Grey shoved Harcourt stumbling back into the waiting arms of his fellow warriors. “Rolf, take our friend here back to the hotel and lock him in. I’ll deal with him later.”
Hands latched onto Lawrence’s arms with bruising strength. Desperate to escape, to live, he fought to break free. “Wait! Please, for God’s sake, listen to me. I can help you, Grey.”
Sandor answered instead. “How could a sniveling coward like you help us, Harcourt?”
There was no hope, none at all. Better to throw Adele and her boyfriend to these wolves than face the Dame’s justice alone.
“It’s Adele. She’s gone stark crazy. I came here to try to stop her, but she won’t listen. Adele and that street scum she’s been fucking are behind all of this.”
Neither Sandor nor Grey looked shocked by the revelation. Holy hell, they’d played him. The Dame’s pet killers had known all along that Adele was the culprit. Obviously that bit of information wasn’t going to earn him any kind of a reprieve.
But maybe he had one more weapon in his arsenal.
“I know where they are.”
• • •
Piper wanted to stomp her feet or throw something in pure frustration. The second window was sealed shut, too. She didn’t have time to chip away decades worth of dried paint.
Looking around the room, she considered her options. She could always break the glass in the window, hoping to draw the neighbors’ attention. Her captors would also come running, so it would have to be a last ditch effort.
Next on her agenda was to check the drawers. Surely there had to be a blade of some kind—a razor, scissors—anything she could use to cut herself free. She started with the bedside table. Nothing in there but a half empty box of condoms. She shoved the drawer closed.
Moving on to the dresser, she had better luck. Under a jumble of socks and dingy underwear, she found a small pocketknife. Hopping her way back to the bed, she began sawing on the rope. The knife finally cut through the last strand, and she ignored the painful tingling as normal circulation returned. Then she started chipping away at the paint on the windowsill.
She’d no more than scratched the surface when the bedroom door banged opened, and her captors filed into the room. Piper backed up at the sight of a pair of guns pointed at her.
Wes motioned toward the knife in her hand. “Toss that over here.”
She did as he said, knowing the small blade would provide no defense against bullets.
He smirked and said, “See, Adele. Just like I said—thirty minutes and she’s as good as new.”
Adele rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, another job well done, Wes. Now what? I can’t wait to let her lover know she really didn’t die in the Packard. Imagine his joy, up until we kill her. It would be more fun in person, but safer over the phone.”
Her utter calm made Piper ill. This woman had more than a few screws loose. How on earth could she look like the quintessential ingénue and talk about death and destruction as casually as she would the latest sales at the mall?
As for Wes, he smiled at Piper, obviously considering the possible ways to murder her. Piper rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to ward off the chill of his dead eyes. The way he got off watching things explode was seriously twisted, but then his girlfriend wasn’t exactly normal either.
While the two of them pondered her fate, Piper did her best to ignore them, concentrating instead on something positive, something good. She’d found her sister, which was definitely good, although she dearly wished she’d told her sooner. From the first, Ranulf had treated her as a little sister, all gruff and protective. She’d never thanked him for that. Sandor and the others had made room in their lives for her without hesitation.
God, but if this was to be her last day on earth, she’d give anything to go back in time and tell Grey that she loved him.
She couldn’t just stand there waiting for these sickos to decide how she was going to die. If she had to go, it would be on her terms, not theirs.
In the space of a heartbeat, she lunged for the bedside lamp and heaved it at Adele. With aim so perfect it was almost uncanny, it hit the woman right on the temple, driving her straight to the floor. All her years of playing softball finally paid off.
“Adele!”
With Wes’s attention temporarily diverted, Piper sprinted out of the room, her whole being focused on escaping. She made it across the living room, and her hand was reaching for the door when, for the second time in two days, she slammed into an invisible wall. Adele’s doing no doubt. Then Wes grabbed a fistful of Piper’s hair and yanked backward, throwing her to the floor.
Piper came up fighting, swinging her fists and kicking Wes in the shins. When he caught her right hand in a painful grip, she went after his eyes with her left. Then the press of cold metal against the back of her head brought it all to a complete stop.
The click of a gun being cocked echoed in the sudden silence. Piper froze.
“It’s the blue house at the far end of the block.” Harcourt pulled out his cell phone. “Drop me at the corner. If I can catch a cab back to the airport, I may still make my flight.”
Oh, this was going to be good. Sandor looked at Harcourt as if he’d grown a second head before meeting Grey’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Do you want to tell him?”
“Tell me what?” Harcourt was already reaching for the door handle as Sandor slowed for a stop sign.
“Our plan, Lawrence. You see, it involves you.”
Grey smiled and pressed the barrel of his gun against their prisoner’s head. Harcourt immediately slumped in his seat. Good. Now that he had the man’s attention, Grey slid across to the other side of the car and watched Harcourt’s expression.
“You see, Lawrence, Sandor and I figure Adele won’t be inclined to invite two Talions in for tea and biscuits. But how could she possibly turn her own father away? Especially since he’s had a change of heart and wants to help her.”
Harcourt’s face turned ashen as he sputtered, “But Adele is just as likely to kill me. And I’ve already told her that I wouldn’t help her, that she was on her own in this.”
“That’s a real shame, because you really have no choice in the matter. You see, Adele only might kill you, but I definitely will unless you do exactly as I bloody well tell you. Your choice.”
Harcourt looked toward Sandor. If he hoped to find sympathy there, he was sadly mistaken.
Grey prodded him again with the barrel of his gun. “So what’s it going to be? Are you going to settle for the sure thing and stay in the car or go for the long shot and knock on your daughter’s door?”
“I’ll knock on the door, but this is little better than cold-blooded murder.”
Grey had had enough. “Look at this way—if Adele isn’t the forgiving type, it will save you standing trial before the Dame and her Consort.”
Sweat was pouring from Harcourt, despite the day’s cool temperature.
Sandor added, “You know Adele and her boyfriend are both crazy for thinking that this has any chance of ending well for them. They might prefer to go out in a blaze of glory together, but somehow I doubt it. Adele is obviously pretty damn driven to succeed, and it’s not likely she’d do anything to interfere with that.”
That was pretty much what Grey had been thinking and said so. “On the other hand, she is likely to sacrifice her lover in a heartbeat. If he’s smart enough to realize that, he might have his own opinion of how this should play out.”
If anything, Harcourt looked worse. He twisted around in his seat to face Grey, and for the first time he sounded like a distraught parent. “You know Adele. How did I miss seeing this side of her?”
Grey had a momentary flash of sympathy for the man. He was about to pay a pretty steep price for his elitist attitude and his greed. “She either hid it well or you’ve had your head stuck in the sand.”
Harcourt shrank into himself, clearly beaten down. Even if he survived the Dame’s justice, which was unlike
ly, his life would never be the same. Status was everything for the aristocrat, and his peers would cut him adrift as soon as the truth came out. And Grey would make damn sure it did to send a warning loud and clear to anyone else who thought to threaten the new Dame.
Grey’s cell rang, interrupting his train of thought. He checked the number as he flipped the phone open.
“Yeah, Sean, what’s up?”
“A woman named Adele wants you to call her. She said she has something you want.”
“The fuck she does! Unless she’s decided to surrender and face justice.” He fought to keep his temper under control. “Sorry, kid. Give me the number.”
Before calling her, Grey said, “Sandor, drive past the house and circle the block. Evidently Adele wants to talk.”
Harcourt straightened up in his seat. “What about? Do you think she’s come to her senses?”
Grey didn’t hesitate to rain on the man’s parade. “Hell no. She says she has something I want.”
Sandor pulled into the parking lot of a small neighborhood park. “Any idea what that could be?”
“None. Right now all I want from her is her surrender.” And death, but he kept that last bit to himself. “There’s not much chance of that happening, though.”
Sandor nodded, his dark eyes filled with bursts of hot energy.
Grey braced himself and punched in the number Adele had given Sean. She answered on the second ring.
“Greyhill Danby, how are you doing?”
He stared at his phone for a second before replying. She was smug and sure of herself, definitely riding a high. No way he was going to feed her ego.
“Cut to the chase, Adele. What do you want?”
She actually giggled. “Why, Grey, you sound upset. Did you lose something important?”
Yes, he had, but this wasn’t a discussion he wanted to have with Piper’s killer. “Get to the point, little girl. I’ve got a job to do, and you’re wasting my time.”
That did it. When she spoke again, all traces of good humor were gone.
“Don’t call me a little girl, Grey. We both know I’m the rightful heir to Judith’s throne. If you’d done your job and rid us of that usurper, none of this would have been necessary.”
“Tell me something, Adele. I get that the letter bomb was just intended to get our attention. No hard feelings for putting me in the hospital. Bygones, and all that.”
He infused his next question with a whole lot of temper. “How was blowing up the Packard with someone sitting in it supposed to help your cause? Someone who’d never lifted a finger to hurt you?”
“Oh, is that what’s got you all in a dither? Well, that god-awful Packard simply had to go. It was in the way of where I plan to park my Jaguar when I take over. Something in a nice silver, you know, like yours. After all, you won’t be needing it.”
Then she laughed. “But you don’t want to hear about that, do you? Seriously, Grey, there must have been some kind of misunderstanding. I didn’t kill your little friend. I kidnapped her.”
Grey’s world stopped turning, his mind and body completely devoid of sensation. Finally, he managed to whisper, “Piper’s alive?”
Sandor whipped around in his seat, his shocked expression reflecting Grey’s.
“Well, of course she’s alive! I wouldn’t waste a valuable asset for no reason.”
Grey’s profound relief made his hands shake to the point where he almost dropped the phone. Ignoring the roaring in his head, he concentrated on regaining control and reestablishing contact with the world around him. As if sensing his need, Sandor held out his hand, offering Grey a hit off his energy supply. It helped some. Finally, he remembered how to talk.
“Adele, don’t fuck with me. If she’s alive, I want to talk to her.”
“Tsk, tsk, Grey. Your lack of breeding is showing again. Hang on a second.”
Adele whispered something on her end not meant for his ears, but she didn’t allow for a Talion’s enhanced hearing. She was telling her friend Wes to take the gag out of Piper’s mouth. He heard a rustling and then the sweetest sound he’d ever known—Piper’s voice as she argued with her captors.
“Why should I do anything you two want?”
Bless the woman, his Piper was alive and feisty. He was damn happy about the first part, but the second might just get her killed for real.
Something sounded like a slap and Piper yelped. Adele’s next words confirmed his worst fear. “Because, bitch, if you don’t do exactly what I say, you won’t live long enough to regret it. Now talk to your loverboy before I kill you both.”
“Grey?”
“Piper, honey, are you all right?” She had to be. The gods couldn’t be so cruel as to give her back to him only to snatch her away again.
“I’ve been better.” Her voice caught when she continued. “I’m so sorry they let you think I was still in the car when it blew up. They made me watch.”
She yelped again. “Quit pulling my hair, you jerk! You wanted me to talk to him. What did you expect me to say?”
Energy, dark and lethal, writhed under Grey’s skin. They were hurting his woman, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Not yet. But, by god, there would be a reckoning—and soon.
“Piper, can you hear me? Do exactly what they say. Don’t fight them, not alone. I need you to promise me that. Please.” Because if she didn’t, she might not survive long enough for him to get her away from those two monsters.
“I will.”
“Good.”
“And please don’t let these two use me as a weapon against Kerry.”
“I promise to keep the Dame safe.”
“Thank you. There’s one more thing. I love you.” She choked on a sob. “I wish I’d told you before, and I was so scared I’d never get the chance.”
“God, honey, I know. I love you, too.” He savored the sweet truth of her admission. Even so, the knowledge scared him down to the core because it was another weapon Adele would use to manipulate him. “Piper, please be careful until I can get there.”
“Now wasn’t that just so sweet.” Adele had taken the phone back. “Here’s how this is going to play out, Grey.”
“Before you say another word, Adele, know this. You hurt her or anyone else, and you’re dead. If I don’t get the job done, Sandor or Ranulf will. You won’t ever be able to stop running. You’re already breathing on borrowed time. Make it easier on everybody and turn yourself in.”
Her laugh had a note of hysteria.
“So I take that as a no, then.” He leaned back in his seat, proud of his new sense of calm. “Okay, little girl, we’ll play this your way. Don’t keep me in suspense. What’s your evil plan?”
And while she told him, he plotted her death.
Chapter 18
Grey slammed his hand down on the coffee table. “This is absolutely insane. You’re not about to abdicate, and Adele knows it. You know it. So there’s no reason to put yourself in danger.”
Ranulf said, “He’s right, Kerry. The whole idea is effing crazy.”
She glared right back at her husband and then at Grey. “Yes, I do know that. If anyone has a viable option that doesn’t result in my sister getting killed, speak up now. I just found her. I won’t risk losing her, not like this.”
The silence was answer enough.
Grey tried again. “Kerry, no one wants to get Piper back more than I do, but my first duty is to keep you safe. Ranulf’s duty is the same.”
He pointed around the room at the group of warriors who surrounded her. “We Talions all swore an oath to protect the Grand Dame of the Kyth, even if it means protecting her from her own folly. Piper will never forgive any of us if we put you in danger to save her.”
Adele had insisted that they convene at the Dame’s house, saying the place was her rightful home. He pointed out how unwise that would be considering she’d drawn the attention of god knows how many law enforcement agencies by blowing up the Packard in the driveway.
Finally, she’d reluctantly given in, agreeing to meet sometime after sunset to discuss Kerry’s abdication. She’d call back with the location later. Grey hung up satisfied with the confrontation. As long as the woman thought she was running the show, she had no reason to hurt Piper. What she didn’t realize was that he knew exactly where she and Wes were holed up.
The situation was far from perfect, and the element of surprise was the only factor that played in their favor. Wes’s house sat on a fairly big corner lot, but that translated to too many potential witnesses. It didn’t help that Kerry wanted a shot at talking Adele down off the ledge before unleashing the Talions. No one thought that negotiating would work, but their Dame insisted on trying. He wished he knew if it was weakness or compassion that was driving her decision.
Kerry reached out and took Grey’s hand, sending a high-powered jolt of energy up his arm. “I’m going with you, Grey. I know you hate it, but deal with it.”
He gauged her resolve. The woman’s warrior spirit glowed brightly in her eyes. “Yes, Dame Kerry.”
After releasing him, she crossed the room to her husband. “And you hate it most of all, but I won’t be the kind of leader who huddles in the basement while my people are in jeopardy. It would be different if I had no powers of my own, but I’ve already proven myself in battle, if it comes to that.”
Turning back to Grey, she continued. “Make your best plans, but make sure I’m part of them. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have a feeling my husband has a few things he’d like to say to me in private.”
As the two walked out of the hotel room, Grey smiled. On the whole, he thought the Viking had shown great forbearance by waiting until they were in the other room to start railing at his wife. Grey and the rest of the Talions did their best to hide their smiles as the deep, angry rumble of Ranulf’s voice increased in volume as the seconds ticked by. They all knew he was going to lose the argument—including him—but no one blamed the man for trying.
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