by Lili Valente
“I think I would like to get this poor baby back to her mother and I’m tired of standing here talking to an idiot too stupid to understand that Marlowe never cared about anyone but himself,” Harley snapped. “Put the gun down now, Eli, or I will shoot you and sleep like a baby tonight knowing you’re too dead to fuck with me anymore.”
Beneath his foot, Stewart grunted with laughter. “I told you she was my child.”
“Shut up, Dad,” Harley snapped. “Or I’ll shoot you, too, and sleep even better.” Her stone cold tone left no doubt that she meant every single word.
Uncertainty wavered across Eli’s face. A moment later, he swallowed hard and let his gun fall to the sand.
“Smartest thing you’ve done all night,” Harley said as Clay moved toward Eli to repeat the Miranda warning. He had no idea what country Eli was from, but Clay intended on shipping him back to the States with Stewart.
Maybe they could share a cell until the CIA got around to processing them.
He had just finished binding the man’s hands behind his back—using Eli’s belt this time—when his cell buzzed. He tugged it free, practically sagging with relief when he saw Jackson’s name on the screen.
“Perfect timing,” he said with a heavy sigh. “How soon can you be at the old lighthouse on the Malolo resort?”
“Ten minutes,” Jackson said. “I’m already on my way. Just got around the mountain and called as soon as I had service again. What’s up? Hannah had a bad feeling that Harley was in trouble.”
“We were both in trouble, but we’re fine now,” Clay said, shooting Harley an appraising look that made her mouth, “What?” The baby had quieted and she was obviously doing her best not to upset the child again while she bent down to strap her feet back into her shoes.
He held up a finger as he filled Jackson in. “I’ve got Stewart and one of Marlowe’s goons tied up and in need of discreet transport to the airport. Preferably in the back of a windowless van to avoid any trouble with the Samoan authorities. It might be a few hours before I can get someone here to pick them up.”
“The SUV has tinted windows,” Jackson said. “We can keep them bound and gagged in back. We’ll figure out a way to get them out of the resort when I get there.”
Clay thanked him and hung up, before leaning back against the lighthouse door, surveying the two captives face down in the sand. Finally, he let his gaze drift to his wife as he jabbed his thumb toward the building behind him. “So, anyone else in there that I should know about?”
She shook her head. “No, just him. But there’s the wheelchair he used to bring me out here after he drugged me. We might be able to use that to get them both out to Jackson. If we make two trips.”
She sighed, the last of her tough girl act fading away as her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m sorry I was keeping secrets.”
“Me too,” he said softly.
They moved at the same time, meeting in the middle for a hug hard enough to make the baby cry out and begin to fuss again.
“Sorry, sweet thing.” Clay put a gentle hand on the baby’s back as he bent to claim Harley’s lips in a quick, hard, “we’ll get through this, too” kiss. “You should take her back to the resort. Go to the front desk. Tell them you found her on the grounds near the garden, that someone must have left her there.”
“I’ll tell them the kiddie pool,” Harley said, nodding as she backed away. “It’s deserted over there. It would have taken a while for someone to hear her, even if she were crying at the top of her lungs.”
“Perfect. I’ll meet you back at the room when Jackson and I are finished.”
“How about the lobby bar?” she asked, eyes shining. “And I’ll have our things packed to leave? Call me crazy, but I’m not really in a party mood and I’d like to be there for Will’s two a.m. feeding if possible. Just to hold him and know he’s okay.”
Clay nodded. “The lobby bar it is. Are you all right with being alone here for a few hours? You can come with us if you want. I thought you’d rather skip the rest of the drama, but—”
“You’re right. I would. I’ll be fine until you get back,” she said, a smile curving her lips. “Just stay safe, okay? That’s what I need the most.”
“Harley, don’t go.” Stewart flopped in the sand like a landed fish as he tried to turn to get a look at her. “Stay. Let me explain, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone, I only wanted—”
“Oh, stuff a sock in it, Stewart.” Harley scowled at her father, clinging tighter to the baby in her arms. “And don’t bother sending any letters from prison. I don’t have time for pen pals.”
She turned to go, her hips swaying softly in her white dress, looking almost ghostly in the moonlight. The thought made Clay’s chest clench as he dropped his head back to gaze up at the stars spinning overhead, grateful all the people he loved were still among the living.
Chapter Thirteen
Harley
By the time Clay returned to the hotel it was nearly two in the morning. It took another ten minutes for the sleepy valet to bring the rental car around to the lobby and Clay was forced to drive slowly on the poorly lit roads.
They kept the conversation light on the way back to Jackson and Hannah’s, in silent agreement that the real things they needed to talk about were too big to tackle during a thirty-minute car ride. They pulled down the gravel drive to the house by the sea at a quarter ‘til three, a full hour after Will’s usual feeding time.
Harley had resigned herself to simply standing over Will’s crib watching him sleep, but when they stepped into the house, Hannah was just settling onto the couch in the darkened living room with baby and bottle. She eagerly handed off both to her sister and sat close while Harley popped the bottle between Will’s lips.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Hannah said. “I was scared to death for you. And I’m so not happy with Jackson or Clay right now. If they’d been honest with us, we could have both been more on guard. And maybe you would have seen trouble coming.”
“I’m not really in a position to call people out about being honest,” Harley said with a sigh. “I’ve been working on something for a while now. I should have told Clay—and you and Jackson, too—but I wanted to wait until I had good news to share.”
Hannah turned her head, studying Harley out of the corners of her eyes. “Is this one of those secrets that’s going to make me mad at you? If so, maybe wait and tell me tomorrow because my mad quota is about filled for tonight.”
“No, I don’t think it will make you mad at me.” Harley wrinkled her nose. “At least not too mad. But it will certainly get you royally pissed at Dad.”
Hannah waved a hand through the air. “Then go ahead and tell me, I couldn’t be any more pissed at him than I am already.”
Harley took a deep breath and filled Hannah in on the bare bones of the situation with Mallory, not surprised when her sister’s jaw dropped and fire began to burn in her blue eyes.
“So Jackson and I have a nineteen-year-old half sister in common,” Hannah said, blinking fast. “And Dad sold her to some creep who runs a human trafficking ring when she was a baby. And you and Dom have been searching for her for over a year, but Dad kept paying for the creep to move so this innocent girl is still a prisoner.”
Gently, Harley tugged the nipple from the baby’s mouth and turned him over her shoulder to burp him. “Yeah, that’s about the size of it.”
“I hope he gets the chair,” Hannah said in a rare display of bloodthirstiness. “Or something slower and more painful.” She stood, pacing away from the couch with her hands at the small of her back before spinning to face Harley. “I just can’t believe it. The poor girl. I can’t imagine what her life must have been like. Even if Dom finds her soon, how will she ever be okay? How can she lead a normal life or dream or love or believe she deserves happiness after everything she’s been through?”
“I don’t know.” Harley watched her son’s eyelids begin to droop as he
slipped back into sleep, so grateful that she was still alive to ensure his life was as happy and peaceful as possible. “But we have to keep trying. And when we find her we need to show her that there are people in the world who are glad that she’s around.”
Hannah settled back on the couch, her hand on Harley’s knee. “Of course we do. And we will. She can come live here with us if she wants. What’s mine is hers.”
Harley smiled. “You want to ask Jackson about that first? You guys are going to have a full house soon. A little bird told me twins were on the agenda.”
Hannah’s cheeks flushed. “Jackson or Clay?”
“Clay, on the way home.” She glanced outside to the lanai, where Jackson and Clay both leaned against the deck railing, scotches in hand.
“Yes, well, twins or no twins, Jackson will want to help Mallory, too,” Hannah said, lifting her chin. “And even if he didn’t, he owes me one for lying to me for months. You heard that Dad sent a hit man after both Clay and Jackson, right? And that they got together and decided not to tell us a word about it?”
Harley’s eyes went wide. “No, I didn’t. When did this happen?”
“Right after Christmas,” Hannah said. “So for the past six months, they’ve been living a lie, pretending everything is fine while they secretly tried to put Daddy in jail.”
Harley fought the urge to raise her voice. “What?”
Hannah nodded enthusiastically, clearly pleased to have someone to be outraged with. “Yes! And the excuse is that they didn’t want to stress us out and put the babies in danger.”
Harley cursed softly as she turned the now out-like-a-light Will over her shoulder to try to get one more burp out of the sleepy baby. “Well, at least it was a good reason. I mean, on the one hand, I understand why they did what they did. But on the other hand, I’m—”
“Mad as spit,” Hannah supplied. “And not happy about being treated like a child. I mean, it’s not like we both haven’t been through things like this before. Maybe not while we were pregnant, but we know the Dad’s Gone Crazy drill.”
Harley’s forehead smoothed as the implications of the past few hours hit full force. “But maybe never again,” she said softly, afraid to say the words too loud and jinx them. “This might be the end of it, moo. Dad’s going to jail. Most likely for the rest of his life.”
Hannah pressed her lips together and nodded. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m almost afraid to hope, but…maybe it’s finally over. Maybe we get to be normal people from now on. Or close to it, anyway.”
Normal. It reminded her of what Clay had said earlier tonight. That they might never be normal, but that he was still looking forward to a simpler life. Now the sentiment made much more sense.
What must it have been like for him? Hiding from her the fact that someone had tried to kill him and pretending everything was okay? It had to have been hard, painful, but he’d done it because he cared so much about her health and happiness.
As Clay turned to glance back through the windows, finding her eyes with a searching look, the last of her irritation faded away. They might have lied to each other, but both of their lies had come from a place of love and concern.
“Want me to put Will back to bed?” Hannah asked, nodding toward the window. “It looks like you two have some talking to do.”
“That would be great.” Harley leaned in to press a kiss to her sister’s cheek. “Thank you for giving me a second chance. I’m so glad we’re family again.”
Hannah smiled as she shifted Will into her arms. “You’ve come a long way, you know. I’m proud of you. For what you’ve tried to do for Mallory. The old Harley wouldn’t have cared that much.”
“The old Harley would have cared,” Harley said. “She would have just been too busy punishing people to devote much of her time to saving them.”
“It’s easier to be a hero when you know how much you’re loved.” Hannah stood and tilted her head toward the lanai. “Go talk to your husband. That way Jackson will be free to fight with me when I’m done with Will.”
Harley grinned. “I like that you give him shit. He’s so bossy.”
“He is.” Hannah winked. “But that’s one of the things I like best about him.”
“Right.” Harley cleared her throat. “I’m not going to touch that.”
“Coward.” Hannah laughed as she turned to cross the room, disappearing back into the nursery.
Harley watched until she closed the door behind her and then stood, ready to do whatever it took to avoid a fight. Since the day they’d said their vows, she and Clay had made it a point never to go to bed angry, and she didn’t intend to start tonight.
Chapter Fourteen
Clay
Clay watched his wife step out onto the lanai—passing Jackson on his way back into the house—with a dozen different emotions swirling in his chest.
It had been a complicated, fraught, crazy, terrifying night. But right now everything felt very simple again. Harley and the kids were all safe and there was nothing on the agenda tomorrow but to get as much sleep as possible, spend time floating in the ocean, and put this nightmare behind them.
“You want to walk down to the beach?” Harley reached out to take his hand cautiously in hers.
He shifted his grip, threading their fingers together and squeezing. “I do.”
They headed down the stairs and across the patio, where the remnants of Hannah and Jasper’s junk food fest was still littered across the outdoor table, then down a simple boardwalk across the dunes. At the end of the walkway, they slipped off their shoes and started across the sand toward the edge of the water. All around them, the beach glowed softly in the moonlight, like the surface of another planet where everything was muted and soft, with no dangerous corners or sharp edges.
“Hannah told me why you and Jackson were trying to put my father in jail,” Harley said, pausing to hold up a foot and let sand filter through her toes. “I know we still have a lot to talk about, but I want you to know that I understand why you made the decision you did.”
“I just wanted you to feel safe,” Clay said, swinging their joined arms. “And happy. It happened right when you were finally feeling better and enjoying the pregnancy. I didn’t want to take that away from you.”
“I understand. And that’s the same reason I didn’t tell you that Dom and I were looking for Mallory.”
“Right. Mallory.” Clay stopped at the edge of where the dry sand met the beach recently kissed by the tide. “I gathered that she’s one of your father’s victims, but—”
“She’s my sister. Well, my half sister,” Harley said, before launching into an explanation so fantastical it would have been unbelievable in any other family.
But thanks to the unrepentant selfishness and evil of their patriarch, the story of an infant sold into slavery to punish her parents for having an affair was just the latest installment in the Mason family insanity.
“When Dad found out I was looking for her, he wasn’t happy,” Harley continued. “He threatened Jasper, saying he would take a ‘child for a child’ if I didn’t back off.”
“Jesus.” Clay blinked, his brow furrowed tight. “Take as in kidnap? Or something worse?”
“I don’t know.” Harley shook her head. “I didn’t think he would have hurt Jasper, but I couldn’t know for sure.” She looked up at him, pushing the hair the sea breeze had whipped into her eyes away from her face. “But I couldn’t stop trying to free Mallory. I just couldn’t, no matter what the risks. And since you had a security detail following me and Jasper, when he was at school, I knew he was being watched like a hawk, so it didn’t seem—”
“You knew?” Clay asked, making a mental note to fire whoever had let himself be made.
“Of course, I did.” Harley laughed beneath her breath. “I mean, I only caught a glimpse of them once or twice, but you don’t spend half your life on the run and not know when you’re being followed. They were clearly CIA types, though, so I wasn�
��t worried.”
She stepped closer, looping her arms around his waist. “In fact, I thought it was sweet. You’re a very thoughtful paranoid person.”
“Turns out I wasn’t paranoid enough.” Clay pulled her closer, loving the feel of her, safe and warm against him. “I should have brought security with us. And I never should have let you leave the table alone tonight.”
“If you’d tried to go with me I would have thought you were crazy,” she said. “I still would. We can’t let one terrible night make us live in fear, especially when everything turned out okay. I even got my phone and purse back. Someone found them by the kiddie pool and turned them in to the front desk.”
“A Good Samaritan, huh? We needed one of them tonight.”
“And we got one.” She tipped her head coyly to one side. “Besides, how am I going to sneak around to call people behind your back if you’re always with me?”
“Right. People. People like Dom.” His breath rushed out. “I’m not even going to ask if anything but business is going on between you two.”
“Good.” Harley nodded. “And thank you. If you had asked, then I would have had to get angry with you and I’m running low on outrage energy. You should know by now there is no one but you. Never has been, never will be.”
“I do know that.” Clay tilted his forehead closer to hers. “But I am going to ask if we can both be more honest with each other from here on out? And that’s not an idle question. Do you think that’s possible for us? Or are we always going to make excuses to keep secrets?”
“I…don’t know.” Harley’s hands smoothed up his sides to lie flat on his chest, right above where his heart beat beneath his ribs. “But I do know that I love you and I trust you and that we’re an amazing team.”
“We are,” he agreed, thinking of how seamlessly they’d played off of each other by the lighthouse. “Again, I have to reiterate that you would have been an amazing spy.”
“And I have to reiterate that I have no interest in following the rules long enough to become qualified to do something like that.” She grinned, but her expression sobered as she added, “But I do want to be on your team for a long, long time. I’m willing to work on the secrets thing.”
