Deadly Illusions (Hardy Brothers Security Book 3) (6 page)

Emma was nervous the next night when the knock on her door came. When she’d initially offered her apartment, she hadn’t considered how bad it would look. They all lived in great places. Sophie was having a sun porch added on to an actual house, for crying out loud. She just knew that this place would depress her guests.

She opened the door, an apology on her lips. That apology died, though, when Emma realized that Mandy and Sophie had brought a guest. She ushered the women into her apartment, staring at her shoes wordlessly as they entered.

They would judge, she told herself. They couldn’t help it. She was used to people judging.

“This is Ally,” Mandy said, introducing the striking brunette she hadn’t met yet. “She’s Finn’s sister.”

Emma’s head snapped up.
Finn’s sister? Oh, crap.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ally said, smiling warmly. “Mandy has told me all about you.”

What was that supposed to mean?
“She has?” Emma was worried.

Ally smiled. “Don’t worry. It was all good.”

Emma exhaled nervously. “Oh, okay.”

Sophie handed a grocery bag to Emma. “We brought drinks.”

Emma glanced into the bag, not recognizing the bottles inside. There were a lot of them. “What is this?”

“It’s Skinny Girl margaritas,” Ally replied. “They’re low-fat and awesome. Since they’re low-calorie, though, we need a lot of them.”

“I’ve never had them before,” Emma admitted. “How do you mix them?”

“You just pour them over ice,” Mandy said. “That’s why they’re so easy.”

Emma froze. “I don’t have any ice. I mean, I don’t have an ice machine or anything.”

Ally lifted her left hand, which was holding a plastic bag filled with square, frozen cubes. “We thought ahead.”

Emma smiled, the first real smile she’d mustered all day. “I guess you’ve done this before.”

Mandy patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry. You’ll catch on pretty quickly. There’s not much of a learning curve here.”

TWO HOURS
later, Emma wondered how she’d ever lived without Skinny Girl margaritas. “These are amazing.”

“They’re good,” Ally agreed. “I’ve tried to make my brothers drink them, but they say they won’t drink chick liquor.”

“Men are stupid,” Sophie said, slurring her words slightly. “If you don’t lead them to the trough, they won’t eat.”

Ally giggled. “Trough? Did you grow up on a farm?”

“No. That’s a saying,” Sophie said. “One of my co-workers always says it. He’s from Armada or something. He always says weird things like that.”

“Do you like being a reporter?” Emma asked, stretching her legs out in front of her. Everyone was sitting on the floor around her small coffee table. And, while Emma had initially worried about the lack of seating in her apartment, the drinks had eradicated her fear.

“Yeah,” Sophie said. “I really like it. I like to get in people’s faces.”

“Does it pay well?”

“Not at all.”

“That’s too bad.”

Sophie shrugged. “I get by. I have a trust fund from when my parents died. I try not to dip into it too often, though, in case I need it down the road.”

Emma was horrified. “Oh, God, your parents died? That’s awful.”

“It was a long time ago,” Sophie said. “I don’t even really remember them. I don’t even have a picture of them.”

Emma glanced up at the frame on her dresser, Mandy following her gaze. Mandy got to her feet and shuffled over so she could get a better look at the photograph. “Is this your mother?”

“Yeah. It’s the only picture I have of her.”

“She’s pretty,” Mandy said. “You look like her.”

“She left when my dad was charged,” Emma said. “I don’t even know why I keep the photo.”

“That’s sad,” Ally said. “You don’t talk to her?”

Emma bit her lip, unsure of what Mandy had told Ally.

“It’s okay,” Ally said. “I know about your family. You don’t have any reason to be ashamed.”

“I have every reason to be ashamed,” Emma bit back.

Mandy returned the frame to the dresser and moved back toward the group. “Why do you think that?”

“My father raped and abused more than fifty boys,” Emma said. “What am I supposed to think?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t do that, Emma,” Mandy argued. “Why do you blame yourself?”

“Who else am I supposed to blame?”

“Your father,” Sophie said. “He was the bad man. You were a kid.”

“I was a teenager at some point,” Emma countered. “I should have known what he was doing.”

“Why? Did he do it in front of you?” Ally prodded.

“Of course not.”

“Then how were you supposed to know?”

“Wouldn’t you have known if your father was doing heinous things like that?” Emma said.

“Not if he was trying to hide it,” Ally replied. “You can’t help who your father is, Emma. Blaming yourself for something you had no control over seems like a really stupid way to live your life.”

“You don’t understand,” Emma said. “It was all there. It was right in front of me. I should have seen.”

“I understand,” Sophie said, her voice low. “I may not understand exactly what you’ve been through, but it’s not like my father is perfect.”

“But your father is dead,” Emma shot back.

“My biological father is dead,” Sophie replied. “My foster father is very much alive. He was a wonderful provider, and he was always interested in my schoolwork and my day. That doesn’t mean he’s perfect.”

Emma remained silent, waiting for Sophie to continue.

“My foster father is Peter Marconi. Do you know who that is?”

The name rang a bell, but Emma couldn’t quite grasp why. “No.”

“He’s a mobster,” Sophie explained. “He’s one of the biggest runners in the area.”

“Runners? Do you mean drugs?”

Sophie shrugged. “I choose to believe he doesn’t run drugs,” she said. “I’m not naïve, though. Even if he doesn’t, he’s still a thief, and I’m fairly certain he’s responsible for more than a handful of deaths.”

“And how do you live with that?” Emma asked.

“That’s his life, not mine,” Sophie said. “We have dinner once a month. We talk. We laugh. I still love him. His misdeeds are not my misdeeds. And, if it came down to it, if I saw something I knew that was truly wrong … I would like to believe I’d do the right thing.”

“You didn’t see anything,” Ally said, turning back to Emma. “You have to believe you would have done the right thing if you had seen something. That’s got to be the thing you hold on to.”

Emma’s face crumpled, her eyes filling with tears.

Mandy settled down next to her, wrapping her arm around the shaking girl. “I think you need to try and let this go if you can. If you keep holding it in like this, you’ll never be happy. Don’t you want to be happy?”

“I don’t think happiness exists for people like me,” Emma admitted, her voice thick with tears.

“I think you’re wrong,” Mandy said. “Let me ask you something. If you don’t think you deserve happiness, is that why you’re giving Finn the bum’s rush?”

“Finn is a great guy,” Emma said. “He’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met. I’m no good for him, though. I’m not good for anyone.”

“Finn doesn’t seem to feel that way,” Ally said.

“Did he tell you that?” Emma asked.

Ally shook her head. “Mandy told me. We’re gossipy.”

Mandy nodded. “We
are
gossipy.”

“Did Finn say something to you?” Emma asked.

“Here’s the thing about Hardy men,” Mandy said. “They don’t talk about their feelings until they’re about to explode. Finn is the most patient one – I think it’s the youngest-brother thing. He’s not ready to explode yet.”

“He will explode,” Ally cautioned. “And, if history is any indication, when he goes, it’s going to be huge.”

“What do you mean?”

“Finn’s one of those guys who is slow to anger but, when he does, he’ll just fly off the handle,” Ally explained. “Grady and James are quick to anger, but they get over it really quickly, too. They have like a five-second rebound rate. Finn is different.”

“I don’t even know him that well,” Emma said.

“So, give it a chance,” Mandy said. “Try and get to know him.”

“I don’t know,” Emma said. “I don’t think he’ll like what he sees if he gets to know me.”

“You’ll never know unless you try,” Ally said. “Just think about it.”

Emma sighed. “Okay. I need to think about it when I’m not drunk, though. I don’t make good decisions when I’m drunk.”

“Who does?” Sophie said, laughing.

Emma glanced to her right, to where Mandy was on her feet again, a funny look washing over her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you smell that?”

“What?”

“Smoke.”

Emma lifted her nose, detecting the unmistakable odor when she focused. “It’s probably just my neighbors. They smoke more pot than Cheech and Chong.”

Mandy shook her head. “That’s not pot.”

“And she would know,” Ally teased. “We smoked it by the pound in high school.”

Mandy moved to Emma’s apartment door, touching it worriedly. “Shut up.”

“Okay, not pounds,” Ally conceded. “We smoked a lot of it, though.”

Mandy pressed her eye to the peephole, swiveling around with a panicked look on her face. “The building is on fire.”

Emma sobered instantly. “What?”

“The building is on fire,” Mandy repeated. “The door is hot, and I can see flames outside.”

Ally jumped to her feet. “What do we do?”

Sophie was already at the window. “We have to go down the fire escape.”

Ally raced to her side, helping her try to hoist the window open.

“It won’t work,” Emma said. “It’s painted shut. It has been since I moved in.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Sophie huffed. “No offense, Emma, but you need to move to a better building.”

“I don’t think she’s going to have much of a choice after this,” Mandy said, striding to the kitchen. She opened a few drawers, searching.

Smoke was billowing into the apartment from under the door now, causing everyone to cough and rub their eyes.

“Aha!” Mandy pulled a hammer out of the drawer and headed toward the window. “Back up.”

Ally and Sophie sheltered their faces as Mandy smashed the hammer into the window. The glass shattered, cascading to the floor.

“Everyone put your shoes on,” Mandy ordered. “We have to get out of here. Now.”

Sophie was the first one to test the strength of the fire escape. It seemed to hold her weight.

“Go,” Mandy ordered. “I think we should try and spread out so we’re not all at the same spot at the same time. This thing looks like it could give at any second.”

Sophie nodded, descending quickly.

“Ally, you’re next.”

Ally wordlessly followed Sophie out the window.

Mandy turned to Emma expectantly. “Let’s go.”

Emma glanced around the small apartment, the air thick with smoke.

“Now,” Mandy yelled.

“I’m coming.”

Mandy was halfway out the window herself, a glimpse of Sophie safely on the ground below serving as emotional reinforcement, when something caught her eye and she darted back inside the apartment.

Flames engulfed the door, black smoke smothering the entire room, and the electrical system blinking out, before she could find her way back to the window. All that was left was darkness.

James slammed his Explorer into park, yanking the keys out as his eyes took in the inferno in front of him. Ally had called panicking from the scene. She’d said something about a fire and to hurry. Then the call had blinked out.

Grady and Finn were right behind him, their poker game abandoned and long forgotten.

“Where?” Finn asked worriedly.

James glanced around the scene. Three fire trucks were working to extinguish the blaze, but it was clear the building was a lost cause. A group of people, many dressed in bathrobes and pajamas, were congregated by a group of police cars off to the right. That’s the direction James pointed. “There.”

The three brothers rushed that way. The air was thick with smoke, casting a haze across the entire area. James searched the crowd for a familiar face.

Grady found Sophie first, rushing to her and pulling her into his arms. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“We were just sitting around drinking and talking,” Sophie said. “Mandy noticed the smoke smell first. We broke out the window and went down the fire escape. Mandy used a hammer.”

Grady ran his hands up and down Sophie’s arms, pressing his lips to her cheek. “You’re okay, right? You’re not burned or anything?”

“No, I’ve already been checked out,” Sophie said. “They sent me over here to wait.”

“Where is everyone else?” Finn asked.

“I think they’re still being evaluated,” Sophie replied. “They wouldn’t let me stay over there. The city manager is going to be hearing from me Monday, I can promise you that.”

“Give them hell,” James growled. “I’m going over there. I don’t care what they say.”

“I’m coming with you,” Finn said.

“Me, too,” Sophie piped in. “I want to make sure everyone is okay. I was the first one down the fire escape. It all happened really quickly after that.”

Grady wrapped his arm around Sophie’s shoulders, snuggling her into his side. “Stay close to me, okay? Don’t let anyone separate us.”

James was already moving toward the ambulances. The first face he saw when he neared was Ally’s. She was arguing – and kind of wrestling – with one of the first responders.

“Stop touching me,” she screeched. “I said I was fine. Stop harassing me.”

James was relieved to see her. “Ally!”

Ally’s face lit up when she saw him. “Tell them I’m fine.”

James pushed through the crowd, not stopping until he was at his sister’s side. “Is she okay?”

The paramedic, a frazzled-looking man in his twenties, shook his head. “I have no idea. If she would hold still long enough for me to take her blood pressure, I might be able to give you an answer.”

“Ally, sit there and look pretty,” James barked.

Ally stilled. “I hate it when you’re bossy.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re only the second one I’ve found,” James replied. “I’d like to know you’re fine so I can keep looking.”

Sophie slid around James, moving closer to Ally. “I knew you got out,” Sophie said. “You were behind me. Did you see Emma and Mandy?”

“Emma was behind me,” Ally said. “I think Mandy was waiting until she was sure Emma was halfway down. You know how rickety that fire escape was.”

“It was harrowing,” Sophie admitted. “It kept swaying. I thought it was going to pull completely off the building. That’s what it felt like.”

James’ heart jumped in his chest. “Grady, you and Sophie stay here with Ally.”

“I want to see everyone else,” Sophie protested.

“Don’t give me shit,” James warned. “I’ll bring them to you if I can. Just … don’t move.”

“Fine,” Ally said, sighing. “You’re so bossy.”

James moved to the next ambulance, Finn close on his heels. The woman inside – putting up an equally impressive fight – was not Mandy. It was Emma.

Finn ran to her. “Emma!”

Emma relaxed slightly when she saw him. “Finn, I’m so glad to see you.”

Finn was taken aback. “You are?”

“Well, yeah. Don’t act so surprised.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m just … are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Emma said. “If this guy would stop poking me with his stethoscope, I would be even better.”

“He’s just doing his job,” Finn soothed, running a hand over the back of Emma’s head. “Let him do his job.”

As nice as the moment was, James was losing patience. “Emma, did Mandy get out with you?”

“She was right behind me,” Emma said. “At least I thought she was.”

James’ blood ran cold. “What do you mean you thought she was?”

“She was halfway out the window when I looked up,” Emma said. “I went down another flight. When I looked up again, she was gone.”

James’ heart rolled over painfully. “She was gone?”

“I don’t know where she went,” Emma said, her eyes flashing worry. “She was just gone.”

“And you didn’t see her come down?”

“No.”

James was moving again. He didn’t care if the firemen tried to stop him. He’d take every single one of them out if he had to. He was getting into that building. He could hear Finn calling him, but he ignored the plea. His blonde needed him. And, more importantly, he needed his blonde.

James was striding toward the building when he felt a set of hands on his arm.

“Sir, you can’t go in there.”

The face of the cop trying to restrain him was a blur.

“My girlfriend is in there,” James said, choking out the words. “I have to find her.”

“Sir, the building has been cleared.”

James stilled, turning to the cop. “Where is she?”

“She’s probably around the area, sir. Just calm yourself.”

“My girlfriend, where is she?” James bellowed.

“She’s probably out here somewhere, sir,” the cop replied. “You just need to be calm. We’ll find her.”

What if she wasn’t out here? What if she was in there?

“No,” James said. “I have to find her.”

“Sir, you can’t go in that building,” the police officer said. “It’s gone.”

“Then where is my girlfriend?” James exploded. “Where is Mandy?”

There was another set of hands on him. James jerked his arm away, scorching the new police officer with a look that was hotter than the fire raging a hundred feet away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“You cannot go in there,” the second cop said. “We won’t allow it.”

“You can’t stop me,” James said, grinding his molars. “I
will
find her.”

The cops double-teamed him now. James was single-minded and relentless, fighting them off with every ounce of strength he had. When another set of hands grabbed his shoulders, he reared back to deliver a punch.

“It’s me,” Grady hissed. “You need to calm down.”

“I can’t find her,” James said, fighting tears. “I can’t find her.”

“We’ll find her,” Grady said. “I promise. We’ll find her.”

James looked at the fire, the sound of a floor collapsing from inside the building filling his ears. Suddenly, all he could hear was buzzing, and he was teetering on the edge of consciousness.

“I have to find her.”

He was on his feet again, pushing toward the fire.

Grady threw both of his arms around James’ waist, tugging him back to the ground harshly. Finn was there, too, although James had no idea where he’d come from. He was helping Grady wrestle him to the ground.

“You have to think,” Finn said. “She’s probably already outside.”

“What if she’s not?”

“Then … .”

Finn didn’t finish, and James knew what he was thinking. If she wasn’t outside, she was gone. The mere thought sent James into a tailspin.

Suddenly, James was screaming. “Mandy!”

Finn and Grady exchanged helpless looks.

“Mandy!”

Neither brother released James’ waist. They were too worried he would race into the fire after her.

“Mandy!”

Then she was there, standing before him, a blanket draped over her shoulders. Her face was streaked with soot, her eyes glassy from the smoke. “I’m here,” she rasped.

Grady sighed, relieved. He loosened his grip on James.

James shook off Finn and crawled the two feet that separated him from her. Mandy dropped to her knees, exhausted, letting James engulf her in his arms. He showered the side of her head with kisses, not caring how ridiculous he looked. She was here. She wasn’t in the building.

“I’m okay,” Mandy said. “I’m okay.”

She was crying, her tears mingling with the ones James unabashedly shed. His arms were so tight around her she could barely breathe.

“Sir, you have to let us check her out,” a paramedic said, gingerly touching James’ arm to get his attention. “She needs oxygen.”

“I’m okay,” Mandy protested.

“Ma’am, you inhaled a lot of smoke,” the paramedic explained. “Let us give you some oxygen.”

Mandy coughed roughly, finally acquiescing. The paramedic led her to the back of an ambulance, letting her sit on the stairs instead of settling on a gurney when she balked.

James never left her side, petting her head and pulling her in close as he sat beside her. After a few minutes, Ally, Emma, and Sophie joined the group.

“What were you thinking?” Emma asked. “Did you go back inside?”

Mandy shrugged, the oxygen mask secured over her mouth. She mutely reached to the back of her jeans and pulled something out, handing it to Emma.

When the picture frame – the one holding the only photograph Emma had of her mother – landed in her hands, Emma burst into tears. “You went back for the photo?”

Mandy pulled the oxygen mask away for a moment. “It’s all you have of your mother.”

Emma reached in, hugging Mandy as fiercely as she could. After a few seconds, Finn pulled her away so James could have a few moments alone with his girlfriend.

When it was just the two of them, James fixed her with a hard look. “I love you more than life itself. If you ever do something like that again – risking your life for a photo – I’ll kill you myself.”

Mandy rested her head against his shoulder, relishing the feeling of his lips as they settled on her forehead.

She couldn’t help but feel that it had been worth it – although she would never admit anything of the sort to James.