Unexpected Vows

by Paige, Victoria

  Fire trucks, police cruisers, and ambulances dotted Marietta Street.

  “Oxygen!” he yelled to one of the EMTs helping one of the victims. His partner responded, grabbing a bag as he led them into the ambulance. Colt laid her on the gurney.

  “What happened?” the EMT asked, fitting the bag valve mask over her face.

  “I think her brain is shutting down,” Colt said. Kate gripped his hand as if to control the intense shaking of hers. Her eyes closed briefly as she received oxygen, but when they opened again, tears flowed down her cheeks.

  Tears that scared the hell out of him.

  Her grip on his hand slackened, but he tightened his.

  “Kate, don’t let go.” His voice was hoarse, full of an anguish he could no longer contain. “I love you, babe.”

  Every time she blinked, tears fell faster until her eyes slid shut and she didn’t reopen them.

  Numbness locked his muscles as another paramedic shoved him aside. Colt staggered back and landed on a bench beside the gurney, vaguely feeling the lurch of the ambulance as it sped away. Fingers buried in his hair, he watched completely helpless as people around him scrambled to save his wife.

  32

  Kate

  Memory …

  We were on week two of training with the Tier One SEALs. Matt and I kept mostly to ourselves. I’d been getting propositioned almost every day and Matt was close to beating someone up. Not that I couldn’t handle myself. Three men were taken off the team. There was even talk of keeping Matt and me out of the op. As good as these SEALs were, we knew how to navigate those tunnels blindfolded. I was leading the SEALs to grab Scout and Bear. Matt and another team were disabling the infrastructure while yet another SEAL team was grabbing Piper.

  Not all the SEALs were dicks. Actually, there were only a few bad apples. But I was wondering why not even more weren’t like the brooding Lt. Colt Montgomery. He was the only man who didn’t fawn all over me. The man could barely look at me. At first I thought he didn’t like me until Matt explained to me that he did. He was avoiding me because his brother, Eric, had expressed an interest in me. Bro-code and all that.

  Sex was the furthest thing from my mind then, but, in all honesty, I found Colt more than attractive. Shame, really. The few times I caught him looking at me, I liked it. A lot.

  Memory …

  I was on a metal table. Straps on my head and all over my body held me down. I changed my mind about taking the serum for Piper. I’d taken enough doses for her. I’d been in a coma the last time and what did she do? She joined an underground fight club. I did not rescue her bony ass only for her to use her strength for gambling.

  That ungrateful bitch.

  “This is for the best,” Dr. Devlin said as he held out the syringe with a gigantic needle.

  “For whom?” I glared at him. “I’m done being your guinea pig.”

  “Then, it’s a good thing you have no choice,” he said as he stuck the big-ass needle into my neck.

  It hurt so bad, I peed in my pants. I bit on my lips trying to hold in my cry, but the serum flowed through my veins like molten lava. I heard a scream.

  It was mine.

  Memory …

  It gave me pleasure to finally hold a gun to Dr. Devlin’s head. I was tempted to hold it to his neck. The same place where he’d stuck a needle into me so many times I’d lost count.

  But what the hell was Piper doing? How dare she hold a gun to Cassie’s head and why was she on Lee Monroe’s side?

  “Monroe!” I called out and was gratified when everyone froze.

  “Kate, what the hell are you doing?” Piper screamed.

  “What I should have done a long time ago,” I told her calmly.

  Monroe struggled to his feet with the help of two bikers, his face mottled with fury, he yelled, “You kill him, then you kill all your siblings. I will have no use for Scout or Piper.”

  “I know. Death is preferable to life in a cage,” I replied. “This has to end here.”

  “Oh really, Kate?” Piper sneered. “You wouldn’t mind if I end Scout’s miserable life right now?”

  My gun hand trembled. I couldn’t say anything. Damn Piper for calling my bluff.

  Bang!

  Piper collapsed to the ground.

  I stopped breathing.

  Lee Monroe lowered his gun and stared at my sister disdainfully.

  I did this.

  I killed Piper.

  “Piper!” I wailed.

  Memory …

  Tony Lucchetti looked at me in horror.

  “You want me to do what?”

  “Kiss me and take off my clothes.”

  “I don’t know, cara, from what you told me about your admirer he might come in and just kill me.”

  Colt Montgomery wouldn’t leave me alone. He’d been following and watching me for weeks and I was desperate enough to cut all ties to Misty Grove. Knowing what Colt had done for me, how he’d held a torch for me even through the twelve years he thought I was dead, stirred something in the numbness of my heart.

  Fear.

  A fear that I might fall in love with the gorgeous rancher and I wasn’t prepared to escape the blessed walls of this emotional deep freeze. But if there was one thing I knew about the man, he had honor. He wouldn’t try and steal me away from another man.

  Except Tony Lucchetti preferred men.

  “You know, cara, if you don’t want him, I can give him a try,” he teased.

  “Just shut up and kiss me.”

  The Sicilian’s eyes sparked at the challenge. If anything, Tony responded to sass.

  He was also a good faker.

  He yanked me to him, ripped my stretchy neckline down to my shoulder and kissed the hell out of my exposed skin. Then he bracketed my chin between his hands and slammed his mouth on mine.

  The thrust of his tongue surprised me, but I responded in kind.

  Guilt scratched the surface of my frozen heart knowing Colt may be watching.

  But it had to be done.

  Memory …

  I couldn’t believe Matt was now a married man. And he was every inch the smug bastard with the way he had his arm hooked possessively around Grace’s shoulder as they talked to the wedding guests. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how happy he was that he accidentally got a woman pregnant.

  The back of my head burned and I knew Colt was watching me. Since I returned for Matt’s wedding, he had not approached me, but he was always watching. Town gossip said he’d moved on with my lookalike, but Cassie assured me that was over. What did I care? I wasn’t going to stay in town anyway.

  “Your glass is empty,” his familiar baritone said beside my ear.

  Shit, he was closer than I thought.

  I forced a smile and stared up at his whiskey-colored eyes. “I’m good. I’ll get more later.”

  “Here.” He handed me another martini to replace my empty glass.

  “Uhm, thanks,” I mumbled.

  “How are you?”

  Seriously? He’d seen me around for a couple of days, subjected me to his brooding stares, and now he was making small talk?

  I took a sip of the martini and faced him squarely. “What’s your game, Colt?”

  His brows drew together. “No game. Just don’t want this silence between us.” He searched my face. “We’re family, Kate.”

  I sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “I came on too strong before.” He shrugged. “I’m forty-three. I don’t waste time and God knows I’ve wasted enough when it comes to you.”

  I looked around us, smiling at Cassie who was curiously staring at us, along with every other pair of eyes here. This town was full of nosy people.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t be having this conversation here.” My smile grew wider, more fake, and my words more clipped.

  “Here’s the best place to be having it because no way are you going to run away j
ust before the toast.”

  “Sneaky bastard,” I muttered.

  “Can you blame me?” he murmured. There was something different with the way he looked at me.

  Determination. I wasn’t sure if I could brush him off as easily this time.

  “Oh, and I know about Tony Lucchetti,” he said conversationally as he took a sip of his whiskey. “That was a low blow, Kate, even for you.” There was no anger, just a chiding tone. It made me want to kick his shin acting so cool and shit. “But, also know I’m coming for you. It may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week. But we’re happening.”

  After that statement, he left my side and joined the bride and groom to do the best man toasts.

  Memory …

  Cold pizza.

  The twins loved cold pizza.

  They were the fruit of my loins. Ha!

  Memory …

  I was running through the field, but I was tackled from behind.

  The wind got knocked out of me, but I couldn’t breathe because I couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Still think this old guy is slow?” Colt chuckled and he wasn’t breathing hard at all.

  He had rolled us on the grass and I ended up on top of him.

  “I admit you’re pretty spry for an old man,” I teased, staring down at the man I was marrying tomorrow.

  Colt ran his hands through my hair—he loved doing that—as he contemplated my face with gut-wrenching tenderness. “Can’t wait to make you my wife.”

  “Ditto.”

  Laughter rumbled in his chest. “You got that ditto wrong. Try this. I love you.”

  I smiled wide. “Ditto.”

  Memory …

  Running.

  I was tired of running.

  But this was the run of my life as I sped through the alley, the camera bag with explosives under my arm.

  This evil in my head could not win.

  There was only one way this day would end.

  And that was with me going home to my family—to Colt, to Josh, to Olivia.

  I spotted a dumpster and dashed to it, flipping its lid and hurling the bag into its depths.

  No time to run back to the streets. I spotted a concrete stairwell and ran toward it.

  Any moment now …

  A thunderous roar.

  A sonic blast.

  I hurtled into the air.

  I opened my eyes and stared into beloved whiskey eyes.

  The Gray Room was gone.

  A smile tugged on my lips.

  33

  Colt

  He pulled his Suburban into Echo Lake Park parking lot and turned off the engine. He was picking up Kate and the kids and he was early, but he couldn’t cool his heels at TAC any longer. He wanted to be here when it was time for them to leave the park.

  It had been three weeks since the marathon. Three weeks since he thought he’d lost her for a second time in one lifetime. The days that followed were the darkest moments in his entire life. Their greatest fear became a reality. The brain spindle had a self-kill directive. It wasn’t nanotechnology poisoning the brain, but a program in the spindle designed to kill its host. In most cases, the hosts committed suicide and the body’s natural decomposition got rid of all traces of the device. But when the host overpowered the spindle program, it was self-aware enough to release its toxic particles into the brain.

  Rage rose up inside him again. Such technology should never exist.

  It had been fortunate that Porter and his hand-picked neurosurgeon, whose specialty was bio-engineering, were already in Atlanta. The admiral had suspicions that Kate’s implant was a ticking time bomb and had prioritized her case. Colt believed the admiral was determined that Josh and Olivia wouldn’t grow up without their mother. Porter’s soft spot was a rarity, but his humanity came through when it counted the most.

  It was ironic that it only took a syringe to implant the device and yet it took six hours to remove the remnants of the spindle. They had to keep Kate in a medically induced coma while machines cleaned the toxicity in her blood stream and her brain. Colt hated seeing all those tubes passing through her. It took a week for the poison to leave her system and then she remained in a coma for another four days. No one knew if she’d come out of it. The twins were a wreck and Olivia had stopped talking again.

  And then, nine days ago, she woke up.

  Seeing her crystal blue eyes open was like the sunrise after twelve days of night.

  Colt didn’t think he had it in him to go through that again, but the kids needed him, so he remained strong even when he was barely holding on to his sanity.

  He spotted the twins at the park exit. Colt’s jaw tightened. Kate and Aleksey were walking side by side, talking. His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel and then, in slow degrees, he let the tension leave his body. He would never get used to watching any man look at his wife with longing, but he didn’t have to lose his mind every damned time. What kind of example would he set for the kids?

  Besides, Romanov signed the termination of parental rights the day before, legally allowing Colt to adopt the twins. Aleksey was leaving that night for Moscow.

  Good riddance.

  Colt got out of the vehicle and was pleased when Josh and Olivia’s faces lit up at the sight of him.

  “Colt!” they screamed and rushed toward him. They each clung to an arm talking incessantly about the llamas they’d seen at the zoo.

  “Can we have a llama? Can we? Can we?” Olivia gazed up at him with pleading eyes.

  “Don’t you dare, Montgomery,” came Kate’s stern warning.

  Montgomery? He shot her a look.

  Kate wasn’t a hundred percent yet. Her lips weren’t their usual rosy color and there was a general strain around her features, but her eyes sparked blue fire. They hadn’t had sex since the night of their wedding. She’d had brain surgery, after all, and Colt couldn’t help being a bit more cautious around her.

  “These two monkeys had fun?” Colt asked as he lifted each child alternately like dumbbells.

  “They did.” His wife smiled.

  He turned to Romanov. “Aleksey. Your flight is tonight?”

  Kate rolled her eyes, but Romanov chuckled. “Yes. Don’t worry. I’ll be leaving you guys alone for the next few months.” He stared at the twins. “I will miss you two.”

  The kids let go of Colt and went to their father.

  Olivia hugged him. “Why can’t you just stay here?”

  “You know my work is in Russia,” Aleksey replied.

  Josh hung back behind his sister.

  Romanov stared at his son over Olivia’s head and held out an arm, pleading and regret in his eyes. “Josh …”

  Josh’s face crumpled as he rushed to his father, clinging to him tightly, burying his face in Romanov’s coat, his body shaking as he let go of his long-held resentment for his dad.

  After long heartbreaking moments, Kate gently pried them away. Romanov leaned in and kissed Kate on the forehead. “Take care of yourself, Katya.”

  Then he turned to Colt and held out his hand. “Take care of them.” Romanov had tears in his eyes and, for the first time since he had met the man, Colt felt sorry for him. Their handshake was firm. Then without another word, he turned and walked straight to his Escalade.

  He didn’t look their way again as he backed his SUV and drove out of the park.

  Kate shuddered visibly.

  Colt stepped up to her, took Olivia’s hand in his, and put an arm around his wife. She was still holding Josh’s hand. She laid her head on his chest.

  A cloud of melancholy hung thick above the twins.

  She was sad for her children.

  Colt understood, just as he understood that their sadness would be fleeting because he’d do everything in his power to bring those smiles back to their faces. Because, as of yesterday, he legally became their dad.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you, kids,” he said, breaking the silence as they began their trek to the car.
/>   “What?” the twins asked in unison.

  “Millie is making ice cream.”

  Their eyes grew wide. “What flavors?” Again, in unison.

  “Pumpkin, salted caramel, and butter pecan.”

  The kids let go of their hands and raced to his Suburban.

  Kate started laughing. “Bribing them?”

  He smirked. “Just strategic planning.”

  “Why? Because you’re a SEAL?”

  “Dad, Mom, hurry up!” Josh yelled.

  They should have laughed, but didn’t.

  Colt’s chest tightened; Kate glanced up at him, a hand over her chest.

  “Josh called you Dad,” she whispered.

  He turned her to face him and brushed his lips against hers. There were gagging noises from the peanut gallery.

  “Because that’s who I am.”

  34

  Kate

  The brain is a complex organ. I marveled at its resilience. It had been four weeks since the marathon. Four weeks since my brain reordered my true memories. As the machines removed the toxicity from my body, I slept. My dreams were flashbacks to the time before Chrysalis imploded and moved forward from there. Why that time? I wasn’t sure, but I suspected it was the point where the false memories were implanted. So I healed, a type of rewiring of the vast neural pathways of the body’s most intricate components.

  Laughter brought my attention back to the present. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Rows of Fraser fir trees and people dotted my vision, but my eyes sought the owner of that familiar giggle. My lips curled into a smile. Olivia was clapping her hands as her brother and Colt agreed on her selection for our Christmas tree. I headed to my family, holding a drink carrier containing four coveted hot chocolates.

  “Mama!” Olivia squealed when she spotted me. “We found the perfect tree.”

  My eyes scanned to the top of the tree. “That’s a big one,” I told Colt.

  “Josh and Liv want it. Fits in the living room. So, why not?” He grinned.