burnett picked up a big brown envelope and came and sat on the arm of the sofa.
“I told you I had my concerns about Chase.”
So this was about her and Chase not seeing each other. But damn they weren’t wasting any time.
“I know.” Della looked from Burnett to Holiday and back to Burnett. “But we did this job and it went great. And I think … at least, I hope, I can talk him into maybe considering coming to work for the FRU.”
Burnett stared at the envelope in his hands. “I had Hayden go invisible and hide out at Chase’s cabin to see if he was up to anything.”
Della frowned. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Be mad at me if you want. But I did it because I knew you weren’t going to stop seeing him. And if I was going to let you continue this relationship, I had to be sure.”
Della got a bad feeling. Why was Burnett telling her this? Did he think he’d caught Chase up to no good?
She looked at the envelope he held and knew it contained something bad. Something Burnett was going to try and use to keep her away from Chase. She wasn’t sure what was in there, and she wasn’t sure it would work.
“So what do you have?” she asked.
“Honestly,” Burnett said, “I don’t know, but it puzzles me.”
“What puzzles you?”
When he didn’t immediately start talking or hand over the evidence, she got a little pissy. She snagged the envelope.
He frowned, but she frowned right back.
“Della,” Holiday said as if to try to calm her.
Della rolled her eyes at the fae. “He’s going to show it to me sooner or later, right? Let’s just get it over with.”
Chapter Forty-five
They were photographs. Large eight-by-ten images. The first one was of Chase standing outside on his porch.
No incriminating evidence there.
Her hands shook slightly with fury at Burnett interfering with her life. She flipped to the next photo. Chase sitting on his porch with binoculars in his hands. Bird-watching. Oh, yeah, that made him a terrible person.
She moved to the next picture. Chase standing on his porch talking to someone. A man with his back to the camera, moving, so he was nothing more than a blur.
She flipped to the image behind that one. Her hands stopped shaking. Her heart stopped beating.
“I’m not sure what this means,” Burnett said. “Does Chase know your father?”
“I … I…” She couldn’t answer.
Della felt her chest grow heavy, and her sinuses stung, but not one tear dared to crawl up her nose and appear in her eyes. She was too busy studying the picture. Studying the man standing on Chase’s porch. Staring at the look in Chase’s eyes. He was angry.
Then she shifted her focus to the man. The same face as her father. The same height, but it wasn’t him. Her father didn’t have muscled arms; her father’s gut, though not fat, was just a little paunchy.
This wasn’t her father.
This was her uncle.
Emotion washed over her in waves of pain. Chase had lied. Had been lying to her from the start.
Anger.
Fury.
Betrayal.
And to think she’d worn her black bra. Had even considered taking off her black bra. She’d practically fallen …
No, she had not fallen. But, by God, he was going to fall. Hard. On his ass. And she was the one who was going to put him there.
“Are you okay?” Holiday asked.
“No,” she said. Why lie? Burnett would know. But she said it in a low, quiet voice. “Can I have this?” She held up the photo and tried her best to sound pleasant.
Burnett nodded. “You’re going to confront him?”
Or kill him. “I think that’s a good idea.” She stood.
“I don’t think so.” Holiday popped up and caught her arm. “You’re too angry.”
“She seems fine to me,” Burnett said. “Let her go and get her answers. She deserves to know what kind of game he’s playing. For all we know, her father wants Chase to find something bad to discredit the school.”
My father’s not doing anything. But Della didn’t say a word.
Holiday continued to hold her arm and glanced at her husband. “Ever heard the saying, ‘silence can be deadly’? Or ‘the calm before the storm’?”
“I won’t stay long,” Della said. “I need to talk to him.” And more.
“No,” Holiday said with vigor. “Go take a walk or a run and then come back here in a few minutes and we’ll reassess. When your emotions settle down, you can go talk to him.”
Della wanted to explain that she wasn’t going to calm down.
How could she? She’d been duped.
Played.
Nothing made her angrier than someone playing her for a fool.
And she’d been a fool all right.
“Give it ten minutes. Ten,” Holiday said.
Della nodded. She pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of the photograph.
“Don’t you leave until you come back to see me,” Holiday said.
“I won’t,” she said and meant to keep that promise. Not that it would be easy, all she wanted to do right now was find the Panty Perv and tell him exactly what she thought of him. But like it or not, Holiday was right. She had to plan what needed to be said, because she didn’t ever plan on laying eyes on him again.