“Bringing Donovan in was my idea. You had no idea it would lead to this.”
“Neither did you.”
I opened my mouth to offer another protest, but she beat me to speaking. “They’ll let me in.”
They would. I knew it in my gut. Whatever falling out she’d had with her father, he’d always allow her to return. There’d be a price, but he’d let her pay it.
She knew that as well as I did.
And I knew that she’d made up her mind. That she’d decided this. That there would be no chance of talking her out of it.
“I’ll go with you,” I said, and it was settled. I was as decided as she was.
She didn’t argue. “I need to cancel my flight and get a sub. Let me make a couple of calls.” She plucked her cell phone out of her purse and walked out of the office.
By the time the door shut behind her, Donovan was handing me a flash drive. “I put the relevant files on here. It has an amnesiac installed on it so there will be no log of where the data came from.”
I didn’t know if I was more impressed that he’d managed the transfer so quickly or that he just happened to have an untraceable USB drive hanging around his office.
I took it from him without comment. He didn’t need a bigger head than he already had.
“You’re not driving with me to Connecticut,” he said, reminding me he was also heading to the state for the weekend.
“Didn’t ask.” Washington and Wallingford weren’t even on the same route. “We’ll take the train. We can rent a car when we get there.”
He nodded his approval. “You can borrow one of mine if you’d like. I’m taking the Tesla.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think we’d be better off if we were a little less conspicuous.” And if our next stop was the cabin, I doubted his luxury vehicles could handle the mountain snow.
“I’m sure you’re right.” He looked thoughtful. “Is this going to be dangerous?”
We were adults now. Before today, I’d have said that Stark couldn’t hold the same physical power over us that he once had.
Now that I knew how deep he was involved with the crime world, I felt less certain. “I’ll take your gun.”
Of course even with a gun, there was a mental risk to returning home. For both of us.
Donovan stood and picked up the coat he’d thrown over his chair when he arrived and took it to the closet to hang up. While he was there, he retrieved ours.
“I don’t need to tell you to be careful,” he said, handing them to me. A not-so-subtle cue that it was time to leave. “But I will tell you, while you’re gone, I have something you should think about.”
I took the coats and picked up Jolie’s purse from the floor. “What’s that?”
“Where you’re going to put that new tattoo.”
I didn’t change gears as fast as he did, so it took me a second to understand what he was implicating. “How could you possibly know that—?” I cut myself off too late. I’d already confessed. “You know what? Fuck you.” But also, I appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood. The morning had been heavy, to say the least.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He slapped me on the back as he ushered me out his door. “It’s going to be a terribly embarrassing tattoo, Cade. Even so, you’re going to think it was worth it.”
As much as I hated it when Donovan was right, I had a feeling he wasn’t wrong.
Twenty-Eight
It wasn’t until we were waiting in line at Avis in Grand Central that I had a chance to really think about what we were doing, what we were about to do. We were two hours away from where everything between us had started, and even with the drive ahead of us, I worried we didn’t have enough time to form a plan. Or that we’d forgotten something. I wondered if we should stop and think.
But I also knew that given the chance to deliberate, I might not be able to force myself to go through with it. Acting quickly helped give me momentum. Jolie gave me the motivation. As much as I wished she hadn’t decided to walk into hell with me, I recognized that I needed her at my side.
“You were able to change your flight?” I asked when I needed to get out of my head.
“Yeah. I had to pay a fee to cancel it. They gave me a credit that I can use later for my trip back home.”
“Did you have enough to pay that? I can—”
“Stop.” She nudged me with her shoulder as she said it, stepping closer to do so and staying closer afterward. “You’ve given me way too much this week, which I appreciate, but no. I’m good. I got paid today. Which means I’m paying for the rental car.”
I started to protest because that was ridiculous, but she didn’t let me. “Please? It will make me feel like I’m contributing.”
It took a beat for me to wrestle through the urge to put my foot down, and another beat to consider what it meant that I needed to care for her so badly. And one more to decide it would be in my best interest to refuse that desire. “Just the car rental. Everything else is on me.”
Then it was our turn to step up to the rental desk. The agent rattled off a memorized spiel about our options, not trying very hard to upsell us when we decided on the standard SUV rather than the premium. After fully grilling him, I felt confident the tires would make it up to the cabin, even if it snowed, and then it was time for Jolie to hand over her credit card and license.
Without hesitation, she opened her purse and pulled out her wallet. It was only after she’d opened it up that she paused. “Uh, Cade. I saw a vending machine in the hall outside. Would you mind grabbing me a water?”
“Here’s one, complimentary.” The agent pulled a warm bottle out from under his desk.
Her smile was uneasy. “It’s okay. I’d prefer cold, if you don’t mind.”
“I’ll take the warm one,” I said, picking it up off the counter. “And I’ll get you one that’s cold. Watch my bag.”
The agent stopped me. “Your license, sir! If you want to be listed as a driver, I’ll need to see a valid license.”
“He can probably enter in your info while you’re getting my water,” Jolie said as I pulled out my wallet and dropped my ID on the counter.
“I can,” the man confirmed.
I glanced suspiciously at the agent, fighting off an unreasonable flash of jealousy. If the guy hadn’t been as old as her father, I might have thought she was trying to get rid of me. “Must really be thirsty.”
“Parched.”
I left her and found the vending machine quickly, returning to the ticket counter just as the agent was handing over the paperwork. Jolie seemed tense, which was reasonable, considering where we were headed.
“Here’s your cards,” the agent said, pushing them over the counter. “And your keys. Enjoy your trip, Mr. and Mrs. Warren.”
I chuckled as I reached for my ID, chiding myself for how natural the pairing sounded, and expected Jolie to refute it. When she didn’t, busying herself with putting her ID and credit card away instead, I chided myself for thinking that might mean something.
But then in her haste, she dropped her license to the ground, and even though she rushed to grab it, I beat her to it.
I glanced at it as I handed it over, because of course I did, and when she snatched it out of my hand, it was too late. I’d already seen it. Her name. The first was Jolie, as she’d insisted it was, not Julianna. And her last name didn’t say Stark. It said Warren.
She didn’t look at me, slipping her ID in her wallet and her wallet in her purse. Organizing the paperwork the agent had given her and stuffing it in her bag as well, along with the cold water I’d brought her.
“Jolie Warren?” I hadn’t ever put those two names together.
No, maybe I had. Years ago. When we were plotting our escape, but I hadn’t said it enough to get used to the way it felt in my mouth. The way it rolled over my tongue.
The color seeped out of her face. She refused to look at me. “We’re holding up the line.”
Grabbing the
handle of her suitcase, she towed it behind her as she headed out the door that led to the parking lot.
I jammed my license in my pocket and followed after. It was obvious she didn’t want to discuss what I’d seen, but there was no way I was letting it go. “Why does your ID say my last name?”
She stopped outside to scan down the rows of cars. “G-3, G-3,” she said, searching for where our vehicle was parked.
“Jolie?”
“I told you I changed my name so my father couldn’t find me.” She still wouldn’t look at me. “Do you see row G?”
Fuck row G. “Why did you pick Warren? Out of all the names you could have picked. Why Warren?”
She let out a puff of air, her shoulders sagging in resignation before she turned to face me. “Because it was who I wanted to be, okay? I told you already.”
I held her gaze, trying to find something in her eyes that could explain that to me. Could explain how she could refuse to leave with me and then seven years later choose my name as the one she wanted to live by. How she could then disappear. How she wouldn’t seek me out until ten more years had passed.
She’d wrecked me when she’d told me she didn’t want me. Why was she living like I’d been the one who wrecked her?
“You won’t understand,” she said, breaking our stare.
“I want to.”
“I know you do. I just.” She rubbed her hands over her face. Took a deep breath. Put herself back together. “Can we deal with this first? With my dad?”
It wasn’t fair. It was never fair, how she got to set the terms. How I was always paying interest. How the balance never changed.
I couldn’t keep doing it.
I wouldn’t.
But fuck. Her bringing down her father required all our focus. And it wasn’t just about us anymore.
“After your dad is dealt with, we talk.” It wasn’t a request.
It would give me time, too. To figure out what should happen next with us. Maybe by then I’d be able to admit what I wanted. “I mean it, Jolie. I need answers.”
“We’ll talk,” she agreed, her tone heavy, as though the commitment would be hard to keep.
Her weariness made it easier to believe that she meant to follow through, at least. It didn’t make waiting any less frustrating.
Snatching the keys out of her hand, I nodded to the right. “Row G. I’m driving.”
When we found the SUV, I got her into the passenger seat before putting our bags in the back. We only had one each, so it didn’t take long, but I took the opportunity to open up my suitcase and get Donovan’s gun out of the hard-cased container he’d given me for transport. After loading the cartridge, I shoved it in my coat pocket.
“Everything okay back there?”
“Yep. Just digging out my sunglasses.” I grabbed those from the side pocket of my bag and shut the hatch.
A few minutes later we were on the road. Once out of the city, it was a straightforward route, which made the drive easy, and though I wanted to push her about her name and her secrets, I forced myself to spend the time firming up our plan. We decided to say we’d both been in New York—me for a wedding, her for a weekend away—sticking to the truth for the most part. “Seeing each other again took us down memory lane, and we decided on a whim to drive up to the academy.” We expected they’d entertain us in the living room. The conversation would be awkward and painful, especially painful for us. At some point, I’d excuse myself to use the restroom and slip into his office to get the key.
Jolie said she should be the one to do the snooping because she knew what the key looked like and where it was kept.
I argued that I was the one who knew how to pick a lock. Plus, it had been ten years, and everything might be different. He might have moved it.
Besides, if I was caught, I was the one who could defend myself. I didn’t mention I had a gun on me.
She agreed reluctantly, then suggested we should both have our phones on so we could text each other if need be.
And if nothing went as planned, we’d improvise.
I preferred being more prepared; I didn’t know if it even mattered. Honestly, I was still not entirely convinced we’d even be let in.
Once we crossed the city limits of Wallingford, we grew quiet. There was too much to take in outside of us. The roads that had changed. The parts of town that had expanded. The stores that were gone. The new stores in their place. It was an odd thing to return to haunted ground. The shape of the city had altered enough to almost convince myself the ghosts were gone. That they had never existed in the first place.
But then we were turning on the winding drive that led to Stark Academy, and each bend of the road was so achingly familiar, I could navigate the SUV with my eyes shut.
And closing my eyes was tempting. Because each sight held a memory, and each memory led down a spiral of emotions. Emotions too tangled to unravel.
I couldn’t imagine how much worse it had to be for Jolie. Stark had only been my home for a year. It had been hers for most of her life.
Whatever she was feeling, she managed to put a mask on. Her face was unreadable as we passed the turnoff toward the main entrance in favor of the less-driven road that curled behind the boarding school, past the cook’s residence and the gardener’s and the lodgings for visitors and prospective students, ending at the three-story house at the back of the property.
I parked the car, careful not to block the garage—a habit that was beaten into me—but when I pulled the key from the ignition, neither of us moved to get out.
“I should go in first.” She looked suddenly nervous. More nervous, since she’d been low-key fidgety the entire trip. “You know, in case…in case…”
“In case…what?”
She took a deep breath, then shrugged. “I just wonder what they’ll bring up.”
I almost laughed. Whatever they used to hold against us, it couldn’t compare to their sins. Even with what I didn’t know about Jolie and the years before she’d left Wallingford, I couldn’t imagine she had anything to be ashamed of.
Stark would try, though. And it would be hard to listen to, so I didn’t say anything.
“What do you think she’ll say to you?”
I’d tried not to think about her. Now that I allowed the thought, I didn’t know what to expect. “She might not say anything at all.”
“It was always too big of a house for just me and my dad. When he got married again, it almost felt snug enough to be a home.”
I nodded.
“What if they aren’t home?”
“Then we’ll wait.”
“What if they don’t let us in?”
“Then we’ll come back when it’s dark.” I wondered for the billionth time if we should skip the face-to-face and just sneak in later, but then there was an alarm to navigate, and Jolie’s father had always been a light sleeper.
She turned to look at me. “Is it surreal to be back here? Like out of a dream?”
“Like out of a nightmare, more like.”
“Yeah. That’s it. Except, with you here, it’s not him I’m scared of. I’m scared of not getting what we need.”
It was hard to admit, even to myself, that I was scared too. But I was more scared of the woman sitting next to me, of losing her all over again. That was always the nightmare. A recurring one over the years that I realized in that moment could very well come true.
Not giving myself time to overthink it, I took her hand and squeezed. “We’ll get it. If we don’t, we’ll try again until he goes down.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
I let go of her hand, stowed my sunglasses, and at the same time, we both pushed open our doors. Side by side, we walked up the stone steps to the front door.
Jolie hesitated, her hand stretched out above the handle. “Do we ring the bell or just walk in?”
It seemed odd as fuck to ring. “Maybe knock?”
Turned out she didn’t have to. The doo
r opened on its own, and there stood a woman I hadn’t seen in seventeen years.
She looked Jolie over for half a second. Looked longer at me. “About time you came in. I thought you might sit in the car all evening. Just the two of you?” She wiped her hands on her apron, a newer one than she’d had when I was a kid, but a similar style, and peered behind us as if expecting there were more ghosts from her past waiting to haunt her.
Instinctively, I peered too, my eyes following her gaze to the empty car. She got her answer faster from looking before I could summon up one with words. “Dinner’s almost ready. There should be enough.”
Jolie glanced at me, her expression showing even less confidence than she’d shown in the car.
I offered a tight smile and hoped it was encouraging. Truth was, my stomach had turned into a knotted rope, and every breath I tried to take in went shallow.
“Hi, Carla,” Jolie said, and I had to give her credit for not calling her mom. Her father had required that she did when he’d remarried, an expectation that she’d fulfilled even though she’d hated it.
But instead of completely snubbing her with the dropped title, Jolie leaned in and gave her a half hug that was surprisingly returned before she walked inside past her.
I couldn’t bring myself to be that affectionate. It already felt like I was on the verge of losing my grip, a grip I’d never been sure I had in the first place.
But I did address her as I walked past, using the name I’d called her once upon a time. Before Wallingford. Before Langdon Stark. “Hi, Mom.”
Then I followed Jolie into the house where it all began, where I’d spent the best and worst year of my life being beaten by my stepdad and falling in love with his daughter.
Cade and Jolie’s love story continues in
Wild War
book two in the epic Dirty Wild trilogy
Paige Press
Paige Press isn’t just Laurelin Paige anymore…
Laurelin Paige has expanded her publishing company to bring readers even more hot romances.
Wild Rebel Page 21
