by Apryl Baker
“More like the wrong side of a knitting needle.” He reached up and felt the long jagged gash that ran from his eye down. “My grandmother has Alzheimer's and didn’t recognize me. She was afraid, thinking a stranger had broken in on her, and I ended up taking a few hits so I wouldn’t hurt her while we got her calmed down.”
“You poor thing.” The bartender clucked, all sympathetic. “What’ll you have? It’s on the house.”
“Scotch, please. I’m surprised the place is open this early. It’s only ten.”
“The owner loves to steal as much business as he can, so he serves a breakfast menu as well as lunch and dinner. Pops is a character.”
“Pops?”
“He’s old enough to be everybody’s grandfather. We all call him Pops. He takes care of us in his own way. Great guy.”
“He sounds it. I’m Josh.” He stuck his hand out when she placed his drink in front of him. “And you are?”
“Ellen.” A bright spot of color bloomed on her cheeks as she shook his hand. She bit her lip slightly, and he had to remind himself to be patient. This beauty was off limits unless it took him longer than expected to retrieve his angel.
“What’s to eat around here?” He gave her a half smile, and sure enough, she rewarded him with another one of those intoxicating blushes. Her skin flushed a bright red, exactly as it would under scalding hot water. She turned, offering him a gorgeous view of her backside. Long, beautiful spine, shapely hips, and an ass that begged to be touched. He blinked. No. Now was not the time to get sidetracked. He was here for a purpose.
The door opened around the same time she handed him the bar menu. Three officers came in, taking a table close to the bar. They glanced at him, and then looked away. A small smile flirted with his lips. They hadn’t recognized him.
“What’ll you have, honey?” Ellen smiled her best, flirtiest smile.
“How about you?” He winked at her, and she laughed. Another couple of cops entered, momentarily distracting her. She called back into the kitchens to let the waitress know she had tables.
“Food must be good if you get Boston’s finest in here.” He closed the menu. “I’ll have the apple pancakes with a side of bacon and eggs.”
“We don’t normally get them in here.” She entered his order into the POS. “At least not before last night.”
“Last night?” He did his best to sound casually curious, something he prided himself on. “Someone get into a fight?”
“I wish.” Her soft lips turned down slightly. “I was a little afraid to come in to work today.”
“Why’s that, sweetheart?”
“You know the crazy guy going around killing women?” Her tone became hushed and she leaned forward, showing off her cleavage. He took full advantage of the view.
“Yes. Awful thing.”
“He was here last night.”
“What?” He widened his eyes, going for a shocked expression. “Here in the bar?”
“Outside. Dumping a body.” She visibly shuddered, her fear palpable. He could almost taste the salty, bitter flavor of it, just as if her skin was slick from sweat after a good round with his favorite tool.
“Damn.” He let out a low whistle. “That had to be terrifying.”
“Especially for Angel. She saw him. I mean up close and personal, saw him.” She pulled out a paper and placed it in front of him. It was the drawing Angel had provided to the police sketch artist. Seeing it up close, he had to admit it was a very good likeness of him. “I can’t even imagine what she’s going through, her or Jessie.”
“Jessie?”
“One of our waitresses. She saw him too, but only a glimpse. When Pops called to ask me if I could cover Jessie’s shift this morning, I almost said no. I mean, what if he comes back looking for one of them?”
He glanced over to the police officers currently laughing. “With these guys around, you’ll be safe, I think. I mean, he can’t be stupid enough to come in here with the police.”
She nodded. “That’s what I’m banking on. They said they’ll have a police presence in the area until this is resolved, plainclothes inside and out so as not to disrupt business during the evening hours. Pops’ one request.”
“At least you’re protected from the big bad wolf.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I hope so, but I wouldn’t put anything past this sicko.”
You have no idea, my lovely, no idea.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to go check on your food.”
He looked back down at his picture. Angel was very good with details. Excellent memory, but then he expected nothing less of his true masterpiece. The one he would pose in all her glory in the art gallery beside the university. The one where his grandfather had had his first paintings shown off. If only the old man could see him now. He had no doubt he’d be proud.
Ellen was on her way with his food, and he hadn’t had anything but soup yesterday. His stomach grumbled appreciatively at the smells currently assaulting his nose from the steaming plate on its way to him.
Once she’d set down that and a glass of Dr. Pepper, he dug in and spent the next hour chatting and flirting with the pretty Ellen. All the while, not one officer who came and went even batted an eye at him.
Things were going to work out better than planned. Yes, indeed.
Chapter Ten
Kade massaged the back of his neck as Bailey parked the car. He was drained, and it was only three in the afternoon. He despised going to do death notices. It was the hardest part of being a cop. Special Agent in the FBI he might be, but at heart, he was still a police officer. Telling someone a member of their family died never got easier. A lot of cops he knew, including FBI agents, often said it got easier, but for Kade, it never did. That look of broken, twisted grief stayed with him.
The biting cold hit him as soon as he stepped out of the car. Damn, but Boston was cold. Unseasonably cold, as Bailey put it. His grandmother would laugh at all the people bundled up against the frigid air. Russia was colder, and this would be a warm front to them. He shook his head at the thought and followed Bailey into the station. The desk sergeant motioned to them, and he paid no attention until Bailey started cussing and demanded to know why no one had called him.
Kade looked over, in askance, alarmed at the grim expression.
“Angel is here with your brother. That’s all I know.”
Kade felt the panic rise from his gut, settling in his throat. He yanked out his phone to check for messages and discovered that sometime between this morning and now, it died. God, what if she’d tried to call him? What if something happened? Had the unsub tried to take her? A million questions ran through his head, driving him mad while they waited for the elevator to take them to the floor where homicide was located.
His eyes found his brother first, talking to one of the officers, holding two Starbucks coffee cups, and he headed straight for him. When Nikoli spotted him, his expression morphed to one of complete fury, and Kade slowed.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Nikoli’s voice went flat, hard, and mean. Kade couldn’t recall ever seeing his brother this pissed.
“Telling a couple their child is dead.” His ran a hand through his hair. “What happened?”
“Your sick fuck sent Angel a package.”
His knees went a little weak. How the hell did he know where she was? “What was in it?”
“A note that said ‘soon, my angel’ along with a curl of red hair.”
“Shit.” This from Bailey, and the brothers turned to see him right behind them. “What time did it arrive at the apartment?”
“Around twelve thirtyish. As soon as she opened it, we called Kade, who never fucking checked his voicemail or his messages.” Nikoli’s glare was hot enough to scorch hell itself. “When we couldn’t reach you, we came here.”
“How many people touched the box?” Bailey asked, pulling out his own phone.
“Not sure, but I can tell you the front desk atten
dant at the apartment building brought it up to us, and I accepted the package. Angel was the only person to touch it after that. An officer already took it down to forensics.”
“Where the fuck is she?” Kade barked, his panic fueling his anger.
“She’s in the conference room.” Nikoli held up the coffee cup. “I stepped across the street to get her some coffee. She’s pretty shaken up.”
Kade turned and all but ran down the hall, bursting into the room, and only when he saw that she was there, safe and whole, did he let out the breath he’d been holding. She was okay.
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He strode over, hauled her up, and hugged her tighter than he’d ever done in all their time together. She was safe.
Angel gasped when Kade burst in, his eyes wild with panic. He let out a full body breath when he saw her. She certainly didn’t expect him to hold her like there was no tomorrow. He was shaking with fear. The realization stunned her. He wasn’t just afraid, he was terrified. For her.
It. Made. No. Sense.
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?” He relaxed his grip enough to lean back and study her face. She stared up into those onyx eyes and tried to figure out what he was doing. What kind of game was he playing?
“Answer me, Angel!” He shook her slightly. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” she murmured. “I’m fine.”
“Thank fuck.”
“Kade?” Nikoli stood in the doorway, confused and holding her coffee. “What the hell is going on?”
A question Angel had been asking herself since Kade pinned her to the bed.
Nikoli set her coffee on the table and took a seat. “Explain.”
Kade let her go, and she sank back down in the chair he’d pulled her from. She wanted to know what was going on herself.
“Later.” Kade went from scared and concerned to Mr. FBI Agent with a blink of an eye. His entire demeanor changed, and he became the professional cop she’d only seen once, and it was enough. It was her last image of him, the one that had broken her.
“Angel.” Bailey closed the door behind him and took a seat next to Nikoli. Kade remained standing. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“There’s not much to tell.” She let the heat from the coffee cup seep into her cold hands. “A package arrived, and I opened it. There was a note and some hair inside. Red hair.”
Red hair. Like hers.
“He took a young woman last night,” Bailey told her quietly.
“With red hair?” Why she asked, she didn’t know. It was an obvious answer.
“Yes.” His lips tightened.
“He took her because of me.” The realization sank in, and she flinched. That girl was suffering right now because of her.
“We don’t know that.” Kade finally sat. “She could have been planned already. There’s no pattern to who he takes.”
“She has red hair, Kade.” Her voice came out hushed, quiet.
“I know, moye serdtse, but this is not your fault. I can hear those wheels turning in that head of yours.”
Angel ignored Nikoli’s surprised gasp. Of course he would know what those words meant. “I saw him. I put his face out there for everyone to see. He’s sending me fucking letters, Kade. This? This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not. It’s his fault. His sickness is to blame. You didn’t do anything wrong, Angel. You can’t blame yourself for his fixation.”
“He’s right.” Bailey stopped writing in his little notebook. “If it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else. You can’t blame yourself for something he did.”
They could both tell her that until they turned blue in the face, but this? This was on her. He took some poor, innocent girl because she had red hair. Like hers.
“Angel, do you still feel safe in the apartment?” Bailey pulled her from her dark thoughts. “He obviously knows where you are. We can move you again.”
“I’ll put you up in any hotel you want.” Nikoli reached over and took her hand. “Anything you need, Angel, you just tell me, and I’ll do it.”
“How secure is the apartment?” Kade all but snarled, and again, Angel was shocked at the jealousy coming from him. He didn’t like his brother touching her. Nikoli picked up on it too and withdrew his hand, bemused and slightly fascinated.
“The building has one of the best security systems in the city. It’s why I bought it. Not to mention my own security in place inside the apartment. You need a special key to actually get up to the penthouse in the elevator and to access the stairs leading up. There’s a security code you need to open the stairwell door along with the key. It’s Fort Knox, man.”
“Then I should be perfectly fine.” She really didn’t want Nikoli spending anything on her. He might own his own business, but she didn’t want to put him out.
“I think I’m going to take you up on your offer of extra security.” Angel’s attention snapped back to Kade when he said that. “Especially when I’m not there. I want someone in the corridor outside the door on the penthouse level, as well as someone inside the lobby and watching all entrances to the building.”
“Sure thing. I’ll call Viktor and see if he has anyone to spare. If he doesn’t, I’ll still have people ready to go by tonight.”
“Your brother Viktor?” Why would they be calling their brother?
“Yes.” Nikoli nodded. “Viktor is a Marine veteran who now runs his own security company, Kincaid Security Corp. Hardcore security. He hires ex-military. How do you know Viktor’s our brother?”
“Bailey, can you go find the person who took the initial report, as well as who went and examined the scene?”
Bailey looked between the three of them and nodded. He got up and closed the door behind him.
“Now, are you two going to tell me what the fuck is going on here?”
Kade closed his eyes, ran a hand through his already mussed hair, and then faced his brother. “She’s my wife.”
Nikoli gaped. “What the fuck? Are you messing with me?”
“He’s not.” Angel crossed her arms. “Although I didn’t know we were still married until he showed up at the bar last night.”
“I don’t understand. How can you not know you’re still married?”
Kade looked extremely uncomfortable, and Angel found herself almost feeling sorry for the guy. Explaining to your family a wife you forgot about couldn’t be the easiest thing in the world.
“You remember when I went undercover down in Miami?”
“Yean, scared the hell out of Mama when she didn’t hear from you in almost two years. For a while, there, we all thought you might have been killed.”
“I met Angel while I was undercover. Her brother was my in with the guys I needed to hook up with. We got married, and after the bust went down, we parted ways.”
“So it wasn’t a real marriage?” Nikoli quirked an eyebrow in question.
“That’s what I thought.” Angel rubbed her arms, her memories trying to swim up and drown her in even more grief. She pushed them down resolutely. She’d kept them buried this long, she wasn’t going to let them crush her now. Not when she needed to keep her strength up.
“But?”
“But I used my real name while undercover, and I was married under that name. An annulment was out of the question because the marriage was consummated. We’d need a divorce, and what with one assignment after another, it slipped my mind until I saw her.”
“You forgot?” Nikoli leaned back, studying his brother. “How the fuck do you forget something like that?”
“Leave it alone, Nik.” Angel leaned forward. She’d watched Kade explain this more times than she cared to. She understood his putting it in the past and doing his best not to think about it. It was exactly what she’d forced herself to do in order to protect what was left of her shattered heart. It made her wonder if Kade had done something similar. But that would mean he’d cared, and his actions said otherwise. Confusing. That was what this w
hole mess was starting to become.
Her statement brought the full intensity of Nikoli’s stare to settle on her. “Did you know who I was when I came into Pops’ that first night?”
“Look at you, Nik. Even if I hadn’t seen your picture, I’d have known. There’s no denying you’re brothers.”
“You treated me like family, Angel. I never understood it, but I do now.” His expression became so serious it alarmed her. “You’re family.”
“No.” She shook her head, emotions she’d worked so hard to shut out pounding on the locked door of her heart. “I…you were Kade’s little brother…and…after Peter…I just…”
“You needed to protect someone, someone who you thought of as family.”
Her eyes shot to Kade. They were full of understanding and grief. Was he thinking about their son? The pain in them…the wall around her own heart cracked, the locks on the door splintering.
No. No. No.
She would not succumb. She would not hurt like that again. Never, ever again.
But what if he hurts as much as you do, her subconscious whispered.
“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Nikoli asked, forcing her attention back to him and away from traitorous thoughts.
Kade shrugged. “It wasn’t anyone’s business but mine and Angel’s.”
Nikoli stared at them both for a long moment then shrugged himself. “Well, I guess we got what we always wanted, but dreaded.”
What did that mean?
“A sister.” He laughed. “God, I’ve known about her for a minute, and all the trouble she’s already causing.” He pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Alarm spread across Kade’s face and he half stood. “Don’t you dare call Mama or Babushka. I don’t even know what…”
Nikoli held up a finger to shush him and put the phone on speaker.
Shit, who was he calling? Kade growled, and Angel was right there with him. If he was calling their mother…she shook her head. No. She and Kade might be legally married, but they weren’t husband and wife. It would only upset Kade’s family.
