Wounded Courage (Lucky Thirteen)

by S. M. Butler

  I didn’t want to look at Murphy. I didn’t want to see what he saw with me, knowing that I had this kind of rapport with an international crime boss. Knowing that I wasn’t the squeaky clean girl he thought I was left me with a deep stabbing pain in my chest and I wasn’t ready to deal with that yet.

  “You can’t hurt me, Simon. Not if you want your money.”

  “Ah, yes, the money. That’s all well and good, but I’m not interested in the money as much as that little notebook Alex left you.”

  I tried to contain my surprise as much as possible, but I wasn’t expecting that. How did he know about that book? It was just supposed to be a failsafe, something to keep us safe when Alex and I finally left.

  “I’m afraid that notebook is not up for negotiation.” I managed to keep my voice from shaking, but my words were slow and deliberate.

  Simon’s eyes flicked to the side, to where Murphy stood. “Everything is negotiable, Addison. Everything has a price.”

  I didn’t miss the loosely veiled threat. He couldn’t touch me. We had made sure of it. I was protected. But Murphy wasn’t. I could give up the notebook, and he’d not hurt Murphy. I wasn’t under any illusion that he wouldn’t just kill Murphy if I turned over the notebook, either.

  I glanced at Murphy. Simon would kill him if I didn’t turn over the book. Could I stand to lose Murphy so soon after I lost my brother? Did I have a choice?

  I turned back to Simon. “Let’s talk.”

  ~*~*~

  Murphy

  I had a bad feeling. There was a strange vibe in the air, a tension I hadn’t really felt before. I stared at the two while they talked, trying to pinpoint where that feeling was originating. I wasn’t sure what to think. Addison was obviously familiar with Simon Giroux. She didn’t seem nervous or afraid at all. The tension wasn’t coming from them.

  Yes, there was tension there, but not what I was feeling.

  “What do you want, Simon?” Addison asked, oblivious to what I was currently sensing. She was concentrating on Simon for the moment. I didn’t want to upset her concentration right then.

  “The notebook. For his life.” Simon Giroux’s smug expression was enough that I wanted to reach across the room and punch it off. Anger simmered below the surface. I kept it in check, not wanting to lose the tenuous control over the situation that I had.

  I studied Jean’s face, a hard line where his mouth was. Rage smoldered just below the surface there. Addison was right. Jean was probably the scariest Giroux sibling, minus what Marie had been. And he was still out for revenge.

  “Oh, come on, Simon. I’m not dumb. I’ve seen all the action flicks. I hand over the goods, and you try to kill us anyway.” The goods? Was Addison stuck in one of those action flicks? Who used “the goods”… like ever?

  Simon laughed. “Movies seldom resemble real life. You will be safe. I give you my word.”

  “Not good enough.” I interjected. Both of them looked at me. “There’s absolutely no reason why Addison should trust you.”

  “And there is absolutely no reason why I should trust you, a boy pretending to be a man.” I ground my teeth together when he called me a boy. I knew why he did it, to push me down, and I wasn’t going to lower myself to that level. But it still steamed under the collar. And he knew it, smiling as he gestured for his son to approach.

  “Please retrieve the file on my desk for Miss Hardy.”

  “Father, I—”

  “Now, Jean.” Simon’s face darkened, just enough to send shivers down my spine. Yep. That was why that man was in charge. That look right there, the one that demanded obedience, and unquestioning authority. Jean nodded, and walked toward the office door.

  There was still something not right here. I glanced around, from face to face. Everyone seemed quiet for the moment. Addison looked wrecked, but for the moment was holding her own. Simon looked thoughtful.

  And then I saw the guard in the corner. He was sweating, but it wasn’t that hot in here. He was nervous. That was where the tension was coming from. That was what I was feeling.

  “Addison, come here,” I demanded, grasping her arm and pulling her back against me. That guard reached in his pocket.

  “Why?” She started to pull back when I heard the gentle click of a button.

  “Oh, shit…” was all I could get out before the room exploded. I tackled Addison and rolled over the couch and to the floor, using the couch as a shield. It flipped over us, trapping us beneath it. I held her tightly, afraid to let go. Hot, searing pain engulfed me. I vaguely heard Addison’s scream, but my ears were ringing from the sound of the blast.

  Then there was nothing but darkness.

  ~*~*~

  Addison

  I was pinned down under something heavy, and I wasn’t sure how long I’d been there. My entire body ached. My ears were ringing. And my muscles were stunned into place, unable to move. I inhaled sharply, getting a mouthful of dust and debris.

  I coughed. I groaned, and tried to wiggle my body. What the hell had happened? I hadn’t even had time to think before Murphy took a flying leap at me and pulled us behind the couch. Speaking of the couch, how was I going to get that off us?

  “Murphy?” I coughed saying his name, choking on more dust in the air. I blinked to clear my eyes, tears running down my cheeks involuntarily from the debris in the air. Realizing the weight on top of me was Murphy, I tapped on his arm. “Murphy?”

  Cold pierced my lung as I registered just how quiet he was. I managed to get my arms free and cupped his face. HIs head was heavy, his eyes shut when I lifted so I could see him. “Murphy!”

  He was unconscious, his face bloody. There was too much to figure out where he’d been hurt, at least not in the position I was in.

  I slid my body to the side until I managed to get myself free of his weight. I had to get that couch off us. I maneuvered myself so I was straddling Murphy and pushed up with my back. I groaned, but slowly, the couch moved up until it lay on the front side of it. Then I pushed it away until it was no longer over us. My entire body complained, but it didn’t appear that I was really hurt that badly. Lots of little cuts and things, but nothing major.

  Murphy, however, was not in the same condition. There was a whole lot of blood on me, and I was pretty sure it was his. Most of what was on him was centered on his head, and the soft part of his torso, below his ribs. With much effort, I pushed him over so he faced up instead of down.

  I ripped open his shirt, ignoring the buttons when they flew everywhere. There was a large gash in his side, deep enough that I was pretty sure that this was life threatening. I shrugged off my sweater. I wiped away the blood from the gash on his head, and found it wasn’t bleeding quite as much as it apparently had. I moved down to his side and wrapped the sweater’s arms around him. I positioned it so the majority of the material was covering the gash, and tied it in place around his waist. I wasn’t even sure if that was enough to stop the bleeding. It was pretty deep. He’d at least need stitches. But the aim was to slow it down enough to get some help for him.

  I heard the crunch of debris on the other side of the couch and froze. Someone was there. Were they there to finish the job? I still had no idea what happened. Something had exploded. What happened to Giroux? The guards? Were they the ones out there?

  I pushed Murphy’s pant leg up and got the gun he’d hidden there. I was thankful I’d at least seen him when he’d done that on the train. Jean didn’t have enough sense to search us then. He’d assumed he’d had the upper hand.

  Slowly, as quietly as I could, I flipped the safety off on the weapon. The footsteps were getting closer, louder. I wanted to shrink down and cry, but I had to see this through. Murphy had kept me safe all this time, and I would do the same for him.

  I raised the gun up, sitting in a kneeling position as the body came around the corner of the couch. I followed the long legs in black slacks, with the expensive Armani shoes to the crisp long sleeve shirt, untouched by the explosion and
the navy blue tie. When my eyes landed on the face, I fell backwards, the shock slamming into me like a two by four.

  Alex.

  Addison

  “Addison, you look a fright.” Alex stood there, in front of me, solid and so not like a fucking ghost. My entire body shook as he took the gun from my hands. “You’re liable to hurt someone shaking like that with a gun in your hands.” He dropped it to the ground. “Come.” He took my hands and pulled me to my feet.

  I stared. Because that was all I could do. It took me several minutes before I could speak. “Alex… how? I watched you die. I saw you shot.”

  “I faked it, obviously.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that was always the plan,” he replied. He said it so matter-of-factly, like I should have known that was the answer. “That’s what we talked about.”

  I surveyed the room, taking in the destruction. There was a fire by the area where his father had stood, where Jean had been. It was hazy, with all the dust kicked up. The place was a disaster.

  “This wasn’t the plan.” I whispered. There was so much dust that my eyes were watering constantly. “Did you set off that explosion?”

  “I had a guard do it.”

  With me in here. I didn’t say it, though I wanted to. He’d set off an explosion that should have killed me. I’d have been dead if Murphy hadn’t saved me, yet again.

  Murphy. I glanced down at him, his body limp.

  “Forget him, love. We’re free now. We can do whatever we want.”

  “Free?” I was having trouble forming real sentences. All I could think of was Murphy lying in a pool of his own blood, unconscious. I was losing him.

  “Our plan was always about ending my father’s reign of terror. That’s what we’ve done here.”

  “By getting him arrested. Not by blowing him up.” I shook my head. “What about Jean?”

  “What about him? You know my family, Addison. Marie was a psychopath. Rene was a sadistic killer. Jean wasn’t any better than they were. And now, everything. It all comes to me. My family’s fortune. All the businesses. It all belongs to us, Addison.”

  Us. He still expected me to follow him like a lost little puppy. After he’d lied to me, tricked me… After he’d killed his father. His brother. These last few months… when I’d been a target. My brother.

  “You killed them. Your own family.”

  His dark eyes focused on me. “We can truly be free now, Addison. I killed them for us. Because now, they’ll never hurt anyone else. We’re set for life.”

  “This was never about us,” I spat out. “This was about you getting back at your father. It’s always been about you. I was just a happy side effect. You never cared about me.”

  “That’s not true. I love you, Addison.”

  Those three little words made me sick to my stomach. He’d thrown them at me often enough, and I’d believed him, but now that I saw him… saw that he was just like the rest of his family… I knew Alex. His emotions were fair-weather, at best. But hearing them after Murphy’s genuine declaration… while Murphy bled out on the ground… it just was painful.

  I shook my head. “You don’t love anyone but yourself, Alex.”

  “It’s him, isn’t it? You’ve spent all that time with those Special Forces jerks and they’ve got you thinking about them.” Alex’s face darkened as he gazed upon Murphy’s unmoving body. “He can’t love you like I do. You’ll come with me, Addison. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I… No, Alex.”

  He gripped my wrist and yanked me closer. “You’ll come, or I shoot him where he lies.”

  He held out a gun, one I hadn’t seen earlier and aimed it at Murphy. Oh, God, not again. I couldn’t lose another person I loved to a Giroux.

  Fear flooded my system, but I wasn’t going to let him bully me. “You do that, and I will hate you forever. I will fight you with every single breath in my body.” I wrenched my wrist loose from him. He let me go, but I could see the anger simmering. I nailed the final nail into the coffin. “You’re not the man I thought you were, Alex.”

  The gun in his hand rose until he had a direct shot to Murphy’s upper back. Things began to click together in my head.

  “I know about you. I didn’t connect it until now, but that notebook isn’t full of your father’s crimes. It’s full of yours.” The connection snapped tight, the line of direct correlation completely taut.

  Alex stepped back, moving his gun from Murphy to me. “You’re far too nosy for your own good, Addison. I don’t know why you would think those are mine.”

  “I didn’t want to believe it. But standing here, close to you right now… it pretty much cinches it for me. I have the notebook, Alex.”

  “Give it to me.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll shoot him, that boy there.”

  “And if you do, I’ll deliver that notebook to the United States government so they can take you apart at you, a little at a time. You kill him, and I will have revenge on you, ten fold.” My words were far stronger and braver than I felt, but I needed Alex to understand, I wasn’t going to let him win this one.

  “You wouldn’t dare. You’re just a silly girl.”

  “I know all your enemies, Alex. You taught me yourself. I will take your side dealings to every single one of them, to all the people you’ve double crossed over the years to get back at your father. I will bury you in a mountain of your own enemies.”

  He shook his head, smiling. “Look at you, Addison. Look at how far you’ve come.” He chuckled. “I didn’t think you had it in you. You’re ruthless. Why don’t you come with me? All of Giroux Enterprises belong to me now. You have a place there, with me. You can be my right hand, like we always planned.”

  The only reason he wanted me was because then I’d be close. Keep your enemies close. I was no longer under any illusion that Alex had any feelings for me. It had always been about what I could provide for him. And I’d been a willing participant, as misinformed as I was about him. I was a horrible person.

  “No.”

  He clicked back the hammer and aimed it between my eyes. “I could kill you now.”

  “You could.”

  He lowered the gun and sighed. “I always did have a soft spot for you, Addison.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  He stepped close, too close, but I wasn’t going to back up. With his free hand, he brushed my cheek. His fingertips trailed across my skin. I didn’t look away, even when I felt the barrel of his gun touch my ribs. “It would be so much easier if I could kill you.”

  “Do it. If that’s what you want.” I knew full well I was encouraging a mad man to shoot me, and that it could happen.

  He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. He met my eyes. “I can’t. Not this time. Because of our history together, I will spare you this time.” He stepped back, allowing air in for me to breathe again. “But the next time we see each other, you will die.”

  The next moment, a large two by four appeared in the peripheral of my vision. I screamed and ducked as it impacted with Alex’s head. It snapped to the side. Alex’s eyes clouded over and rolled into his head as he crumpled to my feet.

  Behind him, Murphy held a rather large block of wood in his hand. He swayed, and put one hand over the sweater I’d tied around his waist.

  “Eamon!” I sobbed out. He dropped the block to the ground, and looked dangerously close to falling. I ran to him, trying to steady his massive weight. “You need to sit down. What were you thinking?”

  “Fucker threatened you,” he said, simply. “Love you.”

  “I love you, too, you stupid idiot.”

  “Not nice,” he smirked, but he looked drunk.

  He winced as he held out his hand to me. “Top left, bottom right. Simultaneously.”

  I held his wrist and frowned. “What?”

  “The watch.”

  “What does that do?”

  “Calls the calvary.” H
e swayed again. “Or the seahorses, maybe. Can’t remember.”

  He muttered something, which made me realize he was worse off than he was trying to be. “Come on, Murphy, we have to go.” I looped his arm on his good side around my shoulders. Murphy wasn’t a small man, he’d need to do some of the heavy lifting too.

  ~*~*~

  We walked together out of the house, and I was struck with the sudden realization that not only had Alex evacuated the entire complex, but we had no way to leave. The cars were all immersed in angry orange and yellow flames, dark smoke billowing up around them.

  “Addison…” Murphy muttered.

  “Take it easy, Murphy,” I told him. “Let’s walk a little. I bet we’ll find someone on the main road.” The walk wasn’t easy. Murphy got heavier with each step we took together. I almost fell over, because I knew I couldn’t carry him the whole way. We made it about a hundred feet before something behind us exploded. The rumble of the ground beneath us upset my precarious balance, and we both crashed to the ground.

  I forced myself to my knees and looked back at the complex behind us. The main house was engulfed in flames, dark smoke billowing into the sky. A second explosion joined the first, taking out the one of the surrounding buildings.

  He’d tried to kill me. Again. Alex tried to kill me.The whole complex caught fire, and while we felt the heat when the wind shifted, for the most part we were safe. A half dozen mini explosions went off in succession, destroying the once elegant estate.

  The one thing I did know was that if Alex could escape being shot, then he could escape an explosion. We hadn’t seen the last of Alex. It was likely those explosions were wiping evidence, wiping the slate, as it were.

  Murphy groaned from where he’d landed on the ground. I hurt all over, but it was nothing compared to what was happening to him. I had to get him to a doctor.

  “Murphy…” I whispered, trying to keep from sobbing. “Murphy, look at me.” His eyes met mine, but his focus wasn’t there. I brushed his cheek with my thumb. “Eamon, please.”