KIRKLAND: A Standalone Romance (Gray Wolf Security)
Page 16
He would. And I couldn’t let that happen.
“Please, Alicia, there’s got to be something.”
“You ruined my sister’s life. Without your website, most of those men would never have seen her movie. They wouldn’t have known.”
“Do you want me to shut it down?”
“I want you to take it back. I want you to protect all the Carrie’s out there.”
“Carrie? Your sister’s name was Carrie?”
I suddenly realized I knew whom she was talking about. Carrie Margolis. She went by the name Annie Cummings in the movie. There’d been comments about her on the website, people asking for more movies with her in them. Some thought, because of her screen name, that she worked exclusively for Cumming’s Treasure. She even agreed to do a live Q&A with some of our VIP customers not long after the movie premiered on the website. Then…she just disappeared. I didn’t know she’d committed suicide until John Cullen told me less than a month ago.
“You know who I’m talking about now,” Alicia said.
Yes. I did.
She was one of the rare actresses who openly promoted the movie with us. She was pleased with the movie, with the fan base, for the first few months it was out. I’d wondered what had happened.
“She was a sweet girl. I talked to her on the phone a couple of times.”
“You talked her into the promotional event here in Los Angeles, then you didn’t show.”
“I had a meeting.”
“You left her there alone, vulnerable to the comments those perverts made to her. To the touches. They touched her.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t even provide security.”
“Cullen was supposed to do that.”
“You are the reason so many people found out who she was, the reason they came after her. She wouldn’t have done any of that if you hadn’t asked her yourself. She was so impressed with you, a woman in a man’s world. She wanted to be like you.”
I shook my head. No. I wasn’t a woman who girls should look up to.
“You led her to her suicide, just like I’m going to set up yours now.”
“It won’t look like a suicide. Not now.”
“I can fix the computer.”
“But my head.” I reached back and touched the wound, a rounded cut that was about five inches from beginning to end, that was bleeding quite profusely on the back of my head. “They’ll know I didn’t kill myself.”
“I’ll just have to shoot you so that the wound is destroyed.”
“And what about the bruises?”
“What bruises?”
I shoved backward with all my strength, pushing my chair into her. She slammed against the windows, making them shutter in their frames. I jumped out of the chair and ran, catching my hip on the edge of the desk. I should have worn better shoes, but the flowered heels I had on matched my skirt, and I so liked pretty shoes, even as clumsy as I tended to be. Except when I was with Kirkland. Kirkland made me steady on my feet.
I felt the wind of the bullet pass near my head before I heard the explosion of it leaving the gun. I didn’t look back, I just kept running. But, of course, my toe caught on the carpet, and I belly flopped in the middle of the reception area.
The air left my lungs for a second, but I managed to crawl to my knees, sliding under the metal desk where Carrie—or Alicia—had sat for the last few months. I saw her go by just as the air began to come back, filling my lungs again. I gasped, slapping my hand over my mouth, afraid she would hear me.
“You couldn’t have gotten far,” she said, stepping cautiously out into the corridor, hesitating there.
I waited. Held my breath and waited. My chin stung, my head hurt, and I think I might have caught my ankle wrong. But I waited.
She stepped out into the corridor, the sound of the ladies’ room door opening. Then the men’s room door. Her footsteps moved away from my office, taking her further down the hall. I could almost see her progress in my mind, the conference room, and the other executives’ offices. The reception area.
I dug into my skirt pocket for my phone, dialing 9-1-1 as silently as possible. But she was back before the call connected.
“Fucking bitch!”
She overturned the desk, knocking me in the hip with the edge of it. I cried out, sliding backward on the carpet, trying to get out of her reach. But there was nowhere to go, and she had that gun raised, sighted on me.
I closed my eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry, Kirkland.”
When I heard the shot, I waited for the pain to blossom. Instead, there were warm, strong hands on my face, my shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
He was there. He’d come back for me.
Chapter 28
Kirkland
Her blood was sticky on my hands. I paced, waiting. I’ve never felt more impatient, never wanted something to happen more than I did at that moment. It reminded me too much of that night, of finding Christy Anne and waiting for her parents to come tell me everything would be okay, that she would be fine.
They didn’t have the right words that night.
Someone had damn well better have the right words now.
Joss rushed toward me from down the corridor, Carrington rushing to keep up just behind her. Donovan and Kate came through the sliding doors of the ER. Ash was with Emily when he arrived, not two minutes behind Joss.
I couldn’t believe they were there.
Mabel was right. I wasn’t alone anymore. I had a family.
“Have they said anything?” Joss asked, touching my arms as she faced me.
“Not yet.”
“She’ll be okay,” Ash said. “She’s strong.”
I nodded, willing myself to believe him. But there was so much blood, and the sight of that woman holding a gun on Mabel…if anything happened to her, I wasn’t sure I could take it. I might simply implode.
“What happened to the perp?” Donovan asked.
“She’ll be fine,” Emily said. “Kirkland shot her in the leg, a non-lethal injury. The doctors have already cleared her to be placed in custody.”
“Will they charge her with attempted murder?” Joss asked, her eyes still on me, her hands still on my arms.
“Most definitely,” Emily said. “Thanks to David, we have it all on tape.”
“David?”
“That new program he has. It automatically records anything that sets off the automatic alarms.”
I nodded. I remembered him mentioning something about it, but computers weren’t really my thing.
I pulled away from Joss. I needed to pace. The others seemed to understand as they each moved out of my way and watched. Just…they were just there. And it was more than I ever could have asked for.
The doctor finally came out, his eyes glued to the iPad in his hands.
“The family of Mabel Watson?”
I immediately stepped forward. “I’m…” I wasn’t sure what I was. But then… “I’m her boyfriend.”
The doctor barely acknowledged me. “She’s got a pretty good laceration on her head. It took forty stitches. And her right ankle has a hairline fracture. She’ll be in a boot for a couple of months, but she’s going to be okay.”
A cheer went up behind me, and the doctor finally looked up.
“Friends of yours?”
“That’s my family.”
His eyes moved from face to face, then he focused on me for a long second.
“Okay,” he said, drawing out the syllables. “She’s in trauma two if you want to go see her.”
I nearly knocked him over trying to get to her. And when I walked into the room, she was so pale, laying back against the bright white sheets of the hospital bed. I went to her, taking her hand gently in mine.
“I should have been there,” I said softly.
She opened her eyes and focused on me with a little bit of a struggle. Then a soft smile touched her lips.
“You were there when it c
ounted. The cowboy arriving just when the bad guy is about to kill the damsel.”
“That’s me. Your personal cowboy.”
She smiled. “They gave me some lovely pain medication, so if I say something stupid…”
“Like I love you? Like, if you’d gotten dead I never would have forgiven myself? Like, I’m sorry I left you alone, but I was stupid. I thought you and Ash—”
“Shh,” she said softly, lifting her finger to my lips. “I love you is good enough.”
I laughed, even as tears blurred my vision.
“I love you, Mabel.”
“I know.”
Epilogue
At the Compound…Several Weeks Later
“How’s married life treating you?” Ash asked, as he carried his cup of coffee to David’s workstation.
“Not bad.”
“Yeah?”
David actually blushed, something he hadn’t done since they were both boys. “I think there’s something about making a commitment like that that makes Ricki…frisky?”
Ash laughed. “I think that kind of commitment makes most women frisky.”
David just nodded, moving his computer mouse to adjust one of the video feeds he was monitoring.
“That Donovan’s target?”
He nodded. “It’s quiet at the moment.”
“Good.”
“So, I heard a rumor that you’re going to be profiled in some magazine article.”
“I am. Mabel’s launching a new magazine next month, and she wants me to be the cover story.”
“That’s pretty cool. How does Kirkland feel about it?”
“He wasn’t pleased at first, but he’s come around.”
David smiled. “Kirkland’s come around to a lot of things since he met Mabel.”
“She’s good for him, don’t you think?”
“Ricki thinks they’ll be the next to walk down the aisle.”
“Maybe. My money’s still on Joss though.”
“Joss is a modern woman. Maybe she’d rather remain independent.”
“Or maybe she’s just waiting to get her figure back.”
David shrugged, glancing at the time on his computer. “I should go. Ricki’s probably waiting for me.”
“Go on. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ash crossed the room to his desk and settled in his chair, a heavy sigh slipping from his lips. He had several files on his desk that required his attention, but he was more interested in the hidden file that he only brought out when he had something new to add to it. Or he wanted to torture himself. It was everything he’d collected on Alexi’s disappearance.
He didn’t realize that David was still there until his younger brother cast a shadow over his shoulder.
“When are you going to let that go?”
“When I find her.”
Ash thought David of all people would understand. He had a wife now, a woman who clearly meant enough to him that he would become obsessed should she suddenly disappear. Why couldn’t he understand Ash’s need to find out what happened to Alexi?
David stood very still for a long moment, almost as though he was struggling with something. Ash turned just in time to watch David cross the room, returning to his workstation. He grabbed something out of a locked drawer—when did he start locking his drawers?—and crossed the room again.
“I found this some months ago, but I wasn’t sure…” He shook his head. “Here. I…I don’t do this to hurt you, Ash. But I think it’s time you finally moved on with your life.”
Ash took the file, cold fingers gripping his heart, just as they’d done when he got the call about David’s accident, about his parents. One moment, his parents were alive and his world was pretty much solid, his belief that Alexi was alive somewhere keeping him going. The next, his world was in pieces, and he had no idea if his family, his only remaining family, was going to make it through the night.
“What is it?”
David didn’t answer. But when Ash opened the folder and found himself looking into Alexi’s laughing, happy face, he heard him whisper, “I’m sorry.”
###
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Chapter 1
What do you say when you see your nemesis standing right outside your door?
“Hi,” I croaked and wrapped my arms around my middle.
I didn’t want to croak. Croaking was the last thing I needed to do when I faced this man. So I tried again. “What are you doing here?”
Oh, God! Was that my voice? That breathless ‘I’m about to swoon’ version?
This was too much.
“You knew I was going to find you,” he said quite flatly.
“Why on earth would you want to do that?”
That was better. Still croaking, but not as bad. Instead of sounding like a geriatric toad, I sounded more like a teenage toad. That was better, right? That gave me some confidence.
I straightened up and pushed my chest out. His eyes immediately dropped to my boobs, and it felt as though some high voltage laser had singed them. My brain was a little muddled, and I could feel my nipples hardening to pebbles right before his eyes. This was crazy.
“Maybe because of that.”
He flicked his hand toward my chest in reply to the question I had forgotten I’d asked. But then, as his eyes widened a little, I realized he wasn’t pointing to my chest. He was actually gesturing toward the small, round bump that my belly had become over the last few weeks.
I was fifteen weeks pregnant. And he was the father.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You’re here because of the baby.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What else? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That I’d let you walk away with my flesh and blood?” There was no amusement in his eyes. They were chilly and staring at me quite dispassionately.
So he was angry. I got that.
But he was being unreasonable.
“I did what I thought I had to do. Can’t you see that?” I asked him, trying to appeal to his better nature. I hadn’t seen any evidence of it, but it had to be there. Any man who wanted a child as fiercely as this man wanted the baby in my womb has to have a better nature, right? I had to believe that.
“All I can see is that we are not going to have this conversation on your doorstep.”
His tone said it was not up for debate. Yet, I hovered there, trying to look for a way to stall him. I did not want him in my apartment. I did not want him in my space. It wasn’t like he was going to hurt me or anything. Nicolas Costa was a lot of things, but he wasn’t the kind of man who went around hurting women. I wouldn’t have agreed to this insane arrangement if he was.
I couldn’t believe I was here, standing with Nicolas Costa, about to have his baby. I put myself in a difficult situation, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
Dear God…if only my mom were here, she would tell me everything would be alright. Actually, no. First, she would chew my ass out and tell me what an irresponsible, thoughtless thing it was I’d done, and then she would wrap her arms around me and tell me she understood why I’d done it and that she loved me.
I felt my throat grow tight and scratchy, and I had to blink really hard to push back the tears. My chest hurt. I rubbed it absently…not like it did any good. I missed my mother so much. It had only been three months since she’d died, and I’d not yet gotten used to being without her.
I sighed again and stepped back.
It was time I stopped running away from the facts—no matter how much I disliked them. The truth was, I was pregnant with this man’s baby and I had signed some legal documents saying that I would give him the baby when it came. It had seemed the right thing to do at the time, and I even collected a partial payment.
God, that really does sound bad, like I sold the baby in my womb. But it was nothing like that. Nothing like that at all. The baby wasn’t really mine…not really.
The fertilized egg was not mine. I was merely a carrier, a human incubator. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like I was this baby’s mother in every sense that mattered. And that was the crux of my problem. I loved it with a fierceness that amazed me. And I didn’t care what this huge hulk of a man said. He would have to go over my dead body to get to the baby, and I intended to let him know that.
Chapter 2
It all began fairly innocuously.
My mom was a maid in Los Angeles, working for a couple of well-known actors, some politicians, and a few rich, but not so famous, business moguls. She’d done it for as long as I could remember in an attempt to keep us off the streets. Her best friend, Constance, was in the same line of work. In fact, they used to work for the same agency. But then Constance got a full-time position with Nicolas Costa, who just happened to be one the hottest Hollywood directors the world had seen since Frank Capra or Alfred Hitchcock. She talked about him constantly those first ten years or so. Sometimes I felt like I knew him just from the things Constance said about him. He seemed human. Kind. That is, of course, until he got married. Constance didn’t have much to say about his wife, actress Aurora Parker, or him, really, after their wedding five years ago. It was like her kindly, honest employer had disappeared and was replaced with something out of that old movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.