Chance Encounter

by Christy Reece

  Instead of answering, Brennan returned his gaze to a smirking Lorrance. “Here’s what you can say in your sleazy rag tomorrow, Lorrance. The day I give a fuck about what your useless readers think is the day I’ll slit my own throat.”

  With that, he turned and walked away. She would have liked to tell the guy off, too, but didn’t want Brennan to be alone. Yes, he’d hurt her with his accusation, but she knew what it was like to have the rug pulled out from under you like that. In the heat of the moment, you said things you didn’t mean.

  He paused at the door, waiting. The moment she drew near, he whipped it open for her, then followed her out.

  A few photographers jumped to attention, and though she wanted to tell them to get away from her and Brennan, she knew better. Brennan might not act as if he cared what others thought about him, but she wasn’t about to give them more fodder that they could distort. She smiled, waved, and all the while hung on to Brennan’s arm as if everything was just as lovely as when they’d entered the building only an hour earlier.

  The man at her side acted as if the photographers didn’t exist, as if she didn’t exist. He stalked down the wide, carpeted steps toward the street. Miraculously, the limo she’d rented for the evening eased up in front of them, and without missing a step, as if this had all been planned, Brennan opened the door, and she slid inside. Brennan came in behind her. The car door slammed, shutting out prying eyes and flashing cameras and closing her up with one very pissed-off bodyguard.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Brennan, I’m sorry. I—”

  Brennan held up a hand to stop another apology. If he said anything right now, it’d be the wrong thing. The plan was to get her home, safe and sound. Then and only then would he allow himself to implode.

  Kacie huffed out a frustrated breath. “Fine. You can be as angry as you want, but that’s not going to stop me from apologizing for what happened. I don’t know exactly what Lorrance was talking about, but—”

  “Will you just be quiet for a moment?”

  She blinked in surprise, and then a glimmer of hurt showed in her eyes before they turned cool and blank.

  He figured that at some point he’d regret the words, but not yet, not now. All he felt now was this gut-aching need to slam his fist through the glass partition in front of him.

  Silence filled the interior of the limo. Traffic was a stop-and-start, curse-inducing, horn-blowing, mangled mess. He wanted to get out and run until he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He couldn’t. His first priority was taking care of his client. He would not leave her alone, no matter how gutted he felt.

  Horns blared. A symphony of various kinds of music blasted around them as New Yorkers enjoyed the warm night by lowering their car windows and sharing their playlists with the rest of the city. He heard the noise as a distant hum. Inside his mind was a voice—sweet, childish, innocent.

  Daddy, can you come play ball with me?

  Daddy, read me a story.

  Daddy, can I come with you?

  Daddy, please do what the bad man says. Please come get me.

  Brennan closed his eyes against the memories, the regret. But they never went away, never left him. Until the day he closed his eyes for the last time, he would hear his little boy’s voice asking, begging…pleading.

  His hands clenched into fists, and he held them stiff and still, willing the violence within him to subside. He didn’t often get this way anymore. Stupid not to have anticipated this. He should’ve been ready. Being blindsided and unprepared had exposed the one vulnerability that would never go away.

  Something soft, gentle, touched him. Brennan opened his eyes to see a slender, delicate hand covering his clenched fist. Kacie’s hand. Gently but firmly, he removed her hand from his. He didn’t want her comfort. Didn’t need it. Definitely didn’t deserve it.

  “Brennan, I had no idea he—”

  “I know you didn’t. That doesn’t mean your agent didn’t. She saw an opportunity, and she took it.”

  Anger and shock glinted in her eyes. “That’s not true. There’s no reason for Edy to do something like that. She—”

  “Don’t be naïve. There’s every reason. The more you’re in the news, the better for your career. To hell with anyone else’s life.”

  “That’s extraordinarily unfair, on top of being untrue. Yes, Edy can be ruthless when it comes to negotiating contracts, but for her to arrange something like this would be ludicrous.”

  “Then tell me how one of the most vicious and spiteful celebrity stalkers happened to be her date?”

  “He doesn’t do that anymore. He’s a blogger, for fashion and trends.”

  “Tigers don’t change their stripes, Kacie. Take off your rose-colored glasses.”

  “I don’t wear rose-colored glasses, Brennan. I know better than anyone that there are bad people in this world. I’m just saying people can change.”

  Part of him admired her spirit and goodness, another part pitied her incredible naïveté.

  “You keep your idealistic dreams, sweetheart. I live in the real world, where shit happens and then you die.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  Turning his gaze to the mass of humanity outside his window, Brennan blanked his mind to everything but his job. He was here to protect Kacie Dane, physically if need be. Trying to change her attitude about life wasn’t in his job description. Besides, if she was happier living in a fantasy, who was he to deprive her?

  The rest of the trip passed in a tense, grim silence. Her cellphone rang twice. He didn’t look at her, but assumed she rejected each call and perhaps then put it on silent. He was sure Edy would call and apologize, all the while gleeful at the outcome of her setup.

  At last the limo pulled up to the front of Kacie’s building. Brennan opened the door to get out. Kacie pulled on his hand, stopping him.

  He looked down at her hand, then into her compassionate eyes. His heart did a weird leap and then thudded inside his chest. No…just no.

  He pulled away from her, got out of the limo, checked for anything or anyone suspicious, then helped her from the vehicle.

  In silence, they walked toward the building. A young doorman opened the door for them and wished them a pleasant night. Brennan could only manage a nod, but he heard Kacie’s friendly greeting.

  Once inside, Brennan nodded at the big man at the security desk. Kacie threw out a, “Hey, Frankie, have a good night,” as she walked to the elevator with Brennan at her side.

  Once the elevator doors closed, Kacie turned to face him. “Okay, we’re alone and trapped for a few seconds. Now you have to listen to me. I had nothing to do with that man being there. And I know Edy. She only meant to drum up publicity for this deal we’ve made with Julian Montague. Media speculation is gold in our business. That’s all she intended.”

  She looked so sincere, so worried about him, that he wanted to say something reassuring…even kind. Maybe later. For right now, he just needed to be alone.

  When he didn’t answer, her shoulders slumped slightly, and she nodded. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone.”

  The elevator doors slid open. Brennan went out first, checked the hallway to make sure it was clear, then motioned for her to come out. They walked together to her apartment.

  He took five minutes to search the apartment, all the while aware that she stood in the middle of her living room, watching him. Assured that there were no intruders and she was safe, he said, “Good night,” and went to his bedroom.

  The instant the door closed, Brennan ripped off the ridiculous bow tie at his neck and opened the collar of his shirt. Now he could breathe…now he could let go.

  He went to the window and looked out into the darkened night. The only thing he saw was his reflection—harsh, unforgiving, bitter. He closed his eyes against the familiar sight, but the instant he did, he saw Kacie’s face…her hurt and her compassion.

  Hell, he could’ve said something to make her feel better. Probably s
hould’ve. After he’d been an ass to her, she’d tried to comfort him. He almost laughed at that thought. Comfort? There was no such thing. Not when it came to this kind of gut-ripping, soul-destroying pain.

  Yeah, he knew what the experts would say. Move on, come to terms with what happened and live your life. And he had for the most part. Rescuing kidnapped victims fed his soul unlike anything else he’d ever experienced. None of them was his son, but he’d seen the relief and happiness in a parent’s face when a child came home. Each rescue had healed a little bit of his soul. But the pain would never be gone, completely healed. How could it?

  The soft knock on his door should’ve surprised him but didn’t. Kacie had a tenaciousness about her that refused to give up.

  He didn’t bother answering, knowing it would do no good. She would come in whether he wanted her to or not.

  Sure enough, seconds after she knocked, the door opened and she peeked inside. “Hey, I made some hot chocolate. Do you want marshmallows or whipped cream for your topping?”

  He answered without the slightest hesitation. “Whipped cream.”

  Her smile was so bright and engaging it took everything he had not to smile back. How in the hell did she do that?

  “Be right back.”

  Less than a minute later, she was back with a tray holding two mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and a plateful of chocolate-chip cookies.

  “Sometimes there’s no better comfort than chocolate with a side of chocolate.”

  Setting the tray on the table beside his chair, she handed him a mug and then took one for herself. He was about to get up to offer her his chair when she pulled a large throw pillow from the bed and sat on the floor in front of him.

  He took a swallow from his mug and made an appreciative noise.

  She waited until he’d had his second swallow before she said, “I really am sorry for what happened tonight. I don’t know the details of your son’s death, but—”

  “Why don’t you?”

  “I told you that I—”

  “I’m not talking about when it happened. Why haven’t you looked it up on the Internet? Are you not the least bit curious?”

  “Of course I am.” She grimaced and confessed. “I did look you up the first day you came. But I didn’t really find what I was looking for.”

  “What were you looking for?”

  “The truth.”

  She said it so simply, he had the wild urge to grab her up and hug her.

  “Then I started feeling guilty and decided if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me.”

  And it was as straightforward as that, for her. To most other people, it would just be a matter of wanting to know something. But Kacie saw it as an invasion of privacy.

  He couldn’t look at her, couldn’t face the compassion he heard in her voice. There was something so incredibly gentle about this woman, and he wasn’t a gentle man. She was his to protect, to keep safe. She couldn’t be more.

  She did, however, deserve an explanation.

  He drew in a breath, let it out slowly, and began. “I got hurt midseason of my second year. Busted my leg. Had surgery and went through rehab. And I—” He swallowed past a dry throat. “I lost myself. Got so caught up in me and what I thought I should be doing. I told myself that providing for my family was my most important role. To do that, I had to get better, get back out on the field. That was my only focus.

  “Vanessa, my wife, said I was obsessed. She was right…I knew she was right, but I kept telling myself that once I got back into the game, my life would straighten out. Instead, it went to hell, and then it went farther.”

  When Brennan went silent again, all Kacie could do was wait him out. He was finally sharing his pain with her, and she wouldn’t push him. Had he ever talked to anyone about what happened, or had he kept it all inside?

  While she could identify with the agony in his eyes, his pain seemed almost too fresh. As if he hadn’t recovered or come to terms with his tragedy. Not that she knew anything about being a parent or coming to terms with losing a child. But she did know that talking helped. She hoped he would continue.

  After several long minutes, he said, “I was at home when the call came. Things were about to get better for us. I’d finished all my rehab, and I was one hundred percent again. I was due back at training camp the next day, ready to show everyone, my coaches, the owners, that I was fully recovered and ready to retake my position.

  “When the phone rang, I figured it was Vanessa wishing me luck. She’d taken our son, Cody, to visit her parents in Florida. We weren’t exactly on speaking terms at that point, but again, I’d told myself when I got my job back, things would be better.

  “The call wasn’t from Vanessa. It was a ransom call. The man said that he’d kidnapped Cody and if I didn’t do what he said, he’d kill my son.”

  He stopped to pull in a ragged breath, and Kacie put her hand over his and squeezed it, in sympathy and support.

  “He demanded $3.2 million. I asked questions, kept insisting I had to talk to Cody.”

  He stopped, rubbed the middle of his forehead, then said, “I got to talk to him…my son…maybe about five seconds. Just enough for me to confirm it was Cody…just enough for me to hear how terrified he was.

  “The guy came back on the phone, refused to answer any questions. Just told me if I contacted the cops, my son would die.

  “As soon as he hung up, I called Vanessa. She was in hysterics, said that she’d stopped at an ATM for money and had left Cody in the car for just a few minutes. When she came back to the car, he was gone.

  “I told her about the ransom call, what the guy wanted. She told me I had to pay it. Told me if I called the cops and the guy killed Cody, it would be all my fault.” He shook his head. “So I didn’t call anyone. But I didn’t have access to that much money either. At least not anymore. A few days before that, I’d bought a vacation home in Colorado. Was going to surprise Vanessa and Cody. I wasn’t exactly broke, but I didn’t have easy access to a lot of cash. I had some stocks and short-term investments I could sell, but it wasn’t going to be quick.

  “When the man called back, I agreed to do whatever he said but told him it would take a few days for me to get that much cash together. He screamed at me, told me he knew I was lying.

  “Things got heated. I swore to him that I was telling the truth. He hung up and I went crazy. After I calmed down, I knew I had no choice but to call the police.

  “When they arrived and interviewed me, they asked me a lot of questions. Some really weird ones. The more they asked, the more it got me to thinking. Why such a specific number, $3.2 million? Why not four million or just three? Who but my wife knew how much we had in savings?

  “And why would Vanessa leave Cody in the car when she’d had a fit more than once when she saw other parents do the same thing.”

  “Oh no,” Kacie whispered.

  “I know Vanessa never intended for Cody to be hurt. Her intent was to get all the money she could from me. Then, once Cody was back home and safe, she would file for divorce. Since I was gone a good part of the year, she figured it’d be easy for her to get full custody.”

  “But why not get the money in a divorce settlement? Why make it so complicated?”

  “We had a prenup. Very simplistic, which, funnily enough, she was the one who insisted we have one. When we got married, her career was on the rise, and she believed it was only going to go higher. So if our marriage ended, she would keep what was hers, I would keep what was mine.”

  “But that’s not what happened, is it? You began to make more money…she made less. But this way, she could get your money and hers, too.”

  “Yeah…at least that was her plan. Something she didn’t consider was the guy she’d hooked up with was certifiable. When I told him it’d take me some time to get the money, he figured Vanessa had lied to him.” Brennan swallowed hard. “So he freaked and ran.”

  “What did he do to Cody?” she
asked gently.

  “Tied him up, force-fed him sedatives, and left him to die in the trunk of a car.”

  Kacie closed her eyes against the tears. How any person could hurt a child was incomprehensible. And this had been so deliberate, so very cold-hearted.

  “What happened to the monster who did that?”

  “Police found him at his parents’ house outside Lexington, Kentucky. Had a shootout. He’s dead.”

  “And Vanessa? Was she with him?”

  “No. Vanessa came home, acted innocent. The police grilled her, and she denied everything. It was when they found Cody that she broke down. Blamed me for making her have to go to such extremes to get my attention. Said that’s what it’d all been about.

  “She was arrested and charged with kidnapping, accessory to murder. She was staying with her parents, awaiting trial when she decided she’d rather not. So she took a load of pills and never woke up.”

  Kacie couldn’t decide which was more sickening, Vanessa’s blind greed or her exceedingly poor judgment. Not that it mattered now. A child was dead, and his father was broken.

  She wanted to reach out to him, comfort him in some way. Hold him if he’d let her. She knew he wouldn’t. So she sat, continued to hold his hand, and listened.

  “I don’t think she could ever forgive herself. And neither could I.”

  He gave a jagged, humorless chuckle. “Lorrance was right about one thing. A lot of people did think I was in on it. That I’d arranged the whole thing so if things didn’t work out with getting my position back, the sympathy would put me back on the team. Some even speculated I was responsible for Vanessa’s death, too.”

  “That’s absolutely absurd. No one with any sense would believe that.”

  “Vanessa’s parents had a lot to do with their thinking.”

  “How so?”

  “First they were grieving for a grandson, then defending their daughter. And then grieving for her, too. It only made sense that they blame me. My in-laws had a lot of influence with their local paper. It got picked up and spread like wildfire. Guess it was easier for them to blame me than come to terms with what their daughter had done.”