Cease Fire

by Janie Crouch

  The skepticism melted away, which was what she had been hoping for, as he bent down to look at her feet.

  “I won’t untie your hands,” he said. “So don’t even ask me. I can’t trust you not to run away again, even with the baby.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I broke your trust. I won’t do that again.”

  That reassured him a little bit, evidently, because he bent lower and untied the rope.

  For the first time Keira had a sense of hope. Now all she had to do was get away from him. With her feet unbound, she could at least run.

  She didn’t let herself think too hard about the state of the weather outside. It wasn’t a blizzard, but it was still February in Colorado. She wouldn’t last long if she didn’t find help.

  But she would last longer than she would against Jonathan and his gun if he changed his mind about how he felt about the baby, or realized how long she’d really been gone and that if she was pregnant, the baby couldn’t possibly be his.

  Unfortunately, that moment came sooner rather than later.

  They’d probably been at the house a total of thirty or forty minutes. Keira wasn’t sure what triggered the clarity in Jonathan, but when he turned to her she saw that he had a clear grip on reality.

  “Keira?” He looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time today. Which perhaps he was. “How did you get here?”

  She looked into his eyes, which were clear for the first time. “You brought me here, remember?”

  His eyes narrowed at her words and he glanced around, obviously trying to remember what had happened over the last hour. Finally, he looked back at her.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  Keira got up and ran. She didn’t wait to see how long it would take for him to figure out exactly what was going on. She just knew this was the man who had hurt her so many times. He would kill her now that he knew she was pregnant with another man’s child.

  He caught her before she even reached the front door, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her back onto the floor. Keira let out a sob.

  “Pregnant?” His hot breath was right next to her ear, causing her to shudder. “That baby’s not mine and we both know it.”

  He kept hold of her hair as he dragged her into the bedroom. Keira began sobbing. She couldn’t bear it if he actually touched her.

  But he didn’t drag her to the bed. Instead he pulled her to a wooden chair in the middle of the room—the only thing that didn’t match the furnishings from their first house. He took out some rope and wrapped it around her chest, securing her to the chair. Then he did the same with her ankles.

  “Did you think I built this place because I wanted to have the great memories of our time together?” He spat the words at her. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  This was the Jonathan she had known. Full of rage and self-righteousness.

  “After you left me, my parents cut me off. I had to steal money from them to build this house,” he continued. “I wanted to make sure I had this so when I found you again, I could make sure you burned without me getting caught.”

  When he finished tying her he came and stood right in front of her, his face merely inches from her own.

  “I’m going to do in this house what I should’ve done in our first one. Kill you, you ungrateful bitch. You’re going to burn to ash right here in our happy home.”

  “Jonathan—”

  He struck her again, snapping her head to the side. “I would gag you, but I want to hear you scream as you die.”

  He walked over to the closet and pulled out a large canister of gasoline and began dousing the far side of the room.

  “I won’t pour gasoline on you. I want to make sure you suffer as long as possible. You and your baby.” His face turned a mottled red as he said it. “You deserve everything coming to you.”

  He turned and walked toward the bedroom door, glancing back over his shoulder right before he left.

  “You know what’s great about all of this? Even if someone does find your body, which is unlikely, let’s be honest, everyone will blame Damien Freihof. It’s not every day you find someone willing to take the credit for your murders. I’ll get off scot-free.”

  He gave her one more rage-filled smile, lit a match, threw it on the floor and walked out.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The private investigator had been paid only to see where Keira went, and keep a record. So once he knew where the house was, the man had left.

  As much as Roman wished he had someone who could rush in right then to help Keira, he was at least thankful he had an address. As soon as he knew the location, about twenty miles outside town, he was on his way.

  He was less than an hour behind them, but terror gripped him at the thought of what could happen to Keira in an hour at Jonathan Cunningham’s hands.

  Roman knew he needed a plan, but there were too many unknowns to even come up with one. All he knew was that he had to get to Keira as fast as possible. His mother had wanted to come with him, to help, but Roman hadn’t even listened to her. What he needed now were his SWAT teammates, but none of his calls had gone through. Roman had no doubt that was due to the work of the traitor inside Omega.

  Roman was on his own.

  He found the house easily enough, but parked his truck about a quarter mile from it for stealth. He didn’t want Cunningham to kill Keira as soon as he saw Roman. He grabbed his sidearm and sprinted the rest of the way, praying all the while that he was not too late.

  The house was completely out of place in the middle of the woods. It looked like something that belonged in a suburban neighborhood.

  And Jonathan Cunningham was standing in front of it, laughing.

  “Cunningham, get your hands up where I can see them,” Roman said as he closed in on him. At least if he was out here he wasn’t harming Keira.

  “So much for a secret location,” the man muttered under his breath.

  “Where is Keira?”

  “Are you him?”

  Roman pointed his weapon more fully at Cunningham. “Where is Keira?” he asked again.

  “You’re him, aren’t you? The father of her baby.” Cunningham began to laugh again. “Well, not for long.”

  It was then that Roman smelled the smoke. The house was on fire, and obviously Cunningham had trapped Keira in there. He called 911, cursing when the call wouldn’t go through because of whatever the mole had done.

  Roman made a dash for the door. He didn’t care if the building was already burning; he was not leaving Keira in there.

  But before he could make it, Cunningham’s weight crashed into him and sent them both flying into the dirt next to the door.

  Roman’s gun went flying out of his hand back behind them.

  “No. She’s going to burn in there the way she should’ve burned a long time ago.”

  Roman felt Cunningham’s fist connect with his jaw, the force knocking his head to the side. But Roman refused to allow the blow to stun him. He shifted his weight, rolling forward so that he was on top. This time, it was his fist that flew into Cunningham’s face.

  Roman didn’t even try to filter the sense of joy he received from feeling Cunningham’s nose break under his knuckles. The other man howled.

  Roman grabbed him up by his collar, remembering how Cunningham had broken Keira’s nose. “Doesn’t feel so great, does it?”

  Roman slammed the man back down and ran toward the house. More smoke barreled out now.

  “Keira!”

  Again, Cunningham’s weight crashed into him. Roman didn’t have time to fight the other man. Every second he remained out here was a second Keira stayed trapped in the burning building. Roman threw his elbow up to connect with the other man’s face, but still Cunningham held on.

  They both knew he wouldn’t win in a fight against R
oman. But Cunningham didn’t have to win, he just had to stall Roman until it would be too late to save Keira.

  Cunningham wrapped his arms around Roman in a bear hug. “She’s going to die. You may kill me, but I’m going to make sure she dies today.”

  Roman threw all his weight backward, breaking free. He turned and hit the man with a solid uppercut to the jaw. Cunningham fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Fire was escaping the windows now. Roman ran to the door and kicked it in, but was knocked backward by the force of the flames that rushed out as they gained more oxygen.

  There was no way anyone could be alive in that living room. Roman would have to make his way around to the back and hope he could get in there, that the back of the house was burning more slowly than the front. He refused to accept that Keira was gone.

  Roman began sprinting around the house but stopped when Cunningham stood up.

  And pointed his gun straight at Roman.

  Roman’s weapon was still lying near the side of the house, where it had been knocked from his hands.

  “You’re too late. She’s already dead. I made sure she burned.”

  Roman glanced over at the house. Smoke was billowing from every possible window now. There was no way someone could survive inside. Devastation ate through everything in his body.

  “But don’t worry,” Cunningham continued. “You’ll soon be joining her. And honestly, I’ll be surprised if they find your bodies in the next year.”

  A rage filled Roman. If this son of a bitch had killed Keira, Roman wasn’t going to just stand here and allow Cunningham to shoot him. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting.

  He dived for Cunningham and heard the gun fire twice. He braced himself for the pain as he piled into the man, knocking them both to the ground.

  But the pain never came.

  It took Roman only a moment to realize that Cunningham wasn’t moving. Wasn’t fighting him at all. Roman jumped to his feet, his only thought to get to Keira, still in the building, in case a miracle had happened.

  And found the miracle standing five yards in front of him.

  Keira stood, with the support of his mother, holding Roman’s gun.

  Cunningham wasn’t fighting because Keira had shot him.

  Barely able to believe his eyes, Roman staggered over to the two women.

  “What? How?” he asked as he wrapped Keira in his arms.

  “I followed you,” Maureen said, straightening her blouse as if she hadn’t just run into a burning building. “While you were fighting I went around the back and got Keira out.”

  “Thank you, Maureen,” Keira said, her voice scratchy from smoke inhalation.

  Maureen just shrugged. “I was wrong about too many things when it came to you, Keira. I might have brought Jonathan back into your life by meddling with Bridgette. I’m glad I could at least make this right, although let’s not do this again. I don’t think I’m cut out for this SWAT stuff, Roman.”

  “Mom...” Roman didn’t even know how to get the words out. His mother had just risked her own life and saved his entire future. There was no way Roman could’ve gotten into that building in time to save Keira and the baby. “I...”

  Maureen touched him on the shoulder, nodding. “I know, son.” She smiled at both of them. “Besides, I couldn’t let anything happen to my grandbaby.”

  Roman and Keira laughed, and both held out an arm to pull Maureen into the hug with them.

  Freihof and the mole were still out there, still critical for Omega. They had to be stopped, and they would be. But right now, Roman was just happy knowing Keira and the baby were safe.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Two Months Later

  Keira sat on the couch looking at what used to be the wall of the apartment connected to hers. Now it was all one larger apartment, effectively making her one-bedroom unit into a three-bedroom.

  Once Roman and Maureen had gotten Keira’s approval, they’d brought someone in to do the work very quickly. Maureen was in the salon daily, talking about paint chips and textures for floors and bathroom tiles. Evidently, whatever effort his mother had once put into keeping Keira out of Roman’s life was now being put into decorating their new home.

  “Freaking out?” Roman asked, as he came and sat next to her on the couch, handing her a cup of hot green tea.

  She glanced sideways at him. “Your mom is a little scary.”

  Roman laughed. “Yeah, once she decides to put her energy toward something, she goes at it full force. If it helps, I think she’s still trying to make up for her error in judgment before.”

  “She was trying to protect you. I didn’t like it, but I can understand what she was trying to do.”

  “Is she getting too involved here? I can have her back off. I’m used to her ways, but I’m sure it can be a little overwhelming.”

  He slipped an arm around Keira and she slid closer to his side. This was how they had spent most evenings since the day Jonathan had kidnapped her. The next day Roman had shown up at her apartment with most of his clothes and toiletries, and basically had never left.

  Not that Keira wanted him to.

  “No, I think that Annabel and Heather like having her around. And I don’t think your mom would be able to give up her time with little Rachel even if I told her she had to stop the decorating.”

  Maureen had formed a special bond with Heather and her daughter. The older woman often came in now to hold the baby while Heather was working.

  “Yeah, training for when our baby gets here.”

  Keira turned so she could face him directly. “Are you sure about living here? I know even with the new apartment added we’re not going to have a whole lot of space. Definitely not as much as a big house.”

  “Why would I need a big house? Everything I want is right here.” His hand slid to cover her belly, which was starting to show signs of the growing life inside her.

  “But what about when you decide to do stuff politically? An apartment over a salon...is it really going to work for that?”

  “Who says I’m planning to go into politics?”

  Keira rolled her eyes. “Um, let me see. You. Your mother. Anybody who knows you. Anybody who knew your father.”

  “Dad wanted to help. That’s why he ran for state senate. And he was great at it.”

  Keira shrugged. “You might be great at it, too.”

  “I want to help. I want to make a difference. But that doesn’t necessarily mean running for office. I can make a difference from right here. From Fresh Starts. Put my time and effort and financial resources into shelters like this and other ones all across the country.”

  A weight lifted. “You’re sure? I don’t want to hold you back from something that’s important to you.”

  “Making a difference is important to me. But you and the baby are important to me, too.” His large hands reached up and framed her face and pulled her in for a kiss. She was breathless by the time they were done.

  “Okay?” he said against her mouth.

  She nodded. Then relaxed as he eased her back into his side.

  “I want you to marry me,” he said, after a long moment.

  Keira hated that she couldn’t stop herself from stiffening at the word. She knew Roman wasn’t Jonathan. Knew the Weber family weren’t the Cunninghams.

  “Roman...” She didn’t want to say anything that would damage their relationship, but didn’t know if she would ever be able to say yes to a marriage proposal. She tried to get up from the couch, but he wouldn’t let her.

  “Keira, look at me.”

  She didn’t want to, but she did.

  “Do you love me?”

  Yes. Yes, she did love him. She knew that. But loving him and convincing her mind that it was okay to get married again? Those were two very different t
hings.

  “Yes.” She whispered softly, afraid everything was about to fall apart. “I do love you, Roman. I hope you believe that.”

  He smiled. “I do believe it. And I love you, too. I think I’ve been in love with you from that first night at Brandon and Andrea’s wedding.”

  How was she going to be able to explain to him that she felt the same way, but that the thought of marriage terrified her? That her fear of tying herself to him legally had nothing to do with lack of feelings for him?

  How could she ever make him understand something like that?

  Roman reached over to the table beside the couch and grabbed an envelope and a ring box.

  Oh God, a ring box.

  Keira was afraid she was going to start sobbing at any second.

  “Roman...”

  He held the envelope and the box up between them. “This is for when you’re ready. I know you’re not ready right now, and that’s okay.

  “This is a prenuptial agreement,” he continued. “Different than what would normally be in a prenuptial agreement. Our family lawyer had a fit.”

  Keira took it, since Roman obviously wanted her to.

  “It was my mother’s idea, actually,” he said.

  That stung a little bit, after how things had changed between her and Maureen, but Keira wasn’t surprised.

  “Maureen wants to protect her family—don’t blame her for that. I don’t.”

  Roman smiled. “Yes, she does want to protect her family. But that now includes you and the baby.”

  Keira’s brows furrowed. She opened the envelope. She wasn’t any legal expert, but she could tell right away that he’d been correct when he’d stated this wasn’t a normal prenuptial agreement. “I’m not sure I understand exactly what this says. It can’t mean what I think it does.”

  “Well, let me use my law degree to explain it to you. Basically, it says that everything I own, all my inheritance and holdings within the Weber family, are all given to you and the baby once we’re married.”