by K. C. Lynn
The sound of a buzzer pulls me from my thoughts as we reach the visiting area. I take a deep breath and try to pull myself together, knowing Logan needs me to be strong right now.
The big double doors swing open to a large room with tables and chairs; a few prisoners occupying them with loved ones. My gaze quickly searches out Logan and I spot him in the far corner, sitting at a table with his head down and hands cuffed in front of him.
“Knight, your visitor is here,” the guard bellows.
His head snaps up and my heart constricts painfully when I see he has a black eye. Our gazes meet, his expression twisting with disbelief. “Anna?” He shoots out of his chair. “What are you doing here?”
I waste no time rushing over to him, my response clogging in my throat. He raises his cuffed hands above his head, anticipating my embrace and I don’t hold back. I throw myself at him and his arms come over top of me, pulling me in close. His mouth quickly finds mine and shreds my fragile composure. My sob bubbles up to the surface and explodes against his lips.
“Shh, don’t cry. Please don’t cry, Anna.”
“Tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
Remembering the rules and not wanting to get either of us in trouble, I step back but reach up and cup the side of his face, my thumb tracing just under his swollen eye. “You don’t look it,” I comment sadly. It’s not only the bruise—he looks exhausted, angry and most of all, defeated. “What happened? Who hurt you?”
Something flickers in his eyes, something hard, and just like that, it’s as if a switch goes off in him. He pulls back from my touch and closes himself off from me. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I gape at him, trying not to let his words sting. “How can you say that? It’s been killing me not knowing if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
He most certainly is not fine, but with a nod I let it go, for now. “So what happened with the lawyer my father sent? What’s his game plan?”
He shifts slightly before clearing his throat. “Nothing, because I’m not using him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, Anna, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m not accepting your father’s help and especially not his money.”
“What? Don’t say that, of course you are.” He shakes his head but I don’t let him speak. “Yes, you are!” I snap, not bothering to hide my irritation any longer. “Now is not the time for your bullshit pride on accepting help, Logan. You’re in serious trouble here and—”
“You think I don’t fucking know that?” I flinch at his outrage and the room goes dead quiet. He blows out a heavy breath and scrubs his cuffed hands over his face in frustration. Once again I notice how tired he looks. “Listen, I’m sorry, this isn’t coming out right. I don’t need the lawyer because I’ve been offered a plea bargain and I’m going to accept it.”
“A plea bargain?”
He nods. “For manslaughter.”
I have no idea what that is, but it doesn’t sound good at all. “What does that entail? Community service? Won’t that affect your job?”
“It’s not community service.”
I wait for him to explain but he remains quiet. “Well what is it then?” My stomach twists at the resignation in his gaze and I quickly realize I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.
“Six years.”
“In prison?” Everyone turns to us at my outburst. He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t need to. I shake my head, immediately rejecting the idea. “No, you can’t do that. We can get you out of this without a prison sentence.”
“How the fuck do you know?”
“Because the lawyer my dad has is the best. He wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.”
“Do you have any idea the cost of that shit, Anna? I’m not taking it only to be sentenced for life.”
“Who cares about the money! You’re willingly pleading guilty for a crime you didn’t commit. I don’t understand why you would do that.”
“Because I did do it. I fucking killed the guy whether I meant to or not and this is better than a murder charge.”
“It was self-defense. You saved your sister’s life.”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. Don’t do this, please.” Warm tears begin to spill down my cheeks. “I can’t—I can’t—” I lose my breath and feel myself slipping into hysterics.
“Fuck!” He pulls me against him again but this time his caged arms bring me no comfort. “Everything will be okay, I promise. I’m lucky I was offered this and I need to take it. It’s for the best, trust me.”
“No, I can’t accept this. Please take my father’s help, Logan. I can’t go six years of seeing you like this.”
He tenses, his body turning to stone, and I swear the room drops in temperature. I look up at him the same time he releases me. “I don’t want you to. I,” he pauses and visibly swallows, “you can’t come back here.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Of course I’m coming back.”
“Listen to me!” he snaps in a hushed tone. “You can’t. I don’t know where I’ll be transferred to after I accept this, but either way it doesn’t matter, Anna. You need to move on and continue with your future. You can’t—”
“You are my future!” I cry out.
His teeth grind so hard I’m surprised his jaw doesn’t snap. “I can’t be. Not any more.”
I shake my head, not believing this is happening. He can’t be saying this to me right now. “No, I won’t do it. I don’t care what you say, I’m not leaving you. Not ever!”
He blows out a defeated breath then steps forward and presses a hard kiss to my forehead. It’s a kiss that has icy terror gripping my chest because it feels final, like it’s the last one I will ever receive from him.
“Be happy, Anna.” He turns away but not before I see his eyes filled with unshed tears.
Through blurry vision I watch him walk to the steel door and bang on it. The sound of the buzzer finally knocks me from my trance. “No, Logan, stop!” He doesn’t, he continues through the door. I run after him but it closes on me just before I reach him. “I’m not leaving you! Do you hear me?” I scream and bang on the cold steel. “I won’t give up on you. I’m going to get you out of here whether you want me to or not!” I wait, praying he will come back, but he doesn’t. I drop my forehead on the door with a sob, my heart swelling so painfully that I can’t breathe.
The guard from the other end of the room comes and pulls me away. A look of pity etched on his face. I allow him to lead me out. The entire way back down the hallway I’m in a haze of pain and heartbreak. It all feels like a horrible nightmare that I can’t wake myself up from.
“Your boyfriend is doing the right thing,” the guard says, interrupting my tortured thoughts. “This isn’t a place for a young girl.”
I shake my head, refusing to listen. I meant what I said—I would not give up on him.
Unfortunately, he never gave me a choice. I went back every weekend for two months, but Logan refused to see me every time. The last time I showed up I found out he had been transferred somewhere else. They wouldn’t give me any information on where, but in the end I knew it didn’t matter because he wouldn’t have seen me anyway.
That day I left broken, my mended heart shattered once again, but this time I knew it wouldn’t be repaired—not without Logan.
CHAPTER THREE
Logan
Four Years Later
I follow the guard down the dimly lit hallway, wondering who could be here to see me. I don’t get visitors. Not ever.
As we turn down the private sector, which is nowhere near the visiting area, I quickly realize this isn’t going to be any ordinary visit. “Where the hell are we going?” I ask Clem, one of the few guards I don’t mind in this shit hole.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but you have some big suits here to see you.”
&nbs
p; What the hell?
I immediately think about my mom and sister. Shit, did something happen to one of them? I haven’t spoken to my mom since the arrest and my sister since I took the plea bargain. This wasn’t a place where I ever wanted her to see me. As for my mother… I didn’t want to see her, I was too pissed, still am, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to her either.
I snap out of my thoughts when we stop at an office door marked private. Clem looks over his shoulder at me. “Good luck, kid. Even I’m curious.”
He knocks on the door. When it opens by the warden, I step in and come to a halt. I barely take note of the suits because my eyes are on one guy only. A familiar face, Cooper McKay—Sheriff McKay. One person instinctively comes to mind. “What’s going on? Is Anna okay?” Just saying her name has my chest tightening.
Cooper nods. “She’s fine. This isn’t about Anna.”
Thank christ.
“Mr. Knight, I’m Special Agent Brooks and this is my partner, Special Agent Davis.” One of the suits stands up and extends his hand.
“Special Agent, as in FBI?” I ask, accepting his gesture with a firm handshake.
He nods. “That’s right. And this here is Steven Brown, the district attorney.”
I briefly acknowledge the other guy then look back to Cooper, wondering what the fuck is going on.
“Why don’t you have a seat, Mr. Knight, and we can explain why we’re here.”
I take a seat at the table in front of the agents while Cooper remains standing in the corner.
“We have a proposition for you that I think you’ll be interested in.” Special Agent Davis starts.
“A proposition?”
“That’s right. One that will benefit all of us.”
I grunt, not trusting these assholes. Well Cooper I do, but not anyone else in this room. “Yeah? And what’s that?”
“What if I told you that you could have time served and get out of here as soon as tomorrow?”
My senses go on high alert, but I can’t help the sliver of hope flaring inside of me. I stare at the agents, not knowing how the hell to respond.
“Stop being so goddamn cryptic and tell him why you’re here,” Cooper spits out, obviously sharing my annoyance.
Both agents glare over at him before turning back to me. Special Agent Brooks is the one to speak. “We have been investigating an illegal fighting ring for almost seven months now, but it’s not your average underground operation.”
I have no idea why they’re telling me this, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not intrigued, so I play along. “How so?”
“There are ten rounds, each one with a different opponent. If you keep winning you keep fighting, ultimately ending up in the final round, which is where it gets complicated.” He pauses and leans forward, bracing his arms on the table in front of him. “Word has it that the last one is a private fight, held by whoever is running this thing. Some guy they refer to as Boss. It’s held at an entirely different location and not just anyone gets in. The difference between this fight and all the others is that only one opponent walks away.”
“What do you mean?”
A moment of silence fills the room before he responds. “You fight to the death.”
Jesus.
He stares back at me, giving me time to absorb everything he just said.
“So what does this have to do with me?”
Special Agent Davis speaks now. “We just recently lost an agent who was working undercover. He was found out, though we don’t know how yet.” His expression tightens. “But we intend to find out. The problem is we need to get to that final round and we need someone who’s good enough to get there. Whoever is running this operation doesn’t show up until the final fight, and that’s the bastard we want.”
I realize now where they’re going with this. “And what? You think I can be that guy?”
“Yes, we do, for a few reasons. You’ve been in your fair share of fights here, Mr. Knight, so we are very well aware of what you’re capable of.”
“Oh, and just what do you think that is?”
“Well, you did quite the number on Ted Rassiter. He was hospitalized for an entire month.”
My stomach recoils at the mention of that piece of shit. “The motherfucker got what he deserved. He knew better than to fuck with me.”
He nods. “I’m aware of that, I read the guard’s statement as to what happened.”
I don’t want to talk about it, so I change the subject. “What’s the other reason? Because there are a lot of people I’m sure you can find with my fighting abilities or even better.”
The agent sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. “What does the name Lewis Cobb mean to you?”
I falter. “He was my cellmate a while back.”
“Would you say that you guys got along?”
I shrug. “I guess. Better than I get along with most people.” Mainly because I don’t care to interact and make friends with anyone. Lewis, unfortunately, didn’t make that easy. The bastard never shut up or left me alone, but he ended up becoming a friend. Someone I could trust on the inside. “Are you saying Lewis is a part of this?”
“Yes. From what we have gathered he’s high up in ranks and works specifically for whoever is running this thing.”
Shit, that asshole said he was going to clean his act up when he got out. I stare back at the agents in front of me. “So what do I get out of all this?”
“Well if you’re willing to help us, you can get out of here as early as tomorrow, and we would call it time served.”
I now realize this is why the DA is here. I look over at Cooper who has been quiet the entire time. “How do you fit in with all of this?”
“This is going down in Charleston, which is my jurisdiction. I’ll be helping the FBI with whatever they need.”
For some reason I get the feeling it’s more than that, but I leave it for the time being.
“So what do you think, Mr. Knight? Do we have a deal?” Special Agent Brooks asks.
I blow out a deep breath, still having a hard time wrapping my head around all of this. But no way in hell will I give up the opportunity of getting out of here. Even if I don’t make it out of there alive it will be better than this hellhole.
“Yeah, we have a deal.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Anna
“Are you kidding me? You can’t wear that?” Charity shrieks as she walks out of the bathroom, pointing at my conservative, soft yellow cardigan.
I glance down at my outfit. “Why not?”
“Because we’re going to a fight, not out for a cup of tea for crying out loud.” She shakes her head. “Can you stop being all doctor-like for just one night?”
I roll my eyes. “Charity, I’m in psychology, not medicine.”
“Whatever, it’s the same thing.”
I’m about to tell her it’s not at all the same thing, but before I can speak she starts ripping my sweater off me. “Hey!”
“Listen, the jeans are great, they show off what an amazing ass you have, but this must come off.” She chucks it across the room then walks to the closet and throws me a white tank top that looks three sizes too small. “Put this on.” I huff in frustration but do as she says. “And put these on, too.” She tosses me a pair of brown leather, knee-high boots.
“I was going to wear my flip flops.”
She shakes her head. “Can’t. Your pretty little decorative toes will be crushed to pieces. I don’t think you understand just how many people will be there, Anna. I’m tellin’ you, this sexy new fighter is causing some serious havoc.”
Anxiety plagues me once again, and I second-guess my decision on letting Charity convince me to come with her tonight.
She quickly senses my unease. “Hey, it’ll be okay, I promise. I go there all the time and nothing has ever happened. You’ll see tons of other people that we know from campus.”
That’s what I’m worried about. I don’t like being among
big crowds, especially in confined spaces. I never have—not since Iraq.
“I just want you to try, Anna. You need to get out more.”
“I get out.” I shoot back defensively.
“Not unless it’s to the library or out with that geek.”
“Toby isn’t a geek.” She lifts a brow at me. “Okay, he’s kind of a geek,” I admit. Although, if he ditched the sweater vests and glasses he could be considered handsome.
“Not kind of, he is. It makes no sense to me why you go on dates with him when you have some of the hottest guys on campus asking you out.”
“I don’t go on dates with him, we study together. We are nothing more than friends.”
“Yeah, right. Tell that to the guy who constantly trips over himself because he’s always staring at your ass.” I’m about to argue but she doesn’t let me. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. Will you please just give tonight a try? If you really hate it we’ll leave, I promise.”
I relent with a defeated sigh. “Yeah, okay, but you do realize if Jaxson ever finds out I’m a dead girl.”
Her eyes glitter, as usual, at the mention of his name. “You just blame the whole thing on me and hopefully that sexy motherfucker will take it out on me in the dirtiest ways.”
“Ew.” I laugh. “I’ve told you before, he’s way too in love with his wife for it to ever happen.”
She shrugs. “A girl can dream.” I shake my head but can’t hide my smile. “Come on, let’s get out of here before we miss the big fight.”
“Just a sec.” I walk over to my jewelry box and pull out a bracelet that I haven’t worn in a while. It’s sterling silver and has a guardian angel on it. It’s meant for protection and always brought me peace when I needed it after Iraq. As I slip it over my wrist I try not to think about who gave it to me, and hope that it helps ease my jumbled nerves like it used to. “Okay, I’m ready,” I whisper, then follow Charity out of the room.
