Blindsight: The Series (Complete Erotic Suspense STANDALONE) (31 page)

In the next instant Hunter had reached JW, gripping JW's wrist and bending it awkwardly before landing a swift punch at the inside of his elbow, causing JW to drop the knife in reflex.
 

Without letting go of his wrist, Hunter spun JW's body away from my mother, causing her weak body to skitter into the dirt. Without thinking twice my feet pounded down the steps and I sprinted across the driveway to land next to her, pulling her head into my lap to shield her however I could.
 

I heard a soft thud in the dirt and watched as JW dropped to one knee, his calf twisted at an unnatural angle before I heard a soft snick. I trembled and shook before Hunter pulled JW up from his kneeling position and wrapped one hand around his throat, the other landing a sharp object into his carotid artery, fresh blood spitting from the wound. In another blink, Hunter twisted JW's arm behind his body, exposing the soft underside of a pale wrist, before plunging the instrument into the pulsing veins there. Hunter landed one final kick to the back of JW's shin before JW collapsed in the dirt, his form eerily silent as the grunts and gasping ceased.
 

I watched with wide, absent irises as Hunter stood over the lifeless form, a bloodied BIC pen, used as a dagger of death, dropping in the dirt at his feet. Blood pooled beneath JW's body and darkened the sandy earth. Hunter bent and placed fingers at JW's neck checking for a pulse, before he pulled JW's arm from his side and pulled the worn leather jacket open. A small manila envelope fell out, the edges scalloped in JW's darkening blood.
 

Hunter stepped away, his gaze finally turning back to me, shimmering with sympathy and maybe something else, something akin to regret. I saw him swallow before he took the remaining steps to close the distance between us. ``He didn't have a gun.'' Hunter tossed the envelope in the dirt, my name written in quick chicken scratch across the top, before he kneeled and very gently peeled the tape from my mother's mouth ``Are you hurt anywhere?''
 

Her dark brown eyes the size of saucers, she shook her head slowly before trying out her voice. In a croaky tone she whispered, ``Thank you.”
 

My heart thumped in slow beats, barely pumping blood through my system as my body adjusted to the tragedy of the entire night. I didn't know if I would ever recover, could ever. I also didn't know if I wanted to see what that envelope contained.
 

``You okay?'' He finally turned to me, his hands darting to my face while his thumbs caressed my cheekbones. I looked in Hunter's eyes before tears surged down my cheeks in relentless waterfalls of pain and heartache as the life I thought I knew morphed into something much more horrifying. ``I can't do this anymore,'' I choked before my body succumbed to full tremors and a cold sweat lit my forehead as the dark navy night faded to black.

fifteen

Hunter swaddled me in his arms on the front porch as a team of federal investigators searched the property, took evidence, and then bagged JW's lifeless body and brought it back to the city. My mom was assessed by medics and then taken to the local hospital for minor injuries and mental trauma. She'd succumbed to a partial breakdown right here in the driveway when the investigators had tried to question her, requiring a sedative to get her under control.
 

The cool night bit my skin as I sat shaking with fear and cold, unable to shake the chill that had settled deep in my bones. Unwilling to believe the tale that JW, the man that claimed to be my father, had told. I wished desperately for a hot shower to wash away the pain, and a cool pillowcase to shed a lifetime's worth of tears into. Grief had overtaken my senses, leaving me broken and with the sense that my life wasn't my own--it'd been orchestrated by forces much greater than me the duration of my existence. That revelation turned my stomach.
 

``I'm taking her home now, she's had enough,'' Hunter said when who I learned was his supervisor on the case approached.
 

``Everything corroborates,'' the supervisor concluded a few minutes later. ``You can head back to the city, but don't go anywhere; we may have a few more questions over the next few days.'' He finally flipped a notebook closed and then looked at Hunter. ``We've searched his vehicle; he only had the knife on him. No gun like we would have expected.’’
 

``But, it looked like he was...'' The memory shot through me of JW's golden eyes glaring as he reached for something deep inside his coat. ``Why did he act like he was...''
Going to kill her.
I couldn't finish the sentence as small tremors overtook my limbs.
 

The supervisor shrugged. ``Can't explain these guys--they're a whole different breed. I'm sorry how all this ended. You didn't deserve to get as wrapped up in it as you were, Ms. Warner. Hunter has done all he can to put your safety first. I know it didn't look that way sometimes, but he's been indispensable to our case the last year. I just thought you should know that.'' He nodded before turning away and leaving us alone.
 

``Ready to get back to the city?'' Hunter hummed and pressed a kiss at my temple.
 

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded, standing to wrap his hand in mine. ``But I don't think I can stay there anymore. So much history, the headlines.''
 

``I understand, baby. We don't have to do wit-pro now, but I'm all for leaving that crooked town.'' Hunter pushed a hand through his golden hair. ``You don't deserve any of this.'' His expressive eyes caught mine and burned with something I couldn't quite place. ``You didn't have to stay, you never did, but I'm really fucking glad you did. You save me, every day you save me.'' He placed a soft kiss on my knuckles before dropping my hand and taking my cheeks in his palms to place a full kiss across my lips. With my hands tangled in his hair I lost myself in that kiss, forgot the pain of finding my father, and then losing him all in one night. I left the betrayal and dishonesty behind in favor of Hunter's heaven-sent lips that calmed my nerves and soothed my soul like I'd never had before.
 

I was thankful for him. We had needed each other. I knew that now. Surviving together was the only path there was. It wasn't over yet, it wouldn't be until I was out of the state of Illinois and removed from the reminders of the past. We weren't yet out of the tunnel, but the light was shining bright. And as long as we had each other, it would burn brighter every day.

sixteen

The following morning Hunter walked me into the federal building in downtown Chicago for a formal interview to be recorded with the investigator. They wanted everything, every detail I could think of starting from when I'd first met Brant, all the way through my kidnapping by JW, and just how heavy the involvement with my mother had been.
 

My mom received nothing more than a slap on the wrist for colluding with JW, but for me, her real crime was turning over my safety for money. Her lies had crushed me, and betrayal between a mother and daughter festers for a lifetime, forgiveness and trust not so easily restored. It would take years to comprehend the magnitude of her secrets, and I couldn't fathom JW had been as involved as he'd claimed, taking care of me in his own way from afar for years. The facts added up, I just wished they weren't true.
 

``You mentioned last night that he claimed to be your father.'' The investigator interrupted my thoughts as his eyes darted up to mine before he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. ``While Mr. Ellis,'' the investigator's eyes slipped to Hunter's then back to mine, ``John Walker,'' he corrected, ``Isn't listed on your birth certificate as you know, paternity can only be proven with a DNA test--that will be up to you. But the story you said he told lines up. Your mother's bank history has numerous deposits made sporadically over the course of years, many with JW's name attached. And the company that purchased your mother's home in Clearview was a subsidiary of one of JW's companies back in the eighties.'' His eyes burned with remorse as he confirmed every shocking detail of JW's story, somehow intertwined with mine, though I'd been ignorant to it.
 

``As you know, he offered Brant Warner a job, higher paying than industry standard.'' His eyes cut to me, as if that should have been my first warning sign. Was he kidding? I was a poor college student -- of course I hadn't questioned when a blessing had seemingly fallen into Brant's lap. ``JW's had some sort of heightened surveillance on your husband for the last eighteen months or so, which is why the FBI took a deeper look into Brant.'' He cleared his voice as his eyes shot from Hunter and back to mine awkwardly. ``We found out what Brant was doing, then decided to use that as our in to take down the biggest criminal mastermind this city has seen in the last forty years. When Hunter came back from Afghanistan, everything fell into place. It was the moment we'd been waiting for. We've been on this case full time, Ms. Warner.'' His eyes went to Hunter and suddenly the mysterious all-hours calls on the burner fell into place. ``We made sure to get Brant out before JW could ambush him, as he had planned--we're still waiting on a trial date for your husband as I'm sure you're aware--but then JW took you and went off the map. We lost control then, and JW hid out, and upped the stakes. And in regards to that envelope he left you--'' The investigator shuffled through his file for the evidence report.
 

I shuddered, remembering the blood-stained envelope I'd handed over to investigators last night, hoping I'd never have to see it again. ``JW left an account in my name with almost a million dollars in it,'' I said, my voice numb to the numbers. ``I don't want any of it. Take it all. I'll donate it before I spend a dime of it,'' I seethed, thinking of the gall he had to think I would take his blood money after everything he'd put me through.
 

``Well, all his accounts are frozen now, but it looks like he's been putting money into that specific account for years. Decades, even.'' The investigator's eyes focused on the file in his hands. ``If they clear it, it's yours to do what you please with, but if you don't mind me saying, with all the shit that man's put you through, maybe spending it on something that matters isn't such a bad idea.'' He looked across to Hunter before his gaze darted back to me. ``He was a bad man; put his money to good use. And for what it's worth, I don't believe he went there to harm you. He knew what he was walking into--knew Hunter would kill him if he laid a hand on your head--he came to deliver his confession like a coward. He knew we were closing in, and he went out on his terms.'' His eyes rang with sympathy. ``All of us here would really like to thank you for your sacrifice for the case.'' The investigator's words pulled me from my thoughts. ``We can't thank you enough, in fact,'' his eyes bleeding sincerity.
 

``Thank you. Are we done?'' I looked at Hunter. ``You've been great,'' I glanced back at his supervisor, ``But I can't stay in this city any longer.''
 

``Yes,'' he chuckled. ``I understand that. Now that we have your side of things, I'm pleased to say we don't need you anymore. Or you either.'' He grinned at Hunter.
 

``Thanks.'' Hunter pulled my hand into his own.
 

``Unless you're looking for something permanent...you know the offer stands...''
 

I cast a quick glance to Hunter before he shook his head and stood. ``Let's go, Princess. Before this guy ropes us into something else.'' He pulled me from my chair.
 

``Leave a number where we can reach you!'' the man called as we left the room, Hunter waving him off with one hand.
 

``Offer?'' I whispered when we stepped into the elevator.
 

``Nothing to worry about, I'm not taking it.''
 

``Really? The FBI offered you a job?''
 

He only shrugged. ``It requires staying in the city, breaking down the hierarchy of JW's crew.''
 

``The hierarchy? Aren't we done? Isn't it over? Without JW there's no organization.''
 

``Hardly,'' Hunter remarked as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open to a rush of business-suited bodies on the main floor. ``The organization doesn't die, Erin. They elect a new boss.''
 

``But, but--''
 

``That's why we're leaving the city. I don't want to be here anymore than you do, and I don't think the organization wants us here either.'' He frowned a moment before pushing out into the cool September streets.
 

``Won't they try to get revenge?''
 

``I would imagine so.''
 

``But I thought you said no wit-pro. If they'll be after us--''
 

``Listen, we're not a top priority for the organization right now. They're reeling from the loss of the only boss most of those guys have ever known. So no, it's not over like you're thinking, but it will be once we leave and cut all ties.'' His eyes darted to mine once we were safely tucked in his Lexus. ``Can you do that, Erin?'' I knew what he was referring to--my mom.
 

The woman who birthed me then betrayed me, who rang my phone up at all hours of the day and made demands on my heart that were impossible to bear, but the one I still wasn't able to turn away from.
 

``That won't be a problem.'' I sighed and wrapped my arms around my tummy. ``I do need to get a prenatal appointment and some vitamins before we leave the city though,'' I said, redirecting the conversation to what mattered. Us. Our family. Our future.
 

``Right, mama...'' Hunter squeezed my thigh as he swerved out into Chicago traffic. ``We'll get you the best baby doctor money can buy.''
 

``For one check up?''
 

``Wherever we go. Only top notch hospitals for my baby mama.''