The Men With the Golden Cuffs

by Lexi Blake

  They wouldn’t stop because they loved her.

  “Help me!”

  Serena ran toward the street. She ran with everything she had because she had something to live for beyond the characters in her head. Real life was harder and real love was scary, but it was worth every pain, every piece of heartache, and it was worth fighting for.

  She heard the shot that meant the end of Bridget’s life. So much for Brian’s silencer. Pain lashed through her, but she kept running. She couldn’t stop. Her feet were being cut by rocks on the pavement, but she ran.

  Almost there.

  Almost there.

  There was another shot, and Serena felt a sharp pain in her side. She fell, her knees buckling as she hit the pavement. Blood. There was blood at her side and a terrible burning sensation.

  Almost there.

  She tried to crawl. Almost there.

  Something hard hit her back.

  “Not this time, Serena. You don’t get away this time.” Doyle held her ankles and flipped her over, forcing her to look at him. He aimed the gun at her head. “This time I win.”

  Serena tried to fight, but she was afraid this time he was right.

  She closed her eyes and thought about them. God, she wished she’d told them.

  I love you.

  Her last words, whispered only in her head.

  I love you both so much.

  * * * *

  Ian caught up to Jake and Adam as Jake hit the door to The Velvet Room. His heart was pounding in his chest, but he forced himself to remain cool. Panic wouldn’t save Serena.

  Liam was right behind Ian. “It’s the agent’s husband. And Serena’s ex. After Lara confessed to Ian, Adam hacked her account. I’ve been reading e-mails for days.”

  Jake looked around the room. So many fucking people. Where was Serena? Liam kept talking.

  “Lara kept the records for the whole company when it came to submissions. Did you know that Doyle Brooks submitted a book to Brian Anderson last year? I took it a step further and hacked into his account. They emailed back and forth, nothing too suspicious, but it got me thinking. I don’t think this is about some crazy person. This has always been about money. Lots of money.”

  “Where the hell is she?” Adam asked.

  “Save the explanations, Liam. We need to find her.” Jake knew they were right. He felt it in his gut. The cops were questioning the kid who had been hired. A diversion. Brian Anderson had needed a diversion at precisely 5:30. He’d gotten it. All the manpower had been chasing down some dumbass kid.

  Sean walked up, a small black box in his hand. “Cell phone jammer. It was in a box of books. Mine’s still struggling. There must be more than one.”

  “Where’s Serena? And where’s her agent?” Jake kept his voice low, but he felt like shouting.

  “Do a sweep,” Ian ordered, sending Sean and Liam into immediate motion.

  Chris Roberts moved from the crowd, a glass of champagne in his hand. The worried look on his face didn’t match his usual laid-back style. “What’s going on?”

  “I need to find Serena, and I need you and Bridget to stay away from Brian Anderson.” Jake didn’t need to worry about the man using Serena’s friends as hostages.

  The glass dropped from Chris’s hands, and he went a stark white. Without a word, he turned and started for the back of the building.

  Adam took off after him.

  Something very bad was going on. “Clear the room,” Jake ordered as he jogged past Ian.

  Adam tackled Chris before he made the door.

  “Stop,” Chris protested. “You have to let me in there. She went with him to go get Lara. God, I watched her do it not three minutes ago. I let her go.”

  Jake understood the man’s desperation, but they had to play this smart. “You stay here. Get to Ian. Tell him what’s happening and that I need men to move around to the back of the building. I need every exit blocked, and I need the cops to put an APB out on Brian Anderson and possibly Doyle Brooks. Do you understand? As a precaution, call an ambulance and more cops. We have a potential hostage situation. I need this done as quickly as possible, and I need you to stay calm. Get to Ian. He’s the big guy who’s probably scaring the crap out of everyone right now. Tell him Jake sent you. He’ll listen.”

  Chris nodded and allowed Adam to help him up.

  “Three minutes is a long time,” Adam said, his jaw clenched.

  “And our girl is smart. If this really is about money, they might not kill her here. They need it to look good, and that means getting away.” Jake prayed he was right. “Okay. You take my six.”

  “On it.” Adam moved behind him. When they hit the back room, Adam would guard his back.

  As quietly as he could, he opened the door and moved through in a firing stance.

  “Dumb bitch, do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?”

  A masculine voice chuckled. The back room was littered with shelves and stacks of boxes. He couldn’t see who was talking, but he was almost certain he recognized the voice. Brian Anderson. He pointed to the southwest, where the voice had come from. Moving on silent feet, he stalked through the warehouse-like room toward the voice.

  “Fuck you, Anderson. You’re not going to get away with it. Someone will figure it out.”

  That wasn’t Serena. Bridget. Fuck. How was Bridget involved? She sounded hurt, her voice resonating with pain.

  “I’m smarter than you, smarter than my dumbass wife who had to go and fuck up my business. I used to be respected. Now we’re a laughingstock. No longer. I’ll get Lara’s money and Doyle will take Serena’s. Good-bye, Bridget.”

  Jake found the right row of boxes. He sent Adam to the other side with a quick nod of his head. They’d worked together most of their adult lives. Jake didn’t even have to look to know Adam was doing what he needed to do. With Adam backing him up, Jake could simply move into place.

  Brian Anderson stood over Bridget, a knife in his hand. The knife was a medium-sized kitchen knife, and it looked like he’d already used it on her. He prayed Chris had called that ambulance because they were going to need it. But even as he moved into place, one question pounded through his gut.

  Where was Serena? He didn’t see her. Where the hell was she?

  If she was dead, he would tear through them all. Brian, Doyle, that motherfucker who had been planning to use her. He wouldn’t stop until they were all buried in the ground.

  “Put the knife down.” He didn’t really want Brian Anderson to put the knife down. He wanted to shoot him, but he needed to know where Serena was first.

  Anderson gasped and started to turn to run, but Adam had cut him off.

  “Jake?” Bridget’s voice was a tortured moan. “You have to save her. I think he took her outside. I couldn’t see. I…please help her.”

  Jake never took his eyes off Anderson, who was visibly shaking. At least Bridget thought Serena was alive. “The cops are on their way, Bridget. So is an ambulance. You just hold on. You’re going to be able to testify against this asshole.”

  A sad little laugh came out of her mouth. “That would be good research, right?”

  “I can’t go to jail.” The knife in Anderson’s hands shook as he looked from Adam to Jake and back again. “I didn’t do it. It was Doyle.”

  “We just caught you red-handed, dumbass,” Adam explained. “Now tell us where Serena is and you might get off with attempted murder.”

  “He won’t. He killed Lara. He killed his wife. He’ll go down, and thank god we’re in Texas.” Bridget sounded a little drunk. “Death penalty, buddy. Enjoy your rape time before they shove a needle in your arm.”

  Jake cursed because he saw the minute Anderson made his decision. He turned to Adam and hefted the knife. He took a single step before Adam pulled the trigger. The knife hit the floor with a clatter just seconds before the agent’s body slumped down.

  The door that led inside opened, and Ian stormed in, his Glock at the ready. “Serena?” />
  “Bridget. And apparently Lara’s here somewhere, but I don’t think she made it. I’m sorry.” Jake started for the back door. Bridget had said they took her out the back.

  “I am, too.” Ian knelt by Bridget. “Go find your girl.”

  Jake’s blood nearly froze when he heard a muffled scream. “Help me!” a feminine voice was calling. Serena.

  Adam kicked the door open, and Jake followed him into the alley. Serena’s shoes had been kicked off in the doorway.

  “To the right,” Adam said.

  Jake stood beside his partner. Serena was halfway down the alley. She was laying there, her brown hair all that Jake could see of her face.

  A man stood over her, his back to Jake, but Jake had been in the military and then private security for far too long to not recognize the stance. Jake couldn’t see the gun, but he knew what was happening. Doyle Brooks was going to win over his wife the only way he possibly could.

  Jake raised his gun and fired, Adam doing the same.

  Doyle’s body jerked and then he fell to his knees, the gun dropping from his hand. He fell on top of Serena.

  Adam got to her first, calling out her name and dragging that bastard’s body off hers.

  Jake dropped to the ground. She was bleeding. God, there was so much blood. How much of it was hers? He touched her face, terrified of moving her body. “Serena, baby? Baby, are you okay?”

  Adam checked Doyle Brooks to make sure he was gone and then joined Jake, his hand cradling Serena’s. “Serena, damn it, you can’t die. Tell her, Jake. You’re her damn Dom. Order her not to die.”

  Her lips curled up slightly. “I love a bossy man.”

  Her eyelids fluttered, and she went limp.

  Jake heard the sirens coming and prayed they weren’t too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “I’m ready to kill someone. Get me a fucking computer.” Adam paced, his stomach in knots. Five hours. It had been five hours since the ambulance had taken Serena away, and all anyone would tell him was that she was okay.

  Okay? She’d been fucking shot and assaulted and terrified, and all he knew was that she was “okay.”

  Sean and Grace sat across from Jake, Grace leaning into Sean’s strong body. Eve and Alex had come as well, the whole of McKay-Taggart huddling together like a group of survivors in a life raft.

  “You can’t hack into the hospital,” Jake said, his voice weary. He sat back, his head against the couch. They had retreated back home after the cops refused to give any information about Serena’s whereabouts. According to the hospital, Adam Miles and Jacob Dean weren’t “family” and therefore weren’t welcome after visiting hours.

  And then there was the fact that killing a man, even in the line of duty, required an enormous amount of paperwork.

  “We should be out there looking for her.” Adam couldn’t quite come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t allowed to see her or even know how she was doing. Not family. She was his whole fucking heart. “And I can hack a system. I can get in there and change her records to read that she’s married to one of us.”

  “And if she doesn’t want to see us?” Jake’s eyes came open, his words forming a potential truth neither had been willing to discuss.

  What if Serena wanted more time to figure out what was happening between the three of them? Could he accept it? Did he really have a choice?

  Liam and Ian walked out from the kitchen. Ian’s face was set in deep lines. Adam felt for him. He’d lost a lot. Ian had lost friends and family, and Lara Anderson was just one more person who was now gone forever from Ian’s life.

  “I’m sorry about your friend’s sister,” Adam offered. Words didn’t mean a damn thing now, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.

  Ian’s face was a careful blank. “I am, too. Despite her problems, Lara was a nice lady. She really did think she was helping Serena. It just turns out she gave her husband what he thought was a perfect cover for murder.”

  Jake sat up. Mojo had taken a spot at Jake’s feet the minute he’d sat down, the dog trying to comfort the man who had become one of his masters. Jake’s hand idly played through the dog’s fur. “Go over it again. I don’t know that I’ve fully processed this. So Doyle tried to get Serena’s agent to rep his book?”

  Liam shook his head. “No, Doyle tried to get Brian Anderson to rep his book.”

  Eve turned toward Jake and Adam. “Brian ran the mainstream arm of the business. He’d spent years trying to build his reputation on strong literary fiction. But he’d never had anything higher than a mid-list client. Then his wife decides to try her hand, and a few years later she’s bringing in the majority of the money.”

  Adam could complete that thought for her. “But with what Brian Anderson considered low-quality writers. Serena and Bridget and Chris. And from what I overheard at one of their lunches, Lara was trying to expand by bringing in more romance authors.”

  Liam took a seat next to Sean and Grace. “Poor, snobby Brian couldn’t catch a break. And neither could Doyle Brooks. I checked cell phone records. They started talking about three months ago. They talked for hours, several times a week. When Brian found out about the publicity stunt Lara was pulling, he must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven.”

  Grace’s eyes were wide as she looked at Adam. “They were the ones who sent the violent notes and keyed her car?”

  “And burned down her house.” Killing them once hadn’t been enough. “All in an effort to lend credibility to the fact that a stalker was really after Serena.”

  “Why make a move today?” Jake asked. “Why didn’t they wait until things died down a little? Eventually we would have relaxed our guard a bit. I mean if they had backed off for a month or two, we probably would have thought the whole thing was over.”

  Ian took a long breath. “I can answer that. Lara told me she was filing for divorce next Monday. She was going to leave Brian and take all of her clients with her. Her clients were the only thing propping the agency up. At some point in time, he convinced Doyle Brooks that they could kill both their spouses and make some cash in the meantime. Serena had never updated her will. And there was a life insurance policy still in force on her for a half a million dollars. Doyle would have made a lot of money.”

  “So they knocked out the officer we’d placed outside the door, and then Doyle would have taken Serena after he’d shot or stabbed Brian Anderson in some non-lethal way to make it look like he was just another victim. I’m sure we would have found Serena’s body in a few days and both men would have alibis. And with the money he would have made from the policy Brian had on Lara, he intended to find some real clients, I would bet. Hell, he might even have written a book himself. There would have been a lot of press. I’m sure there still will be,” Jake pointed out.

  “Writer gets stalked and nearly killed by agent.” Alex huffed out a little laugh. “Yeah, it’s going to make the national news. And Serena is about to get a lot of attention. Don’t be surprised if her books go crazy after this.”

  Did she know that? Did she realize she was about to get bumped into another stratosphere? Would she need two difficult bodyguards now that she had just about achieved her dream?

  They hadn’t made things easy on her. Adam had been moody and emotional and Jake had been a hard-ass, and they hadn’t had the chance to say it.

  I love you.

  Was he going to have to go to a signing to see her again?

  The chime on the security system rang.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Liam said, heading toward the front of the house. “Let’s hope the reporters haven’t figured out your address.”

  Adam looked at his partner and knew they were thinking the same things. They were wondering where she would stay and who would take care of her. She was a grown, smart, capable woman, but everyone needed people to take care of them, to see to the little things. Would she come back for her computer or send someone to get it?

  “Hi.”

&
nbsp; Adam turned and his heart flip-flopped when he saw Serena in the doorway, a tired smile on her face.

  Chris gave them all a little wave. “I drove her over. We managed to get by the press. They were all over the hospital. I smuggled her out the back.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Serena said. The polite tone of her voice set Adam on edge. “I know you would have preferred to drive me, but it was so crazy up there, I didn’t want to add to it.”

  Adam’s eyes ate her up, but he held his ground. Was she here to get her things? Damn it. He wasn’t going to let her leave without a fight.

  Jake had gotten to his feet. “They let you go? What did the doctors say?”

  She looked so fragile standing there next to her friend. “The bullet grazed my side. No surgery. It only took three stitches. They were more worried I’d gotten a concussion, but the scans didn’t show anything. I waited so long because I needed to make sure Bridget was okay. And I checked in on the officer who was hurt. He did have a concussion, but they say he’ll be all right. I need to find a way to thank him.”

  “You will.” Grace walked to Serena’s side. “Is Bridget all right?”

  Serena nodded, relief etched on her face. “It was close, but she’s going to be okay. The doctors say Ian probably saved her life. He held her together with his own hands until the EMTs got there. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Ian simply sighed and started for the door. “You’re welcome. I’m glad your friend is all right. I just wish I could have saved Lara.”

  Ian walked out, the door closing behind him.

  Sean grabbed his wife’s hand. “Little one?”

  Grace nodded toward the door. “Go after him. Eve can give me a ride home. Your brother needs you. Put aside the rest of it for one night.”

  “He won’t talk about it, but I can buy him a drink.” Sean looked to Liam and Alex. “Come on. Let’s take the boss out for a beer.”