When He Defends (Protector And Defender Romance Book 4), page 24
Chapter Twenty-Three
“The past isn’t pretty. It’s twisted and bloody and, sometimes, you just might be better off leaving the secrets buried. Before you go digging up a grave, make sure you can handle the ghosts that you’re going to wake up.” – Gray Stone
“Emerson, you know it’s going to be bad.”
Emerson pulled in a deep breath. She tried to control the rage that made her fingers want to shake. She hadn’t expected Cass’s bombshell. No, dammit, she had expected it. Feared it. But actually getting confirmation… “We both could have died when she blew our cover.” Her own mother, putting her in danger. Worse, putting Gray in danger. There were some sins that could never be forgiven.
“Technically, that prick ex of yours blew it.” His eyes never left her face. “I already have an agent digging into his records because I figured he’d been the one to sell us out. Thought he wanted to have the case blow up so he could try and replace you.”
“Instead, he was just following orders. The way he’s always done.” Her mother said jump, and Nathaniel obeyed.
“I think he’s been tied to the attacks on you.”
She could not move. There were buttons on the wall near the observation mirror. One, two, three—
A light knock rapped against the observation room door. The door opened a second later, and Agnes popped her head inside. “They made contact, Agent Stone. Just like you said they would.” Her lips pulled down. “Rylan was always a bit of a jerk, but I didn’t know he was a traitor, too.”
Gray advanced toward Agnes. “What did you learn?”
“Rylan just called Nathaniel Hadaway. They plan to meet outside of O’Sullivan’s tonight. Honestly, it’s not the smartest place to meet. I mean, come on, tons of cops and agents hang out there. If you’re gonna have a clandestine meeting with someone, be more clandestine.” She rolled her eyes.
“Does Rylan realize you’re aware of the meeting?” Gray asked.
“I don’t think so. I can be very sneaky when the occasion calls for it.” A pause. “The occasion called for it.”
“Thanks.”
Emerson felt a heavy weight settle in her stomach. “Guessing we just found out which person at the FBI has been feeding intel to Nathaniel.”
“And to your mother.” Gray was grim. Pissed. “I already peeked into Rylan’s bank records. Some large deposits were made recently. Deposits that traced back to one of her donor accounts.”
Right. Of course. A donor account. Not her mother’s own account. She would try to hide her paper trail.
“You want me to be your backup?” Agnes remained in the doorway. “Because I know you’re planning to make that meeting tonight.”
“Damn straight, I am. But I have other plans for backup.”
“I want to help.” Agnes lingered. “What can I do?”
“Get me the exact location for Senator Maxine Marlowe and Owen Porter.”
Agnes bobbed her head. “Done.” She bustled off down the hallway.
Emerson realized that she’d twisted her hands together. Slowly, she let them fall.
Gray eliminated the distance between them. His hand rose. Cupped her cheek. “Before this night is over, you’ll get all the answers that you want. No more fear, Emerson. No more broken mirrors. No more always looking for a shadow to sweep out and attack you.”
She swallowed. “You think Nathaniel has been stalking me.”
“Don’t you?”
The idea that a man she’d been involved with intimately might be tormenting her, playing sick games with her… “He’s a psychiatrist. He’s supposed to help people.” Nathaniel? No, no. Emerson shook her head. “I’ve already looked into this. Into him. You think I didn’t suspect Nathaniel, too? The way he steamrolled into my life? The way he wouldn’t let go when I tried to break things off? But he can’t be the one who first attacked me all of those years ago. When I was seventeen, he was studying in Oxford. He was an ocean away. There is no world in which he was the man who broke into my home back then.”
“Maybe not then,” Gray agreed. “But I sure as hell suspect the bastard now.” His fingers slid down her cheek. Down her neck. Rested over the faint scar that marked her.
His touch was warm and strong and so careful, all at the same time.
“You said you loved me, Emerson.”
Her chest ached. “I did. I do.” She wasn’t going to pretend or hold back. With Gray, she wanted to be all in. No hesitation and no fear. “But you haven’t said—”
“I love you, Dr. Emerson Marlowe. I would fight like hell for you. Any day of the week.”
Two days. Two days had passed since she’d watched Gray fall beneath the pounding hooves of horses. Two days since he’d fired his gun to save her. Two days since she’d told him that she loved him.
Two days of chaos. Of case work. Investigations. Getting transported back to Atlanta. Two days of not being alone with him. Of aching to just throw her arms around Gray and make certain he was safe. Alive. To be certain that they’d made it out and everything would be fine.
But things weren’t fine, not yet.
“Cass wanted revenge.” His gaze never left hers. “What do you want, Emerson? What do you want me to do for you?”
“I want to find out what really happened. When I was seventeen. Now. I want to find out what happened to my father when I was a kid.” So many secrets. Way too much pain in her life. “And I want to bury that part of my life. I want it deep in the ground.”
“You want me to kill for you.” A nod. “Done.”
“Wait, no!” She grabbed his shoulders. He’d way misunderstood. “No. No, I want the answers. I want proof. I need proof because I have to know that—” Emerson caught herself. Held the words back. But, thought…screw it. “I have to know that I’m not crazy. That I’m not slipping away in the darkness the same way that my father did.”
His features softened. He bent his head, and his lips brushed over hers. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry but…”
Why was he sorry?
“I don’t think he ever went into the darkness at all.”
Her brow furrowed. “Gray?” A fist seemed to squeeze her heart.
“But I’ll get you the truth.” Another soft kiss. “I’ll get you any damn thing that you want in this world. Always. Know it. Believe it. Believe me.”
“We shouldn’t be meeting,” Rylan Tate groused, as he glanced over his shoulder toward the busy road near the entrance of O’Sullivan’s. He was huddled on the side street. The same street where a perp with a knife had once nearly attacked Emerson and Gray. “This is bullshit, and there is zero need for us to interact like this. You owe me money, but you could have sent it to me via an app like everyone else does, dumbass.”
Nathaniel Hadaway stepped from the shadows. The sun had already set. Darkness slithered from the corners of the nearby buildings. “I need more information.”
“I have nothing else to give you! Look, I know you said that if you took Emerson’s place, I’d be the agent featured most in your new book, but I can’t help you any longer.” Rylan made a slashing motion with his right hand. “Can’t. Won’t. This shit ends now. I’m done with the sneaking around and the reporting, and I don’t even care if the senator is involved or not. Gray Stone fucking scares me, and if he finds out that I’ve been feeding you information—”
“Spoiler alert, he’s found out,” Gray announced as he pushed away from the brick wall. He’d been there the whole time. Watching. Waiting. He’d arrived before Rylan. Before Nathaniel.
It had been easy to hide in the dark.
At his words, both men spun toward him.
“Oh, hell.” Rylan’s shoulders slumped. “I’m about to be demoted so hard.”
“You’re about to be in a world of pain.” Gray smiled at him. He walked forward, his suit coat covering the gun he had holstered beneath his arm. “You sold me out because you thought you’d be the hero in his book? Seriously? That’s why you did it? For five minutes of fame?”
“All I did was tell him a few details about what you and Emerson were investigating. Senator Marlowe asked me to do it. Personally ordered me to cooperate with him. Said he’d be taking over Emerson’s spot.” Rylan backed up a step. “The senator swore that if I didn’t help her, then she’d make sure I never advanced in the FBI.”
“Advancing is going to be highly problematic for you,” Gray assured Rylan. “Highly.” But he turned his attention to Emerson’s ex. Nathaniel who had gone eerily still. “What was the plan?” Gray asked him. “Why lure Rylan here?”
“Lure?” Rylan repeated the word, turning a bit toward Nathaniel.
“Were you hoping to make him look guilty?” Gray asked, curious. “He already had deposits that could tie back to the senator in his bank account. Maybe you thought you could pin Emerson’s attacks on him. Maybe you thought you could kill him and make yourself look like a hero. Bet that seemed like a fun storyline for your book, huh? Psychiatrist unmasks rogue FBI agent.”
“Rogue agent?” Rylan seemed to be repeating a lot of things. He shook his head. “Kill me?”
But Nathaniel didn’t speak. Just stood there, with his hands buried in the pockets of his oversize coat.
Gray pulled out his own weapon. He aimed it straight at Nathaniel. “It’s over.”
Nathaniel still didn’t speak.
“Lift your hands out of your pockets. Put them in the air.”
Rylan whipped out his own weapon. Pointed it at Nathaniel and then…then he pivoted and pointed the weapon right at Gray. Laughter poured from Rylan. “You really thought I was being led around by this prick?” More laughter. Coming harder. Faster.
Nathaniel kept his hands in his pockets.
“I knew you were watching me, Agent Stone. Always believing you were two steps ahead. Screw that. Nathaniel here, he didn’t have the balls to take you out. Oh, he wanted to. I caught him stalking you and Emerson. Realized he was the prick who was in this very alley the first night you were making out with Emerson.” Anger roughened his voice. “I wanted to fuck her, but you swept in. And the Man of Stone always gets what he wants.”
“Not always,” Gray returned as he shifted his gun to point at Rylan. “Drop your weapon. Now.”
Rylan didn’t drop his weapon. “I told Nathaniel we could work together. He wanted to see what it was like to kill. He wanted it so badly I could practically see him drooling. But the guy has performance anxiety. So I told him, said…‘I’ll help you out.’ And here I am, helping. Threw out just enough of a trail for you to find me. But you came alone, didn’t you? Big, bad agent. I don’t see Emerson. I don’t see other agents. I damn well don’t see your Semper Fi buddies. You’re on your own. You’re gonna die right here, on your—”
Gray fired. So did Rylan. Gray’s bullet slammed into his target, ripping into Rylan’s shoulder and sending the other man staggering back. As for Rylan’s bullet, it found its mark, too.
It hit Gray in the chest. In his bulletproof vest. A good two inches to the side of his heart. It was like being pounded with a hammer, but it was a pain that Gray could easily handle. I didn’t aim for your heart, jerk, because you don’t get to die and escape punishment. Your ass is getting locked away. He shifted his weapon. Fired twice more. One shot to the hand that still clutched Rylan’s weapon. Rylan screamed as blood flew, and the gun fell from his nerveless fingers. The next bullet Gray fired went into Rylan’s knee. It took him down. No way would Rylan be getting away.
Then Gray shifted his weapon once more and locked its aim on Nathaniel.
Nathaniel’s hands were still in his pockets. He looked over at Rylan. “I think,” Nathaniel spoke softly, “that he’s useless now.” His head turned. He stared at Gray. “I wanted to kill you.”
“Fair. I want to kill you, too.” It took all of his will power not to pull that trigger.
Rylan was crying and moaning and being a general pain in the ass.
Nathaniel backed up. “I was going to stab you right here. I was so close that first night, and then I heard the roar of motorcycles.”
And right then, as if on cue, the growl of motorcycles vibrated in the night. A growl that grew stronger and stronger, and Nathaniel flinched.
Gray didn’t move. “Did the roar sound just like that?”
Headlights flashed.
“Rylan was right,” Gray allowed. A Rylan who still was moaning and bleeding all over the place. Gray marched toward him and shoved his foot over Rylan’s left hand. The right hand was totally out of commission, but Gray wanted to make sure the prick didn’t try to grab for the weapon Rylan had lost with his non-dominant hand. “My Semper Fi buddies aren’t here tonight.”
Motorcycles swept into that narrow street, right on the side of O’Sullivan’s. Even more motorcycles than had been there the first time. The motorcycles circled them.
Nathaniel spun around, but there was nowhere for him to go. He was trapped.
“But who needs friends, when you have a whole army at your beck and call?” Gray could see Cass. And behind Cass, Emerson.
She had not been down with the plan to ride with Cass. Not at first. She’d wanted to be in that alley with Gray.
But he’d been afraid of the way Nathaniel might react to her.
Even now…
Nathaniel scuttled toward her like a rat.
“She’s not for you,” Gray roared at him.
Nathaniel froze.
“You terrorized her. You tricked her. And you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”
Nathaniel’s fingers finally jerked out of his coat pocket. In his right hand, he gripped a knife. “I did what I was supposed to do! I followed orders! I did what I was told!” He weaved a bit. “Emerson, I-I did it at first so I could understand. Get in a predator’s mindset. See what it was like to hunt…to stalk…”
She climbed off the motorcycle. So did Cass.
“You were afraid.” Nathaniel raised the knife and pointed at her. “When we were together, your fear made you turn to me all the more. You needed me. And I didn’t know how much I needed your fear. Not until you were gone.”
So the sick fuck had kept terrorizing her. The headlights illuminated the scene perfectly. “Who told you to break her mirrors? To threaten her? Who gave you the orders?” Each question was snarled out. Gray wanted to attack, but Emerson needed her answers. Her proof.
Nathaniel looked down at the knife. “I wanted to see what it would feel like to kill.”
“Who gave you the orders?”
“I’ll be okay in prison,” Nathaniel mused. “So many criminals. I can talk to them for hours and hours. Just think of all the books I can write.”
Emerson surged forward. Cass grabbed her. Pulled her back.
“Who gave you orders?” Emerson yelled at him. “Who told you to screw with my life?”
His head lifted. He stared straight at her. Then his shoulders sagged. “I really wanted to see what it was like to kill.” Nathaniel sighed as he looked away from Emerson. Focused on Gray. “And I wanted to kill you.” Then he smiled and he—he ran at Gray. With the knife up. With a yell bursting from his lips.
Gray waited. He waited. And then…
He fired at the bastard’s right kneecap. Just as he’d done with Rylan. And, just as with Rylan, Nathaniel went down with a howl. With his left hand, Gray ripped the knife from Nathaniel’s grip, and, in a blink, he spun the knife around to shove it against the SOB’s throat. “We don’t always get what we want.”
Nathaniel screamed.
Gray let the knife cut deeper. That stopped the screams.
Emerson had noticed the giant pool of blood spreading beneath Rylan. He heard her heaving gasp. “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Gray reassured her. “I didn’t hit anything too vital. He’s bleeding and moaning like a sonofabitch, but he’ll survive.” Not like he wanted her shoving her fingers in Rylan’s wounds the way she’d done with Justin.
I’m damn good at taking out my targets. And Emerson was also good when it came to saving people. A talent she had.
Even as he was aware of the gang members spreading out near him, Gray’s main focus remained on the piece of shit who’d tormented his Emerson.
“Who gave the order?” Gray asked him.
When he confessed, Nathaniel didn’t scream. He whispered…
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Monsters can be everywhere. Sometimes, they can even be right in front of you. And you don’t even see them because they’re wearing the masks of loved ones. I think those might just be the worst monsters of all.”
– Emerson Marlowe
“Hello, Mother.”
“Emerson, darling!” Her mother came across the luxury suite on a quick glide. Effortless. Graceful. After all, she’d once been a prima ballerina. She air-kissed Emerson’s right cheek. Then her left. “How wonderful to see you! I was planning to leave town tomorrow, heading up to D.C., and your timing is perfect.” She beamed at Emerson even as she pulled her forward into the hotel suite. “You’ve come to your senses? Decided to leave this awful experiment behind?”
“Not exactly.” She’d been standing in the open doorway of the presidential suite. Her mother’s eager pull had taken her over the threshold and allowed Gray to move in behind her. “I didn’t come alone.”
Her mother immediately dropped her hold on Emerson. Her head jerked toward Gray. “Agent Stone.” An arctic greeting.
“Hello, Senator Marlowe. Mind if we have a moment of your time?” he drawled.
“I’m never too busy for my daughter.” She sniffed. Turned away from the door. Motioned for them to follow her.
She was on the top floor of the ritzy hotel. A high-rise in downtown Atlanta. Gray had needed to flash his FBI credentials in order to get access to her secure floor. Emerson had gone to the door first once they actually arrived at the suite because she’d known her mother would look through the peephole before allowing anyone inside.
Emerson had understood that her mother would open the door for her. No hesitation.
