by Shayla Black
“But Raine’s father—”
“Got what he deserved, and your young woman is a warrior, too. She fought tooth and nail for all of you and the future you could have together. If I’d dabbled in that, I could have changed everything.”
“Then what makes this situation so different?” he asked wearily.
“Macen will sacrifice himself for you both if you don’t stop him, and none of you will live the life you should have together. This love you three share is special. It’s been a long time coming to you all. I’ve known you were meant for something different since you were a wee lad. Now you’re where you should be, son. With the people you should hold forever. Use every tool you’ve got to fight for that.”
“I don’t know what to do, Mum. I can’t fight the law.”
“Think on it, as I know you will. You’ll see the way. Be Raine’s rock—and Macen’s, too. Together, you can find what others only dream of.”
He stared into his teacup. “I don’t have a choice. As soon as I met Hammer, I knew he was the brother I never had. And Raine…the first time I kissed her, it was so powerful, Mum. Looking back, I see my gut was telling me she was meant to be mine. Funny, that.”
Bryn smiled. “I was like that with your father. The moment his lips touched mine, I found myself thinking, ‘Oh, there you are. I’ve been waiting for you.’ You ken?”
“I do. Even when I thought I should walk away from them both, I couldn’t. Since Hammer and I put Raine between us, I’ve been happier than ever. What we share now is…beyond. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”
A smile played at her lips. “I did tell you before you left New York for your ‘vacation’ that you’d be starting a whole new adventure.”
She had. And despite being vague at times, his mum always ended up being right.
* * *
The following morning, Hammer lifted his heavy lids to find his face buried in Raine’s neck and his hand wrapped around her hip. Grudgingly, he eased away from her, then stood and stared while she and Liam clung together in a cocoon of love. At least Hammer knew that if he couldn’t disprove River’s accusations, they would survive without him.
In fact, he’d already devised a plan to ensure that.
While showering and shaving, he steeled himself for the dark day ahead. Hammer trusted Sterling Barnes, but he wasn’t a fool. He intended to follow Dean Gorman’s advice and clean house. Well, clean the dungeon. Nothing at home could incriminate him, but scrubbing Shadows squeaky could mean the difference between prison and freedom.
After donning his suit and tie, Hammer forced himself to leave the bedroom and padded downstairs. Bryn was waiting for him, coffee cup in hand, by the doorway near the kitchen.
“Thank you for knowing I needed this.” He forced a chuckle.
“’Tisn’t all you need, to be sure. I know you think you’ll better serve the ones you love by stepping back. But it’s not true, Macen. Fight for your family and find your path.”
Hammer gulped his liquid caffeine. “I just hope my path doesn’t lead to a jail cell.”
“Nothing is set in stone, but I suggest you watch your back.” She patted his cheek.
Hammer had already figured out someone had a knife poised between his shoulder blades. He had to fucking deduce who held the hilt.
“I gathered. Thanks for everything.” He held up his mug before he chugged the rest. “I need to go.”
Hammer pressed his lips to Bryn’s temple, then handed the mug back to her, palmed his keys, and left.
On the way to Shadows, he rang Beck, who answered on the first ring. “Everything okay?”
“At the moment. Can you meet me at Shadows in an hour?”
“Yeah. I had a full day scheduled but it’s looking like my surgery might be delayed.”
“I’ll only need ten minutes. Can you bring an empty toy bag when you come?”
“If you’re cleaning out your stash and want to pass on used equipment, no thanks.”
“I won’t give you anything that needs to be sterilized, I promise.”
“You can trust me, Macen.” Gravity filled Beck’s tone. He understood.
“I know. Thanks.”
After the call, Hammer arrived at the club and arranged a meeting with Sterling in two hours. Then he combed through his devices, saving documents and photos onto a thumb drive. Wiping away all traces of Raine from his computer lodged a hollow void in his chest, but he refused to share their private moments with anyone. Thankfully he’d never have to erase her from his heart and soul.
After doing the same to his phone, he reset the memory on all his devices and restored them to their factory settings. Hopefully, nothing could be retrieved or recreated by any law enforcement tech.
Then he dove into his physical files, extracting any paper pertaining to Raine prior to her eighteenth birthday that might seem incriminating—receipts, medical records, the agreement he’d drawn up and forced Bill Kendall to sign once Raine had come to live at Shadows. From his safe, he extracted the receipts for the money orders he’d bribed her father with, in addition to the original photos of her beating at the shitstain’s hands.
After storing it all in a box, Hammer strode down the hall and stepped into Raine’s former room. Her spirit still lingered. If he closed his eyes, he could almost feel the girl she’d been before maturity and sex and the love they shared with Liam had changed her.
The scattered pictures still lay strewn across her dresser where River had left them. Furiously, Hammer gathered them up, pausing to stare at an image of Raine in the kitchen, making him her famous apple spice muffins for the first time. When he’d taken a bite, he’d teased her by gagging and grimacing as if she’d fed him poison. When horror filled her face, he’d choked with laughter. She’d stuck her tongue out at him, and he’d snapped a picture on his cell phone, capturing the moment.
A bittersweet smile floated across his lips. “She hasn’t stopped sticking out her tongue at you since.”
True, but he’d never trade one single day of her sassy, adoring ways. Or the joy she’d brought to his life.
As he thumbed through the rest of the photos, he stumbled onto one he’d taken a week or two after she’d first arrived at Shadows. The guarded uncertainty in her expression pained Hammer. Since then, he’d done his best to give Raine sanctuary, chase away her demons, and help her bloom. His girl had come so far. Pride swelled in his chest.
Piling the photos on the bed, he turned and hauled out a big box from her closet. Hammer was surprised to discover a stack of greeting cards. Raine had kept every birthday, graduation, get well, and holiday card he’d ever given her. Gently lifting a brittle, dried rose, he noticed a note tied to the stem by a thin string.
* * *
GET WELL SOON. WE’RE ALL THINKING OF YOU
HAMMER
* * *
Raine’s first migraine had been severe and had scared him senseless. Claiming the club members were concerned, he’d bought her a dozen red roses.
He grabbed another photo, this one of him and Raine beneath the mistletoe at Shadows’ annual party two Christmases ago. Eyes closed, she’d tilted her mouth under his. Hammer remembered staring at her sweet, parted lips for a thunderstruck moment, wanting and desperate. Finally, he’d brushed a kiss across her forehead. He hadn’t waited to see her crestfallen face before he had walked away.
Regret hung heavy now. He’d give anything to turn back time to stand beneath that sprig of green, wrap Raine in his arms, and devour her.
Among her treasures, Hammer found a colorful key chain emblazoned with HAPPY BIRTHDAY. He’d given it to her, along with her new car. She’d given him an ear-splitting squeal and wrapped herself around him so tight sometimes he swore he could still feel it. She’d also saved the stubs from the tickets to their first concert together, the plastic cap and tassel she’d stashed off her celebratory cake after passing her GED, and a pair of his old sunglasses she’d adopted one summer.
She’
d hoarded each as a silent symbol of her love. And he’d been too mired in his notion that he wasn’t good for her, so he hadn’t given himself permission to love her back.
He’d condemned them both to years of misery. What a fucking fool.
Forcing down his strangling frustration, Macen focused on the box of their past relics. A flash of silver caught his eye, and he pulled a delicate pendant free. The chainless bauble gleamed with a filigreed R engraved on the front. On the back, he squinted to read the inscription.
* * *
INTO EVERY HEART MY RAINE FLOWS
LOVE, MOM
* * *
A lump caught in his throat. He knew almost nothing about Robin Kendall except that she’d been the first—and one of the only people—to give his precious Raine any love as a child. Her demented father had destroyed that. Raine didn’t deserve to have anyone else ripped from her life.
Fight for your family. Bryn’s voice echoed in his head.
Hammer tucked the pendant in his pocket, stashed the photos he’d gathered onto the bed inside the box of mementos, and headed back to his office. After adding all of those keepsakes to his growing stash, he plucked up the thumb drive from his desk and tossed it in, as well.
One last stop.
He made his way down the hall and unlocked the door to the operations room.
A dark head swiveled in his direction. “Hey, Hammer.”
“Lewis.” He nodded. “You’re still keeping six months of video footage for security purposes, right?” At the new guy’s nod, he went on. “Good. Just checking. I need a minute to look something up. How about you take a break?”
“Um…sure.” He frowned. “Back in ten.”
“Perfect.”
As the kid left and the door automatically locked behind him, Macen tore into the top drawer of the filing cabinet and dragged his fingers over the dates labeled on the foam-lined containers holding the backup drives. November first, November second, November fifth.
Panic burst, surged through his veins. November third and fourth were missing.
Were those the videos Detective Perez had mentioned to Raine?
He forced himself to take a deep breath and checked the dates again, searching the other drawers in the cabinet in case the footage had been misfiled. He rifled around the security desk, checked the container of this week’s drives on the wall rack. Nothing.
“Fuck!”
November third held the footage of the public punishment he had orchestrated for Raine with Beck…which had become Liam offering her his training collar and claiming her virgin ass. November fourth, a handful of hours later, showed Hammer drunk and arguing with Raine in the bar—until he’d kissed her with six years of pent-up desperation, ripped off her robe, then tossed her down. Despite her saying no more than once, he’d devoured her pussy until she’d screamed and scratched out a cataclysmic orgasm. Afterward, he’d dragged her to his room and fucked her all night.
Though his grip had been rough and uncompromising, she’d been very willing…eventually. But the tape might look damning if they wanted to cry rape.
The shit had just gone from bad to really fucking terrible.
Hammer scrubbed a hand over his face and paced, his stomach pitching.
No other drives were missing, just the two most incriminating of his life. That was no accident. Bryn had been right. Someone had it in for him.
Who the hell could it be?
Swallowing down a black rage, he righted the room so no one would know what he’d sought, then looked up as Lewis walked back in.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
No.
Hammer would have suspected the guy of swiping backups, but he’d worked at Shadows for two weeks—not nearly long enough to incite the kid’s hate. Besides, Lewis had probably taken the job for the porn value of watching the footage before he filed it. Macen doubted he wanted to risk that so soon.
“Great.” He walked out, letting the door slam behind him.
River was the obvious choice as the thief, but how would he have gotten into the locked security room? He wouldn’t have had enough time to watch all the surveillance for the past six months. It would have taken him days to find the most damning footage. Had River planted a mole deep, or had he paid someone to dig for dirt?
Hammer needed to find out—fast.
Back in his office, he found Beck waiting, empty toy bag at his feet. The doctor gestured to Hammer’s cache of incriminating evidence. “You need me to store that?”
“I’m asking a lot of you.”
Beck shrugged and lifted the bag onto Macen’s desk. “I’ve got the perfect place to keep it. Don’t worry. I’ll help you protect Raine and keep your ass out of the pokey.”
Hammer dumped it all in the empty bag. “I owe you big.”
With a manly shoulder bump, Beck sent him a sly smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to collect. Is that everything?” When Hammer nodded, Beck took the bag in hand. “I’ll drop this off, then I have to find Heavenly. Otherwise, Seth will be all over her like flypaper.”
Clapping the doctor on the back, Hammer shook his head. “I’m telling you, save yourself the shit and put her between you.”
“You know I don’t share my toys well,” Beck quipped.
So true, but Hammer suspected he’d have to learn. “If you see Seth, can you also have him investigate Lewis, that new tech I hired? I need the kid’s background, habits, finances…”
Beck frowned. “Something up?
“I don’t know. Can’t be too careful.”
“I’m on it.” Beck nodded. “Call if you need anything else.”
The good doctor departed, then Hammer left the club, locking up behind him. In stark silence, he headed across town.
When he arrived at Sterling Barnes’s office, the men shook hands, then Hammer forced himself into a chair, ankle resting on his knee. “Before we start discussing these bullshit charges, thanks for taking care of Raine and Liam for me yesterday. As you probably guessed, we weren’t ready for what went down.”
“My pleasure. From what I hear, Raine was…feisty.”
“She usually is.” Hammer had to smile. “I need you to take care of something else for me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Draw up full powers of attorney. Incorporate Liam and Raine into my trust.”
Sterling’s bushy silver brows rose. “You haven’t been proven guilty of anything yet. Do you really want to do that?”
“Yes. Give them access to everything. Immediately. My investment portfolio, deposit box, checking and savings, vehicles, taxes, my properties in London, San Juan, Tasmania, and anything else I left out. That includes Shadows.”
“All right, Macen. It’s admirable…if a bit premature.”
“Winslow and Cameron—hell, the rest of that precinct—won’t rest until I’m locked away. So I want Raine and Liam to have my entire estate at their disposal.”
“You know, you could also put a little faith in me as your lawyer. Start at the beginning. Tell me how you got on the police’s radar in the first place.”
“Got a few hours?” Hammer joked darkly.
Then he detailed the events of the past six years.
“What kind of paper trail did you leave with your bank?”
“None. I bought the money orders for Kendall out of a cash withdrawal of ten grand I took every month. I kept the receipts in my safe. That’s where I also stashed the contract he signed.”
Sterling hesitated. “What contract?”
“It detailed our agreement. I paid him two grand a month; he stayed the fuck away.”
“Did Kendall have a copy of this contract?”
“God, no. I didn’t trust that cocksucker. No way would I have given him the means to blackmail me. I was reckless at times but never stupid.”
“Where are the receipts and the contract now?”
“They grew legs and walked away, along with two sets of photos taken of Ra
ine when she first came to the club, beaten and bruised. One set is the originals. The other magically appeared recently. Ironically, you may hear that a copy of these photos somehow disappeared from the police evidence room. I have no idea how.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” Sterling drawled. “And all this stuff walked to someplace safe?”
“Absolutely.” Beck was too clever to fuck it up, Hammer knew.
“I’m glad you covered your ass, because if you’re arrested, they’ll search your house and your club simultaneously, probably as they’re dragging you out in cuffs.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Dread snaked through Hammer’s stomach. “One thing I’m worried about…I’m missing two days of video surveillance.” He went on to describe the footage and how he discovered it was gone. “They brought it up to Raine during her questioning.”
Sterling didn’t look pleased. “Damn. Let’s see what develops. Maybe it won’t be an issue.”
“I didn’t think any of this would be once Raine turned eighteen. I honestly thought I was in the clear.”
The lawyer sent him a grave stare. “If they’d brought these charges against you three or four years ago, you’d be going to prison for a lifetime. They probably could have sent you away for statutory rape, kidnapping, oral copulation and sodomy with a minor—and more not-so-fun felonies.”
“I didn’t do any of those things,” Hammer protested.
“Your word against theirs.” Sterling shrugged. “Their circumstantial evidence looks damning enough. But you’ll be happy to know the statute of limitations on all of those charges has expired. You’re one lucky son of a bitch.”
Hammer’s jaw fell open. He sat forward in his chair. Had he heard that right? “You’re fucking kidding me. So they can’t try me for any of that?”
“No. The onus is on the defense to point that out, but I’ll take care of it.”
“So…I’m free?” He held his breath.
