Her vision blurred for a moment as she was struck with flashbacks of coming home to find Leo waiting for her, waiting to hurt her. She squeezed her hand into a fist, her nails digging into her palm. The pain brought the scene in front of her back into focus.
Snap out of it, Kat. This isn’t Leo. Ryan needs you to use your head.
It took all her willpower not to run over to him.
“Come in. Close the door behind you.” The man holding the gun looked to be one of the men who’d gone chasing after X, but Kat couldn’t say for sure. She hadn’t gotten a good look at them, and anyway, all those goons looked alike to her.
On closer examination, though, this guy’s nose was messed up. She bet this was the man who’d grabbed her, the man whose nose she’d kicked until it spurted blood. Perhaps she’d broken it. The thought brought her pleasure.
Kat stepped into the room slowly, closing the door behind her. Her eyes met her brother’s, which were open and clear. Lucid. Good. She looked him over, trying to ascertain if he had sustained any injuries. One of his elbows was bleeding, but other than that, he seemed to be fine.
Or as fine as he could be considering he was lying on the floor with a gun pointed at his head. What kind of monsters threw a man out of his wheelchair?
“Are you okay?” she asked Ryan. Because of the gag, he couldn’t speak, but he nodded.
“Where’s your friend?” the man asked.
Kat debated lying, but Marco would be coming in that door any second. “He’s in the parking lot.”
Just then, the door swung open and Marco walked inside. It took him half a second to size up the situation, his eyes narrowing at the man with the gun. Shutting the door behind him, he rushed to Kat, putting himself in front of her.
“Ah, yes. Marco Adamo. You’re lowering yourself a bit, aren’t you? Consorting with this trash?”
Kat couldn’t help but flinch. No one had called her that in a long time, but it still stung.
Marco’s fists clenched at his sides, and Kat put her hand on his arm, afraid he might rush the man, but he stayed in place. Of course. He was a soldier—he knew how to control himself.
“Fuck you,” Marco growled.
Kat shouldered her way in front of him. “What do you want?” she said bravely, her voice full of attitude and indignation.
“Miss Delagrange . . . or should I call you Miss Morton?”
She crossed her arms, trying to show attitude instead of the fear she felt as his mention of her birth name. “It’s Delagrange.”
“I’m sure your friend Leo might be interested to learn about your new name.”
She paled slightly as the room went out of focus again. She dug her nails into her arm, fighting to recover.
Don’t let him see he’s getting to you.
“I’m going to ask you again,” she said, struggling to keep her voice even. “What do you want?”
She’d never been so scared in her life, not even when Leo was standing over her with a broken beer bottle and a maniacal look in his eyes. If anything happened to Ryan . . .
No, that won’t happen.
Her brain was telling her they weren’t in any real danger. If the man was going to hurt her or Ryan, he would have done it already.
But that knowledge did nothing to slow her racing heart or quench her fear.
Marco shifted a few feet to the right and the man’s gun immediately swung in his direction. Kat’s heart leapt into her throat.
“Stay where you are, Mr. Adamo. This does not involve you, but it most certainly could if you aren’t smart.”
Marco paused, putting his hands up.
She knew what he had been trying to do—put himself in a better position to get the jump on the guy if it came down to that.
“Hey asshole,” Kat said, “leave him out of this.”
She didn’t think they were in real danger, but if it came down to it, Ryan and Marco were the expendable ones. She was their ticket to X, so Marco needed to calm down. She didn’t need him getting himself shot by trying to be heroic. Kat didn’t want that on her conscience.
But it was more than that. It would break her if Marco got hurt because of her. So she’d keep the attention on her.
The man chuckled. “You’re just like your father—too mouthy for your own good.”
She ground her teeth. “That man is not my father.”
The man’s lips stretched into a smile. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”
His flippant use of the term of endearment caused rage to build within her, slowly swirling until it became a tornado of anger. Who the hell did this man think he was—breaking into her brother’s home and holding him at gunpoint?
“Why the fuck are you here?” Marco growled. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who was pissed.
Kat shot him an urgent look, one that said shut up. So much for keeping attention off him. She hadn’t known Marco long, but she knew him enough to know he’d throw himself in front of a bullet for her.
“I take it you got my note?” the man asked and Kat nodded. “Good. X owes us money, but I’d be happier killing that motherfucker. So I’ll give you a choice—either give him to us or pay what he owes.”
“How much?”
“Fifteen million.”
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
If that’s what it was going to take to get these men out of her life, she was so screwed.
“Then I guess you’d better make arrangements to turn over dear old dad.” The man kept the gun trained on Ryan as he walked to the door. “We’ll be in touch.”
As soon as he was gone, Kat rushed to her brother, removing the gag and helping him into a sitting position.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Sure.” He grinned wryly. “Never better.”
She wrapped her arms around him, relief flooding her. When she saw him lying on the ground, she’d thought the worst. For a moment, she’d thought he was dead.
She glanced over at Marco, who was looking out the window. He obviously wanted to go after the man, but much to Kat’s relief, he stayed put.
“There was another man in a car out there waiting,” Marco said quietly. “They just drove away.”
Kat turned to her brother. “What happened?” She put her hands under his arms, preparing to help him to the couch, but he waved her off. Biting her lip, she took a step back and watched as he used his arms to heft his body onto the couch.
“Your friend there showed up about an hour and a half ago and trashed the place.”
Shit. How long had Ryan been lying on the ground? Remembering his bleeding elbow, she grabbed his arm and twisted it so she could take a look.
Ryan tried to shake her off. “It’s fine.”
“Bullshit,” she said. “It needs to be cleaned.” And she needed to feel like she was doing something for him. His home had been trashed and he’d been terrorized because of her.
She stalked to the bathroom to retrieve his first-aid kit. She knew exactly where it was because she’d bought it and put it under the sink herself years ago. But that’s not where it was now. The bathroom had not come away unscathed and toiletries and towels littered the floor.
Bastard.
She found the kit in the mess and returned to the living room to tend to his wound.
“It doesn’t look that bad,” she said with relief after cleaning up some of the blood.
“I told you that,” Ryan muttered. “You’re like a damn mother hen.”
Not taking her eyes off what she was doing, she lightly whacked him on the back of the head. But truthfully, she appreciated his smartass comments. They told her he really was okay.
“Was he looking for something?” Marco interjected, gesturing to the trashed room.
Ryan shook his head. “Not that I could tell. He simply got off on breaking shit.”
The three of them looked around, surveying the damage. It made her sick. Ryan hadn
’t had much to begin with and a lot of it didn’t appear to be salvageable—the TV was smashed, the couch cushions shredded, and dishes broken. Other than a small hole in the drywall, the apartment itself didn’t appear to have sustained much damage, so that was good.
“Anyway,” Ryan continued. “It was clear he was waiting for you. He seemed certain you’d show up.”
Kat sank down next to him on the couch. How much did the man know about her? More than she’d like. He’d anticipated her coming to Ryan’s after finding the letter and he also knew about Leo. She’d been so careful to keep that part of her life under wraps. Katie Morton had made those mistakes with Leo. Kat Delagrange was a blank slate.
Or so she’d thought.
Dammit.
“We need to get moving,” Marco said. “I don’t think he’ll come back, but it’s not worth waiting around to find out.”
“He wrecked my chair.” Ryan gestured to the wheelchair.
“I’ll kill him,” Kat said darkly. It was one thing to mess with her, but no one—no one—messed with Ryan. She could put a bullet in that man’s brain right now and not even flinch.
“Calm down, Wonder Woman,” Ryan said, earning another whack on the head.
He infuriated her, but he was all she had. His mother hen comment had hit close to the mark, except mama bear might be more accurate. She would do anything to keep him safe.
Marco was the sensible one, kneeling down to inspect the chair. “Do you have any tools? I can fix it so you can get by until we can replace it.”
“In the hall closet. I don’t think he went in there,” Ryan said and Marco set off to retrieve them.
“Did he hurt you?” Kat asked, desperately trying to maintain control. She’d bandaged his elbow and he didn’t have any other injuries that she could see, but Ryan wasn’t about to let her inspect him for more.
Ryan shrugged. “Not really. He just dumped me out of my chair. Other than my elbow, I might have a bruise or two from that. What letter was he talking about?”
“He left it tacked to my apartment door.” She didn’t mention that it had been impaled with a knife. “It said basically the same thing he told me here. Either give him X or pay. Except the letter didn’t say how much.”
“Fifteen million or fifteen thousand, shit, we don’t have that kind of money.” Ryan rubbed his neck. “We might be able to scrape together fifteen hundred.”
Marco looked over at them from where he sat working on the chair. “You know, I—”
“Don’t,” Kat said through gritted teeth. She didn’t need Marco offering to pay her way out of this problem. She had no doubt he had access to that kind of money, but this was more than letting him shell out fifty bucks for some car parts.
But what if she couldn’t fix this on her own? Would she be forced to accept his money for Ryan’s sake? Her stomach soured at the thought.
Marco leveled his gaze at her. “I don’t care how much you object. You can hate me for the rest of your life. If he threatens you or Ryan again, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
“I say you don’t turn over the money,” Ryan said. “I say you turn over X. This is his problem. Let him deal with it.”
“I don’t know where he is,” Kat replied.
“Ask around,” Ryan suggested. “I bet you could find him, especially if he knew you were looking for him.”
He was probably right, but sending the man to his execution, no matter how much he might have brought it on himself, didn’t sit well with her. If Gram were still alive, Kat would never be able to face her knowing she’d gotten her son killed.
Despite her tough thoughts, she didn’t want any more bloodshed if she could help it. Though if push came to shove, she’d do whatever it took to protect her friends and family.
“Okay,” Marco said. “The chair is as good as I can get it. Gather up whatever stuff you need and let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 17
Ryan quickly packed and Kat helped him get situated in Marco’s mother’s car while Marco dealt with the wheelchair. It couldn’t be folded all the way due to the damage and trying to manhandle his friend’s chair into the trunk almost made Marco lose his shit. He’d barely been keeping it together as it was.
He wanted to kill that asshole. X, too, for inadvertently getting Kat involved in this. And he might as well put his own damn name on that list, too. In the “later” column, though. They had more pressing matters than his fuck-up. He’d hurt Kat and that killed him, but unfortunately they had to make her physical safety their first priority. He just hoped he could somehow fix the emotional pain he’d inflicted.
“We can stay at Tony’s condo,” he said as he got into the driver’s seat. “It’s vacant because he’s about to list it, but it’s still furnished.” And hopefully, the key on his key ring from four years ago still worked. He hadn’t cleared it with Tony, but he didn’t think his brother would mind given the circumstances. And Tony had his own problems to deal with, so there was no point adding to them.
“Negatory on that,” Ryan said from the backseat.
“Why not? We can’t go to my place,” Kat said. “And we’re certainly not going to Marco’s mother’s house. Our only other option is a hotel.”
Ryan rattled off an address that was in one of the nicer neighborhoods on the south side. “Take me there.”
Kat’s eyebrows shot up and she exchanged a look with Marco, but he wasn’t getting involved in this one. As long as it was safe, he’d take Ryan wherever. It might actually be better if they split up.
She twisted around to look at her brother. “What’s at that address?”
“You’ll see.” For the first time since Marco had known him, Ryan seemed a little uncomfortable, leaving Marco to wonder what his friend was hiding. It was an interesting turn of events.
But again, there were more pressing matters.
“Who’s Leo?” Marco asked, recalling what the man had threatened Kat with—I’m sure your friend Leo might be interested to learn about your new name. He didn’t presume to know everything about Kat, but it was more than a little frustrating when the man who was threatening her knew more than he did. How could he protect her if he lacked intel?
Kat crossed her arms and looked out the window, so he couldn’t see her expression. He’d bet she didn’t appreciate the question. But dammit, again, how the hell was he supposed to keep her safe if he didn’t know the threats? She’d definitely blanched when the man had mentioned that name. That name meant something and it had scared her.
Marco probably should have waited until they were alone to ask, but with Ryan as a buffer, she was more likely to respond. A little bit of a dirty tactic, but he’d resort to any means necessary to keep her safe. So he shook off the guilt that was creeping in.
“You should tell him,” Ryan said quietly. “Just in case.”
Kat sighed and looked out the front windshield, her expression stony.
“I moved to Florida as soon as I graduated high school and that’s where I met Leo. I lived with him for two years.”
She paused and Marco waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. He glanced in the rearview at Ryan, but he didn’t appear to be willing to pick up the story. This must be part of the bad shit Ryan had said his sister had dealt with. He understood wanting to leave things in the past, but sometimes when the past presented itself, you had to deal with it.
Poor Kat. The past was tormenting her mercilessly through no fault of her own.
“Why would that man threaten you with him?” Marco prodded. “And what does he have to do with why you changed your name?”
“He abused me,” Kat said bluntly. “The last time he would have killed me if I hadn’t escaped.”
Marco’s hands tensed on the steering wheel and he blew out a breath, willing himself to relax. Without her explaining more, he intuitively knew this was the man who made her so guarded and defensive. He wanted to kill the man—another name added to his growing list.
“She shot him,” Ryan finally chimed in. “But he couldn’t report it or go to the hospital because he ran a meth lab.”
Marco read between the lines—that meant the police were never involved. If he’d gone to the hospital with a gunshot wound, there would have been questions. But why hadn’t she gone to the police? He’d heard the statistics about women in abusive relationships and how a large percentage weren’t likely to seek help, but that wasn’t the Kat he knew. She wouldn’t let herself be treated like that. At least now she wouldn’t. He hadn’t known her back then.
It reminded him how little he actually knew about her. But dammit, he wanted to know.
Settle down, hotshot. Once this was over, he’d part ways, for her sake. Kat didn’t need another man with a shady past. This situation had reopened old wounds and he wouldn’t contribute to that pain.
Hell. It wasn’t just old wounds—he’d already caused new ones.
Don’t think about that now. Once she was safe for good, he could wallow in the misery of his mistakes. Now he needed to focus.
“It was just a flesh wound,” she said, still looking out the windshield. “But he was pissed. I’m also pretty sure a friend of mine called in an anonymous tip to the cops about his lab. No doubt he thinks I turned him in. They started watching him and then he got picked up for armed robbery. He was convicted for both crimes.”
“Is he still in prison?” Marco asked.
“To the best of my knowledge.” Something told him she kept tabs on his status. If he was out, she’d know.
Marco hoped he rotted in in his cell.
“As soon as I left him,” Kat continued, “I started the process to change my name, just to be on the safe side.”
Kat had told him everything he needed to know, but not everything he wanted to know. She’d relayed the information in a detached manner, as if she were speaking about someone else. How must an experience like that have affected her? Though she didn’t say it, her pale face and shaking hands showed it obviously still haunted her.
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