He couldn’t justify the feeling, but he didn’t really care. Moving toward the window that faced her living room, he decided to break in. To hell with logic. But just as he raised a hand to test the glass, Emma appeared at the window beside the door.

At least, he thought it was her. The hollow-eyed, shell-shocked woman bore little resemblance to the woman whose bed he’d left almost six hours before, her skin warm from his touch, her eyes languid and full. She wore a heavy warm-up suit, and her face above the turned-up collar was pale and frightened, scrubbed of all makeup, her only color, as always, her full, red lips. Her wet hair hung in silken strands, framing her apprehensive expression. The transformation would have been unbelievable if the results weren’t standing before him.

Blinking hard, she opened the door a scant two inches.

“My God, Emma!” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I think I must have caught what Reina had. Y-you shouldn’t come in.” Her eyes were streaked with red, their hazel depths cloudy.

“It doesn’t matter. Let me in. I can help you-”

“No!” She spoke quickly, the word coming out too strongly for someone ill. “I…I don’t need anything, thanks, anyway. I…like to be alone when I’m not feeling well.” She smiled wanly. “I’m not a good patient.”

He looked into her eyes and could tell she was lying. She met his gaze, then looked away. She knew he knew. He felt the air leave his lungs, his heart squeezing into a ball of fear.

Kelman.

He’d sprung his trap and Emma had been caught. She wore the sick, helpless look of a wounded animal with no way out. The same look Raul had worn when Kelman had ambushed him.

“Emma?” He said her name softly. “What’s going on? Tell me.”

She started to shut the door, but she was too slow, her reflexes dulled by whatever had happened. His hand shot out, and he grabbed the mahogany, his fingers wrapping around the hard wooden edge.

She tried to push the door closed, but Raul forced his way inside, into the entry. She cried out, then stepped back, obviously choosing to give up as he slammed the door behind him. “Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded. “It’s Kelman, isn’t it? He’s done something.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice was harsh and painful. “And I don’t appreciate the way you just barged in here, either. Please leave, Raul. Right now.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he answered. “Not until you tell me the truth.”

“I…I don’t have anything to tell you.” Blinking rapidly, she compressed her lips and brought her hands to her throat to pull the edges of her collar closer.

That’s when he saw her wrists. They were scraped and raw, scarlet with scratches.

His stomach turned over, and he reached out and grabbed her forearms, raising them to eye level. She flinched, but he didn’t release her. “Nothing happened? Then how do you explain this?”

She stared at him, a stubborn determination coming into her eyes, alongside the pain. She wasn’t going to give away her secrets; she’d die before she did. That was when he understood what it would take to get her to talk. It was the last thing he wanted to do; it meant not just the sacrifice of everything between them but of his one and only goal, as well. But it was the only thing that would work.

He’d have to tell her the truth.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

RAUL DROPPED her arms so abruptly Emma almost lost her balance. He turned and walked into the living room before she could stop him.

“Don’t do this. I don’t want you here.” Following him into the room, she spoke, the lie sticking in her throat. She didn’t know how, but she managed to say it without choking. She had to; Raul’s very existence depended on it.

“I know that’s what you want.” Halting in the center of the room, he radiated pent-up energy.

“But it’s not going to happen until I say what I have to. I’m going to tell you why I’m here, what I’m doing, and how ruthless this man is. When I’m finished, you’re going to hate me, but at least you’ll understand. And maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll survive this.”

She stared at him, her heart thumping. “What makes you so sure William Kelman’s my problem? I could have a situation at work, or my kids could be in trouble, or…” She threw her hands up in the air. “Anything could be going on with me. Why do you think-”

“I don’t have to think. I know. I know because he ruined my life.” His pronouncement was flat, totally without emotion. “I spent five years in a federal prison because of William Kelman.”

The words fell like stones at her feet. She felt faint, and for a moment she thought she’d throw up. “Wh-what are you saying?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

“He destroyed my life over a woman. And I didn’t even love her. Not like I love-” He broke off abruptly and shook his head, a gesture filled with regret and something else, something that darkened his eyes to a shade she’d never seen before.

“Her name was Denise Murphy, and she came up to me in a D.C. bar. I’d just ended a relationship with someone else, and I wasn’t at my best. Denise said she’d seen me around town and wondered who I was.” He shrugged. “She was gorgeous-a tall brunette with a perfect body-and I took her home with me that night. It was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Emma’s nausea grew. It took up all the space inside her and forced its way up into her throat.

“Denise Murphy was living with William Kelman at the time, but she was looking for a way out. I provided her with the excuse. She left him and we had a brief affair. I didn’t know all this until she visited me in prison to explain.”

“To explain? Explain what?”

“Kelman ruled the local DEA office like he was some kind of king. He was making a fortune by working with the dealers, tipping off the agents on the minor ones and taking payoffs from the big ones when the raids went down. His bosses had no idea what he was doing. Denise only knew because she lived with him.

“She said he hadn’t always been that way, but his wife had left him a few years before, and it seemed to push him over the edge.” Raul paused for a second, then continued, “When Denise did the same thing-left him-he saw himself as a two-time loser. He couldn’t believe it’d happened again, so he took care of it.”

“Took care of it?”

Raul nodded. “He planted drugs and a gun in my car while I was out of town. I was stopped, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

She had a vague understanding of how Kelman had arranged things here, but how could he do the same thing in the States? It didn’t seem possible. “But how did he get the officer to stop you?”

“He was told to by a DEA agent. Kelman had something on the agent, and offered to let the guy off the hook if he took me down. All the cop had to do was catch me in a traffic violation-I turned right without signaling. That gave him cause to pull me over, and he held me till the DEA agents got there-they were in it, as well. They asked if they could search the car, and I had no reason to refuse. One of them opened up the trunk and pulled out a plastic bag of coke I’d never seen before. And a nickel-plated.45.”

“Kelman planted them,” she said faintly.

He nodded. “I’d left my car at the airport and flown to the Bahamas for a weekend. He did it while I was gone.”

“But five years. My God, why so long? Did he own the judge, too?”

“He didn’t have to. There are guideline sentences for drug violations in the federal system. Whatever number of years you’re sentenced, you serve eighty-five percent of it, regardless. I was a first-time offender, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. The evidence couldn’t be disputed, and I was tried and convicted in very short order. I was sent to Cumberland, Maryland.” In a hard tone he spoke again. “I lost my home, my savings and my license to practice law. Everything.”