Say I Do

by Cynthia Eden

“Dex!” Roman’s fist hit again. The wood cracked.

  “That’s not possible.” Lacey shook her head. “My mom was given up for adoption. She told me how much she wished that she could have met her biological parents. No. No. She wouldn’t have lived a life with me and not—”

  Voice gentle, he said, “Sometimes people have to make very hard choices in this world. Choices that tear them apart. There is more at play here than you realize. There is more to—”

  “Open the door!” Roman shouted.

  Her gaze held his. “Dex…”

  “You don’t have to talk to him right now.” He whirled for the door and the pounding prick. The pain in her stare was making him crazed. He frowned at the spider-web-like cracks in the wood of the door. He flipped the locks and yanked the door open—

  Then had to shove his hand against Roman’s chest when the other man barreled forward. “I want Lacey!”

  Dex’s jaw locked. “You’re not getting her.”

  Roman tried to shove past him. Dex shoved back. Harder. He pushed the other man into the hallway.

  “Let me see her!” Roman bellowed.

  “You’re scaring the hell out of her right now.” Dex’s voice was low. Hard. “Is that what you want?”

  Roman glanced toward the suite, then back at Dex. “I…want my family. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

  Dex knew that. He’d originally intended to use that longing against Roman. But that was before—before, hell…Lacey. “She just found out that her father killed her mom and the only dad she’s ever known. I had to deliver that news to her—”

  “You should have told her from the beginning!” Fury darkened Roman’s face. “You’re an asshole and you had no right to—”

  Dex surged toward him. “She’s hurting. She is not ready for you right now. I told you not fifteen minutes ago to give her a little time. Your bodyguard shot her in the chest this morning! In the chest! Now she got this news from hell thrown at her. It’s too much. Lacey wants time, and I’m giving it to her.” I’m giving her whatever she wants.

  “I didn’t know about Heather! She knocked me out in my room last night, and then I woke up tied to that chair.”

  Yes, and that was another problem they had to face. No way did Dex buy that Heather had been able to transport Roman all the way from the lodge to the remote cabin by herself. Had to be at least a two-person job. Which means there are more players involved.

  “I am not leaving until I talk to her.” Spittle flew from Roman’s mouth.

  “How do you even know she’s the right woman?” Maybe he could throw some doubt at Roman. “Have you run some DNA test that I don’t know about? Hmm? Have you considered I was lying to you when I said I found her? Come to think of it, you assumed Lacey was your sister. I said that I’d found ‘her’ but I never specified who—”

  “Dex.” Lacey’s voice. Soft but firm and coming from behind him.

  “It’s okay,” he reassured her without glancing back. “Roman is going to calm down and take a walk.”

  Roman tried to rush past him. Dex grabbed him, shoved his arm under the guy’s chin and pinned him against the nearby wall even as the two agents who’d been ordered to guard the suite just stood there and gaped from a few feet away—

  Way to be helpers, fellows.

  “Don’t.” Lacey’s fingers slid over Dex’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have told you to send him away. Let’s go inside. We all need to talk.”

  Roman glared at him. Dex glared back, but when he turned his head toward Lacey, he made sure his expression showed no rage. “Are you certain?”

  She nodded and said, “Absolutely not.”

  Aw, Lacey, baby, you make me feel—

  “But I think we have to do it anyway,” she finished quietly. Her fingers pressed into him. “Let’s go inside.”

  If that was what she wanted, then okay. Dex let go of Roman. Stepped back. At first, Roman didn’t move. He just stared at Lacey. There were so many emotions swirling in his eyes. It was hard to read them all but…

  Longing.

  Fear.

  Fury.

  Dex moved subtly closer to Lacey. That fury of Roman’s wasn’t a good sign, and it was something Dex had worried about. He’d feared that Roman might not truly be the loving brother who’d finally found the sister he’d sought for so long.

  After all, Roman had been raised by a sadistic bastard for most of his life. He’d only gotten to see his mother on rare occasions. He’d been told that she chose her daughter over him. That she’d wanted the daughter to stay with her.

  He’d been told that his mother had thrown him to the wolf.

  Now Roman was the big, bad wolf.

  “You look like her,” Roman accused, and there was no missing the anger that seethed in his words.

  Once more, Dex moved his body. A careful, deliberate movement that put him between Roman and Lacey. He held the other man’s gaze and wanted to make certain that his message was absolutely, one hundred percent clear.

  If you want to hurt her, you’ll have to go the hell through me.

  Chapter Eleven

  She wasn’t a coward. All right, fine. She wasn’t normally a coward. But when she’d told Dex that she hadn’t wanted to see Roman, she’d been afraid. Her brother? Roman was the son of the man who’d killed her mom?

  Only there was more to figure out because…her dad wasn’t her real dad? God, everything was so confusing. Her chest ached—both from the impact of the bullet hitting the vest earlier and from the pain that grew straight out of her heart—and she just wanted to shut out the world for a little while. Jump under the covers of a bed and pretend that her world hadn’t been wrecked.

  But running and hiding had never been her style. And she could not, would not, start now.

  She led the way back into the suite. Dex followed at her heels, with Roman crowding behind him, and when they were inside, no one sat down. There was way too much tension for that. Roman stared at her with eyes that swirled with emotion, while Dex stood at her side. Dex was expressionless. Nothing showed in his eyes or on his face, but she could feel tension pouring from his body.

  “I haven’t done a DNA test. Didn’t need to,” Roman announced grimly. “I still have a pic of my mother. Once you started throwing the shit in my face that you’d found her first…” He pointed at Lacey. “I acquired some info, dug enough to figure out that, yes, it all fit.” His lips twisted into a grim smile. “Though I’m sure you have done a DNA test, haven’t you, Dex?”

  Throwing the shit in my face that you’d found her first…The pounding of her heartbeat was so incredibly loud even as the pain of betrayal cut like a knife.

  She’d known that Dex was using her. Obviously. He’d been so adamant that she had to help him on this case. Saying he needed her special skills. Bullshit. She wanted to scream at him and rage and rage and rage.

  But she didn’t make a sound of fury. Her control was too thin. She would not lose it. She needed answers. By God, she was going to get them. “Have you done a DNA test?” she asked Dex in a slow, stilted voice.

  “No, baby, but…it fits. You fit.”

  She wasn’t even sure how to interpret his words.

  “I can do the test, if you want it,” Dex offered, “and I can have the results for you immediately. Say the word.”

  A DNA test. When she’d first started investigating the death of her parents, she’d had no idea it would lead to this. “The results will tell me who my father is.”

  Roman lunged toward her. “I know who your father is. I know who your mother is.” He jerked his hand toward his chest. “And I know who your brother is.” Bruises darkened the skin around his hairline, and a white bandage covered a section of his forehead. “I’ve always known you were out there. I didn’t have a name for our mother. She was a ghost in my life. A ragged picture I kept while I lived a world away. I didn’t even know about you until the old bastard died. You were the last thing he talked about. The daughter she
’d chosen.”

  Her temples pounded in tune with her heartbeat. She stared hard at Roman, trying to see a similarity, but there was none. His hair was blond. His eyes blue. She didn’t look like him. She looked like her mother. Her dad. Her mom had even told her—so many times—that she had her dad’s laugh and…

  “Dex is using you. You can’t trust him,” Roman said quietly. He offered his hand to her. “Come with me. We should talk without him around us. Then you need to get the hell away from him, as fast as you can.”

  She stared at his hand. Then looked into his eyes. The rage in his gaze made her uneasy. So much about this mess made her uneasy. “You told me I couldn’t trust Dex last night. Right after someone tried to shoot at him…or at me.”

  Now she got why Dex thought she’d been the target. Maybe share important details sooner, Dex!

  Lacey hissed out a breath. She couldn’t think straight. She’d been hit with so much, and she just kept circling back to Roman. Her brother. The man who stared at her with a mix of longing and rage in his eyes.

  “You can’t trust him,” Roman seethed. “No one can trust him. He turns on his own agents and leaves them in the wind.”

  Dex took a hard step toward him. “The hell I do.”

  Roman’s laugh held a bitter edge. “We both know I’m speaking from personal experience. You left me. You should have just put a bullet in my brain yourself.”

  What? Her gaze flew between the two men.

  And Dex…smiled.

  Goose bumps rose onto her arms. That smile of his was icy cold. Lethal. As she stared at Dex’s smile, she felt as if she was staring straight at a stranger. This wasn’t the Dex she knew. This wasn’t the Dex who’d brought her to orgasm again and again. Not the Dex who’d looked at her only moments before and told her to please, please not cry.

  “If I’d wanted a bullet in your brain,” Dex said easily, “then one would be there right now. I’ve had plenty of opportunities over the years. You know that. Have you ever considered trying to be grateful to me instead of pissy? I got you out of the mess you were in, and I let you keep living. Instead of telling me thanks, you’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass.”

  It looked as if the two men were about to come to blows. Right there in front of her. “Stop it.”

  Both of their heads whipped toward her.

  “I’m not looking for backstory shit between the two of you right now, though it’s pretty obvious there’s a whole lot going on there. Bromance gone bad, that it?”

  The chill in Dex’s eyes thawed a little as he looked at her.

  Roman kept frowning.

  “Why did your bodyguard try to kill me?” Lacey demanded. “Why did she drag you to that cabin?”

  “I…don’t know.”

  “That’s not a good enough answer for me.” She focused on Dex. Since he seemed to hold all the answers…“Why?”

  “She hasn’t told me…yet. I thought you might want to join me for the next round of interrogation.”

  Her face must have reflected her surprise.

  Dex eased closer to her. “I don’t like keeping things from you. You may not believe that, but it’s the truth.” His voice was low, but Roman was so close he had to be able to hear the words. “Whenever I can, I want to be one hundred percent honest with you.” He reached for her hand, the hand that carried his engagement ring. She’d slipped it back on when he’d gone to confront Roman. “You matter, and I need you to get that.”

  Once more, Roman’s bitter laughter rang out. “If Dex is talking, he’s lying. That should be the first lesson you learn. I don’t know what kind of promises he made to you, but he won’t keep them.”

  Except he actually had. He’d promised to help her discover who had killed her parents, and he had told her. Or…maybe he hadn’t. She lifted her chin and asked Roman, “Did your father kill my mother?”

  “Kill our mother, you mean? Yes, I think he did.” He shrugged.

  “Why?” Ice covered her heart.

  Another shrug. “An accident.” Said casually. As if her mother had tripped and skinned her knee. An accident. “She shouldn’t have been in the car with that guy.”

  That guy. My dad. The man who taught me how to ride a bike. Who held my hand when I went trick-or-treating and stayed up late on Christmas Eve with me so that we could watch for Santa Claus. That guy.

  “He was my dad. Not just some random guy.” The ice around her heart shattered. A wild yell broke from her lips as she lunged at Roman. Her hands were fisted, and she wanted to attack.

  Before her fists could land, Dex’s arms curled around her stomach. “Baby, baby, just breathe.” He pulled her back against him.

  She was seeing red. Pain and blood and—

  Roman smirked at her. “You’ve been living a lie. Time to take the blinders off. Your father was Gideon Valentino. Fucking monster. All-around sadistic bastard. Welcome to the family, sis.”

  “Get the hell out,” Dex snapped. “Now.”

  She heaved in his hold. This was too much. Everything was crazy. Her head was spinning and—

  “Is that why you nearly broke the door down?” Dex’s hold on her was gentle, but unbreakable as he snarled at Roman, “You wanted to get in her face and hurt her?”

  “She needs the truth! She needs—”

  Dex looked down at Lacey. “I pulled you back because you might feel guilty later for beating the hell out of him. But don’t worry, I won’t.”

  She frowned. What was he saying?

  “Step back would you, baby? Got to make sure you don’t accidentally come between us.”

  His arms had fallen away from her. She stepped back.

  “Thanks so much.” Dex flew forward and plowed his fist into Roman’s jaw. “I just fucking told her I wouldn’t let her be hurt!”

  Roman tried to punch back.

  Dex dodged the blow. Swung again. Hit. “I made her a promise, then you dragged your ass in here and you told her news in the worst possible way. Like you’re trying to piss me off. Stop hurting her! She loved Jason Amari. He was her dad, her father in every way that counted, and when you talk about him, you damn well talk about him with respect, you understand me? He’s not some guy. He’s her dad. That’s what he’ll always be.”

  It was like—like Dex had just read her mind. Everything he was saying was playing through her head over and over again.

  Dex’s breath heaved out. He backed away from Roman.

  Roman’s lower lip was bleeding. He brushed away the blood. “Why in the hell are you acting like it matters to you, Dex? This is all just a ruse for you. Another game.” His gaze found Lacey. “You think he cares about you? At all? Bullshit. He doesn’t care about anyone. The engagement is fake.”

  Well, sure, it was, but—

  “If he’s fucked you, it’s because it was part of his plan.”

  Lacey could feel blood rushing to her cheeks.

  “He has.” Roman’s hands fisted. Released. Fisted. “You fucked—”

  “You know, there are many reasons why I don’t like you. So many, many reasons.” Dex rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. “The fact that you are standing in front of me, disrespecting my fiancée? That’s currently at the top of my list. Stop it. Or you will regret it.”

  Roman’s eyes blazed as he rushed for Lacey. His hands curled around her arms. “He’s using you.” His hold tightened. “Don’t you see that? You’re a pawn, nothing more. He pulled you in because he wanted to use you in order to get to me. But he miscalculated. My enemies are coming after you. They want you dead. Or hell, maybe it’s his enemies that want you to die. Either way, by bringing you in, he’s put a giant target on your chest.”

  His fingers were digging into her arms. “Get your hands off me.”

  He looked down at her arms. “I…”

  “Now!” Dex shouted. He locked a hand around Roman’s shoulder and hauled him back. Then Dex leveled his stare on Lacey. “You okay?”

  Absolutely, a millio
n times not. She was most certainly not okay.

  He must have read her expression clearly because he locked his fingers around the back of Roman’s neck and shoved him toward the door. “Excuse us for just a moment, Lacey.”

  He forced Roman out of the suite. The door slammed shut behind them.

  Lacey stood there with her knees shaking. Before, she’d gone out of the suite because she wanted to see Roman. She wanted to hear the truth.

  The truth was ugly and twisted. Learning about who had killed her parents hadn’t given her closure. It had broken her heart. Ripped away the memories of a family that she’d treasured.

  Her arms wrapped around her stomach. She had to get the hell out of there. Lacey strode to the bedroom and started packing.

  Maybe I am running and hiding…because it hurts too much to do anything else.

  ***

  “I always knew you were a soulless bastard, Dex, but to use her like this—to make her think you wanted to marry her, that you cared even as you screwed her over—that’s a new low, even for you.”

  Dex kept a very cold smile on his face as he glanced at the two, wide-eyed agents. “Give us five minutes, would you?” He motioned for them to walk away.

  They immediately rushed for the elevator.

  When the area was clear… “I’ve been civil with you so far—”

  “Civil? You nearly broke my jaw!” Roman rubbed a hand over his jaw.

  “I’ve been mostly civil because you are her brother. I happen to know that Lacey values family, so I was trying to exercise care with you.”

  “Care, my ass, you punched—”

  Dex stood toe-to-toe with him. “Drop the bullshit.” His voice was flat. No emotion. “I don’t have time for it. If I wanted, I could make you vanish from this lodge right now—vanish from the face of the freaking planet—and we both know it. Your bodyguard just tried to kill the fiancée of a high-ranking CIA official. I can have you shoved into a hole so dark and deep that no one will find you.”

  Roman licked a drop of blood from his lower lip. “So why haven’t you?”

  “Did you order Heather to attack Lacey?”

  “No! Of course, not! I didn’t tell her to do a damn thing!”