Angel/Hiss (Bayou Heat Box Set Book 7) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Page B

headed.
    “That’s his hope.”
    “So why do you insist on keeping the other prisoners?”
    “The research they provide is invaluable,” he said in offhand tones.
    She clutched the counter behind her, a profound disappointment making her shoulders droop.
    “So it’s true,” she muttered.
    “What?” Stanton tried to bluff.
    “You’re selling the technology we discovered.” She pushed away from the counter, moving to stand directly in front of him. “Locke, how could you?”
    He wrenched his gaze from her pained expression, forcing himself to glance out the window where he could see the sky being painted in shades of lavender and pink as dusk began to spread over the city.
    He didn’t want to try and explain why he’d allowed his master to convince him they should use the experimental drugs they’d created as a way to fund further research.
    Not when Chelsea was well aware that nothing could excuse the blatant greed of the older man.
    It was one thing to try and discover technology to keep yourself alive. It was another to sell the pain of others for profit.
    “I won’t be returning to New Orleans.” He abruptly changed the conversation.
    It was time to walk away.
    Before she ended up resenting him even more.
    She sucked in a sharp breath. “What happens to me?”
    He glanced down at her pale face, memorizing each line and curve. As if her image hadn’t already been branded into his brain.
    “You’re free,” he told her.
    She seemed to freeze, her eyes wide. “What?”
    He grimly ignored the agony that pulsed through him. For once in his miserable life he was going to do the right thing.
    Even if it killed him.
    “The doors are unlocked and when I leave I’ll take the guard with me,” he forced himself to say.
    She blinked, staring at him with wary hope. “Are you serious?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    Barely aware of what he was doing, he lifted his hand to brush a stray curl behind her ear.
    “I realize I was wrong to hold you as my prisoner.” His lips twisted, his fingers tingling at the feel of her warm skin. “At first my only concern was ensuring that no one discovered you were still alive. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being hurt.”
    “And then?” she prompted.
    He gave a humorless laugh. “Then I kept you here because I hoped we could be together again. Stupid. Holding you captive isn’t exactly the way to win your heart.”
    Regret darkened her eyes, her hand lifting to cup his face. “I’ve told you what you needed to do if you want to be together.”
    She had. All he had to do was betray the man who’d saved his life and turned him into a success.
    “I…can’t,” he ground out.
    Her jaw hardened with disappointment. Good lord. Even after all this time she still cared?
    The knowledge was oddly painful.
    “You’ll walk away and leave me?” she husked.
    He flinched, deliberately misinterpreting her soft plea.
    “You should be safe,” he assured her. “The master believes you’re dead and as long as you don’t deliberately draw attention to yourself there’s no reason for him to suspect you’re still alive.”
    She wasn’t fooled.
    She knew he was avoiding her question.
    “This is what you want?” she insisted.
    “This is what I want.” Framing her face in his hands, Stanton lowered his head to kiss her with a bittersweet longing he felt in his very soul.
    “Stay,” she whispered against his lips, her hands grasping his shirt in a tight grip.
    “Run from here, Chelsea,” he urged her, giving her one last kiss before he was pulling away. “Build a new life.”
    “Locke—”
    “Be happy,” he pleaded, turning to head out of the kitchen.
    Not allowing himself to glance back, he halted only long enough to pay the guard an obscene amount of money to keep his mouth shut before he was climbing into his silver Jag and gunning the engine.
    Soon New Orleans would be a speck in his rearview mirror and Chelsea would become a fond memory.
    He repeated the words