Give Me Strength (34 page)

“Y-you…you’re my…” This was the second time
today that my world had been flipped upside down, and I didn’t
think I was coping overly well. A hysterical giggle bubbled out of
me that turned into a sob. I swallowed it with effort and forced my
eyes from Eric to Luka. Luka was smirking at the both of us. “He’s
my father?”

I faced Eric. “You’re my father?”

Eric reached out, his eyes on the butterfly tape
on my forehead. I flinched backwards.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Beth and I… She was my
girlfriend back in high school. We were only together for three
months but I… I dumped her.” He swallowed and closed his eyes
briefly before opening them again. “I didn’t realise until after
that the feelings she had for me were so much more. I-I think I
broke her heart. We were only sixteen.” His eyes pleaded for me to
understand. “Young and stupid, that was me, but when she came to me
and told me she was pregnant, I said I’d support her. She…she told
me not to bother and she was getting rid of it. ‘It’ she called the
baby. She sounded so cold and so determined that I believed her.
She was only sixteen too, so I didn’t feel like I had any right to
force her to keep the baby. I went round to her place almost every
night, but she wouldn’t talk to me, and then one day she was gone.
Just like that. I had no idea…” he trailed off, his eyes unfocused
and lost. “How…how old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” I whispered.

“I’m thirty-eight,” he replied. It was hard to
believe because he didn’t look a day over thirty. In fact, he
looked just like Luka with his carefully styled hair and
clothes.

“Oh no,” I moaned. I had a father but he was
worse than David—obviously much higher up in the chain than David
ever was.

I lifted from the chair. This time I truly felt
my instincts to run were spot on.

“Not so fast.”

Luka stepped up behind me, his hands coming down
hard on my shoulders. “You see, Eric here has worked hard for me
for so long. He’s practically married to the job. So much so, he
doesn’t have a wife or kids of his own. When I stumbled across your
photo, Quinn, it was obvious you were both related somehow. After a
few well-placed questions to David, I had my answers. I can’t tell
you how delighted I was personally because that made you very
valuable to us.” Luka fixed his blue eyes on Eric. “Don’t you think
so…
Seth
?”

Eric closed his eyes and his lips muttered a
soft curse.

“I-I don’t understand?” I looked around when
four men, all obviously armed, walked into the room and surrounded
us in a distant circle. One of them stepped forward and placed both
hands on Eric’s shoulders.

“Quinn. Run,” Eric yelled, struggling against
the hold. “
Run!
”

Without hesitation, I bounded to my feet.

“Sit down,” Luka growled.

I was halfway out of the room before he got in
my way, backhanding me across the face. I fell to the floor, the
room spinning as my stomach rolled.

“You bastard,” Eric yelled.

“I’m not,” Luka replied, dragging me to my feet.
“I’ve been nothing but nice. I told Quinn I didn’t like to repeat
myself. How could it be my fault that she didn’t listen when I told
her to sit down?”

I was forced back into the chair, seeing with
surprise that one of the men was now holding a gun to Eric’s
shoulder.

“Well now that everything’s out in the open,
Seth, I think you know what to expect next.”

“But…I don’t understand,” I wheezed
breathlessly.

“Your daughter’s a bit slow,” he said to Eric as
though it was some sort of joke. Luka faced me. “You see Eric here,
isn’t really Eric. It’s Seth. Agent Seth McKinnon of the Federal
Police. Isn’t that right, Seth?”

Eric… Seth remained silent, his jaw ticking.

“
They have agents so deep undercover with the
Zampetti’s that no one has a clue who they are.”

My mouth fell open. “You…you’re the…”

Oh my God.

Seth was the undercover agent. And he was my
father.

“Well anyway,” Luka continued. “Seth is going to
talk because we need to know what he knows. That’s why you’re so
valuable, Quinn. You’re going to get him to talk for us.”

“H-how am I going to do that?”

Luka stepped behind me, replacing the armed man
who shifted further to my right. He rested his hand on my shoulder
and trailed his fingers softly across my collarbone until his hand
reached my neck. Suddenly his fingers dug in. The strength of his
hold was immense as he squeezed, and I struggled, fighting for
breath as my fingers clawed desperately at his hand.

“Let her go,” Seth yelled, struggling against
the men who held him down.

“Look at that.” Luka laughed throatily as he
squeezed. “How quickly the protective daddy instincts kick in.”

He let go and I wheezed, sucking in huge gulps
of air as my eyes watered from the lack of oxygen.

Luka clicked his fingers and one of the men
handed over a sheaf of papers wordlessly. Luka stepped from behind
me, another armed man quickly taking his place, and dropped the
papers in Seth’s lap. Seth slid his eyes downwards, and he moaned
as his eyes took the contents in.

“You remember David, Agent McKinnon? The man we
had killed this morning? He was Quinn’s stepfather. Do you like
what he used to do to her? That’s evidence of the wonderful
childhood Quinn grew up in.” I swallowed, pissed off the photos of
my assault were doing the entire rounds of Sydney.

Seth hung his head. “I’m so sorry,” he
whispered, and even though his eyes were focused on the papers on
his lap, his voice held a world of hurt.

“You should be,” Luka told him. “If you want a
chance to get to know your daughter, Agent McKinnon, then you’re
going to be busy telling us what we want to hear.”

For the first time, Luka’s voice was cold and
harsh. As though his nice persona was shattering around him,
revealing his true identity beneath the handsome face and slick
clothes. He took the gun one of the men handed over and with his
arm out straight, fired without hesitation. It was cold,
calculated, and scary as hell.

I flinched and cried out, watching a bright red
spot bloom on Seth’s right shoulder. He was visibly fighting not to
cry out in pain. His face was red, his eyes screwed shut as he
panted hard. Seth tilted his head back, eyes focusing on the
ceiling, biting down on his lip as he fought the scream that came
from deep in his chest.

“This, Quinn…” Luka lifted the gun again and my
heart hammered so hard in my chest I thought it would split wide
open. He aimed it at my leg. “…is how we’re going to get Agent
McKinnon to talk.”

***

Earlier
the same day…

There were only two things in my life I’d ever
fought hard for.

The first was my job as a consultant. The word
was broad but the work was extremely specialised. It paid well
because there was no one else who did what we did, and we were the
best at it. To put it simply, I was a trained negotiator that also
dealt in kidnapping and security. Mostly I rescued kids from
custody situations turned dangerous. When two parents divide, so
does the child. Right down the middle. Their life sliced in two
with the blink of an eye. When that division escalated into
potential or actual violence, my firm got called in to sort it out.
We tracked, located, negotiated, talked, or used excessive force,
depending on what the situation called for. I’d been spat on,
bitten, scratched, knifed, beaten, and shot. I wouldn’t take any of
it back either, because all of it led to the safety of someone
unable to save themselves. There was no greater satisfaction in
that, yet it took its toll. I started smoking more, sleeping less,
and constantly questioned my ability to remain emotionally detached
from the job.

The second was Quinn—the most precious gem to
ever enter my life. That she’d been hurt and so severely damaged
she’d lost the strength to live and hope, just about broke my
fucking heart. She was sweet and endearing, made me laugh and left
me in tears. She had me hard just watching her, and there was
nothing I loved more than crushing her slight, naked body to my
chest, holding on tight, and feeling the beat of her heart against
my skin.

When I first saw her sitting in the bar, I
wanted her. When I first kissed her, I knew her taste would never
be enough, and the moment I realised I was sleeping more, smoking
less, and laughing hard, I fell in love and fought to keep her.

Turns out that was a full time job in itself,
especially now, as I struggled against the officer slapping me in
handcuffs.

“Christ,” I growled, knowing they’d get me for
resisting if I didn’t calm the fuck down. My eyes remained locked
on Quinn until she disappeared inside the ambulance. “Casey,” I
shouted.

About to get in the back of the ambulance to
follow with Quinn, his eyes found mine.

I nodded my head. That was my unspoken word not
to leave her side for a second. He lifted his chin, catching my
message, and disappeared.

My chest burned at not being there with her and
the moment this shit storm was cleared, we needed to work out who
the hell shot David. It was a shame the bastard died before I got
my fifteen minutes of pounding him into the ground. Adrenaline had
burned through me until I’d pushed his dead weight off and got to
Quinn. The shooter would’ve been long gone by then, but it would
ultimately lead back to the Zampettis. Federal narks infiltrated
their operation from the ground up, and according to Mitch, those
slimy, dirty fucks were about to implode. Couldn’t happen fast
enough for my liking.

Three hours later, locked up in City Central, I
felt tired, edgy, and raw, but right now Quinn was all that
mattered. She was everything,
my
everything, and it broke my
heart this morning when she’d acted like I was her nothing. I knew
it wasn’t true. I’d hurt her—bruising the fragile trust I’d worked
so hard to gain. I just wanted her safe. I loved her—and I don’t
care how sappy it sounded—I just needed to hear her say it back. I
needed it to untie the knots in my chest, have her look at me so
she could see nothing I felt for her was a goddamn lie.

“Trav.”

I tensed and turned to the voice. “Casey. Mate,
what the fuck are you doing here?”

Jared stepped up beside him.

“They wouldn’t release you until I came down,
gave my version.”

“Quinn?”

“Fine. Wrenched shoulder, few scrapes,
concussion, but fine. Sleeping.”

“Who’s watching her?”

“Uniform on the door. Lucy and Rick were there
when I left.”

I nodded at Jared while another uniform stepped
up next to him and unlocked the cell door and slid it across with a
clang.

“You know the drill, Valentine,” he told me as I
signed my name on the release forms at the front counter. “Don’t
leave town yadda yadda.”

I glared. “I didn’t shoot the sonofabitch.”

He held up his hands. “Ain’t accusin’ you. Just
doin’ my job.”

I nodded, Jared and Casey following behind as I
walked outside. Jared went off to get the car while I put my phone
to my ear. As it rang I locked eyes with Casey. “I’ve got a really
shitty feeling in my gut right now.”

The call connected. “Yeah?”

“Mitch. This has Zampetti stink all over it.
What do you know?”

“Fuck,” he growled. “Those agents are all
tighter than a cat’s asshole. From what I hear, only two people in
the whole fucking federal division know who the nark on the inside
is, and they’re so high up I can’t get close to find out. I have no
fucking idea.”

“They’ve been after Quinn, but now they’ve
targeted and taken out David and left her alone. Not that I’m
really fucking unhappy about that, but it doesn’t make sense and my
gut is twisting in the wind.”

“I’ll do some more digging,” Mitch returned.

“Do that. I’m headed to the hospital. Meet me
there.”

“Right.”

I disconnected and after checking the GPS of
Quinn’s location, tracked the signal to St Vincent’s Hospital as
Jared pulled up out front.

I opened the passenger door and ducked my head
in. “You brought the Porsche?” It was more a complaint then a
question. I folded back the seat and nodded at Casey to get in the
back.

“How am I supposed to fold my ass in there?” he
bitched.

“How the fuck should I know? You’re the twats
who thought bringing the matchbox car would be the idea of the
century. Just suck in your fat gut and get in the car.”

Casey wedged himself in, and after adjusting the
seat, I slid in and slammed the door.

“Easy on the car,” Jared growled irritably.

“You’ll have to get rid of it soon,” I pointed
out.

“No way.” Jared’s mouth tightened as he
accelerated in to city traffic. “Mum’s been harping on at me to get
rid of it ever since Evie and I got engaged,” he told Casey.