Everything was gone. There was just a big black pile of charred concrete and brick where her home used to be.
She knew it was her fault.
Her mother ran over to her, wrapped in a dirty blanket. She had smudges of soot on her cheeks and a lost look in her blue eyes. Her mom’s arms wrapped around her, covering them both with the blanket, and it was al Lana could do not to shove her away. It wasn’t safe to show her love like this in public. She was probably being watched.
Lana wondered if the tears roling down her mother’s face brought Kara as much sick pleasure as her screams had.
“Where’s Dad?” asked Lana. “Is he okay?”
“He’s with the fire chief right now.”
“Show me.”
Madeline Hancock led Lana over puddles and through a crowd of neighbors. Carter Hancock was standing near the front of the fire truck, staring over the ruins of his house.
Lana hesitated for only a moment before going to him.
“Dad,” whispered Lana, choking back her tears. She couldn’t stop herself from hugging him. He looked so shaken, so devastated.
“Lana,” he said, as if he was surprised to see her.
Lana checked him over for visible signs of injury but found none. He was pale and shaking but looked unhurt. She knew that didn’t mean a damn thing, though. For al she knew he was screaming on the inside, rough, ragged screams of pain and loss. She knew what that was like al too wel.
“I think the roses may survive,” he told her as if it was the only thing holding him together. “They were far enough away from the house that the fire didn’t get them. If the water didn’t rip them apart, they may be okay.”
Lana wiped away a soot stain from his wrinkled cheek. “I’m sure they’l survive.”
He gave her an absent nod.
Madeline took her husband’s hand, and together they stared at the charred remains of their home.
Lana turned away, unable to stand witnessing the suffering she’d caused for even one more second. Standing behind her a few feet away was Caleb. He was watching her, looking invincible and strong, and she struggled against the urge to go to him and let him take away this nightmare, too. But unlike last night, this was real, and she had to face it.
Lana ripped her eyes from him and just looked at the soggy ground. “What are you going to do?” she asked her mom. “Do you want to come stay at my place?” She regretted the words the moment she said them. No way could her parents stay at her place. That would make them even more of a target than they already were.
“We’l go stay with Jenny and Todd. They have more room, and little Taylor wil take our mind off this mess like no one else could.” Taylor was their one and only grandchild, and they doted and fussed over him as if he were the only child on earth.
“Is there anything you need? Anything I can do?” asked Lana.
“No. Jenny’s on her way, and I know you’ve got your fundraiser coming up. You concentrate on that and don’t worry about us.”
Lana nodded. Her parents held each other. She turned away.
Lana puled herself together as tight as she was going to get and marched over to Caleb. “I want you to put a guard on my sister’s house. And Stacie’s.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Does this mean you’re ready to talk to me?”
“Wil you do it or not?”
“I wil.”
“Even if I have nothing to say.”
“We both know that’s not true,” he replied.
“Answer my question. Wil you do this or not?”
“Yeah. I’l do it.”
“No strings attached?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked her, and she knew he was talking about more than just her request for help. He was talking about them—about what they’d shared last night.
Lana shoved the thought away before it could take root. One night of kiler sex did not equal a relationship. She couldn’t let herself think otherwise, no matter how much she wanted to. “Yes. That’s what I want.”
Caleb’s expression hardened, closed up. He puled out his cel phone and pressed a button. “Assign guards at the Cramer residence as wel as her sister’s house.” He paused. “Yes, twenty-four/seven. Don’t let them know you’re there.” He hung up, looking at her with that same cold expression. “It’s done. No strings attached.”
Lana’s eyes closed in relief. At least she’d managed to get her family and her friend that much help. It wasn’t much, but it was something. More than she could have done alone. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t going to end here,” he told her. “Whatever is causing this is only going to get worse.”
Not if she cut everyone out of her life. Kara only wanted to hurt the people Lana loved, so al she had to do was pretend she didn’t love anyone. She was good at pretending, and she was going to start with Caleb. “I don’t want you folowing me around anymore.”
“Tough shit.”
“I mean it. I’m tired of having you trail after me like a puppy dog. Go home. Send someone else if you have to, but stay out of my way.”
He stepped closer, and she had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes. “I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”
“You don’t know anything,” she told him, using the bitchiest voice she could muster.