The Manhattan Encounter

by Addison Fox

  “No one’s been escorting me.”

  A hard laugh chewed through the phone lines. “Lies are so unbecoming, don’t you think? But let me jog your memory. Cushy lobby. Frightfully inattentive doorman. I think you know the one.”

  The phone went dead and she knew the choice that lay in front of her. There was only one option and no matter how badly she’d prefer to walk that path with someone, it remained hers alone.

  * * *

  Daniel struggled to a sitting position as the lock jangled from outside the door. Edward hadn’t been in the room yet but he’d known it was only a matter of time.

  He’d spent every moment since waking trying to detail a sound, cogent argument for his old student but kept coming up short. What could he say?

  He’d been in full agreement with Edward until the reality of what they’d embarked upon had become a living, breathing plan. The drugs he’d taken while in the throes of his pain had made him an easy mark, but none of it excused his actions.

  Or his role in helping Edward plot how to destroy Isabella.

  It was all so clear now, when pain wasn’t the master over his body, how misguided he’d been. The treatment that had healed him was a result of Isabella’s work. Her time and effort and talent.

  And Edward had convinced him she hadn’t worked fast enough. That she’d taken the gift of his money and frivolously frittered it away on re-outfitting her lab and embarking on fruitless avenues of research.

  When he’d begun to heal—engineered at Edward’s hands—his student had become the master, telling him how much of the work was truly his own.

  And he’d listened.

  The door swung inward and Edward walked through the door. His gait was stiff, evidence the younger man was still pushing himself too hard. “So you’re up.”

  “No thanks to you.”

  “What’s the point of all this?”

  Daniel’s gaze shifted toward the door and Edward patted a gun in his lap. “You’re not fast enough to make the door, nor strong enough to take this from me. So I suggest you sit still and listen.”

  “Fine. I’m listening.”

  “Your little protégée will be here in a few hours. When she gets here, we’re going to game-plan a statement that will be issued to discredit her work published to date.”

  “What’s the point?”

  “We’ve discussed this. Publicizing her work any further than she already has is a mistake. Those in authority won’t take kindly to the experiments we performed while perfecting the technology, nor will they be all that understanding of your faked death.”

  The experiments.

  That had been the ultimate reason he’d faked his death. Isabella would never have agreed and he and Edward had needed reasonable results before testing on themselves.

  “You’re right. Of course you’re right.”

  “So glad you’re returning to the program.”

  * * *

  “There’s leftover pizza on the bottom shelf.”

  Liam jumped and nearly hit his head on the fridge door as Rowan snuck up behind him in the kitchen. “Geez, Ro.”

  “Take it easy.” She grabbed the pizza box from his hand and set it on the counter.

  “What are you doing down here?”

  “Same as you. I’m hungry and I couldn’t sleep.” She hesitated a moment, very un-Rowan-like. “And I heard you slip down here.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’ve been thinking.” She hesitated again, then gestured him to the kitchen table. “I need to talk to you.”

  His little sister had two speeds, on and off. So it was a surprise to see her so hesitant as she gestured him toward a chair.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about our discussion a few months ago. When we were both in London and I was all up in my head about Finn.”

  Liam remembered the conversation—had replayed it several times over in his own mind. “The night we met and had that spicy Indian food that singed my stomach lining.”

  “That’s the one.” When the memory of the delicious vindaloo failed to even elicit a smile, he sat back, deeply curious to where she was going. “Look. I said some things that night that were at best misguided and at worst—”

  On a deep breath, she rushed on, “At worst selfish and unkind.”

  The urge to brush it off and act like it wasn’t important or hadn’t affected him was strong, but he respected his sister’s honesty and knew she deserved it in return. “I miss Mom and Dad, too.”

  “I know you do. And to imply that somehow losing them was harder on me because I was younger was insensitive. Horribly insensitive.” Her gaze met his, clear and direct. “You’re my big brother. It’s easy to forget you’re a person with feelings when I’m in the midst of my usual hero worship.”

  His outburst with Isabella earlier came back to haunt him, his words echoing in his own ears. They refuse to acknowledge what we are. What’s made us. What makes us willing to do what we do.

  “Thanks for telling me.”

  “We love you and we miss you. I felt it before but I didn’t understand it. Not really. But now that Finn’s in my life. Well, it just makes me realize how important my family is to me.” She grabbed his hand, her fingers tight around his. “Sometimes I think we all use the business as an excuse to hide how we feel. It’s like if we stay busy we don’t have to think about how the people we loved were taken away from us.”

  Her fingers tightened once more and he squeezed back. The honesty in her statement—and the raw truth of her words—had the heavy weight of responsibility that usually lay on his chest cracking down the middle. “I think we used to do that, but I’ve seen a change in all of you. Since Abby, Finn and Jack came into your lives, you’ve all changed.”

  “So have you.”

  He hadn’t changed and he knew it. Not like his siblings. They saw the world through new eyes—a fresh take on an old, miserable place—and he missed the same filter. “Come on, now. I thought I was the stoic hero, unwilling to compromise.”

  “Before Isabella you were. She’s changed you. Made a difference.”

  The same panic that had turned his stomach over in the shower gripped him once more. “It’s not the same.”

  “I think it is. But since I’ve already spent the last several months upset that I overstepped I won’t press my point.”

  Rowan reached for the box and snagged a slice of pizza before pushing the cardboard back toward him. “Better get this up to her. The poor girl’s probably famished.”

  She stood and pressed a kiss to his cheek, then left the room on the same quiet feet she’d entered with. It was only as he climbed the stairs several minutes later, pizza in hand, he had to admit his baby sister was crafty.

  How the hell did she know the pizza was for Isabella?

  * * *

  Isabella lay in the dark and savored these last quiet minutes in Liam’s arms. She knew the decision to go alone to meet Edward was akin to a suicide run, but she refused to put Liam and his family in danger.

  Edward’s actions had proven he wasn’t thinking rationally and she needed to go to him, on his own terms. With a few tricks up her sleeve, of course. She might be dumb enough to go alone, but she wasn’t going in completely blind.

  She knew her enemy and she knew his weaknesses.

  How funny then, that the imagined danger of her work—and the governments who could use and abuse what she’d discovered—were the least of her worries. Instead, the true threat had been nearby all along, coiled and waiting to strike.

  Edward’s threats against the Steeles were real—of that she had no doubt. She’d brought danger to their door and to the people they’d hired to help keep her safe and she couldn’t put anyone else at risk.

  Refused to put anyone else at
risk.

  So this is love.

  The thought struck on swift wings and she marveled at the very concept. She loved. She’d known it for several days, but it was only when faced with the choice to keep him safe that she understood what it meant on a different level. Because of that love, the desire to protect was as natural as breathing.

  Liam had given that to her. After a lifetime spent wondering why her parents—the very people who should have loved her without reservation, but didn’t—had been so incapable, she now knew the beauty and the bone-deep satisfaction of caring for another.

  What she couldn’t believe was how naive she’d been.

  Edward Carrington.

  He’d always been one of Daniel’s pets and she’d been more than willing to let him have the role. She knew the strength of her mind and her skills and she had confidence in her mentor-mentee relationship with Daniel. She’d never found the need to flaunt that to anyone.

  But Edward had been a different matter. A man with a brilliant scientific mind, trapped within a rigid, brutal anger over his disabilities.

  Not that she’d ever blamed him. The man lived with a set of trials far worse than anything she could have imagined and she’d never begrudged him his place to shine.

  But now...

  Now he was the only one to blame.

  Liam’s arms tightened around her in the dark and she fought the deep desire to stay there and never leave. He was safe. Secure. And she knew she was better for having him in her life.

  Even if she did come back, that didn’t mean they were guaranteed a future. But she’d be damned if she was going to give him up without a fight.

  For now, facing Edward needed to be her sole focus. If only to return to the safe, warm cocoon of Liam Steele’s arms as fast as she could.

  Chapter 20

  The cool spring morning lay heavy about Isabella’s shoulders as she stepped out of the cab a few blocks from her old lab. Police crime scene tape wrapped around the burnt remains of the newer building, leaving a clear view of the older facility. Edward and Daniel were in there.

  Every instinct she possessed kept screaming she was making a mistake, but none of it could quite bury the excitement of seeing Daniel once more.

  Nor could it dampen her excitement about seeing the very real proof of her work, come to life.

  Although her work had been tied to emotional triggers in the human body, the very idea it was applicable toward healing physical disease was awe-inspiring.

  It was that single thread that gave her hope she might be able to convince Edward to change his mind. Whatever he might have planned, he was still a scientist at heart. A man who loved learning and puzzles and putting his stamp on the world. That had to count for something.

  Didn’t it?

  She moved swiftly through the standard maze of sidewalks that led up to the building, taking stock of her surroundings and the preparation she’d made before leaving the Steeles’. While she didn’t want them in danger, she had made sure they’d know where she was.

  Leaving was the challenging part. She’d managed to slip from Liam’s bedroom without waking him but the house security system had given her some trouble. Thankfully she’d watched Campbell disarm it the night before and her natural aptitude for numbers had ensured she got the code right on the second try.

  If all went to plan, no one would find her note until she’d dealt with this situation.

  She patted her large purse, pleased to feel the solid weight of her tablet. She had one card left to play.

  Now all she had to do was pray that it would be enough.

  * * *

  Liam reached for Isabella, coming fast awake when his hand roamed over the mattress instead of soft, warm curves. He sat up, his eyes adjusting to the early dawn light flooding the room. “Isabella.”

  When she didn’t answer, he came fully awake, a distinct sense of unease gripping him. Before he could act, his door flew open, Campbell in the doorway. “The alarm’s off.”

  “What the hell?” He jumped out of bed, dragging on pants as he went. The dull throb of panic echoed in his veins as absolute certainty filled his mind. “Isabella’s not here, is she?”

  “I don’t think so.” His brother waved a piece of paper. “But I think I know where she went.”

  “Why would she do this?” The question spilled from his lips but he knew damn well the answer didn’t matter. She’d gone and she’d done it under the cover of silence.

  “She’s at her old lab, but she gave me a specific set of instructions.”

  “The lab’s gone.” Liam slung his T-shirt over his head, puzzling through the riddle of her note.

  “It says dungeon next to the words old lab.”

  Liam grabbed the note and scanned it quickly. She’d described the dungeon’s location when they’d gone to her lab; had joked how cozy she’d found the dank old place. As he replayed the conversation in his mind, he began working through a plan of attack.

  He reread the note through to the end. There was a set of instructions at the bottom about files and such. “Tell me what this means.”

  Campbell nodded toward the hallway. “Up to the computer room. I’ll explain it along the way. She’s left me a set of code to execute upon her signal.”

  “No time. I’m going to her.”

  His brother stopped on the stairs, blocking his descent. “Not without proper planning.”

  “Get out of my way. I know where she is. I don’t care what the hell she thinks she’s about, I’m going after her.” The words burst from him like gunfire and whatever veneer of calm he tried to project shattered. In its place, Liam knew a deep-rooted sense of panic.

  A panic he’d only ever felt once before, the night his grandparents awakened him to tell him of his parents’ deaths.

  “I know where she is, too. And you’re not going in there blind. I’ve already rigged the feeds around her lab when I did the video surveillance work yesterday. Let me get you outfitted properly before you go and you’ll have eyes inside. Bastard thinks he rigged the video but I’ve got a work-around.”

  Liam stared down at his brother, the image of a young boy he’d always carried fading as a man stared back up at him. He knew his brother was an adult—had known it for some time—but in that moment, he saw the man Campbell had become and it humbled him. “Thank you.”

  His brother’s light-hearted countenance and mischievous smile had been replaced with the serious visage of a warrior. “You’re welcome.”

  “I can’t believe she went alone.”

  “You can kick her ass about it later. After you tell her you love her and aren’t ever letting her out of your sight again.”

  “Cheeky bastard.” Liam muttered as Campbell snuck past him up the stairs.

  That smile he knew so well reappeared on his brother’s face. “Lucky for you I’m a freaking whiz at my job, too. Come on.”

  * * *

  Isabella slipped down the hallway, the familiar surroundings of the dungeon filling her mind with an endless series of memories. She’d spent nearly a decade here before they’d transferred into the new facility. Although she didn’t miss the drafty winters that had necessitated a space heater on the coldest of days, she did miss the simpler times when she’d worked here.

  She’d had such excitement and enthusiasm. Such passion for her work. And she’d believed that she was making advancements that would make a difference.

  And now?

  Now she had to focus on staying alive. Questions about her future could come later.

  As if he’d heard her thoughts, a door at the far end of the hallway—the entrance to Daniel’s old office—swung open. “On time and punctual, as always.”

  Isabella had worked through a dozen scenarios in her mind of how she’d pla
y this meeting, but they all fell away as she stared at Edward. “You’re standing. You’re—” she hesitated, the word sticking in her throat before she continued. “Well.”

  “Cured.” The absence of warmth and the complete lack of emotion behind his hazel eyes brought her up short.

  The urge to correct his statement struck her but she held back. No use playing your hand yet. “I want to see Daniel.”

  “You don’t make demands.”

  “It was your idea I come down here.” She knew damn well his invitation had been a threat, but she was determined to keep up the ruse for as long as possible. She didn’t miss the gun he held at his side, or the distinct menace that surrounded him.

  Whoever she’d believed Edward Carrington to be when she knew him was now just a memory and she’d do well to remember that. “I’d like to see Daniel. Please.”

  “He’s in his office.” Edward laughed at his joke. “I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see you.”

  She tried to keep her gaze off the gun and straight ahead of her but there was no way she had that much willpower. The handgun was like a magnet, drawing her eyes no matter how hard she tried to avoid it.

  And then she was through the door and she forgot about the gun as she ran forward. “Daniel!”

  * * *

  Liam drove their large family SUV at top speed, weaving and swerving through the early morning streets. Jack sat next to him, giving suggestions about which streets would be best to get him uptown while Kenzi talked to Campbell and Abby back at home. Rowan and Finn had already mobilized the police, ensuring SWAT was prepped for the layout of the dungeon.

  As he barreled on past Columbus Circle, Liam fought the noose of fear that threatened to strangle him, fading his world to black.

  They had to get there. They had to be in time.

  He’d continued the prayer all through preparations and couldn’t think of anything but getting to Isabella. Despite Kenzi’s repeated relay of Campbell’s data—that Isabella was fine and in her old lab with her mentor and a former colleague.

  He cursed himself a hundred times over they’d not thoroughly checked out the damn colleague.