“Milo figured out enough about the internal workings of Scanguards to know that just stealing Thomas’ password wasn’t enough. So he dug around in the records, and must have found out about John’s little depreciation fraud and used it to blackmail him. It was easy enough. You were on the right track, you know, with your audit. You would have found it eventually.”

He gave her an approving look.

“You did half the work,” she conceded.

“Only after you showed me which way to go. Ilona was smart. Carl told me earlier today that he saw her at Samson’s computer once, possibly trying to get into the system, but he’d never given her his logon or password. So she obviously had the idea before.”

“Are you sure? He gave it to me, and he’s known me a lot less time than he knew her.”

“Not even I know his password, and I’m his closest friend. He trusts you like he’s never trusted anybody else. I don’t think he ever trusted Ilona, even though he was prepared to marry her. I guess the loneliness was finally getting to him. He always wanted a family.”

Amaury smiled softly, his look drifting to Samson on the bed.

“Once Milo had John’s password, he was able to upload encrypted wire transfers. He then just had to go back in with Thomas’ password and authorize them.”

“Thomas must be devastated.”

“Milo overpowered him earlier tonight and chained him with silver.”

“With silver?”

“It’s the only metal we can’t break or bend. Vampires can’t escape silver chains. And it burns our skin. We were lucky to get to Thomas in time. He was in a lot of pain, but he’ll be fine. Personally, I’m surprised Milo didn’t kill him. Maybe there were some feelings involved after all …”

“I feel sorry for Thomas to be tricked like this by his lover. Do you think John knew what Milo was up to?”

“Probably not,” Amaury guessed. “And even if he had an inclination, he probably just ignored it, figuring the less he knew the better. John was really a pawn in this game. Not quite an innocent, but he certainly didn’t deserve to die.”

“What’s going to happen to his family? He had a wife and children.” Delilah could only imagine the pain his wife was experiencing.

“Samson will take care of them. We have a large charity fund which helps the families of those employees who die in the line of duty. It happens, you know, with some of our bodyguards. And even though John didn’t die in the line of duty, Samson will do right by him.”

“And the man who attacked us?”

“I’ve sent two of our men to release him. They have instructions to erase his memory of anything related to Samson, you, or any other vampire. There is no need to punish him any further. John’s wife will need all the support she can get.”

“Others in your situation wouldn’t be this kind.”

“You mean because we’re vampires?” There was no accusation in Amaury’s voice.

“Even humans would be crueler. I certainly didn’t expect this kind of consideration from vampires—no offense.”

Amaury shook his head. “It has nothing to do with being a vampire or not. There are good and bad among us, just like there are good and bad among humans. Turning into a vampire doesn’t make you bad. And being human doesn’t make you good.”

“And you and Samson, you are good.”

“We’re no saints, but we try to be as good as we can. It’s a constant struggle, but we win more often than we lose.”

Delilah smiled at him. “How did Samson find me in time?”

“Your scent. He could have tracked you through the entire city. He knew your scent so well, and then of course, he licked your blood from your hand—that only intensified it. When Carl told him you were gone, and we knew Milo and Ilona were loose in the city … I’ve never seen him so panicked in his life. He was ready to kill somebody.”

“I’m sorry.” She truly was.

“Next time you’re planning to leave him, give me a heads-up, will you? So I can get out of the line of fire.”

She wouldn’t leave him again. If he still wanted her, she’d be his. She planted a kiss on Samson’s forehead and ran her hand through his hair.

“That won’t be necessary, Amaury.” She smiled at him and saw that he understood.

“He’ll be glad to hear that when he wakes up. Why don’t you sleep a little? I’ll watch over him and make sure he feeds when he needs to.”