Stand & Deliver

by Rhenna Morgan

  A cool October breeze drifted through the van’s open side door, bringing with it the whine of multiple sirens. Off to one side of the storage unit, Beckett huddled with Danny, Knox and Freddie.

  Beckett frowned, scanned the boxes inside the unit then snapped his gaze to her. Whatever it was he said to the men, it couldn’t have been pretty. Not if the scowl on his face was any indication. He was on the move a second later, headed to the van with Freddie tight on his heels.

  She’d meant to stay in the van. Had promised Beckett she would. But instinct and the need to ground herself in him while her past fell apart had her rushing across the concrete in a light jog.

  “You fucking bitch!” Judd’s words hit her just as Beckett’s arms coiled around her. “I trusted you!”

  Beckett turned her, buffeting Judd’s ongoing tirade with his broad back and holding her cheek flush against his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “It wasn’t you he wanted to set up. Not really.”

  Of all the things she’d expected to hear, that development wasn’t even on the list. She pulled back enough to study his face. “What do you mean it wasn’t me? All the evidence pointed to me.”

  Freddie moved tighter to Beckett’s side. “The unit’s in Beckett’s name. It’s full of every kind of street narcotic and controlled pharmaceutical you can imagine. McGillis pulled up right when Judd was about to lock the unit up. Judd left the phone inside.”

  All the questions about Beckett and his brothers...how Judd had insisted they were involved in dealing drugs...it all came together at once. “His endgame was Beckett. Not me.” Her gaze shot to Beckett. “But why? I don’t get it. Why go through me to get you?”

  Beckett shook his head, fond exasperation mingling with that crooked smile he always gave her when she dug in her heels in on one of their frequent debates. “His endgame wasn’t me, gorgeous. Getting me locked away for dealing dope and framing you to further my narcotics business was just a key step in getting what he really wanted.”

  She studied Beckett, then Freddie. “Which was?”

  This time it was Freddie who grinned, a twinkle she wouldn’t have thought possible sparking in his dark eyes. “You.”

  “He’d have killed your career and been your saving grace all at once,” Beckett added.

  She turned for a better view of the unit. Uniformed officers had teamed up with the Feds and were carefully combing the contents. It was genius really. Fucked up in so many different ways she couldn’t catalog them all, but effective as a means to maneuver a lot of women into a tight spot.

  Except she wasn’t just any woman. She was stubborn. Smart. Downright ornery when the situation called for it. But most of all, she followed her gut and something inside her had always known Judd wasn’t the one for her. The same way she’d known Beckett was.

  Beckett moved in behind her, cupped her shoulders and kissed her temple. “It’s over.”

  On many levels, yes. Digging her career out of the gutter would take some time, but she’d manage it the same way she’d tackled every other hurdle life had thrown her. And this time she wouldn’t be doing it alone.

  But there was one unfinished task left semi-flagging out on what felt like a post-war breeze. A chapter written with an incomplete and unsatisfying ending that needed correction. She covered Beckett’s hands with her own and squeezed. “It’s not over. Not yet. There’s still one more thing I need to take care of.”

  Beckett turned her so he could get a straight-on view of her face, an unspoken question in his eyes.

  Gia shifted her attention to Freddie, hoping like hell he’d play along and give her the leg up she needed to start her future with a clean slate. “How long can you keep news of Judd’s arrest on lockdown?”

  Both of Freddie’s eyebrows hopped nearly to his receding hairline, and his gaze shifted between her and Beckett. “How long do you need?”

  “It depends.” She looked at Beckett. “How fast do you think Trevor can get me to Atlanta?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  A discreet ding sounded in the posh elevator and the doors whooshed open, unveiling Gia’s final battleground in a war she’d fought her whole life. Dressed in skinny jeans, a cobalt-blue tunic, her favorite knee-high black motorcycle boots and her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, she looked like she was ready for a trip to the mall rather than a face-off in a professional setting, but she was done with striving for just the right image. For being the chameleon that would let her blend into any situation and rise to the top of it. It was time to be her. Gia Sinclair. Whatever that looked like.

  Pushing through the wide glass double doors to her father’s office, she paused a moment to soak in the elegant yet alert and uncomfortable energy stretched out in front of her. It was barely after eight on a Friday morning, but the way people hustled from desk to desk or sat up ruler-straight behind their desks, you’d have thought it was Monday and the end of the world only minutes away. Either that or a taskmaster with a Taser gun and a nightstick was due for another sweep of the area any second.

  That’s how she’d lived her whole life. Always alert. Body and mind poised to jump on the next opportunity that might gain her father’s attention. His approval. To be good enough to be his daughter and live up to the name he’d made for himself. The only thing she’d ever done to buck that convention was her career.

  That had been the start. The launch in the war to free herself. Though, she hadn’t figured that out until she’d spent the much-needed time at Haven licking her emotional wounds and taking a good hard look at her life.

  Beckett splayed his hand low on her back. “You don’t have to do this.”

  A part of her wanted to take him up on the out his comment offered. To race back down to the car they’d left waiting outside and get on with the rest of her life. But another far more instinctive voice insisted she follow through. Encouraged her to cut the cords that had kept her bound inside the rigid lifestyle she’d been born into and give the needy little girl inside her solid closure. “Yeah, I do. If I don’t, I’ll always look back and wonder if I should’ve done something different. At least this way I’ll know I finally stood up for myself.”

  Sucking in a deep breath, she stepped out of the somewhat private entrance and into view of the receptionist behind her opulent mahogany desk.

  The woman glanced up at the two of them, a polite but empty smile tilting the corners of her well-glossed red lips. With her perfectly styled shoulder-length blond hair and couture dress, she seemed more suited for a runway or a pageant than manning a busy law office. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

  Gia kept moving, Beckett a solid presence at her side. “No need. We know where we’re headed.”

  Surprises weren’t something her father appreciated, a fact evidenced by how quickly Blondie shot to her feet and scurried after them in her four-inch heels. “I’m sorry, but clients need to wait for their attorney in the lobby.”

  “I’m not a client.” Gia turned the corner that led to the massive office lining the entire west side of the building and the exceptional view of downtown.

  Apparently, the direction was enough to clue the woman into where Gia was headed and she called in reinforcements. “Andie, we’ve got a problem.”

  Now that name Gia knew all too well. Although, the last time Gia had seen her father’s assistant, she’d been skulking out of Reginald’s office well after business hours with mussed hair and her clothes askew.

  Andie stood and assessed the situation in under a second. “Gia! What a pleasant surprise!” She rounded her desk and placed herself squarely between Gia and Beckett and the door to her father’s conference room. “Your dad’s in the middle of his morning staff meeting.”

  Beckett slowed his strides just enough to let Gia take the lead.

  Gia took advantage and kept on walking. “I’m well aware of when his staff meeting
is. That’s why I got here when I did.” She glanced back at Andie, channeled the same superior bullshit she’d learned from her father and waved Andie back to her desk. “That’ll be all.”

  Beckett chuckled low enough only Gia could have heard it.

  She paused and met Beckett’s steady gaze. “You don’t have to go in. I can do this on my own.”

  “I know you can, but the point is you don’t have to go it alone anymore.” He palmed her shoulder and squeezed. “Plus, Sylvie and Ninette both threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t bring back a firsthand play-by-play.”

  It was just the tension-breaker Gia needed. That tiny reminder that where she was severing ties to the family she’d been born into, she wouldn’t be adrift going forward. She had people who loved her. Who believed in her no matter what happened.

  She nodded and pushed the door open.

  An older partner she recognized from past events hosted at her parents’ home stuttered to a stop mid-sentence and eyeballed Gia like she’d just walked in with a severed head hanging from her fist. The reactions from the other men and women varied anywhere from fear to outrage.

  Surprise registered with her father for all of a second before irritation pinched his stately features. “Gia, I’m in the middle of a staff meeting.”

  “Sir, I’m sorry,” Andie said from beside Beckett who stood with arms crossed at the door. Like Gia, he’d bypassed any pretense of formal attire and stuck to his boots, jeans, and T-shirt. Between the muscles apparent for anyone to see and his formidable pose, Gia was a little shocked Andie had dared to get as close as she had.

  “My daughter’s known for her drama, though I’d thought Judd had a handle on it.” Much as Gia had on the way in, Reginald waved her off. “I’ll handle this.” He stood and strode Gia’s direction, that stern glare that used to put the fear of God in her firmly in place. “As for you, you’ll wait and we’ll talk about your case later.”

  “I don’t have a case anymore.” She stepped out of his trajectory and tossed the folder she’d kept a death grip on the whole drive from the airport onto the gleaming conference table. “But Judd does.”

  Damn, but that felt good. For days after her father had marched into her hotel suite and convicted her without a single second to defend herself, that folder full of trumped-up evidence had been like a brand on her memories. A tangible metaphor for the repeated disappointments she’d foisted on her family.

  Today she was shoving that tome of disappointments back where it belonged, along with all the guilt and expectations that went with it.

  Reginald wedged his way between the two attorneys blocking him from the file and snatched it off the table. “What the hell is this?”

  “It’s proof. I told you I was innocent, but you took Judd’s word over mine.”

  He flipped one page. Then another. By the time he got to the end of the packet his brows formed a deep V and his face was a mottled red.

  Gia couldn’t help it. Had sworn she wouldn’t fall back on the pop culture Knox had insisted was perfect for the moment, but it was too appropriate. A poke her father wouldn’t get, but that she and Beckett would have a fine time retelling later. She crossed her arms, waited until her father raised his head and met her eyes then said, “You chose poorly.”

  A snicker sounded from a seat at the far end of the table.

  Lo and behold it was the poor intern, Steve, who’d had the misfortune of bearing the last folder full of information shared between father and daughter.

  Reginald flipped back to the front of the folder and rescanned the information. “This can’t be right.”

  Seriously? He’d take a second look for Judd, but not even listen to her side of the story? “It’s not only ironclad evidence, but he was so pissed off when the Homeland agents took him in he confessed to everything. Putting the governor at risk. Using your former clients to plant the evidence. Setting me up to take the fall. All of it just so he could ruin my career and pin the endgame on the man I love to get him out of the picture.” Gia uncoiled her arms and paced closer. “All so we could live happily ever after.” She stopped close enough he couldn’t avoid her eyes. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll take the man and the family who took my back over the people who tried to force me to be someone I wasn’t.”

  With that she turned and took her sweet time making her way back to Beckett, her hips swaying with every bit of the freedom and confidence billowing up inside her.

  Given the pride and the heat in Beckett’s eyes as he watched her approach, it was a hell of a spectacle guaranteed to make the recap for Sylvie and Ninette when they got back home, but she didn’t care. She felt great. Free on a level she’d never felt before in her life. Like all the strings and worries that had tied her down before had finally slipped their knots and opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

  It wasn’t until she was five feet from the door that she remembered the conversation she’d had with her mother this morning. She stopped, dug the folded piece of paper from her pocket, and retraced her steps back to her dad. “I almost forgot. I called Mom on the flight to Atlanta this morning and told her about Judd, too.”

  She paused in front of her dad and cocked her head. “I also told her I’m moving in with Beckett and that my town house was available if she was tired of philandering assholes who get off banging their secretary and interns more than spending time at home.”

  More than one gasp and a few barely contained chuckles fanned out behind her.

  Gia ignored them and handed over the name and phone number on the piece of paper. “She asked me to give you this.”

  “What’s this?” her dad said as she headed back to Beckett, his arm already outstretched and waiting to pull her close to his side.

  Gia didn’t hesitate, just moved in tight and spared her dad one last glance. “Her divorce attorney.” With that they were out the door, leaving a mighty wake of shock and God only knew how many weeks’ worth of gossip behind them.

  Beckett chuckled and punched the elevator button. “Any chance I can fire up some of that sass when we get home? That walk of yours when you’re feelin’ feisty’s a killer.”

  The elevator dinged and the door swept open.

  Gia grinned up at him, tugged him inside and rose up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Who said we had to wait until we get home?”

  * * *

  Bars on the windows, stark white walls and a whole lot of silence. At ten o’clock on a Friday night, the federal detention center just south of Dallas wasn’t exactly a beehive of activity—a convenient development Beckett planned to take full advantage of before the Feds flew Judd back to Georgia on Monday.

  If Judd’s keepers happened to find him with a few cracked ribs and a whole lot of bruises in the morning, well...that was the reality of life on the inside, wasn’t it?

  With Danny next to him, Beckett paused at the door beside the desk with the bulletproof glass and jerked his chin at the guard behind it. No words were needed. Everything he’d needed to say and every string he’d had to pull to make tonight happen were all tidily tucked away. What had surprised the fuck out of him, though, was how much Freddie had been a factor in the groundwork.

  A grating buzz shot through the lobby and the bolt disengaged with an ominous thud.

  Danny pulled the door wide and held it open for Beckett. “Which room is he in?”

  “Last one on the left.” The door slammed shut behind them and the lock reengaged. With nothing but hard surfaces lining the long hallways there was nothing to muffle their clipped footsteps against the industrial gray tiles. “Freddie texted when we pulled into the parking lot and said we’ve got thirty minutes with the cameras off.”

  “Not thinkin’ Judd’s gonna make it ten given the look on your face.” He glanced at Beckett. “You sure G’s not gonna be pissed she missed out on this?”<
br />
  Minutes from doling out the much-deserved punishment Judd had earned for his actions, Danny had hit on the one thing guaranteed to make Beckett smile. “She knows where I am.”

  Danny stopped dead in his tracks. “And she didn’t want to come? I thought she’d be the first one in line to take a swing at him.”

  Beckett slowed his steps, chuckled and turned back to his brother. “She said she was done proving she was better than dickless wonders, but was kind enough to point out he was a complete pussy when he took a hit to the chin.”

  Danny smiled big enough to show teeth. “That’s our girl.”

  Indeed, it was. She’d also added on that she had a hard time beating up on a guy who’d never known a hard day in his life and who’d probably be someone’s bitch inside a month.

  Truth be told, that last bit was the only incentive Beckett had to make sure the bastard was still breathing when tonight was over. He strolled the last few doors to the holding cell on the left.

  “You sure you don’t want an extra hand?” Danny said.

  Oh, hell no, he wasn’t sharing this moment. Not with anyone but Gia and she’d forked over her share of the pie. “Need you out here givin’ me a heads-up if anyone decides to interrupt my conversation.” He looked up at the camera mounted in the corner and nodded.

  The same buzz that had deactivated the locks to the main door ricocheted down the hall.

  The knob was frigid against his palm. As cold as the fury he’d nursed since the night he’d held Gia while she’d sobbed in his arms. He twisted it and found Judd standing against the far corner. Dressed in drab detention khakis instead of his usual trendy wardrobe, he looked more like the thug he’d proven himself to be. As Freddie had promised, his hands and feet were free. It took him all of two seconds to figure out the reason for Beckett’s visit. “You won’t get away with this. Not by a long shot.”

  So, maybe ol’ Judd wasn’t as stupid as he’d thought. Which was good, because Beckett wasn’t in the mood to fuck around. He jerked his head toward the camera in the corner. “If you’re talkin’ about that thing saving you, you can let that idea go. I’ve got you all to myself for a solid thirty minutes.”