by Maya Banks
Zack advanced, his finger up in his father’s face. “You did that. You did that twelve years ago when you initiated a brutal assault on an innocent young girl for your own selfish gain. I wish to hell you had never been part of my life and that it had been you who left and not my mother or that she would have taken me with her. Because you were probably the worst thing to ever happen to her life and I know you’re the single worst thing that’s ever happened to mine.”
“What the fuck took you so long to check in?” Beau demanded when he answered Zack’s call. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been? This shit doesn’t fly, man. You don’t go off half-cocked solo on some vigilante mission.”
Zack sighed. “I know. I get it, okay? But this was something I had to do. And I didn’t want any of y’all involved in my fucked-up situation.”
“That’s bullshit,” Beau said rudely. “I’m your friend, not just your partner. You have to know I would have had your back no matter what.”
“I do know that,” Zack said quietly. “But some things are private, man. And like I said, this was something I had to do. That had to be done.”
There was a long pause.
“And did you get it taken care of?”
Zack sighed wearily. “Yeah. No. Fuck it all. It will never be okay, but I got the answers I wanted. But if Gracie doesn’t accept that or forgive me then it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing.”
“Is there anything I—we—can do?” Beau asked quietly.
“Just keep Gracie safe until I come back home to her,” Zack said in a soft voice. “I can’t lose her, Beau. And I know it looked like a dick move to cut out on her when she was just beaten nearly to death, but this . . . this had to be done or I will never have a chance to get her back.”
“You don’t have to worry about Gracie,” Beau said adamantly. “She has to go back to the doctor so he can check on her recovery and she needs to refill her prescription for her pain medicine. She’s stubborn and has been refusing to take it but Lizzie and Sterling have been leaning on her, making sure she takes what she needs. She’s been in a lot of pain, and hell, who wouldn’t be after the beating she took? So they’re going to make sure she not only gets the medicine but takes it as well.”
Fear squeezed Zack’s insides at the thought of Gracie leaving the confines of the safe house they’d installed her in, even if it was a necessary evil.
“Make damn sure she’s protected. Those bastards are out there, waiting and watching for another opportunity to strike. Hell, they waited months after the shit that went down with Ari. They aren’t going to give up. They’ve proven that much.”
“She’ll have a full security detail,” Beau reassured. “Private clinic. She needs follow-up X-rays and blood work or we would have had the physician come to her.”
Zack swore. “When is her appointment?”
“Tomorrow morning. Before the clinic opens.”
Damn it. There was no way for him to get back in time to go with her. And, well, he didn’t want their first face-to-face meeting after he’d ducked out to be in public or with others present. Nor would he subject her to the devastation of having to listen as the people who’d abused her so callously admitted to such an atrocity.
“I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. Take care of her for me, man. She’s my entire life.”
“You know I will. You went to the wall for Ari, and I’ll never forget that. I know how you feel. Ari is my life too, and I wouldn’t survive something ever happening to her.”
Zack reluctantly rang off, frustrated by the time it would take to get back to Gracie. He was tempted to just rent a fucking car and drive through the night to get back to her, but he’d still miss her appointment, and he’d be in no mental or physical condition to take her back to hell. Not that he was prepared to brave the bowels of hell either, but one of them had to be strong, and he certainly didn’t expect Gracie to be when she was the one most affected by the events of the past.
He needed to get some sleep so he could catch his early morning flight back to Houston, but he already knew sleep would be a long time coming. He’d never sleep another night until Gracie was back in his arms for good.
TWENTY-SEVEN
ANNA-GRACE sat in the nearly empty waiting room of the doctor whom she’d been referred to for her follow-up appointment. She’d been assured that this doctor was someone DSS used because he was utterly discreet and often made house calls, or, as was the case currently, if he needed access to medical equipment he arranged for times when the clinic was either closed or before it opened to the public. And, well, from what Beau Devereaux had told her, most of his patients were those who had need of complete anonymity, so he didn’t take on “normal” patients. And judging by the posh, expensively decorated waiting area, it didn’t appear that he was hurting for money.
As empty as it was of actual patients, the room was crowded with Eliza, Wade, Dane, Isaac and Coop. There were two others she’d been introduced to but she couldn’t recall their names.
And then there was one other man in the waiting room, who at first she’d assumed was just another person in her ridiculously large security escort. Well, and as silly as it sounded to be surrounded by mountains of testosterone—excluding Eliza, of course, though she was more of a badass than most men!—it did make her feel safer. Especially with Zack gone.
But the man had garnered suspicious glances from the others and raised eyebrows among her security detail as though they had no liking for his presence.
But he was inconspicuous and didn’t pay any heed to the rather large contingent of fierce-looking men surrounding him.
Arrogant bitch. The whole lot of them think they’re invincible.
Anna-Grace’s head snapped up, her mouth dropping in surprise at the sound that had popped out of nowhere, but not a single person in the room reacted in any way to the terse, angry statement. In fact, they acted as if they hadn’t heard it.
So smug. They think they can get the best of us. They have no idea of our resources or what we’re capable of. And the ballsy bitch who works for them needs to be taken down a notch or two.
There was a sound of triumphant glee that accompanied the next statement.
She’ll soon find out that she’s not as invincible as she thinks she is. It’s a lesson I’m very much looking forward to.
Gracie’s graze swept over the occupants of the waiting room, convinced that someone was having a cell phone conversation and not being in the least concerned with being overheard. But again, she saw nothing to indicate anyone using a phone. Not even the hands-free kind.
And then her gaze settled on the other side of the waiting room, where the man she’d been observing hadn’t changed position. He stared intently at Eliza, his jaw ticking with agitation, while the others all were expressionless and seemed bored.
Was she going crazy? Was she ultra-paranoid after her attack and the traumatic sequence of events of the last few days? Had she reached her emotional limit?
It was almost as if . . . She shook her head. No, that was even crazier. She had lost her ability to read minds twelve years ago and hadn’t missed that gift in the least. Clearly she was imagining it all.
All went quiet in her mind and she was convinced that she’d imagined the entire thing but then she was instantly flooded with images—horrifying images of Eliza lying on her back with some sort of cloth over her face and someone pouring water over it.
She couldn’t keep the revulsion from her face, and Dane immediately picked up on the change in her demeanor. He was sitting closest to her and leaned over, concern flaring in his eyes.
“What’s wrong, Gracie? Are you in pain?”
She shook her head, unable to formulate the words to explain her reaction. How could she? Instead she put up her hand to wave him off and carefully schooled her expression so that he’d know she was okay.
To her profound relief, the door opened and a cheerful-looking young nurse motioned for Anna-Grace to come back. S
he stood so quickly that she nearly fell over, and would have if Dane hadn’t lunged for her, wrapping one strong arm around her to steady her.
“Careful now,” he murmured. “Take it nice and slow.”
Eliza stepped to Anna-Grace’s other side. “Do you want me to go back with you?”
Unspoken was the question of whether she’d feel more comfortable with another female in the exam room with her instead of a man or men she didn’t even know.
She nodded because she was suddenly besieged by the desire to have Eliza close, not because she herself was scared, but because the terrifying images she’d had involving Eliza made her fear for Eliza.
Dane frowned. “Of course, we won’t go into the exam room with you, Gracie, and yes, I do think it’s a good idea for you to have Lizzie there with you, but someone will be posted outside the door as well as at any exit and entry points.”
“That’s fine,” Anna-Grace said faintly. “You can let go now, Dane. I’m all right. Truly. I just stood too quickly. I can make it on my own.”
Dane looked doubtful but he relinquished his hold on her and shot a look at Eliza that clearly said, “Help her.”
Eliza kindly curled her arm around Gracie’s waist and eased her to where the nurse stood in the open door. As soon as they were through, the nurse started to close the door but not before Dane and Wade pushed through the door too, startling the nurse.
Then Dane turned and secured the lock so no one could gain access.
The nurse started to open her mouth to protest but was silenced under Dane’s chilly stare. “She goes nowhere without us. We will take position outside the exam room. I trust there are no windows or alternative entries or exits from the room she’ll be in?”
The nurse vigorously shook her head and stammered out a no.
Dane nodded. “Good then. Show Gracie to her room so we can get this over with and get her back home so she can rest and recover.”
The doctor briskly and efficiently checked her over and proclaimed that she was fast on the mend with only bruises to show for her ordeal. He said it in a tone that suggested she was lucky. Forgive her, but she didn’t exactly feel lucky to have been beaten senseless by a bunch of thugs, regardless of whether they’d intended to kill her or not.
Fifteen minutes later, they were on their way and Gracie anxiously looked for the man who’d been in the waiting room with them. But he was nowhere to be seen. Had the nurse called him back to a room after she’d called Gracie?
She couldn’t shake her sense of unease, nor did the imprint of those voices—thoughts—leave. They were still strong in the waiting area, and she shivered involuntarily, which only made Dane frown harder.
“Did they even check her for a fever?” Dane demanded, though he directed his question to Eliza, not Gracie herself.
“They gave her the full physical,” Eliza responded, a hint of amusement in her voice.
She looked at Gracie with a sympathetic look only females shared when encountering a forceful, dominant man. Then she rolled her eyes, and Gracie had to choke back her laughter.
Dane scowled. “Then why the hell is she shivering? She looks like she’s freezing to death.”
“Well,” Eliza drawled out. “It could be the weather. It’s a might chilly today. Or it could be the fact that she was only recently brutally attacked, is not only still hurting from that attack but is scared shitless that she isn’t in a more secure place and not out in the open.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Or maybe she’s just afraid of you and your broody-ass expressions. Take your pick.”
Gracie bit into her bottom lip, wondering how she could possibly find humor in something as macabre as her situation. And leaning on the very last people she would have ever accepted help from. Zack’s friends. Acquaintances. Coworkers or whatever he considered them. That he had a connection at all with them should have sent her on the run after that very first encounter with Zack.
But Wade had talked her down, ever the reasonable, unflappable one. And coldly dangerous. However, she’d known that had she not seen the light and realized that Wade was right about her needing to stop running and to embrace the life she’d made for herself, he would have helped her if she’d truly wanted to relocate somewhere else. All she would have had to do was ask.
Perhaps it was the stubborn streak in her. And . . . well . . . recent events had her questioning every single thing she’d been made to believe for the last twelve years. Zack had been utterly devastated and so enraged that in that moment she truly did fear him. Not that he’d hurt her. And that was insane enough after what he purportedly did. No, she feared he would kill every last man who had a part in her rape. And that gave her no joy. No sense of justice. Because it meant that Zack would have to pay the price, just as she’d had to pay the price for more than a decade, and she wouldn’t wish that on her worst enemy. Whether he’d betrayed her or not.
She opened her mouth to ask a question and froze because she sounded too . . . eager. And she wanted to remain indifferent. As if none of this mattered. Particularly Zack. She knew enough about herself to know she’d never love another man as she’d loved Zack. Sixteen or not, she’d know—known—that he was it for her. Every time she looked at him, she saw forever in his eyes and when she read his thoughts. God, they were bursting with love. So much love and pride. And possession.
She had belonged to him. The only person she’d every truly belonged to. And he’d belonged to her.
So what had happened?
None of this was adding up!
There was no faking the gut-wrenching grief and regret in Zack’s face when she’d told him what happened. He hadn’t been able to speak and when he had, tears had rolled down his cheeks and he’d crawled to her, unable to stand. A proud, arrogant, dominant male, crawling to her just so he could gently touch her face. So he could apologize and beg forgiveness for something he’d sworn to her he hadn’t done.
None of this made any sense in her already senseless world. The only question that stood out to her during this whole thing was . . .
What if he hadn’t done it? And what if because she ran from him twelve years ago without hearing his side of the story, he now hated her every bit as much as she’d hated him?
She closed her eyes and warm tears slid soundlessly down her cheeks. That one word held a wealth of meaning. Capitulation. Surrender. Admittance of wrongdoing. God. Was she crazy?
She had said she’d hated him. Past tense. As if that were no longer the case and she loved him still. Did she? Had she ever truly stopped loving him even in the darkest moments of her grief and despair? It was a question that disturbed her on many levels.
But the one thing that kept creeping into her consciousness, despite her best effort to keep it at bay, was the fact that he’d been so vehement in his denial that he’d had any part in her rape. And God, he’d seemed so sincere. What if she’d been wrong? All these years?
Nausea and unease churned in her stomach.
“Gracie?”
Eliza’s soft voice interrupted the volatile mix of Gracie’s thoughts. “I know you’re upset, but please just give Zack a chance. He’ll be home in a few hours. His flight was delayed and he was furious because he wanted to be here for your doctor’s appointment. But he’s coming.”
Gracie’s thoughts immediately shifted to Eliza as overwhelming fear and anxiety swept over Gracie. Should she tell Eliza what she’d “heard”? And had she heard anything at all except her own scrambled imagination?
She bit into her lip, not knowing what she should do. Wondering if she was losing her mind after so long trying to keep it together and survive.
“Gracie?”
This time it was Wade who softly spoke her name. There was concern and a slight edge to the softness. She glanced up to see his eyes sharp, taking in every aspect of her appearance, almost as if he were reading her thoughts.
But he didn’t need her gift to read people. He was very discerning and had an uncanny
knack for reading people. Their intent. Whether they posed a threat or not. And given that she was the only person he’d allowed close, to her knowledge, she must have some way passed his scrutiny.
Several things came to her at once. Voices. Random echoes. It overwhelmed her and she clamped her hands over her ears as if to somehow shut out the barrage of thoughts around her. Oh God. She wasn’t crazy. It was coming back.
She closed her eyes tightly, because given a choice between the two, she would have preferred to be crazy.
TWENTY-EIGHT
GRACIE paced the interior of the safe house, tension growing increasingly more difficult to bear. Her palms were sweaty, her pulse raced and her respirations were rapid and light, making her dizzy.
Where was Eliza?
They’d split off several hours ago as they’d left the clinic. Eliza had stated she needed to retrieve her laptop from her home, run by the office to do some digging and then she would be back at guard duty at the safe house. She anticipated an hour and a half, two at the most. That had been four hours ago.
Gracie had a very sick feeling that she wasn’t crazy. That she had recovered some of her powers and that everything she’d “heard” in the doctor’s office was indeed directed at Eliza.
She glanced Isaac’s way. He’d been given guard duty in Eliza’s absence. He didn’t seem unruffled or worried in the least. Wade, however, wore a grim expression and seemed deep in thought. Was he worried like Gracie was? Or was he contemplating something altogether different?
There was at least one other DSS agent outside the house. Where, she wasn’t sure. But she knew he was carefully watching the house. It should make her feel safe, but she couldn’t rid herself of the horrible feeling that she was no longer even a target and that the focus had now been shifted to Eliza.
What if she was already in the hands of the people who’d abducted and beaten Gracie, and by account, had also taken and done grievous harm to Ari, Beau Devereaux’s wife?
Her pacing sped up and she turned quick turns, walking back and forth in a short line, her mind trying to come up with a possible solution. If she just blurted out to Isaac that she used to be able to read minds, but then couldn’t—but oh wait, now all of a sudden she seemed to be regaining her power, and oh, by the way, I think Eliza is in great danger—he’d think she was a raving lunatic.
Not to mention if she got them all hot and bothered and focused on Eliza and something did happen, Gracie would be responsible.
And yet the growing dread wouldn’t leave her. It only swelled until her chest was constricted and she could barely draw breath. The images of Eliza had horrified her. Was that what she was enduring even now?
She shook her head. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—simply shake this off. Eliza had been kind to her, had put her life on the line to protect someone she didn’t even know. She was loyal to Gracie because, in her words, Gracie was important to Zack, thus it made Gracie important to the rest of DSS. Gracie wouldn’t reward such selflessness by remaining silent out of fear of being wrong or thought a lunatic.
An idea popped into her head, so crazy and ridiculous that it was absolutely . . . brilliant. Her breath hitched in excitement. Of course! She knew exactly how it could be determined if Eliza had been kidnapped, if she was suffering. And they certainly had the tools to mount a full-scale assault and take out every single person responsible for the harm that had come to DSS, as well as take out anyone associated with them.
And it had nothing to do with a single DSS agent. No, the real power and skill for this operation was in the women who’d married DSS agents: Ramie, who could discern Eliza’s location by simply touching an object belonging to Eliza; and Ari, whose powers were enormous and not even fully tapped yet. There was no telling just what she was capable of, but she’d already taken on these men once, and annihilated an entire compound in the process. And Gracie . . . Her powers weren’t as awe-inspiring or as helpful as Ramie’s and Ari’s, but she could read minds, and if there was pertinent information to be had, a way to bring about the complete end to this madness, then she could be of some small help.
Her gaze leapt to Isaac. From all Eliza had imparted, getting to Ramie was as hopeless as getting into Fort Knox undetected. She bit her teeth into her lip and then glanced Wade’s way. Wade’s allegiance wasn’t with DSS. It was with her. It was why he was here. And . . . Gracie knew in her heart, though she chose to deny it, Wade was not always a good man. He was steeped in shadows and had connections no ordinary man should ever have.
But she’d never questioned him. In truth, she didn’t want the answers. She preferred to live in ignorant bliss and consider him the friend he’d indeed become.
Wade turned as if sensing her gaze and his eyes sharpened as he stared at her. Then he glanced Isaac’s way, as if knowing Gracie had something on her mind she wouldn’t want the DSS agent to hear.
He headed toward Gracie and tucked his hand underneath her elbow and gently guided her into the bedroom he occupied, leaving Isaac alone in the living room. He didn’t shut the door. It would likely arouse suspicion, but he took Gracie into the bathroom, to the farthest point away from others.
“What’s wrong?” he asked bluntly.
Gracie swallowed. “Wade, if I asked you . . .” She sucked in a deep breath. “If I asked you to do something no questions asked, would you do it?”
His gaze narrowed even further as he studied her. Then, as if reaching a decision, he simply said, “Yes, of course. Name it.”
Her shoulders sagged in relief. “I need to get in touch with Ramie and Ari Devereaux. Eliza is in great danger, Wade. I shouldn’t have waited this long. God, if she’s been hurt or killed, it’s my fault. But I didn’t believe that my power had come back. I questioned it. But I can’t wait another minute and the only two people who can help are Ramie and Ari. And their husbands can’t know
