by Lisa Childs
“That wasn’t my brother on the phone,” she said. She’d only heard his side of the conversation, but somehow she knew it was Jake who had called him.
Maybe because Tom Kuipers’s body had tensed, and there was a look in his beady eyes now—a fearful look. She’d seen Jake put that look on men’s faces before when her dad and brother Dave had discovered he was the man she was dating eight months ago.
Tom shook his head. “No. That wasn’t your idiot brother.”
“Jake.”
“He claims he has the flash drive. Is he lying?”
He could have been. She wasn’t sure how he would have gotten it. They hadn’t been able to find Donny.
But because she wanted Tom Kuipers to believe her, she answered with as much of the truth as she could share with him, “I broke into your office shortly after my arrest. I downloaded the files that clear my name to that flash drive.” She swallowed hard as regret and betrayal overwhelmed her. Then she continued, “And I entrusted it to my brother to get it to my lawyer.”
Kuipers laughed. “You are a fool. And so is this bounty hunter friend of yours.” He looked up from her face to focus on his guys. “Make damn sure this bounty hunter doesn’t get away from you again. I want him dead.”
Lillian cried out, but it wasn’t just with fear for Jake’s life. She cried out as pain clenched her stomach. Then fluid rushed between her legs as her water broke.
Her baby was coming.
But it was too soon. Yet, even if she’d carried the baby to full-term, his chance of survival was slim. Lillian had no doubt that Tom Kuipers intended to kill her, Jake and their baby...
* * *
Donny rubbed his thumb over the marks on his wrists where the zip ties had cut into his skin during his struggle to escape. Finally, the O’Hanigan brothers had released him. But Donny no longer wanted to escape them.
Instead, he’d begged to go with them—and Jake—to rescue his sister. But none of the men—Jake included—looked like they were going to a rescue. Their faces grim, they looked like they were heading to a funeral.
Theirs?
Or Lillian’s?
Was it too late to save her?
Donny didn’t want to believe that because, if it was, it was all his fault. He should have done what she’d asked of him. Lillian had always asked so little of everyone in her life.
He sat in the third-row seat, way in the back, of the Suburban that Shane O’Hanigan, the oldest of the three brothers, was driving, while Jake sat in the passenger’s seat next to him. Donny had figured out who they all were now. Despite there being another seat, and Trick and Ryan O’Hanigan, between them, Donny could feel Jake’s anger and concern.
Guilt overwhelming him, a sob slipped between his lips. Trick and Ryan turned around, but Shane only glanced in the rearview mirror. Jake wouldn’t look at him, though.
Maybe he couldn’t.
Donny didn’t think he would ever be able to look in a mirror again. How he would hate what he saw. He hated the man he had become. And his mother would have hated him, too. She would have hated what he’d done to his sister—and all of it just for money.
“You didn’t have to come along,” Ryan told him.
“And you can stay in the vehicle if you’re scared,” Trick added.
Donny was scared but not for himself. Well, at least not just for himself. He was scared for Lillian. And he could tell that Jake Howard was, too. And that, a man like Jake Howard being scared, scared Donny more than anything else ever had.
“I’m worried about my sister,” he said.
“You should have been worried when she got arrested,” Jake said. “And you should have turned over that flash drive to her lawyer like she asked you to.”
He should have. He couldn’t argue with Jake or defend himself. What he’d done was indefensible. He would never forgive himself.
And he might not even be able to ask Lillian to forgive him.
Chapter 24
Jake knew he was walking into a trap. He’d already told Donny as much when the young man had insisted on walking through those gates with him. The guy clearly felt badly over what he’d done—or had failed to do—to help his sister. He wanted to help her now, though, even though they were both well aware they might be too late.
His stomach churned and not just with all the drugs Lillian had fed him. The thought of her already being dead sickened Jake. He couldn’t have lost her again.
And their child...
He couldn’t let himself think about the baby. Not now. He had to focus or they would all wind up dead.
“When we get in there,” Jake told Donny, “you find Lillian and get her to safety.”
Donny met his gaze. His face was pale. All the color had drained from it, leaving his eyes—blue eyes like Lillian’s—stark with fear. But despite that fear, he didn’t back down. He just nodded, but his throat moved as if he was struggling to swallow down that fear or more sobs.
On the way to the warehouse, Jake had hatched a plan with the O’Hanigans. It wasn’t a great plan, but it had a shot at working. But it would all be for nothing if Lillian was already dead.
She couldn’t be...
He refused to accept that. He refused to accept that he’d lost her and their baby.
Donny drew in a deep breath and nodded again. “Okay, let’s do this.”
They didn’t have a choice. There was no backing out now. Guards surrounded them the second they stepped through those open gates.
The men peered around them.
“You came on foot?” one of them skeptically asked.
“Uber,” Jake said.
Shane O’Hanigan would get a kick out of that. And he was listening. He’d given Jake one of the two-way radios he used to communicate with his brothers when they were apprehending fugitives.
Since he’d left the US Marshals, Jake had worked alone. He preferred it. Then he didn’t have to worry about anyone else. Just himself.
But in this case, he’d had no choice. He needed help. When Lillian had drugged him and taken off, she had left him no choice.
Kuipers’s men weren’t giving him a choice, either. After they patted him and Donny down for weapons, they pointed their guns at them. And the one who’d spoken first, the one with the gray hair in the military cut, spoke again. “Okay, smart-ass, get in here.”
Another of the men pulled the gates closed and locked them, as if Jake had any intention of turning around and running for it.
Now, Donny...
He might have changed his mind about helping to rescue his sister. But if he had, it didn’t show as he started forward at Jake’s side. “Let’s do this,” he murmured, his voice cracking with fear.
And Jake felt a moment’s hesitation and regret. When they’d hatched this plan, the O’Hanigans had called it a suicide mission. Donny knew that he was putting his life in jeopardy. But he didn’t seem to mind now. He headed with purpose toward the open side door of the warehouse.
Like Jake, he wanted to see if Lillian was alive. Or if they’d arrived too late to save her.
They didn’t have to wait until they saw her, though. Jake heard her scream.
“Run!” she hollered at them. “It’s a trap!”
But the overhead doors were already opening, shots firing out at him and Donny. He shoved the other man toward the ground as he drew his weapon—the one he’d stashed in his boot where the guards hadn’t looked. But before he could get off a shot, a bullet tore into his shoulder. Blood spurted his face as the wound burned. And he dropped to the ground next to Donny.
* * *
Lillian screamed again as she watched the blood spatter Jake’s face before he dropped to the ground. His luck had finally run out. He’d been hit.
And it was all her fault. Maybe if she hadn’t drugged him, his refle
xes would have been faster. Hell, if she hadn’t drugged him, she wouldn’t be here, either—lying on the concrete floor of the warehouse.
She screamed as another contraction gripped her stomach. She felt as if she was being ripped in half. And her heart had already been ripped out when she’d watched Jake get struck and fall.
More men fell—in the warehouse—as more shots rang out. These shots came from outside, though, as a big Suburban crashed through the gates and drove toward the building. Barrels pointed out the windows of the vehicle as the men in it fired on the warehouse.
“Get up,” a voice said, close to her ear as a man bent over her. “We need to get the hell out of here.”
Donny!
She struggled to move, but another contraction hit. And Donny shouted, “She’s in labor.”
Going into labor was probably what had saved her life so far. For some reason, all the men had hesitated over shooting a pregnant woman, especially one who was about to bring a life into the world. But if her baby was born now, he might be giving up his life for hers.
Just as Jake might have.
“Donny,” she said. But all the gunfire drowned out her voice. Then sirens wailed over them.
Someone must have reported the gunfire and called 911. But it was too late.
For Jake.
And for Tom Kuipers. He’d slipped out of the warehouse a while ago. Even as he’d set up a trap for Jake, he’d probably suspected that Jake might have been setting one of his own. Had Jake called the police? Were the men in the Suburban working with Jake?
If so, they should have showed up sooner—before he’d been shot.
“Hang in there,” Donny implored her as he pushed her tangled hair back from her sweaty face. “Help’s coming.”
Help was too late for her baby. She knew there was no stopping her labor now. She could only hope that it wasn’t too late for Jake. She murmured his name just as strong arms lifted her.
She tensed. Was it one of the men? Were they dragging her away like they’d dragged her into the warehouse earlier? Were they bringing her to wherever Mr. Kuipers had gone? She swung out, trying to fight off the man.
And he cursed. His voice was familiar. It was Jake. She glanced up into his face. The spatters of blood had trickled down his cheek, leaving red smears. And his shoulder, where the bullet had entered, was torn, the shirt and his skin beneath the shirt. Both were soaked with blood.
“Put me down,” she told him even as she panted for breath. “You’re hurt.”
And carrying her would only injure him more.
But he didn’t exhibit any weakness or pain as he rushed out of the warehouse with her clasped tightly in his arms.
“We need to get her to the hospital,” he said as Donny opened the door to the Suburban that had raced up to the warehouse.
“Looks like you need a doctor more,” the driver remarked. It was the guy Jake had struck over the head on the deck outside his safe house. Shane O’Hanigan did not appear to be harboring a grudge, though, since he’d acted as Jake’s backup.
“She’s in labor,” Donny said.
The driver cursed. “An ambulance is on its way.”
But it wouldn’t arrive in time. And Jake must have realized the same thing. He helped her into the middle row of seats and ordered Shane O’Hanigan, “Drive! Hurry!”
The driver did as he was told, but he cursed as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I’ll leave Ryan and Trick here. But you and I are going to be in trouble for leaving the scene.”
“We’ll explain later,” Jake said. And he reached out, squeezing her hand as she cried out with another contraction. Blood streaked down his arm from his shoulder wound.
He had to be hurting just as badly as she was. He had a bullet in him. So it was good they weren’t waiting around to give reports to the police. They needed to head straight to the hospital—for Jake.
Would the doctors be able to save the baby, though?
“Ryan’s got the flash drive to turn over to the police. But we need to make sure Kuipers doesn’t get away,” Shane O’Hanigan remarked.
“It’s too late,” Lillian said between pants for breath. “He got away.”
And because of that, she would never be safe.
* * *
If only he hadn’t stopped in the office to grab his briefcase.
But he’d had no choice. The tickets were in there, the ones for the private plane that didn’t need to file flight manifests. Nobody would have known where he’d gone, if he’d been able to get away in time.
But he hadn’t moved fast enough. And now police officers surrounded his Porsche. He thought about just continuing to drive—straight through them. But their weapons were raised, pointing directly through his windshield at his head. If he tried to get away, they would fire at him.
And trying to get away would only make him look guilty. But despite how things looked or whatever anyone claimed about him, there was no proof for the police to arrest him. So he stopped. Before he could open the door, though, it was jerked open. He was pulled from the vehicle and pushed over the hood.
Hands ran over him in a quick but thorough search. They took his gun and his wallet and even his pocketknife.
“What’s this about?” he asked, feigning outrage. “Why are you stopping me? I’m the victim. Lillian Davies robbed my company. Then she showed up here today, shooting...if my men killed her, it was only in self-defense.”
And if they said anything different, he would kill them, too.
The officers were stone-faced, as if they couldn’t hear him. That silence made him nervous. But it got much worse when one of them began to speak, as he read Tom his Miranda rights.
“What are you doing?” he shrieked. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Except for sticking around as long as he had. He should have left when Lillian Davies had failed to make her court date. He should have known then that this was all going to go very wrong.
But it hadn’t happened yet.
He still had hope that his plan would work—that he would get away with everything he’d done and most especially with all that money he’d taken. He had two tickets in that briefcase. One for himself and one for his hot young girlfriend.
Soon he would be living out every man’s fantasy.
“You have no evidence against me,” he told them. “I will sue you all for false arrest.”
But then one of those officers held up a flash drive. And Tom knew.
Lillian Davies hadn’t been lying. The flash drive was real. And it was all over for Tom. He could have tried bribing the officers if there had only been one or two. But five men led him from his Porsche to the back seat of a cruiser.
And he knew that the odds weren’t in his favor. At least one of those five men was probably too honest to be bought. No. Tom would have to find another way out of these charges. But what would those charges be?
Just the embezzlement?
Or would there be murder charges, as well?
Had the guys killed Lillian Davies like he’d ordered them to? Just like he’d ordered them to kill that damn bounty hunter and her brother.
He cursed. Even if he faced two or three damn murder charges, he hoped like hell Lillian Davies and her damn bounty hunter were dead.
Chapter 25
Lillian’s screams rang out from somewhere down the hall. That same panic that had gripped him when he’d awakened on the floor of the US Marshals’ safe house with her gone gripped Jake again. Just like then, he had to find her. But feeling as groggy as he had when he’d awakened on that floor, he stumbled as he walked down the corridor.
He needed someone to throw ice water on him now. Or maybe he needed the blood the ER doctor had recommended after he’d stitched up Jake’s shoulder.
Another scream rang out and Jake felt it as
well as heard it. It reverberated inside his soul. But now he knew where she was and pushed open the door.
“Sir, you can’t be in here,” a nurse protested as she glanced up from the side of Lillian’s bed.
But was it really a bed? Lillian wasn’t resting. Her legs were up and she was curled over her belly. And when she looked up at him, her face was flushed a very dark red and tears streamed from her eyes. “Jake!”
He rushed to her side, the opposite side from the nurse who relaxed now that Lillian had called out his name. The woman had obviously thought he was just a patient who’d wandered into the wrong room. And with his bandaged shoulder, he looked like a patient.
If he hadn’t passed out when they’d first arrived at the hospital, he wouldn’t have bothered getting treatment. But he’d awakened on a gurney with a doctor stitching up his wound. At least the bullet had gone straight through and he hadn’t been carted off to surgery when he’d been unconscious.
Instead of waking up to Lillian, like he’d wanted, Shane O’Hanigan had been next to his gurney.
“Did you pass out from the gunshot wound or from the fear of becoming a daddy?” Shane had goaded him.
“Blood loss,” the doctor had replied for him, which had saved Jake from having to lie to a man that, despite their rivalry, was becoming a friend.
He was afraid of becoming a daddy. He had no example to follow except for one that had been tragically, criminally wrong. If he hadn’t rushed outside and hidden beneath those pines in his backyard, his father would killed him, too.
Lillian reached out and clutched his hand in hers. “Jake, tell them it’s too soon. The baby can’t come now.” Her voice broke with sobs and then another scream tore from her throat.
It was as if she was being tortured.
He glared at the nurse. But the nurse was not alone in the room. There was a doctor near Lillian’s feet. And a doctor and another nurse stood in a corner of the room near an incubator and a bunch of machines. Their faces were grim, as if they all agreed it was too soon for the baby.
