Hide and Seek (13 page)

Opening his paper and pretending to study it intently, he tried to hear as much of the conversation as possible. Lifting his glance to the waitress every moment or so, Tony felt his gut clench when he noticed two shiny CDs on the table between the men.

Now eavesdropping in earnest, he started when the waitress brought over his mug of coffee.

“Like to order?” she queried.

“Not just yet, thanks, ma’am. I’ll just drink this up and order afterwards. Thank you.”

Relieved when she nodded, bored and not really paying attention, he watched her walk back towards the counter. Tony snapped his paper, pretending to read it and resumed his eavesdropping on the men’s conversation.

* * * * *

“Yeah, I really do think there’s enough evidence here, guys. These records clearly show how that factory was being used to siphon off very small amounts of money from the company—over at least the last year, and most likely far more than that. Surely a full audit would reveal the true extent of everything?”

William looked at his brothers across the table, feeling oddly restless. He had that itching sensation he sometimes felt. He knew the man seated behind them was paying attention to what they all said, but simple curiosity wasn’t a sin, and certainly wasn’t criminal.

No, it was something else—something to do with Josephine. He could almost
feel
her getting up to mischief, and with her in Sophie’s company, he could practically place bets on their getting into trouble together.

He kept on glancing at Art, who seemed blissfully unaware of his growing unease. Either Art knew what was going on—or he was completely ignorant of the trouble brewing.

Given that Art had never showed indications of his own…
awareness
…William felt certain that it was only he who had this itching, bizarre feeling of impending doom.

Hearing his name, he jolted back to the conversation. “Uhh…”

Dominic snorted. “Daydreaming again, bro? You’ve got it so bad. Can I be best man this time?”

Frowning, William nodded, gesturing for them to go over their conversation once again.

“We were talking about you going back to Seattle with Josephine, escorting her around the cop shops over there. Make sure she doesn’t get shafted, or worse, that these CDs go missing. We can keep copies over here—just as a precaution—but we really think you should watch over her over there. You can also make sure she doesn’t stay too long, so the kids can be born out here.”

“Yeah, plus we really should let the locals laugh at Wills doing those dumb-ass Lamaze classes, like they snickered around Art every time he tried to buy sardines and milk, or whatever Sophie was craving that day.”

The brothers laughed and started ribbing each other. Artemais raised an eyebrow, rising above the mockery of his brothers.

“I’ll have you know we won the internal award of ‘Most Breathy’ in those damn classes. Not that it was a lick of help in the damn birthing room. Personally, I think it’d be much more useful learning how to calm rabid animals and prevent serious bodily harm from the way Sophie acted that day. And it’s not like you have much time to prepare, bro. You have what? Three months at most before Josephine pops.”

William laughed and listened with only half an ear to his brother’s teasing. He simply couldn’t shake the feeling of gloom that was overtaking him more every second.

* * * * *

Damn, damn, damn, damn.

The bitch really was pregnant? How she had convinced the stupid hick it was
his
, Petrelli would never understand. He would never be able to get his head around why men believed everything lying, conniving women such as her fed them. He tried not to swear aloud and pound the table in frustration. He needed to revise his plans, immediately.

Tony stared at the CDs. So close, less than three feet away, yet they might as well be on the other end of the world.

Tony’s brain whirled. Both the CDs, and the bitch were here in this tiny village. One was right in front of him, taunting him with its nearness. All he needed was a bluff strong enough and he could grab them and run before anyone could do anything.

The CDs he could deal with, by the sounds of things the country bumpkins hadn’t bothered to copy them just yet. It was the woman who seemed to be the problem. He needed to get rid of her. He should never have left a job so important to that idiot Jonathon. Stupid rich boy, he botched everything he touched.

All he needed to do was menace the brothers with his gun, steal the CDs and find where they were hiding the bitch. He was a cop and a thug, he reminded himself. He could bluff his way through this.

* * * * *

Laughing and joking, the brothers decided their manly retreat had stretched on long enough.

“Come on, guys, let’s head back before Sophie and Josephine redecorate the house in green and gold or something from boredom.”

William felt a tiny bit of his itchiness fade. Maybe he was simply missing Josie. Reaching for his wallet to help pay the food bill, he noticed Art do a double-take with his glance outside the café.

“What the…?”

Following Art’s line of sight, William felt his heart still in pure fear. Both Josephine and Sophie were coming down the street, swinging shopping bags and brown paper-wrapped packages, chatting and laughing together in the weak sunlight.

It was neither the thought of the purchases she had made, nor the fact they were here in town that had fear pumping through his veins. It was some primal instinct, some gut-level reaction that screamed at him that Josephine shouldn’t be here.

William couldn’t say what made him hone in on this, but his itchy instinct that had been giving him grief for the last half-hour kicked into full-fledged fear. Something definitely wasn’t as it should be, and he had to get Josie out of here as quickly as possible. Both his years as a cop relying on his instincts as well as his years as an intuitive male all kicked into gear. He couldn’t explain it, but if he acted quickly enough, hopefully whatever was going wrong could be diverted.

At Artemais’ stormy countenance and William’s frozen shock, both Dominic and Samuel finally noticed something had caught their attention.

Before anyone could say or query anything, the man sitting behind their table rose and came forward, his hand held menacingly inside his large leather jacket.

“I’ll take those CDs off your hands, thanks very much. And then you can tell me where that bitch Lomax is.”

William felt the fear and adrenaline pump through his body. Coiled and poised for a fight, he felt the thin hairs on the nape of his neck stand up in anger. The blood and adrenaline pumping through him made him shake, his body querying whether to stay calm or beat this man to a bloody pulp.

Never had he felt such a fierce reaction to anything. A still sane part of his brain tried to babble caution. He had never seen this man, didn’t even know who he was, yet simply because he had called Josephine a bitch, he felt justified in beating the shit out of him. William still wasn’t certain if this man was the threat to Josephine, or if he was merely a diversion. Either way, William could barely think for all the adrenaline pumping through his system.

William vaguely registered both Art and Samuel flanking him, gently holding his arms, cautioning him. He vibrated with the need to rip and tear at this man who insulted his mate.

Artemais turned to face the strange man. In a very low, very possessive voice that William barely recognized, he growled, “This is my town, buddy, and my brother here is the law. I would seriously recommend you cut your losses and simply disappear, without the girl or the information.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the angry man snapped, taking another step towards the table. William registered if the man had the guts he could reach forward and grab at the thin CDs, lying in the middle of the small table.

“If those records become public I am totally ruined. Not only will I have every Seattle cop actively hunting me to clear their good name,” he sneered, “but I’ll also have half the Seattle mob gunning for me for compromising one of their most lucrative exchange ports. The only thing other than these annoying disks I need is the damn Lomax woman. She could blab and ruin everything.
Tell me where she is
.”

William felt his heart stop as the bell above the door rang, signifying their time had run out. He felt time slow down, and his heart rate speed up so fast he worried he’d disgrace himself and pass out.

From the corner of his eye he saw Josephine enter the small café, head thrown back and eyes closed in laughter at something Sophie, directly behind her, had said. With the sun highlighting the red highlights in her hair, and her face crinkled in laughter she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She stood with her hands clasped around her huge belly, around
their
sons, protecting them even as she howled in laughter.

William tore his glance away from the love of his life and caught Art’s eye, signifying with a look that their time had run out.
Drastic Measures Had To Be Taken.

In that same instant, Petrelli—his attention obviously caught by the bell above the door ringing—stared with his mouth open in shock as Josephine entered the shop.

His reaction, startlingly quick to William who still felt drugged with the shock and fear, was to scream out the single word, “Bitch,” bringing his gun around and shooting.

William would later learn that Josephine had been concentrating so heavily on what Sophie had said to make her laugh—apparently a dirty werewolf joke—that she missed the always tricky broken tile in front of the door and tripped.

From her perspective, she had merely been clumsy and tripped and fallen. From William and his brothers’ heart-stopping point of view, they saw Petrelli shoot her and then Josephine fell to the ground after the loud explosion.

In that instant, a red haze of hate and angst filled William’s mind and heart. His body unfroze and leapt into action. Unable to articulate his pain, William lunged for the man, knocking the offending weapon from his hand and grabbing him around the neck. Determinedly squeezing every inch of air from his lungs, William had no thought but to give some of his pain to the man who had hurt—he refused to think she was anything
except
hurt—his woman.

Tears filling his eyes, William didn’t even feel the struggles of all three of his brothers trying to pry him from the suffocating man. William could hear all three of his brothers yelling at him, but in his pain, he couldn’t understand a single word they uttered.

What felt like hours passed, but in reality it was barely a minute. He felt a fierce, primal satisfaction as he felt the last rasping breaths try to enter Petrelli’s lungs. Still choking the man, William held not one iota of regret or sadness to be ending this man’s life. Only the gaping hole where Josephine had resided could be felt, the tearing, bleeding ache in his chest, beat in time with his aching heart.

The scent of flowers surrounded him. A well-known and well-loved pair of delicate, fragile hands came to cover his own. For a split second, William could only stare incongruously at the thin feminine hands over his own on the bastard’s throat.

“You know, love, I would hate to have to marry you in a jailhouse ceremony. Think of our embarrassment explaining the photos to the kids. What say you let the nasty man go?”

The thin, slightly scared voice penetrated his mind. Where he couldn’t understand the words his brothers had uttered, something in his mind registered every cherished word his Josephine uttered gently to him. It was then he noticed her hands shook slightly over his own, that her face was pale and her voice was far thinner than normal.

Shock overcame his system. William instinctively let Petrelli’s neck go to turn and stare at a very scared, but healthy-looking Josephine. He didn’t even care that as soon as he released the jerk’s throat all three of his brothers pounced on him, hogtying him with a few well-placed punches. The man didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting away.

William didn’t care about anything except for running his hands all over Josephine, making sure not a bruise or scratch escaped his notice.

“He shot you,” he choked out, still half disbelieving the evidence his eyes were showing him. Josephine was unhurt. She wasn’t bleeding, she had only grazed her palms and kneecaps falling onto the tiled café floor.

Josephine smiled down at him. She still looked too pale to his eyes, but laughter lightened her eyes, chasing away his demons.

“No, love. He shot
at
me. Klutz that I am, I tripped on the damned tile at the same time.”

William didn’t let her get another word out, he simply stood up and embraced her fiercely. Holding her as tightly as possible, he squeezed her huge belly against him, cradling her head as if she were a babe.

“He… You…
What
the hell are you doing down here when I told you to rest up at the house?”

William couldn’t figure out exactly what he was thinking or feeling, all he knew is he wanted to feel something other than the heart-shattering intensity of believing he had lost her.

Josephine stepped back lightly, smiling gently as if she hadn’t stopped him from choking a man to death seconds earlier.

“I love you too, darling. Now, I think you might have some paperwork to do, and some creative explaining to make up to explain those large dark purple bruises around the idiot’s neck, hmm? Sophie and I are feeling a little tired I think and we’ll just head on back to the house.”