Free Promises in the Dark by Stephanie Tyler Page B

balanced them out.
    This was the worst possible time for Zane to get himself in trouble. Caleb had his own brand of the stuff waiting behind that door.
    The faster Vivienne got the safeguard on the security program working, the faster he could help Zane out.
    First, he had to figure out whether or not Vivienne Clare was in danger—or worse, if she was the danger.
    With that in mind, he unlocked the door and stuck his head inside to take her from the interrogation room. Little did she know she was about to be out of the frying pan and walking directly into the fire.
    A s the sun came up, Zane attempted to keep them comfortable. He’d spread out the blanket on the floor—it was made of a material that thankfully helped them remain cool. Within a few hours, they would be roasting in here anyway.
    He’d boiled enough water in the large pot he’d taken from her house to fill both canteens. While she’d tended to the baby, he’d grabbed a few threadbare towels as well, plus homemade soap and all the food she’d had in the house.
    Most of it would go bad if they didn’t eat it soon, and so Olivia unpacked it and spread it between them. They sat across from each other—she picked at the food while Zane ate with the vigor of a man who viewed food as fuel.
    It inspired her to choke down more than she normally ate. And when the food was mostly gone and the water finished, he said, “I still can’t believe …”
    But he stopped, shook his head.
    “What?”
    “A baby. In the middle of all that, a baby was born.” He looked stunned as he thought about it.
    “Yes, well, their timing is usually pretty impeccable,” she said wryly. She looked down at her hands again. They’d stopped shaking from the adrenaline a while ago, but they still felt like they were moving without her direction, the way it sometimes happened when she was lost in a big surgery.
    Zane was right. The baby was a miracle in hell. They didn’t happen often and most of the beauty was in the unexpected.
    The look on Dahia’s face when Liv handed her the infant and told her to go and hide—well, it was indescribable. It gave her chills just thinking about it now, even as a thin trickle of sweat made its way down her back. “I was scared to death.”
    “You got the job done.” Zane stripped his shirt and lay back on the cloth, hands behind his head. He wore no dog tags, had a few telltale scars … and he looked so good.
    She forced her eyes away and pulled up her borrowed pants.
    “You should take those off instead.”
    “What?”
    “Take your pants off before you overheat.”
    He was right—it would get hot in here, despite its shaded location. She shimmied out of them and lay like Zane was, the T-shirt coming to the tops of her thighs.
    She wouldn’t look at him to see if he was looking at her, but saw out of the corner of her eye that he’d already laid down on the blanket.
    Now, their bellies comfortable, they rested, although neither was fully relaxed. Both on guard, she mused. So many damned enemies. “No one’s tried to hurt my parents, have they? No threats?”
    “They wouldn’t be that stupid. Your parents are too visible. It would be too much of a risk,” he said.
    Thank God for that. Her father was part owner of an NFL team, her mother the daughter of something akin to the closest thing to royalty America had as the daughter of a beloved actress and philanthropist. They’d been together for thirty years, a golden couple, marred by the tragedy of what had happened to their daughter when she was young. They were constantly written up in the society pages—and they’d employed security since that fateful day she’d been kidnapped at nine years old. “They’ve believed I’m alive the whole time, haven’t they?”
    “Yes. Your dad told me that you’re a fighter.” He touched the side of his head where she’d beamed him. “I didn’t know he meant literally.”
    “I didn’t hit you as hard as I could’ve, you