Authors: Christy Reece
Brennan told himself he was no stranger to pain. Losing his son and his parents had been hideous agonies that had left scars on his soul that could never be healed. Seeing Kacie’s body lying so still and lifeless felt as if the bullet had entered his own chest and left a gaping, seeping hole of anguish. He told himself to push the pain aside, he would deal with it later. His fault if she was dead…God, his fault again.
His mind barely acknowledged that he now had a shotgun pointed directly at his chest. He quite simply did not give a damn. Whether Vincent got off a shot or not, this bastard would die today. “Put your weapon down, Deavors.”
“Now Brennan, I know how this looks, but she made me kill her. I wasn’t even really aiming at her, and she got in the way. But I told her what I would do if she left me. I warned her.”
“You sick fuck. Put the gun down, or I swear I will blow a hole through your worthless heart.”
Vincent sneered. “Which bullet do you think is going to hit its target first? That little Glock or my man-sized shotgun?”
“If you think that matters to me, think again. I don’t give a damn if I die, but you’ll be going with me, I swear to that.”
Cursing erupted in his ear, sounding like Justin. It was quickly followed by McCall’s calm voice, “Keep him talking, Sinclair. I’m only a minute or two away from you.” To the others, McCall said, “Listen up, whoever gets there first, take him down. Kill him if you have to, but take the bastard down.”
Brennan agreed with part of McCall’s statement. This monster would go down, but Brennan would be the one to do it, and he intended that the man would never rise again.
A small, infinitesimal movement close to Vincent’s feet caught Brennan’s eyes. Had Kacie moved?
To get Vincent’s attention away from her, Brennan raised his gun higher and shouted, “Put the gun down, or I’ll shoot!”
The decision was taken out of his hands. An agonizing look came over Vincent’s face, and he shrieked like a banshee. Stumbling, he turned the shotgun back toward Kacie.
Without hesitation, Brennan took the shot, and a neat little hole appeared in Vincent’s temple. As the man fell backward, Kacie scrambled to her feet and ran toward Brennan. No blood. Thank you, God, she really was okay.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her behind him and then walked over to where Vincent lay on his back, his mouth gaping open, light already faded from his eyes. Blood seeped from the hole in his forehead where Brennan’s bullet had entered. Even more blood pooled at the back of his head where he’d struck a boulder on his way down and cracked his skull.
Brennan kicked the shotgun away and bent down, checking his pulse. Definitely dead.
Turning, he pulled Kacie into his arms and held her to him. They were both shaking like hell, grasping and holding onto to each other tightly. Their hearts a matching rhythm of thunder.
“I thought I’d lost you,” Brennan breathed against her hair. “God, I thought I’d lost you.”
Her face burrowed against his chest, she whispered hoarsely, “I thought you had, too.”
He pulled away to look down at her. Her face was covered in streaks of dirt, she had some angry looking scratches on her cheek and forehead, and he knew he had never seen anyone more beautiful in his entire life. Kacie, precious and whole, was alive and in his arms.
He pulled her closer again, and when she flinched, he said, “Tell me where you’re hurt.”
“I think I’ve got bruises on about ninety percent of my body.”
“Let’s get you out of here.”
Running footsteps crashed toward them, and Brennan glanced up to see McCall and Maddox come from over a rise. Seconds later, Riley came from the right, followed closely by Justin.
“Everybody all right?” McCall asked.
“Everybody but Vincent,” Brennan said, then looked down at Kacie. “What did you do to him?”
“I stabbed him in the ankle with manicure scissors.”
“Like I’ve said before, you’re my hero, Kacie Dane.”
She tried for a smile but didn’t quite make it. Tears pooled in her eyes as she whispered, “Take me home, please.”
Scooping her into his arms, he answered with the absolute truth, “I’ll gladly give you whatever you want, my love.”
Chapter Forty-three
She remembered little on the trip back to the cabin. Noah had miraculously produced a small key and unlocked her cuffs. When she was free, he had patted her hand gently, cautiously, and told her he was glad to see her. Gabe had given her a brilliant smile and told her that Skylar would be crying tears of joy as soon as he called her. Justin had given her a smile and said welcome back. And Riley… Riley had given her a quick nod of greeting and then stepped back, her eyes sad, almost haunted.
She knew they had to be several miles from the cabin, but not once did Brennan slow. She’d told him she could walk, and he’d just given her a strained, silent look. He was on the edge. She could feel the tension in his body. So instead, she just burrowed into his arms and remained quiet, peaceful at last.
At some point, each of the men had offered to carry her. He’d answered each time, “No,” and kept going.
She had no concept of time but knew it had to have been a few hours before they finally reached the cabin. She took one look at the place of her nightmare and shook her head. “I can’t go back in there.”
“No one’s going to make you, sweetheart,” Brennan said.
Relieved, she glanced around at the mass of activity. Like bees around a hive, people were swarming everywhere. Noises overwhelmed her. Whirling helicopter blades, bloodhounds barking, dozens of voices, some shouting. Unable to deal with it all, she kept her face buried against Brennan’s neck. Here, she felt safe, secure. Here was where she wanted to stay. The rest of the world could fall away.
“Kacie, I’m going to lay you down so the EMTs can check you out.”
For a moment, she clung to Brennan, not wanting to let him go. Then, taking a breath, she pulled away and said, “Okay.”
He placed her on a gurney. She held tight to his hand a moment, and he squeezed it gently. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right beside you.”
Reassured, she released his hand and let the EMTs examine her. Even though strange hands touched her, she locked her eyes on Brennan, who stood as close he could. He was her anchor. As long as he stayed by her side, she would be fine.
At last, one of the EMTs patted her hand and said, “She’s a little shocky and dehydrated. Multiple bruises, a few shallow cuts and scrapes. Worse on her feet than anywhere else. I’ve cleaned and bandaged them. Once we get her to the hospital, they’ll be able to—”
“No. I’m not going to a hospital.”
“Kacie.” Brennan stood over her. “Sweetheart, they need to treat you.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need—” And then she saw the stark pain in his eyes. He thought she’d been raped. And why wouldn’t he think that? She was wearing a man’s shirt and nothing else, plus she’d been in the clutches of a mad man for several days.
She motioned him to come closer. When he leaned over her, she said softly, “He didn’t rape me, Brennan.”
His eyes went wide with both surprise and relief and then filled with tears. “God, Kacie. I—”
She raised a trembling hand and wiped his tears away. “He planned to, but he didn’t. That’s when I got away. I’m fine, I promise.”
Blowing out a harsh breath, Brennan kissed the palm of her hand and straightened. “She doesn’t need a hospital,” he said to the closest EMT. “I’ll make sure she’s seen by her doctor as soon as we get her back to the city.”
“But, sir—”
When the EMT’s voice shut off abruptly, she assumed he was on the receiving end of one of Brennan’s stern
don’t argue with me
looks.
Trusting Brennan to handle things, she closed her eyes, content to drift.
“Kacie?”
She opened her eyes to see Noah standing over her.
“How are you holding up?”
“A little tired, but overall, I’m doing just fine.”
The smile in his eyes told her he agreed. “The police need to talk to you but have agreed to wait until tomorrow.”
She nodded, relieved. Tomorrow she could do it. Tomorrow she’d be back to being the strong, spirited Kacie Dane, ready to take on the world. But for right now, she doubted she could battle a flea, much less go into detail for a total stranger about her ordeal.
She heard Brennan’s voice as he spoke in a low tone to the one of the EMTs, who then adjusted the gurney she was on, allowing her to sit up.
“Here, sweetheart,” Brennan said and handed her a cup of hot, liberally sweetened coffee.
“Thanks.” Kacie sipped it, relishing the warmth and the surge of energy from both the caffeine and sugar.
Brennan gently brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “Ready to go home?”
“Yes, please.”
In a surprisingly short amount of time, Brennan was scooping her back into his arms and settling into the back of a big black SUV. Even though she kept her eyes closed, her face still buried against Brennan’s neck, she was aware of what was happening around her. She knew Noah was driving, and Gabe was in the front passenger side. Riley and Justin followed behind in another SUV.
Apparently fearing they’d disturb her, Noah and Gabe spoke to each other in quiet tones. Brennan stayed oddly silent.
Tension seeped from her bones as she finally accepted that she was fine. She had survived, and she was going home in the arms of the man she loved.
Judging by the location of the sun, it was probably late afternoon…bright enough to see Brennan’s face. His mouth was set to grim, and his beautiful eyes looked haunted. This week had been horrendous for her and for him, too.
“It’s not your fault, Brennan. There’s no way anyone could have known Vincent was working with Molly.”
Instead of agreeing with her, or arguing, he just tightened his arms around her and said soothingly, “Just rest, sweetheart. We’re about half an hour from the airport. An LCR plane is waiting for us, and then we’ll be home soon.”
Kacie frowned. Okay, maybe it was time to stop acting like a fragile flower who needed to be cosseted and show her man the support and comfort he obviously needed.
Loosening her grip on his shoulders, she sat up in his arms.
“What’s wrong? You need something?”
“Yes, I need you to stop blaming yourself.”
Aware that she’d gotten both Noah’s and Gabe’s attention, she turned her head to include them in her announcement. “Now hear this. No one could have predicted those two were working together.”
“It’s our job to see things like this coming, Kacie. We totally missed it. I’m sorry,” Noah said. “You paid the price for our screw-up.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Noah. He fooled everyone.”
Gabe turned so he could see her. “Looks like the spit has returned to your eyes.”
She grinned at one of his West Virginia sayings. “I’m going to take that as a compliment and move on.”
Noah glanced at her from the rearview mirror. “You feel up to talking about what happened?”
Surprisingly, she did. The strength she gained from being in Brennan’s arms made her feel as though she could talk about anything, even the scarier parts of her week.
As succinctly as she could manage, she told them what happened, starting from when she discovered the photographs in her bedroom and Vincent’s creepy impersonation of Harrington all the way to when she finally managed to persuade him to free her arms and legs so they could
make love
, and she’d kneed him in the nose and escaped.
She described how he’d gone out yesterday for a few hours and how she’d hopped to the sideboard and gathered weapons for her escape. When Noah had asked her how she’d thought to put those things together, she said, “Brennan. If it hadn’t been for him, I might not even have considered doing that.”
She looked up at the man who, whether he wanted to admit it or not, had saved her life once again. “Remember your first day protecting me? You bought all those seemingly innocuous things and told me anything can be used as a weapon. You were right.”
“Damn ingenious,” Gabe said. “So, how’d Molly hook up with the bastard?”
“He’d done some yard work for her family a few years back. When she started looking for an accomplice, he apparently came to mind.”
“Like attracts like,” Noah said. “She was disturbed, and maybe she recognized the same thing in him.”
“He told me she intended to die all along, that her end game was to die and”—she swallowed and couldn’t prevent a shiver—“then he could have me to do what he wanted.”
Brennan’s arms tightened around her as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Then, as if to reassure himself she was really there with him, he softly caressed her face. She smiled up at him to reassure him that she was not only there with him, but was perfectly fine. The hollow look in his eyes said he wasn’t convinced.