by Lisa Childs
When Nikki stepped into Emilia’s office minutes after talking to Cole, she found her pale and shaky, staring down at her cell phone. And she asked her the same thing, “What the hell’s going on?”
Emilia jumped as if she hadn’t heard her enter. Her pale blue eyes widened with fear, but she quickly blinked it away. Then she reached for her wrist, which was bandaged.
And a wave of nausea crashed over Nikki. She felt so sick her knees threatened to fold. “You didn’t...”
“No!” Emilia said with such indignation that Nikki believed her. Almost.
“But you’ve been acting so strangely...”
“I am not suicidal,” Emilia insisted.
Nikki narrowed her eyes and studied her fiancé’s sister. Her face was flushed now—with anger. “Then what happened? And you damn well better not lie to me!”
Hearing her own words, Nikki froze with dread. Damn, she sounded like her mother. Most of the time Penny Payne was the sweetest woman—except when someone lied to her. Then she got pissed.
Once Nikki had learned Penny’s husband had fathered a son with another woman, she’d understood her mother’s need for honesty. Nikki was finding in herself the same intolerance to dishonesty that she’d seen her mother display.
Emilia stared at her for several long moments before shaking her head.
“Not telling me is the same as lying,” Nikki said and flinched as she heard the echo of her mother’s words again. Now she understood why her brothers had given her a wooden plaque for her birthday that said: Sometimes when I open my mouth my mother comes out.
A sigh slipped through Emilia’s lips, one that fortunately sounded like a sigh of resignation. “Okay, but you can’t tell Lars.”
Nikki made no such promise. She wasn’t going to keep anything from her fiancé. Well, anything more...
She hadn’t shared all her fears about his sister with Lars because he was already so worried about Emilia. Once he saw her bandaged wrist...
He would probably have the poor girl committed. And Emilia didn’t look crazy. In fact she seemed more focused than Nikki had ever seen her before.
“What’s been going on with you?” she asked. “Tell me everything.”
A torrent of words poured from Emilia along with a few tears that spilled from her beautiful eyes. Hearing what the girl had gone through, Nikki felt tears sting her own eyes. But she blinked them back and focused on Emilia.
The young woman stopped and stared at her. “Do you believe me?”
Nikki picked up the cell phone from the desk. She wished she’d investigated it earlier when the caterer and bartender had told her about Emilia making those late-night calls. She should have known Emilia loved her mother too much to risk messing up her special day. “Your keys went missing for a while,” she said. “What about your phone?”
Emilia nodded. “I lost it around the house a few times. Just thought I was distracted.”
Like Nikki had thought. But now she realized what she should have before. “Someone cloned your phone.”
Emilia gasped. “What? How is that possible?”
“Put duplicate SIM cards in each.” She sighed. “It’s actually pretty easy.” She’d done it to her brothers’ before, when she’d suspected they were withholding information. Like Emilia had been.
“Damn it,” she said, angry over what someone had put her would-be sister-in-law through. “You should have told us earlier what was going on.”
Emilia shook her head. “I already put you and Lars through enough.”
Nikki pulled the girl into a hug. “That’s because we love you and want to be there for you.” She touched Emilia’s wrist. “You could have been killed.”
“Dane rescued me,” Emilia said. “He arrived just in time.”
“Where the hell is he now?” Nikki asked.
“He’s trying to find the person he thinks is responsible for all of this,” Emilia said, and all the color drained from her face again, leaving her almost deathly pale but for the dark circles beneath her eyes.
“And who does he think that is?” And why the hell hadn’t he had Nikki help him investigate? Nikki had solved more of the mysteries for the Payne Protection Agency than all her brothers combined. She’d also been the one who’d found Emilia when everyone else had given her up for dead.
“Dane thinks it’s Blue’s father.”
“Dane thinks that,” Nikki said, repeating her words, “but what do you think?”
“I thought Dane was wrong,” Emilia admitted before uttering a ragged sigh, “until I just talked to Bradley. He’s in River City.”
Every protective instinct kicking in, Nikki stepped closer to Emilia and to the baby asleep in the crib next to her. “Well, you’re not going to see him.”
“I have to.”
“You’re not going alone.” She felt sick, knowing what she should have done. She should have told her fiancé her concerns and she should have already called him here to learn what had been going on with his sister.
Emilia shivered but shook her head. “No... I can’t believe it’s Bradley.”
“You can’t take any chances,” Nikki said. “So Lars will go with you. We need to tell him what’s going on with you.”
Emilia shook her head. “No way. Not unless you want your wedding venue to be a prison yard. If he goes with me, he’ll kill Brad for sure. And he’ll wind up in prison.”
Nikki opened her mouth, but she couldn’t argue. Emilia knew her brother too well. Lars probably would kill the guy even if he hadn’t been the one terrorizing her. He would kill him for using his sister and casting her aside. “You’re right.”
“I’m going with her,” a deep voice murmured.
She tensed. But it wasn’t Lars—thankfully—who’d joined them in Emilia’s office. It was Dane. But he appeared more intense than Nikki had ever seen him. Even with him going instead of Lars, she didn’t like Blue’s dad’s chances for survival.
* * *
“You should have stayed back at the chapel with Nikki and Cole,” Dane said as he pulled his truck into the parking lot of the Lakeside Inn.
He should have stopped Emilia from coming along with him. But she sat in the passenger’s seat, her hands tightly clenched in her lap. Why couldn’t he refuse her anything—even for her own protection?
“I have to be here,” she said.
She wouldn’t have had to. Once Dane had traced Bradley Zeinstra’s credit card to this hotel, he should have just confronted the man alone. But he’d stopped by to talk to Emilia first, to make sure she was safe.
She had been safe, but she’d also been determined to talk to her baby’s father. So if he hadn’t brought her, she would have called Bradley back and found him herself.
It was better that they come together, better for Dane to protect her. And to gauge what her feelings were for her old boyfriend. He wasn’t sure why it was so important for him to know, but the desire burned inside him, like the desire he felt for her.
He wanted to touch her again. Wanted to kiss her. But he held himself back from reaching for her. He was already too involved—with her and with her son.
Hell, he’d been too involved since the minute Lars had showed him her picture. If only she wasn’t so damned beautiful...
It wasn’t just her beauty that drew him. There was a sweetness about her he’d never known before.
She inhaled an unsteady breath. “Are we going in?”
He’d rather leave her in the truck, but he didn’t have backup. There was no one to watch out for her. Cole had been called away for an actual bodyguard assignment and so had Manny.
Dane had turned down the job when Cooper had called him. He’d admitted he had a more important case he’d taken on himself.
Emilia was the most impor
tant.
That was why he couldn’t leave her alone and unprotected. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
He sighed. “Yeah, we’re going in...” Before he opened the truck door, he patted his holster. His gun was there and ready to fire.
Bradley Zeinstra wouldn’t hurt her ever again.
They didn’t need to stop at the front desk and ask for the room number. Dane already had it. Hell, they didn’t even have to go inside the inn. Brad had rented one of the separate cabins that were closer to Lake Michigan.
Emilia glanced at the sparkling surface of the lake. “He told me he was in the city.”
But the lake was a good twenty-minute drive from the urban metropolis of River City.
Dane shrugged.
“But then I should have known better than to believe anything he said,” Emilia added.
Now there was bitterness in her sweet voice. Dane couldn’t tell if there was anything else, if she had any unresolved feelings for the man.
He’d given her a child, the son she loved so much. They shared a connection that Dane would never have with her. Something churned inside him, but it took him a second to identify the sick feeling as jealousy. He hadn’t felt it in years, not since he was a kid envying his friends who had parents who obviously loved them.
Dane had accepted then that he wouldn’t be loved. That he wasn’t loveable. It was fine then. And it would be now.
As they drew closer to the blue cabin marked with the number 5, Emilia reached out and clutched his arm. She had to be nervous about seeing Bradley again.
But then she screamed as a figure emerged from the cabin and ran toward them. The guy was dressed in black, with a hood drawn tightly around his masked face.
“That’s him!” she yelled as the guy ran past them.
Bradley? Dane had no time to ask before he chased after the black-clothed man. This was how she had described the intruder, the one who’d tried to slash her wrist.
It had to be Zeinstra. But whoever it was, Dane intended to catch and stop him. He drew his gun. But before he could squeeze the trigger, he heard another scream.
It came from behind him, from where he’d left Emilia frozen in fear near that cabin. The scream was full of fear and horror.
Despite his best intentions, Dane had left her alone and unprotected. And apparently this guy, who had disappeared while Dane had turned back, wasn’t working alone.
His partner must have grabbed Emilia. Giving up the chase, Dane ran back toward the cabin. He only hoped that this time, he wasn’t too late to save her.
Chapter 15
A hand was pressed over Emilia’s mouth to hold back another scream. It was her hand trembling against her lips as she tried to contain her horror. Seeing the masked man again had been terrifying enough.
But seeing what he’d done...
Brad sat on the ground, his back pressed up against the wall he must have slid down leaving a trail of crimson to stain the white beadboard. His head was slumped against his shoulder, his eyes open and blank as he stared up at her.
But it was the handle of the knife protruding from his chest that affected her the most. It was the teal-blue handle from the set in her kitchen. It was the knife that had cut her wrist, and now it was buried to the teal hilt in Brad’s chest. Blood gurgled from the wound and spread across his once white T-shirt.
Another scream threatened as the horror overwhelmed her. It burned in the back of her throat. And when strong hands closed over her shoulders, it escaped through her lips and her trembling fingers.
Had the man returned? Did he intend to kill her now like he’d killed Brad?
She lashed out, swinging her arms. But those strong hands gripped her firmly. And she recognized that touch.
“Dane...” She gasped his name with relief. The masked man hadn’t killed him.
He turned her in his arms, spinning her to face him. “What’s wrong?” he asked, as he cupped her tear-dampened cheek. “Are you okay?”
No. She wasn’t. She wasn’t sure she would ever be okay again.
“Did you stop him?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, he got away.” He stared down into her face, his eyes dark with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked again. “Why did you scream?”
She stepped aside, so he could see the body slumped against the wall.
“Who is that?” he asked. “Do you know?”
“That’s Bradley,” she explained. “That’s Blue’s dad. Was...”
That was Blue’s dad. Bradley Zeinstra was dead.
Over a year ago, when he hadn’t returned her calls and texts and she’d realized he’d only been using her, she had wished him dead. Once. Guilt flashed through her now over how childishly she’d reacted. Sure, he’d been an ass. But she’d been too naive.
She wasn’t naive anymore.
And Bradley Zeinstra wasn’t anything anymore.
“If that’s Zeinstra...” Dane murmured. “Then who was I chasing?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured.
She’d been right. Bradley hadn’t been the one terrorizing her. But she wished now that it had been him—because then it would be over. Instead it felt like this nightmare would never end.
* * *
Dane had been right. The man in the mask had had a partner. But it looked like he’d eliminated his partner instead of Emilia. Her scream hung yet in the air.
And so did the distant wail of a siren. The police must have been called. He wasn’t surprised another hotel patron or staff member would have dialed 911. Someone couldn’t have helped but overhear Emilia’s screams.
And if the screams had caused them to look out their windows, they had probably seen him and Emilia. She was definitely remarkable enough for witnesses to be able to accurately describe her. So they couldn’t leave the scene, even though Dane’s every instinct told him they should run.
But if they ran, they would look even guiltier than they already did. According to Emilia, Zeinstra claimed he’d had a call from her that had brought him to the city.
An officer might believe she’d lured him here to kill him. And that Dane was her accomplice.
Dane glanced toward the open door, tempted to rush her to his truck and flee the scene. But there were probably surveillance cameras that would catch his plate number as they left the lot.
He released a shaky breath. “This doesn’t look good.”
“What do you mean?” Emilia asked.
He gestured toward the body. He recognized the hilt of the knife: it matched the ones in the block on her counter. That must have been the knife the intruder had used on her the night before.
So her prints and her blood would be all over it—mixed with Zeinstra’s.
As she glanced at her old boyfriend, the color drained from her face, and she began to tremble with shock. “I can’t believe he’s dead.”
And he heard the regret in her voice. She must still have feelings for the man.
Dane had been a fool to sleep with her the night before. She’d turned to him out of fear and gratitude. This was the man she’d loved—the father of her child.
Of course Dane knew he was unlovable. His real mother hadn’t loved him enough to keep him. And the parents who’d adopted him hadn’t been able to bring themselves to love him at all. And they’d sworn they’d tried. They just hadn’t felt it.
He didn’t expect Emilia to feel it, either.
She glanced up from the dead body of her ex-lover, tilting her head as she must have heard the sirens, too. “You called the police?”
He shook his head. It might have looked better for them if he had. But he hadn’t had time.
Her lips parted on a gasp as she realized what he’d meant. How it would look for them to be
found standing over a dead body.
And her voice tremulous with fear, she repeated his words, “This doesn’t look good...”
* * *
“So you work for the Payne Protection Agency?” Nicholas Payne asked.
The name was new to him; he’d just started using it a few months ago. He’d wanted his son to carry on the name. He’d wanted the same name as his family.
Dane Sutton’s name was one he’d heard a few times now. He’d seen it on a few police reports, as well. He’d even met the guy a couple of times.
Dane nodded. “Yes. I work for Cooper Payne.”
For his team, Cooper had hired all ex-Marines. With his buzz-cut hair and muscular build, Dane Sutton had clearly been a Marine—a formidable one.
“Cooper is my brother,” Nick said with no hesitation. It was no longer hard for him to claim his family, like it had once been when he’d first come to River City. Maybe that was because they’d all freely claimed him as their own.
“You look just like him,” Dane said.
Nick and Cooper were almost the same age, too.
Dane’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But I thought all Cooper’s brothers were bodyguards.”
“I am a bodyguard, too,” Nick said. “I work for Logan. Or I will once I formally resign from the FBI. I’m an agent.”
“Someone called the FBI?” Dane asked.
Nick shook his head. “I was assigned to the River City PD. Right now I’m acting as police chief since the new police chief is on his honeymoon.”
Dane nodded. “Woodrow Lynch. I was at his wedding.”
Nick nodded. “I thought I saw you there—with her.” He nodded to where a female police officer talked to a trembling Emilia Ecklund.
“We weren’t together...then.”
“But you’re together now?”
Dane nodded.
“Then I guess I’ll be arresting you both.” He stood up and gestured at the female officer. “Read her the Miranda.”
“No,” Dane protested as he stepped toward Emilia, as if to protect her.
