“I agreed to come with you,” I said, hoping he chalked up the anxiety in my voice to the past few hours. “I didn’t agree to be put under lock and key with your whole family.”
Because that had to be where we were. When your family now owned one of the most prestigious tech research firms, they could afford this kind of luxury. And security. I should feel safe behind those gates. Too bad someone far worse than Ross lived behind them too.
Remi let the car roll to a stop in the middle of the long driveway. “My family isn’t who you need to fear, Leah.”
“I beg to differ.” Even if I was starting to believe Remi might not be involved in Brooke’s abduction, I was a hundred percent certain his brother was fully capable of it. He’d kidnapped me before, after all.
To take care of his comatose brother. Remi had needed to be moved from the hospital after someone tried to finish the job they had started with the gunshot wound that almost killed him.
My head knew all that, but all I could remember were Levi’s eyes. Those eyes had been dead, terrifying. They’d frozen me from the inside out. Being raised by a tough man had given me a certain amount of bravado, but I’d known the first time I saw Levi that he’d kill me and not blink an eye. He’d simply needed me at the time.
He didn’t need me now. And Remi was taking me into the lion’s den.
Remi reached across my lap, startling me. When the glove compartment popped open, he rummaged inside and pulled out a pen. Then he grabbed my hand.
“Remi, what—” I yanked my arm back, but the tug-of-war was short-lived. Turning my hand over, he wrote a series of numbers on the back.
“What are those?”
Remi clicked the pen off and tossed it back in the glove box, then slammed it closed. “That’s the security code for the gate.”
I eyed the black ink on my skin. Sure, it might get me out of the gate, but what about the house? Their surveillance? “I—”
Remi slammed both hands against the steering wheel. I jerked in my seat.
“I know you don’t want my help, okay? You’ve made that loud and clear.” Remi stared out the windshield, his profile fierce with anger and something else I didn’t understand. “For once could you just let someone help you without arguing? Because I’m the best shot you’ve got at getting her back, Leah.” He turned, his gaze searing into me. “I will absolutely get her back to you. I promise.”
I don’t trust promises from men like you. I had told him that once. The memory of those words lay between us in a kind of pregnant silence that Remi broke when he reached to cup my chin.
I flinched.
Remi frowned, his thumb gliding over my skin. I tried to ignore it, to tell myself I didn’t feel anything. I tried to lie to myself—and couldn’t.
“This is not like the last time,” he finally said. “I know Levi used you, but not to hurt you; to keep me safe. I would’ve died without you.” His gaze drifted to his thumb, stroking, stroking, stroking. “Let me repay that debt.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Remi.” He hadn’t been the one who kidnapped me.
“I owe you more than you know.”
He dropped his hand and took his foot off the brake. The car rolled forward.
I didn’t protest again.
He was wrong about one thing—I couldn’t leave if I wanted to, not till my phone was back in my possession. And even then, where would I go?
My only consolation right now was knowing Ross was the one holding Brooke. I knew him, knew he wouldn’t physically hurt her, just as he’d refused to hurt me seven years ago. Unlike some of Santo Fiori’s other men. My baby was scared and alone but—for now, at least—she wouldn’t come to harm. That didn’t mean I would be anything but scared shitless until she was back in my arms again.
The massive front doors opened as Remi pulled the SUV to a stop in front of them. And there was Levi. I had to admit, he had the kind of dark good looks that helped you understand why the devil was the god of temptation. I had seen him with Abby Roslyn several times in the news since he’d stepped up to claim his family legacy, donating stunning amounts to local charities. A tux gave him just enough refinement that I could almost believe Abby had tamed him. Almost.
Except the eyes didn’t lie. And if there was one thing I knew with absolute certainty, it was that suits and uniforms didn’t make you a good guy.
Levi seemed intent on proving my point as he barged down the shallow steps to the driveway. He drew up short when I opened my door and stepped out.
Nice to know something can take you by surprise, big guy.
“What the fuck is she doing here?”
Remi rounded the SUV with lazy grace, but I knew better than to trust the seemingly casual approach. The tension in the air reminded me of two bulls facing off, ready to gore each other to the death.
The sight actually calmed me like nothing else could. Sure, they might be acting for my benefit, but I didn’t think so. Levi hadn’t known I was coming. Remi hadn’t told him, and looked ready to fight to get me inside.
Don’t believe it, girl. Just don’t. I’d learned my lesson about bad boys with Angelo. And yet I couldn’t deny the warmth creeping into my body in places that should stay ice-cold around Remi.
Yes, I really was a total idiot.
“She’s here because I brought her here,” Remi said.
Levi’s curses had me going tense again.
“Why, for fuck’s sake?” He glared at me. “This is our home, Remi. Our safe place. Why would you bring an outsider here?”
Remi’s lips tightened as if holding back words. I shifted a leg back, bracing myself, though I wasn’t sure what for.
“Her daughter was kidnapped,” Remi finally said.
Levi cursed again—that seemed to be his primary mode of communication today, though I knew he was capable of far more—and scrubbed a hand over his face. “That doesn’t mean you have to bring her here.”
“Leah, grab your bags.”
“Remi—”
Remi charged toward his brother, and I hurried to bury my head in the SUV. He’d insisted I pack some things, so I had a small suitcase, a backpack with things for Brooke—which I would need, very soon, I promised myself—and my purse. By the time I had gathered it all and shut the back hatch, Levi was throwing his hands up and turning for the doors. Remi ignored him and came to take the suitcase and backpack out of my hands.
“Thank you.” For taking on my burdens or defending me to Levi, I wasn’t sure, but I had precious little to be thankful for right now, so I’d take either one.
Remi grunted a reply before ushering me inside.
The double doors opened onto a wide-open foyer that blended into living areas on both sides. Lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, the whole place was flooded with light. I caught my breath at the beauty of it. Only money could capture elegance and warmth the way this house captured it. I had been raised on a cop’s salary by a single dad; money had been scarce, as had beauty like this.
Remi whisked me through the open space to a staircase, past the second floor to a third. We turned right toward a long hallway with several doors opposite darkly tinted windows. Remi led me to the first one.
Inside was a room in soft cream with blue bedding and drapes. “This is my wing,” Remi said. “Eli has the opposite side, and the second floor is Abby and Levi’s.”
“I’ll avoid that floor.”
Remi ran a hand through his thick hair, his raised arm once again drawing my eyes to thickly cut biceps. “Levi’s protective of his family.”
“I got that when he ordered Eli to kidnap me from the hospital after I helped get you out.”
“I’m sorry.”
And he was—I could read the regret in his eyes. “Don’t be. You didn’t take me away from my daughter; you were unconscious.”
“And now someone has taken your daughter from you.”
I shrugged, desperate to hide the surge of fear that rose whenever Brooke entered my mind
. If I was paranoid, I might wonder why these things kept happening to me. There was no reason to wonder, though. I knew exactly why Ross had come for me. The answer to that question had come far before Brooke was born. What I didn’t know was what to do about it.
I glanced around the sparse but elegant room. “I know who you are, you know,” I said softly, carefully. “I saw the story a few months ago about your parents on the news.” My hands fisted in my pockets. “I never said anything.”
“I know.”
Of course they did. If I’d said something to the authorities, they would’ve been notified. Money guaranteed certain privileges.
“So now you live here. Doing…what?”
What was I trying to ask him? If his brother still killed people for a living? Were they all retired? I shouldn’t want to know, but I did.
“Yes, we live here now.” Remi grinned, the curve of his lips causing my heart to skip a beat. “Just your average, everyday millionaire family.” He shrugged. “You know how that goes.”
I definitely didn’t. “Millionaires with plenty of skeletons in your closets,” I couldn’t resist adding.
Probably literal skeletons. Remi’s family company had been the site of a shooting a few months ago, the former CEO of Hacr Tech the victim. Police had blamed the incident on an embezzlement scheme gone wrong and arrested the family lawyer. If the man had embezzled from the family, I had a feeling the lawyer would be the last person delivering justice.
Remi set my bags on the bed. “Or in the basement.”
I refused to ask if the house had a basement. I really didn’t want to know any more than I already did. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
So why did I keep asking questions?
“Get a shower, change,” Remi told me. Without another glance, he headed for the door. “I have a few things I need to check. Then we’ve got to talk, Leah, and I mean really talk.” Hand on the doorknob, he turned to look at me. “You need to tell me everything you know about this man and what he wants. No secrets. I can’t help you if you keep secrets from me.”
He left the room, the door clicking shut behind him. I stared at it for a long time, wondering what to tell him. How to tell him. I’d prayed this day would never come, when my past returned to haunt me, but there was no getting around it.
Getting Brooke back meant revealing everything. I had nowhere else to turn, no one else who could help me. I just prayed Remi didn’t use what he learned against me.
Chapter Five
Remi —
Seeing her here, in the house I’d grown up in, the house we’d made our home in the last few months, was a kick to the gut. I wouldn’t pretend I hadn’t fantasized about it, usually in the aftermath of a far more visceral fantasy, but no way in hell had I ever believed it would happen. I’d never have wished for a little girl to be stolen away from her mother, but I wouldn’t be sorry that Leah was here with me.
Even if it meant facing off with my big brother. Levi had only backed off because I had promised to explain everything as soon as I got Leah settled. Which meant I was headed down to the bat cave right now.
Yes, we called our basement office the bat cave.
We had lived out of so many safe houses through the years, never putting down roots, always ready to abandon everything at a moment’s notice. It still felt surreal to realize it would literally take an army to breach this place, that we could actually relax here. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it. I found myself leaving as often as I could, unable to get rid of the itch between my shoulder blades. My brothers, though, seemed to have settled right in.
Which was why Levi was so pissed about having a guest.
The elevator whisked me down to the basement level with no more than a whisper of movement. Stainless steel doors opened on a room with soft blue walls and enough recessed lighting that a cave was the last thing I thought of when I saw it. It wasn’t the room itself that gave us the name—it was what was in it.
Every possible piece of high-tech equipment known to man. Screens scattered along the walls with active maps, data streaming, and surveillance. A massive walk-in safe built into one wall, serving as a weapons locker that was every mercenary’s wet dream.
And an electronics corner with all the latest gaming equipment. A man had to have a few vices. Or Eli did, anyway.
I strode over to the couch where my younger brother sat, controller in hand, eyes glued to the flaming race car on the screen. A smack upside the head got his attention.
“Hey!”
“Need you, bro,” I said.
“We got another job?” He paused the game and tossed his controller onto the low coffee table. “I’d be surprised if Levi lets you off the chain again for a very long time after jumping the gun on Mr. Clarkson.”
“News spreads fast.” Although maybe not fast enough, since Eli hadn’t mentioned Leah. “Not another job. Come with me.”
The sound of the elevator doors opening preceded Levi’s furious stride across the concrete floor. Abby had insisted on rugs in several places “to keep the place from becoming as frigid as a meat locker,” to which Levi had replied that his meat was never cold—and Eli and I had gagged him—but the rest of the room was still polished concrete. Sometimes you just needed noisy boots on solid rock to get your aggression out.
Levi more than most of us.
I braced myself.
“All this time, it was the fucking nurse? That’s who you were jerkin’ off for?”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than I had a forearm across his throat and his body slammed against the cinder block wall. Levi was big, we all were, but I carried twenty pounds more muscle than either of my brothers and I wasn’t afraid to throw it around when necessary.
Levi choked, his eyes flashing with anger, but he didn’t fight back. I almost wished he would.
I leaned in close. “Never disrespect her again. Got me?” He would never allow us to say something like that about Abby. Leah might not be here for long, but she’d been mine since the moment I first opened my eyes and met hers. No one would insult her in front of me.
Levi raised his hands out to his sides. “I got you,” he croaked.
I leaned in harder for good measure before letting him go.
“What nurse?” Eli asked.
“Leah Marrone,” I said.
Eli’s eyes became saucers. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” Why did everyone find it so hard to believe that the woman I was interested in was Leah?
Maybe because she’s far too normal for you. Or because she’s seen your family’s bad side, and no way would she willingly come back.
I knew that better than anyone.
Levi cleared his throat. “Fill us in, Remi.”
“Her daughter was kidnapped.”
“What the hell?” Eli shoved a hand through the thick blond hair that was a twin to mine. “How?”
Levi shook his head. “We’ll get to that.” His gray gaze bored into me, drilling deep with ice-cold precision. That look had kept me in line when we were only young punks living on the streets; now he used it to make me spill my guts. “Tell me about her.”
I stared at my brothers. I trusted them with my life, always had. But Leah… She’d been my secret for so long. Not because I was ashamed or guilty, but because she’d been a dream, something I knew I’d never really have. Why bother talking about it?
Now… I wanted to. I needed to.
I walked to the conference table and took a seat. My brothers followed.
“I—” Shit. Now that the time had come, I had no clue how to explain the unexplainable. “I couldn’t forget her,” I finally said. Completely inadequate, but…
“Then why haven’t we seen her since?” Eli asked. We—or rather, Eli and Levi—had released her as soon as I awoke from the coma and stabilized.
I snorted. “Right. I’ll just walk up to her and ask for a date. ‘Really, my brothers are okay guys. I know they kidnapped y
ou, but give me a chance.’”
Eli grinned at my falsetto explanation. “Why not?”
But it was Levi who studied me, seeing far more than I was ready to reveal. “You’ve been following her.”
I dropped my gaze to the tabletop. Men like us, assassins, weren’t supposed to have weaknesses. And a woman you can’t stop thinking about, can’t control the urge to be near, was a hell of a weakness.
“Yes.”
Levi didn’t curse; I’d almost rather he did. Silence said he was thinking far too hard.
“What happened to her daughter?” Eli asked, seeming oblivious to our older brother’s stony look.
While I explained what I knew, I could see Levi working it out in his brain, see Eli’s fingers twitch with the need to start digging. In a sense this was what we did. Yes, that usually involved killing people, but it was more about justice than murder or money. That was how Levi had raised us, how he had maintained his integrity when he’d had no one to rely on but himself.
Never harm the innocent. The guilty are fair game.
“We need to get a cleaner to Leah’s, move the nanny’s body to her home,” I said finally.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Levi said, voice gravelly. “Where is your surveillance?”
Of course he’d know; he always knew. “Upstairs.”
He jerked a nod. “Reroute it down here, ASAP. Have you got outside only or—”
“Outside only.” I had refused to let myself go so far as to invade the privacy of Leah’s home. Probably a ridiculous line to draw since I had essentially been stalking her, but… I gave a mental shrug as I moved to a bank of computers and got to work.
A few minutes later the footage taken at the time of the kidnapping was up and ready to go.
Levi planted a fist on the desk next to Eli, with me on the other side. “Roll it.”
Assassin's Heart (Assassins Book 4) Page 3
