by Aiden Bates
I slowed down a little. Were Rasner’s men tearing my daughter’s room apart now, too?
To my surprise, I didn’t see sunglasses and suits through the window—I saw Daniel’s face as he pulled the curtains back to let in some sunlight.
What the hell. Why would Rasner have deposited Daniel and Lissa back home? I doubted he would have separated them. Wherever Daniel was, Lissa was surely close by. She would’ve thrown a fit otherwise. That was my girl for you. Something about the move didn’t feel right, though. It left my skin prickling and a cold feeling shooting down my spine.
It didn’t matter in the moment. I couldn’t let my Omega and my kid be held hostage. Not when I knew what Rasner was capable of. Now that he’d shown his true colors, I didn’t believe that anyone in his care was safe.
I had some sense of how Rasner felt about hostages. They were just bargaining chips to him. Pawns in his twisted little game. For as long as he thought he was outmaneuvering me, he wouldn’t care if he had to lose a few to stay ahead.
I parked several streets back and got out of the Crown Vic. It was the middle of a work day—and my delinquent past had at least taught me that when you skipped school, there was no one around to care that you were sneaking through their yards. I came up onto the back of Daniel’s house holding my breath, but my pulse was beating strong and steady.
I wasn’t nervous, I realized. Not even as I spotted a security agent posted at the back door. If I kept pressed against the house, I thought I might even be able to get the drop on him.
The way he crumpled when my fist thundered against his throat proved me right. A quick kick to the head left him K.O.’d—perfect.
Maybe that MMA career hadn’t been as worthless as Dad had claimed after all.
I knew I had to stay quiet as I slipped inside through the back door. I had no idea how many other men might be guarding Daniel and Lissa, but the line from the laundry room to Lissa’s room was a clear shot.
I darted through the house, dead quiet. Even in my cowboy boots, I could float like a butterfly. If I came across any more of Rasner’s guards, I’d sting like a bee, too.
Hell, I’d sting like an angry hornet. They’d certainly kicked the hell out of my nest.
“Daniel?” I whispered his name as I came up behind him. My hand shot around his shoulder to clasp over his mouth before he could startle. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Avast!” Lissa whispered, eyes wide. She was sat on the ground, pulling the hair out of the creepiest looking china doll I’d ever laid eyes on. She looked happy to see me.
It made my heart swell as Daniel nodded and I dropped my hand from his mouth.
“Stay quiet, okay? Both of you.” I turned Daniel around and took him in for a moment.
His eyes were still puffy from crying earlier, but other than that, he was unharmed. Somehow, even after Rasner had put him through hell…
My breath caught in my throat.
He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever known.
“How many?” I kept my voice low, and Daniel followed suit.
“Just two.”
“One down, one to go.” The look of surprise on Daniel’s face made me grin. “I took out the guy positioned in the backyard. Didn’t see the other, though. Maybe he stepped out?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel admitted. “But that means the backyard is clear. You have a car?”
I nodded.
“Then let’s go.” Daniel moved to Lissa and picked her up. She left the china doll on the ground, half bald.
I caught her sticking her tongue at it in smug satisfaction as we left.
We got all the way to the back gate without hassle. But as I pushed the gate open, I felt that cold, nasty feeling shoot down my spine again.
Fuck. I realized we’d been spotted only a moment before I heard the whisper of a gun being unholstered from the side of the house.
“Stop right there. Anyone moves, I shoot.” He paused, then added. “Turn around.”
“Which is it, then? Anyone moves, I shoot, or turn around?”
I shot Daniel a look of warning. His uppity high-class sass might have gotten him out of a few pickles at the Whole Foods or back at Yale, but it wouldn’t work on a man who’d been trained to shoot first, ask questions later.
“Turn. Around. Don’t make me ask again.”
“Oh, he was asking,” Daniel spat.
We did as we were told. Slowly, Daniel and I both turned to face the man. He looked no different than any of the other goons Rasner seemed to always have creeping around. The difference was, his gun was drawn.
There was always something more menacing about a man pointing a gun.
The guard’s free hand moved to the ear piece on the side of his head. “This is Agent White. Let the congressman know there’s been a breach at his son’s house.” Then, a sick grin slid onto his lips. “It’s a bloodbath here, but at least I was able to save the girl.”
When a man points a gun at you, he’s always planning to shoot. Dad’s words echoed in my head as my blood turned to ice. This guy had all but told us that those words were going to ring true here.
He trained the gun on me first.
I’d never had a problem with the idea of dying. I’d confronted death the first time when I was just a kid, back when my Omega dad had passed on. When you spent your teenage years stealing cars and drinking yourself halfway to Heaven’s gates, you got used to the idea of kicking the bucket anyway. For my entire career as a fighter, I’d always gone into the ring knowing that I was only one well-placed punch away from the blow that would end it all to boot.
“Car’s parked on Crescent Street. Take Lissa and run,” I told Daniel out of the corner of my mouth. If I could distract this bozo, maybe Daniel and Lissa could get away. “I love you both so—”
But before I could take a step forward, Daniel dropped Lissa and rushed forward instead. Lissa screamed as she hit the ground.
As for me and the guard, for a moment, we were just fucking stunned.
Out of all the moves either of us had expected Daniel Rasner, Yale grad and career bleeding heart to make, that hadn’t been one of them.
It was that element of surprise that saved all of our lives.
Daniel had the jump on the guy. The guard made the fatal mistake of hesitating a moment longer than I did. By the time Daniel had him tackled to the ground, I was right behind him.
Few things had ever felt better than the moment I crunched down on the guard’s shooting hand with one boot, then put the other to the man’s face.
I beat him unconscious as Daniel rolled to the side. Wasn’t pretty, but at least it was fast. By the time I was done with him, my entire body was heaving with exertion and the guard’s face was a bloody, noiseless pulp.
Still breathing, but by the time he woke up and figured out how bad I’d rearranged all his facial features, he might come to regret that.
“Rusty.” Daniel threw himself at me as I drew back. I moved to wipe my hands on my jeans—didn’t want the blood and snot getting Daniel’s nice clean clothes all dirty—but Daniel didn’t seem to care. “God, Rusty, I thought we were dead there for a second, then…”
He kissed me harder than I’d ever been kissed before, then buried his face in my neck. I could feel the tears rising up through his entire body with how hard it shook while I held him in my arms.
Hell. Maybe, just maybe, I had a little something in my eye too.
“You saved us, darlin’. You gorgeous, stupid, brave idiot. You saved us.”
“Arr!” Lissa let out her best pirate howl and ran over, kicking the unconscious man in the ankle. She only got in the one blow before Daniel gave her the back off, kid look. Sheepishly, she stepped away, but her grin was a proud one. “And I helped.”
“Of course you did, sweetheart.” Daniel reached out for her and pulled her into our hug as well.
It was a hug I didn’t ever want to break—but we weren’t out of the woods quite yet.
“I think your dad set us up, darlin’.” My voice was hoarse. Not because I was tearing up or anything. Just…my face was a little wet and my throat was a little dry.
“He…he hoped you’d come. He was using us as bait.” Daniel’s voice didn’t sound much better than mine. “It was his plan all along. Have me killed, frame you for it.” Daniel’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down uncomfortably. “Rusty…this is a death penalty state.”
“I know.” I kissed his cheek then squeezed them both a little tighter. “I know.”
“He won’t stop at anything to save his career. God—he’d probably just leverage my death all the way to the White House.”
“Grandpa’s gonna be president?” Lissa’s face contorted in confusion.
“Not on my watch.” I looked back to Daniel. “This is how we get him, darlin’. For good. He’s played himself and he doesn’t even know it yet.”
“He…has?” Daniel didn’t look so sure about that.
“He has,” I confirmed. “I’ve got a plan. You trust me?”
Lissa nodded with all the seriousness of an action star being fed a line. “With my life.”
It made Daniel chuckle a little as he agreed. “Of course, Rusty. But…”
I held up a hand to stop him as I pulled my phone out and made a call.
“Detective Frank here. What now, Mystery Man?”
She must’ve recognized my number. Probably had it on file. Maybe even had it tracked by now, too.
Which was fine. Perfect, even.
“I need you to get some officers together, Detective. Ones you trust. Then, I need you to come over to Daniel Rasner’s house. You got the address?”
“Yes,” she said after a beat, then, “But you’re gonna have to give me a damn good reason why.”
“Because.” I smirked as I tracked the reaction on Daniel’s face. “Rusty King has just murdered Daniel Rasner. And in the process, he’s been shot. In fact…” Daniel’s eyes were wide with horror for a moment, then narrowed in delight as he caught on. “Rusty King’s bleeding out in the backyard as we speak.”
26
Daniel
After a lifetime of being dragged along to my father’s political functions, standing on the sidelines while he made his ridiculous speeches, and being pressed by journalists for soundbites they could use about how great it was being raised by a sociopathic single Alpha now that my Omega dad was six feet under…
Somehow, being in a body bag was still up there with the worst things I’d ever experienced. It was dark. It was lonely. And I couldn’t stop thinking dark, lonely thoughts to boot—like who might’ve been in this body bag before Detective Frank had commissioned it for whisking Rusty and I away to the Spartanburg morgue.
After what I guessed was half an hour, I finally heard a zip and saw the light.
“You doing okay, Rasner?”
I blinked as I sat up. I’d been laid on a cold metal table in an eerily lit room. Oh, this was a morgue alright. Detective Frank offered me her hand and helped me untangle my feet from the bottom of the bag as I got up.
“I…think so.” I glanced over to the table next to me. A slightly larger body bag was laid out on it. Rusty’s, I presumed. “How’s Rusty?”
Detective Frank blew a stray lock of curly, bone white hair out of her face and grabbed the zipper of Rusty’s bag. “Let’s find out.”
Rusty shot up immediately, panting with his fists positioned in front of his face. Up and ready to fight. His brow was beaded with sweat. His eyes were wide and full of danger.
Then, he glanced over to the Detective and I. His lips eased into a smile and he let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh. Good. It’s just you two.” Rusty wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and grinned. “Was worried I’d have to come out swinging.”
“Thankfully, no. We played the scene straight,” Detective Frank reassured us. “Had you both being wheeled off before Rasner arrived. There was no chance for him to intercept either of you.”
“And Lissa?”
Detective Frank gave me a sad but reassuring smile. “She’s in a secure location with people I personally trust. After an event like the one we’ve fabricated here, children are taken to social services as standard procedure.”
“Right.” I felt stupid for asking now. “I should’ve known that.”
“Well, you’ve been through a lot today, kid. After all, you died.” Detective Frank still seemed amused at the plan that Rusty had concocted. I supposed in her line of work, it probably wasn’t the craziest thing she’d ever run into, but it was probably close. “So far, Congressman Rasner hasn’t tried to intervene. She’s a little upset, but she’s in capable hands.”
“Can you, um. Bring her to me?” Another stupid question. One that I already knew the answer to. But her absence was making my heart ache. After all she’d been through over the last few days, I could imagine how scared she was.
“You know your dad needs the narrative to be what he expects, darlin’.” Rusty popped down off his table and wrapped me up in a hug. “We’ll get her back as soon as we can.”
“It has to be before my father gets to her, though.” Rusty’s hug did a little to ease my nerves, but not much. My father’s plan to have me killed…it had confirmed everything for me. “He killed Alicia. He killed that aide of his from the pictures too. And maybe…” I bit my lip and tried to find courage in the green of Rusty’s hazels. “Maybe even my Omega dad too. All these car crashes…it fits his M.O.”
“We’ll get him for everything we can, Daniel.” Detective Frank’s voice softened a bit. It didn’t sound like it did that very often, either. “You can count on me for that.”
“Thank you, Detective. That means a lot.”
“Please. Call me Miranda. Detective Frank is gonna get to be a mouthful.”
“But if I could have Lissa close—see her, at least—”
“We’re going to make this right,” Rusty promised. He smoothed his thumbs over my jawline. I leaned into his touch. “But we’ve gotta time it correctly. And we can’t blow our story. You know that.”
I let my shoulders slump. I knew. I wouldn’t push it anymore, either.
I just didn’t have to be happy about it.
“We’ve got some fresh clothes for you here.” Miranda picked up a bag from the floor and sat it down on the table Rusty had been laid on. “A place for you to stay for a few days, too. But it won’t be secure long-term. I’ll help however I can—if it weren’t for Ernie, I wouldn’t have my career. Hell, I’d probably be in one of those body bags myself.”
“Thank god for Ernesto and his connections,” Rusty said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
“I’ve filed the paperwork to have Rusty’s brothers transferred to Spartanburg. Ernie, too. Twisted some arms to get the Fort Greene police to release Ernie’s man and the two Omegas. But… we had to release Kaleb, Harper and Ernie’s names. For as long as the media spotlight is on them, they’ll be safe until the transfer clears. Might take time.”
“They’ll manage,” Rusty assured her. “After all the shit they’ve given me about my criminal record, I bet they’re loving being on the wrong side of the law themselves for a while.”
Miranda patted the bag of clothes in parting then moved for the door. “You two get changed then come on out. We’ll transfer you to the safe house and work from there. If you need anything, holler. You’re safe here. My officers are all loyal—you don’t have to worry about the police as long as they’ve got Spartanburg badges on ‘em.”
“Thank you, Miranda,” I told her again. “We couldn’t do this without you.”
This time, when she smiled, it was a wicked grin. “Don’t sweat it. I’ve been trying to bust your father for a long time. I’m just glad we’ve finally got him for something his charm and his money can’t shake.”
She left us alone. For a long while, all I wanted to do was stay in Rusty’s arms.
So that’s what I
did.
“Rusty…” When I’d finally had my fill of morgue cuddles, I looked up into his eyes. Just staring at his face filled me with a warmth I remembered well. It was the same warmth I’d felt that weekend we’d shared in Vegas. One perfect, drunken weekend before both of our lives had been thrown into the chaos we were still fighting to recover from.
“Yeah, darlin’?”
“About what you were saying when you thought you were going to take a bullet for me.”
He smirked. “Yeah? What about it.”
I drew in a fast breath.
“I think I might’ve heard you say you loved me.”
Rusty’s smirk held for a long time before it shifted into a big, goofy grin.
“Oh, darlin’. I’ve loved you for a long fuckin’ time.” He pulled me closer to him, crushing me against his chest with a warm, possessive growl. “Was about time I said it.”
“You meant it?”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
I smiled back at him as I pulled away. “Actually, you big idiot…I think I might have some idea.”
“Just a little one?”
“Oh, no. A big, fat stupid idea.” I moved his lips toward his, tempting him with a breathy sigh. “I think I might love you just as much.”
When he kissed me, for the first time in a long time, the world felt a little more right.
27
Rusty
The safe house was about as tiny as a house could be before people had to legally start calling it a shack instead. Daniel and I filled it with as much hopefulness as we could muster, a few tender nights of making the bed creak and a whole lot of love…
But by day three, we were restless. Daniel, as it turned out, was a little bit lost without his phone, and I’d damn near paced a hole in the linoleum of the kitchen. When the knock finally came on the door—three sharp ones, a Congressman Rasner-length pause, then three more—we both let out breaths it felt like we’d been holding in since we first arrived.
