Made: A Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boy Games) (15 page)

Bait. That’s what I’ve become.

When Nathan gets here, I have to betray him to save my sister.

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to save both of them, but how? Tucker Voss is a bloated toad who needs to die. It was easier back when I assumed he was just a pervert or a voyeur content with his sick games.

My mind keeps looping back to the thing Tucker said about Nathan trying to kill him for years. I can only hope he succeeds this time—but not before he forces Tucker to call off Harley.

It will be dawn soon—the deadline for Ferrara’s life and the chance to rescue Samantha. If anything happens to her, I won’t be able to live with myself. Waiting is making me crazy.

I can’t just sit here and wait for Nathan.

I crawl out of the chair and pad through the house, looking for any sign of Tucker. As far as I can tell, he’s not here. Could it be this easy? He’s given me the perfect chance to escape and find Ferrara’s house. While I was on the computer earlier, I managed to discover the location. It’s less than two miles away.

Then again, Tucker could be expecting me to make a run for it. He wants me to convince Nathan to kill Ferrara for him. The possibilities flip over and back again in my head until it’s all a jumble, and I know only one thing: I can’t sit here any longer.

Then there’s my worst fear—what if Nathan never shows up?

I still can’t figure out if he’s the tender lover who gave me a phone number where I could reach Caylee or the bastard who said I deserved a reward for a good fuck.

Maybe he’s both.

A floorboard creaks behind me. I turn, my heart pounding in my ears, to see Nathan. He’s dressed in black from head to toe. His clothing is form-fitting and accentuates the width of his shoulders and the corded power in his arms and legs. He watches me from someplace behind his eyes. The predator is back, and this time, I’m glad. I hope he’s fierce enough to take on that monster, Harley.

“Have a nice trip?” he asks.

Does he think I’m here of my own free will? “Where have you been?”

“Tucker didn’t exactly leave a trail of bread crumbs behind.” His head swivels as he surveys the room. When it lands on me again, it’s as if he’s made a decision. “Let’s go. I’m getting you out of here.”

I shake my head.

“You need to come with me now.” His tone is clipped; his voice tight with tension.

“I’ll come if you take a walk with me.”

“Now?” He’s incredulous. I don’t blame him. “Where do you want to go?”

“About two miles from here.” Then I tell him about Ferrara and Tucker and Harley and Samantha. “Once we rescue Samantha, you can kill Tucker and Harley, and we can get out of here.”

“Just like that? Because what the fuck, I kill people all the time. Just another day on the job.”

“Is there another option?”

“There are always options. It depends on what you want.” He moves closer to me. When he speaks, his voice is soft and low. “What do you want, Brooke Lopez?”

Maybe it’s because I haven’t slept in almost twenty-four hours and the tension is making me see things, but it’s as if Nathan shimmers in front of me. The man I thought I knew disappears, and all I see is the killer for hire. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

“It’s not about me,” I finally manage to say. “Tucker wants you to kill Ferrara, and he needs to know he can trust you. That’s the only way he says we can save Samantha.” A sob racks my chest. I want to give in to my tears. I want to hand my pain over to him and let him carry it for me because it’s too much to bear.

Then he says something that stops me cold.

“Because being his bitch isn’t enough.” He sighs wearily. “It’s never enough.”

Nathan shifts again, and I see him differently yet again. I know all this is happening in my mind, but it feels like an inner earthquake.

My eyes burn. I ball my hands into fists and keep going because the only way we’ll survive this night is if we stick together. I have to know if what I’m understanding about him is true and real. “When we were in the Eye, and I wanted to leave with Samantha, all Tucker had to do was say your name. No orders, no instructions. It’s like you knew what he needed, and he didn’t have to spell it out. Then when you asked for permission to escort us downstairs, it’s like you were begging.”

As I’ve been speaking, his head falls forward, and his shoulders slump as if he’s been carrying too heavy a weight. More pieces fall into place. “What could Tucker possibly have on you that makes him so confident you’ll do what he says?”

“He has my mother. He’s had her for five years now. She’s old and helpless, and there’s nothing I can do to save her unless Cesare De Luca keeps his word. Your sister or my mother. I can’t save them both.”

He tells me about his meeting with the head of the De Luca syndicate.

When he falls silent, I take his hand. We walk out onto the porch, down the steps and beyond. The night is silent and deep. We’re miles from civilization, and I’m alone with the man I love, a man who is a highly skilled murderer. The moon has set. We’re too far from the house for any light from the porch to penetrate the dark.

I take his face in my hands and stare into eyes that are hardened and wounded at the same time. “I don’t know what you’ve had to deal with or why you’ve made the decisions you’ve made. I don’t know if the people you’ve worked for are good or bad. I don’t know if the people you killed deserved to die or not. I don’t know anymore what’s right or what’s wrong. I only know one thing: there is goodness in you. You, Nathan Costa, are a good man. I know you will do what is right and honorable or die trying, but I want you to live. I want you to live for me because I love you.”

BROOKE

The hike to Ferrara’s house seems to take forever, but in reality, we’re there in about twenty minutes. When Tucker called Ferrara’s house an estate, he was overstating the case, unless huge log cabins put together with rustic elegance count.

Nathan and I crouch on the edge of the woods surrounding the cabin. Lights are visible in a few rooms. No one appears in any of the windows, which is to be expected considering the hour. I have to fight the urge to race up the stone steps and pound on the door until someone opens the door and delivers my sister into my arms.

“We stick with the plan, right?” It’s like Nathan knows what I’m thinking.

“The plan, got it.”

“Promise?”

I nod. He presses a hard, fast kiss on my lips, and then he’s gone as fast as a shadow.

The night closes around me, but it doesn’t scare me. It feels safer in the dark. Maybe that’s because I’ve had a glimpse into real evil this night. My head buzzes with astonishment at all that has happened in the last few days. I can’t think about the future, any future until everyone is safe—not only Samantha but Nathan’s mother, as well.

Nathan might think he’s fooled me, but I saw the doubt in his eyes when we talked through the plan.
There’s always a point where everything fails. No matter how carefully you plan, shit happens. We’ve had zero time to plan, so we can count on more shit coming at us faster than usual. We’re going to have to improvise, or we won’t make it. Are you sure you can do that under pressure?

I told him
yes
a hundred times. He didn’t believe me. Maybe it’s a guy thing, or maybe it’s a
Nathan
thing. I don’t know.

Before I’ve had time to review our plan for the forty-ninth time, he’s back.

“What happened? Where’s Samantha?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know. There’s no one there. The house is empty.”

“The lights?”

“Security, on timers.”

“Could Ferrara have been here earlier, possibly, and left. Maybe he got wind of what Tucker was up to. . .”

Nathan shakes his head again, but more slowly this time. “The cabin has been closed up for months, and Tucker had to know it. He’s all about data and details and getting things right.”

“What if it wasn’t a mistake? Why go to all the trouble of luring you here without first verifying that Ferrara and Samantha were here?”

He warms me with a rare smile that goes all the way to his eyes. “Tucker didn’t make a mistake. He’s showing me that Ferrara’s not here. He wants me to find him because I’m the only one who can. No one else has ever gotten as close to Ferrara as I did when I was stalking him after he blackballed me with the syndicate.”

A coal of anger burns in my gut. “Then what was the point of the threat about Harley killing Ferrara by dawn and that crap about Samantha?”

Nathan settles onto the ground. “I’m guessing it was a bluff so you’d be motivated to pressure me to hurry.”

“But I didn’t know where you were or if you were even looking for me.”

“Tucker didn’t know that. It was to his advantage to have you so worried about your sister, you couldn’t think straight.” Nathan snakes his big arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. His lips brush my ear. “Tucker left you alone in de Hainault’s house because he thought it would make you more afraid. He made a mistake. He’ll make more. We’re going to get him. We’ll find Samantha.”

“What about your mother?”

He turns until he’s facing me and his dark eyes mesmerize me. “I made a deal with Cesare De Luca. The old man is a bastard, but he won’t go back on this promise.”

“Yeah, well Tucker made some promises to that steroid-popping mutant, Harley. We can’t just leave. We have to do something about them.”

He sighs. “Something tells me you have an idea.”

“I do.”

“And I’m not going to like it.”

I stroke his cheek. “You’re going to hate it with a fiery passion.”

He jumps to his feet and drags me up with him, immediately taking a stride down the hill in the direction we came. “That’s it. We’re out of here.”

“No!” I yank my hand out of his and plant my feet. It’s like we’re back inside Dominion again. What’s different now is that I know I’m right. “Only you can find Ferrara. You have to do that. So, go. Save my sister.”

His eyes flash. “You’re not thinking you can stay here and take care of Harley and Tucker on your own because that would be—”

“Logical.”

“I was going to say insane.”

“Good thing you didn’t say it then. That might piss me off.”

The first rays of dawn are beginning to streak through the hills. There’s enough light that I can see a muscle jumping in his jaw. “I’m not going to lose you. Not happening, today or any other day.”

“Nathan, think about it. Harley is a big, mean son of a bitch with more muscles than brains. He’s like a heat-seeking missile Tucker programmed and aimed, only Samantha is the target. He won’t stop until he finds her. To do that, all he has to do is follow you.”

“I’ll lose him.”

“Maybe. What will you do if you don’t? What if you’re at Ferrara’s, and you have to handle both of them at the same time? What then? You said it yourself: shit happens.”

“You’re not allowed to throw my words back at me.”

“I’ll make sure Harley doesn’t follow you.”

“How?”

My courage almost deserts me when I think about what comes next. I lift my chin and give him my most confident smile. “I have other weapons. You’re going to have to trust me when I say I know how to use them.”

The front door of Etienne de Hainault’s house stands open. A rectangle of light pours over the porch. I ignore it and walk around the house, following the sidewalk, continuing until I reach the long, black limo. The trunk lid is still up. I push it down, not bothering to be quiet about it. As I do so, I glance up at the windows of one of the apartments over the seven-car garage. I curtain moved; I’m sure of it.

I better be right. If I’m not, I’ve remained behind for nothing.

Because Harley has to believe every detail, I stoop and gather another handful of dirty and gravel from the ground and smear more on my face and neck. The gravel scrapes against my skin. I hope it reddens and looks like I’ve been in a fight. My shirt is torn. I threw away one of my shoes and generally transformed myself until I look like I’ve just escaped a violent assault.

This is for you, Nathan and Samantha. I love you both.

All I can think about while I limp toward the garage is that even if I never see Nathan again, I know he’ll rescue Samantha. If anything happens to me, she’ll be sad, but her life will go on. I made him promise to make sure she didn’t give up her dreams of medical school. I’m not a martyr. I fully intend to walk away from here in one piece. It’s just that Harley is so big and aggressive and unpredictable—all side effects of long-term steroid use—that anything could happen.

When I’m closer to the garage, I start whimpering, gradually increasing the volume. Footsteps echo from inside the garage. I throw myself at the door, pounding with my fists and crying out, “Harley! Harley, are you there?”

The door swings open. I fall forward. He doesn’t catch me, and I sprawl at his feet.

“What the fuck?”

“Oh, Harley, I’m so glad you’re here.” I push up from the floor, taking care that my strategically ripped shirt allows my breasts to spill out.