She’d been forced to participate in Julian’s harem? Arizona stood and went to the woman. Sitting on the settee, she reached over and put her hand over the one resting on her knee.
“We’re never going to get out of here,” Courtney said.
“Yes, we are.” She didn’t explain about the ICE agents in case the room was bugged.
Courtney withdrew her hand. “They’re going to kill us.” Her pale gray eyes stared in shock at Arizona. “Who are you?”
“I’m Arizona Ivy.”
“Ivy?”
Courtney was a woman of average height with long, dark hair that had a natural wave to it. She wore a black sundress that showcased her petite figure and round breasts—something Arizona was certain Julian had intended. She looked up at Tatum, who moved from behind the settee to sit beside her.
“The movie-guy Ivy?” Tatum asked.
Arizona sighed. “Yes.”
“I’ve seen you...on TV.”
Braden’s sister was amazingly okay for a woman who’d been held captive by a harem freak.
“Yeah. Kind of hard to avoid.”
The starstruck light in Tatum’s eyes faded into confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m—”
“With Braden. You said that. But...why?”
Her reasons had changed. Now she was here for Braden, to help him rescue his sister. And Courtney, who wore the blank stare of a victim.
“I’m going to take you skydiving,” she told the woman.
Suddenly it was all clear. Her father would help her with her start-up, and Braden would—
She stopped herself. Braden would go back to his job and she wouldn’t want him to do anything else, but for a second there she’d pictured him going with her on excursions.
“What?” Courtney’s eyes had changed with this unexpected idea. “Skydiving?”
Arizona smiled. “You’re going to be all right.”
“What does skydiving have to do with why you’re here?” Tatum asked.
“Nothing.” But it had everything to do with her future, and healing. “I’m here because Braden came to see my brother for help in finding you. Lincoln is a bounty hunter and a really good martial artist.”
“Braden is a fourth-degree black belt. He said a friend from college taught him. That must be your brother.”
Arizona nodded. Lincoln had taught Braden and she’d never known? Her brother never talked about his business. And she’d only met a few of his friends, none of them Braden.
“I still don’t understand why you’re involved.”
Arizona explained about the man in the BMW who’d tried to abduct her.
“Leonardo must have sent him...because of the algorithms.”
She had deliberately left out the algorithms. Braden would be glad to hear that. “Yes. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Tatum glanced over at Courtney as though asking permission, or in deference of her fragile state.
“I had an affair with Leonardo,” Courtney said. “This is all my fault.”
Tatum stood up. “Oh, no it isn’t, sweetie.” She knelt before Courtney and took her hands. “He manipulated you. And he threatened you.”
“I thought you met Julian online,” Arizona said.
“I did. But then I met Leonardo on a trip here.”
“That’s when he began using her,” Tatum said. “He discovered Courtney’s quest to find her father, and when he learned I worked for American Freight, he set his plan in motion.”
No wonder he and Julian had fought so much.
Leonardo had stolen his girlfriend, a woman he’d planned to enslave like the other women. As an illicit arms dealer, Leonardo probably worried the illegal trafficking in humans could expose him. “After the arms deal was finished, Leonardo handed Courtney back to Julian,” Tatum said.
And Julian must have relished making her pay for betraying him. Arizona saw it all over Courtney’s face, the horror of memories suffocating her.
Arizona looked at Tatum. “Why did you take Braden’s files?”
Tatum stood up and went to sit on the arm of Courtney’s chair. She and Courtney exchanged a glance and then Courtney answered.
“She used the technology to try and save me.”
“I came here to make a deal with Leonardo. Courtney for the laser target designator files. He took the files and handed me over to Julian. He wanted to kill us both. We know too much. But Julian stopped him. When he found out about the missing algorithms, I had to tell him about Braden.”
That’s why the man in the BMW had appeared. And it was also the reason Tatum’s computer hadn’t been stolen.
“As sick as Julian is, he saved us.”
Only because Leonardo knew Julian would eventually kill them. “Are there any other women here?” Arizona asked.
“There were,” Tatum said. “Julian locks them up down here. He likes his women scared. He gives them time to...acclimate.” Tatum looked over at Courtney.
Courtney had acclimated, apparently. Accepted her fate. That made Arizona really mad. And then she took in Tatum’s indomitable energy and found an anomaly in that theory.
To expand his revolving harem. When he grew tired of them, they disappeared. Murdered. Wouldn’t it be safer to keep a few as long as possible, rather than kill them and take more? That begged the chance to be caught. Julian must crave the newness. He had to have new women. That was what he craved. The taming, as the hook-nosed man had said.
Julian preferred scared women. But Tatum was Braden’s sister. And Braden was no victim. It was a miracle she was still alive. Maybe it was the challenge she presented Julian. She’d take longer to tame.
The sound of the door unlocking brought all of them standing. Courtney huddled beside Tatum, who put her arm around her protectively.
Arizona moved in front of them as Leonardo entered, Julian behind him.
Where Julian was unkempt in high-priced clothes, his dark eyes as void of life as she remembered, Leonardo was suave in his tan suit and short salt-and-pepper hair and beard. He’d removed his jacket and now only wore a white shirt with pale blue, thin stripes.
He stepped right up to Arizona. “You.”
She refused to flinch.
“You have caused me too much trouble.”
“Lenny—”
Leonardo spun to his stepson. “You be quiet. You’ve caused me even more trouble. This is getting out of control. Your activities have to stop or you’ll drag us both down.”
“At least let me keep Courtney.” He sounded so desperate that Arizona nearly felt sorry for his rotting-toothed hide. What had Courtney seen in him when she’d met him online? She was pretty enough to attract almost any man she desired.
Leonardo leaned to see around him toward the door. “Where is Manuel? I told you to make sure he met us down here. I don’t have all night.”
“I didn’t ask for him yet.”
“What?” Leonardo backhanded Julian, who leaned to his side from the impact.
Straightening, he stood up to his stepfather, but barely. “Please. Let me keep Courtney.”
Leonardo gestured to Arizona, moving to his side to see her. “This bitch and that idiot of an engineer were camped out at the house above mine. Spying on us! I’ve had enough tiptoeing around your little...project down here. I’ve had enough!”
How had he discovered she and Braden were at the other house? Had one of the guards seen them during the day? Possibly...
“Please, Carlos.”
“I said no! No more of your sniveling. They all die. All three of them! Now go find out what’s taking Manuel so long. He will do this for us.” Leonardo pointed to the door. “Go and get Manuel!”
Courtney began crying ag
ainst Tatum, drawing Julian’s helpless gaze. He was in danger of losing his last sex slave. Courtney didn’t matter to him. Only his sick perversion did. What would he do without it?
“Please, Carlos. Spare Courtney.”
Leonardo grabbed his arm roughly, jerking him around and forcing him out the door. He’d force Julian to do his bidding and then return with the man named Manuel to finish the job.
Arizona searched the room, seeing bars over the frosted windows. “We have to get out of here.”
What if they didn’t have time? What if the ICE agents never came?
Just then, the sound of an explosion announced their arrival.
“They’re here.”
Tatum’s bravado began to rejuvenate. “Who?”
* * *
Braden ran alongside Calem, behind the smoke grenade they’d ignited. The blueprints Crawford had given them showed a new way in. There was another servant’s door on the east side of the villa—the same side that had the secret door. The lock had been quick work for the ICE agents. After encountering a few more of Julian’s guards, they’d reached a long, rectangular room and his heart rose up to his tonsils. A bar. A party room, with six doors that had to lead to rooms where Julian held women captive.
Arizona. Tatum. The half sister he’d never met. They were here.
He went to the first door and kicked. It didn’t budge. Then he heard Arizona yelling. His sister. Were there only two?
One of Calem’s men used another nifty device that exploded the lock and burst the door open. Shouts of men approaching didn’t deter him. He charged in and saw three women and his heart soared.
Arizona rushed into his arms. He kissed her, fierce and brief, noting Tatum’s speculation along with her sheer glee to see him and the agents.
Gunfire erupted outside the room. Shouts accompanied it.
The agents returned to the lounge area to fight off the approaching guards.
No time for talking. He let Arizona go to take Tatum into his arms.
“I knew you’d find me,” she said.
“Go. Both of you.” He set Tatum back from him.
Kissing his cheek, she took Arizona’s hand and ran after her to the door. Taking Courtney’s hand, he led her out of the room. The ICE agents had Julian and Leonardo on the floor, hands cuffed behind them. It was over. He had his sister. She was alive. He ran outside to the helicopter lowering to the driveway, where there was plenty of clearance, stopping with the women and letting go of Courtney’s hand.
Arizona looked at him and smiled. But it was from relief. Now that the search for Tatum was over, what now? He didn’t have the answer. Not for himself. And definitely not for Arizona.
Chapter 19
Once all the legal red tape was taken care of, the ICE agents let them go. Courtney had been questioned the longest, and then she’d been released. Leonardo was charged with a long list of export violations. The agents had found a jump drive that contained the laser target designator files and gave them to Braden. Julian had been turned over to Crawford for prosecution. Leonardo had shouted obscenities at him as he was being led to the helicopter. Both men would be in jail for a long time. The agents had told them the BMW man and several others who worked for Gallegos had already been arrested.
Behind Tatum and Courtney, Arizona walked away from the jet her father had arranged for them. Ahead were a throng of reporters. Sometimes even her father’s best efforts failed. Braden was behind her and she heard him swear. She was the reason they were here. Jackson Ivy’s daughter had just returned from her adventure in Tortola with a mystery man, who’d gone there to save his missing sister and the stepsister they never knew they had....
The flight back to Denver had been awkward. Braden was getting to know his half sister, who’d regained enough self-esteem to smile every once in a while.
Her father’s men created a barrier between them and the line of reporters, and a big SUV with darkened windows rolled to a stop right in front of them. She could kiss her dad. Opening the back door, she let Courtney and Tatum in, and then Braden.
A reporter slipped through the barrier of black-suited men and stuck a microphone under her mouth. “Is Braden your new boyfriend, Arizona?”
She waved the microphone away from her face and a black-suited man herded the reporter away. Closing the back door, she sat in the front passenger seat. The driver backed up and drove off.
Looking back at Braden, she saw the grim set to his mouth, eyes hidden by sunglasses, as were all of theirs. The sense that something had changed between them moved in with a heavy fog around her heart. She faced forward. He wasn’t ready for a relationship. He’d protect his son, too.
And she couldn’t deny that sleeping with him that second time had scared her. It was silly to be afraid, wasn’t it? If she fell in love with him and he either died or left her, what then? She’d have to endure another heartbreak. Maybe she wasn’t ready, either. They’d met at a bad time in both of their lives.
She knew some widows who never remarried after the loves of their lives died. Something like that takes years to overcome. At least, that’s what she’d discovered. It was taking her years to get over Trevor.
And being kidnapped as he had been hadn’t pushed her toward healing. It had shown her what he must have felt. Only he’d endured that horrible fear longer, and then he’d been murdered. It was so terrible that she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. And yet, now she almost could. Did she feel any different than before being taken?
She didn’t think so. If anything, she wished Trevor would have been able to fight his way free. Not be a victim. But he had been. She recoiled against that realization. It had been mushrooming in her ever since leaving Julian’s villa. In engineering he’d excelled. In self-defense, he was as helpless as a child. It broke her heart in a different way than when she’d lost the man she’d loved. No one should be forced into a situation where they had to fight for their lives. Trevor was a good man. But he didn’t have Braden’s wherewithal to make his own destiny.
“I have instructions to take you and Mr. McCrae to Evergreen,” the driver said to Arizona.
She looked back at Braden. He had to go there because his son was there, but how did he feel about being with her? His thoughts were shut tight to the rest of the world.
“You can drop me off at the United terminal. I’m going to fly to Oregon to see my sister,” Courtney said.
“No,” Tatum said. “Come with me to meet our dad. It’s time, Courtney. We can’t put it off any longer.”
Her hesitation was palpable.
Tatum gave the driver the address to her and Braden’s parents’ house. Courtney’s dad.
“We’ll go there together,” Braden said. “After I pick up Aiden.”
“Okay,” Tatum answered.
And the matter was settled.
“But...” Courtney still wasn’t sure.
“Trust me.”
After a long stare, Courtney relented.
* * *
An hour later, Arizona was sad to pass through the gate of her family’s estate in Evergreen. She didn’t like the idea of saying goodbye to Braden. The driver pulled to a stop in front of the mansion. She’d caught Braden looking at her a few times, brooding with whatever weighed him. Was he dreading their parting or was he preparing for it?
She walked ahead of everyone to the grand front entrance. Inside, she greeted Berto, who went to find her mother. Courtney huddled near Tatum, Braden next to them with his hands at his sides. He was so distant now.
Her mother breezed int
o the entry and gave her a hug. “I’m so happy you’re home.” Then to Braden, she said, “Jackson had to fly to L.A. It’s just me and the staff.”
“Daddy!” Aiden came running into the entry, followed by a servant who’d been charged to keep an eye on him.
Braden knelt to take his son into his arms. “How’s my man?”
“Come on! I have to show you this!” He tugged at his hand.
“We have to get going.”
“They have a whole room of Legos. You have to see what I made!”
Braden let his son tug him along. Reaching Arizona, the boy took her hand.
“You, too, helicopter lady.”
His hand was sticky and it didn’t bother her. She was flattered that he’d included her. Even though he’d called her helicopter lady. Did he hope to impress her with his Legos? Make her like them?
All the way downstairs, Aiden led them, never letting go of their hands, even on the stairs. She bumped into Braden twice. He hadn’t reacted, not outwardly.
Attached to the game room was the Lego room. Aiden ran to the space station.
“See?”
“Wow, you made all this?” Braden crouched to inspect it.
“Not all of it. I want to come back to finish it. Can I, Daddy?”
“We’ll see. Come on. We have to go.”
“Aw.”
“Why don’t you come back later in the week?” Arizona suggested.
“No. It’s better if we end this now,” he said, standing.
The distance in his tone shot through her. She’d withdrawn and now he was. That part hurt. But the part that hurt most was the way he was leaving. And taking Aiden with him. Suddenly, she wanted to experience sticky hands and food fights. And she wanted to buy him a cooler helicopter than the one he had and watch him play with it.
“I’m just going to thank your mother and then go.”
Tingles spread with the regret stabbing her. It was that easy for him? She couldn’t tell by his eyes. He was impassive and cold. Stiffly polite.
Front Page Affair Page 23
