Page 97 of Sterling Heat

Stone nods and speaks into his walkie. Andy returns with an exaggerated hobble and both men enter the house, taking a few minutes to turn on lights and inspect the place.

Enya and I move as one closer to her Honda where Adara is still sleeping.

“I was so scared for you,” Enya whispers with a shaky voice.

“Nothing can touch me.” I grip her face. “Nothing will touch you or Adara either. Not ever.”

When Stone returns to the front porch, waving for us to enter, I remove Adara from the SUV.

Entering her house, Enya begins to visibly shake, shock settling in. I set Adara’s car seat down near the couch where I tell Enya to sit. I take a seat beside her and wrap my arm around her as her body continues to tremble. “Sugar?”

“Someone was in my house,” she mutters, the reality catching up to her. “I thought you’d been shot.” Her face turns white. Her hands visibly tremble. I tug her onto my lap, not getting her close enough. I want her to feel the heat still coming off me from the chase. Use my warmth to comfort her and settle her.

“I’m okay,” I whisper to her. “I’m right here.” And I’m not going anywhere. No one is going to get near her or Adara, like I promised.

“The bad news is, there was no forced entry.” Stone states, standing a few feet from us on the couch.

“What?” I snap.

“The back door might have been open when you chased but there’s no sign of forced entry anywhere.”

“Are you saying someone just walked into my house?” Enya stiffens on my lap.

Stone doesn’t answer but his hard face does. How is that possible? Enya has codes on her entryways and an alarm system. I’m not liking this. Not one bit.

“I’m sorry to do this, but I need Enya to walk around. See if anything is missing,”

Enya nods, and hesitantly lifts from my legs. “Of course.”

Immediately, she points at an open door. “I never leave the cellar door open. It’s always closed. I hardly go down there.” The open door leads to a staircase beneath the main staircase. The space contains boxes and storage items. Despite Enya’s renovations, the original cellar remains intact with low ceilings. A portion of the floor is still dirt.

Enya explains how the foundation of the house was repaired but not reconstructed when she bought the place. She hadn’t intended to put a full basement in this house. Still, Stone asks Enya to show him around down there. I already know Enya doesn’t like to go in the cellar because it’s dark and a little damp.

When they reappear, Stone vaguely points around the first floor. “And this is all new construction?”

“There wasn’t much salvageable from the original house other than the blueprint,” Enya explains. “Most of the layout is not the same as the original.”

Stone meets my eyes a second before addressing Enya again. “Let’s look around this level.”

Enya leads Stone around the open concept while I watch from my perch near Adara. Eventually, Enya leads Stone upstairs.

As my body begins to settle down from the adrenaline rush, wild thoughts build up.

Who was in here? What did they want? Was it a simple break-in?

Or have ghosts revived to haunt me?

Worse yet, am I putting Enya and Adara in danger?

+ + +

“Nothing’s missing,” Enya tells me as she returns to the first floor with Stone behind her. She crosses the space to the couch, and I immediately stand, pulling her to my chest.

The fact nothing was taken confirms this was not a random break-in. Someone was looking for something.

Enya asks the same question I have. “What would they have been looking for?”

“Rumor has it money was buried here,” Andy states, glaring at me like I know anything about said rumors.