by JA Huss
“Never,” I whisper, my eyes closing from the days of travel and work.
Harper squirms under me until I let her out, and then she angles her body into mine, her head resting on my arm, her hands tucked up underneath her chin. “Never what?” she asks sleepily.
“You have always been mine, Harper Tate. You have always been mine and I will never let him have you.”
Chapter Eighty-Three - James
The cock of a shotgun stuns me out of my sleep.
“Don’t fucking move,” the voice whispers, the barrel pressed against my head.
Vincent.
I smile. “I have no plans on moving. I’ve got her right where I want her.” My cock is pressed against her ass, my hand on her breast, her hand gripping mine.
“You’re a sick fuck, James.”
“Your DNA is the same as mine, brother.” Harper squeezes my hand and I know she’s awake. “And I hope you know what you’re doing with that shotgun. Because you pull that trigger, you splatter both of us. Not just me. So think carefully, Vincent.”
He chuckles. “I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Take her down with you? Sick. Fuck. Get up.”
I remove my hand and Harper withdraws hers without otherwise moving. I ease away and roll out of bed. Vincent backs up several paces as I stand up to my full height. We are eye to eye. We have the same body. The same hair. The same face. The same eyes. But we don’t have the same instincts.
I have the instincts of a wild animal.
He has none.
He eyes my nakedness and I laugh. “Like what you see?”
“I’m going to put you down like the dog you are. It’s the only death you deserve. Step away from the bed. Don’t hide behind an innocent woman.”
I put my hands up and walk towards him. He backs up and then pivots so he’s got himself between me and Harper.
And then she attacks.
She springs from the bed like a lioness. Her hand wraps around his throat and she squeezes. I grab the gun before the dumbshit pulls the trigger. And then I turn it around and clock him on the head with it. He’s already half asphyxiated from Harper’s squeezing, so it doesn’t take much to knock his ass out.
He crumples to the ground and Harper lets go.
“Jesus,” she says, looking at him with what I can only describe as slight disgust. “That was easy.”
I grab a tie back from the curtains and bind his hands and then grab my trousers and pull them on. I turn to Harper, who is already dressed. “Watch him for a moment. Let me go look for something to drug him up.”
She nods and I let myself out into the hallway. It’s quiet up here, but I can hear lots of noises downstairs as preparations are made for the dinner tonight and the party tomorrow.
I ease into Vincent’s room and close the door behind me. I hit the bathroom where I know he’s got Harper’s pills. They’re not the best for doping people into unconsciousness, but they will have to do. I grab the little orange bottle and head back to her room.
“He’s already moaning,” Harper says, when I enter.
“Here, give him ten pills.”
“Ten?”
“He’s a big guy. We want to make sure.”
She takes the bottle and counts out the pills, while I go back to the door and peek out, making sure no one saw me.
“How do we make him swallow them?”
I grab the pills from her outstretched hand and walk over to Vincent. He is waking up, which is good. He’s gonna need to swallow them himself once I shove them down his throat. “Get me a toothbrush.”
Harper rushes to get that and then comes back, handing it over. I shove it in his mouth to stop him from biting me. “Get me some water.” And then I drop each of the tiny white pills into his mouth. When the bitterness hits his tongue, he grimaces and tries to spit them out. But Harper is there with the water and I tip his head back and pour. “Swallow, asshole. Or you’re gonna drown. Get me more water, Harper.”
“Fuck you,” my brother manages past the toothbrush as he spits the water out.
I find two pills and snatch them up so I can dump them back in. “OK, let’s do it the hard way, asshole. But I’m warning you. There’s worse things than being drugged overnight.” And then I lean down into his ear and whisper so Harper can’t hear. “I know you kissed her. So believe me, I can think up some very good ways to get even with you for that. Now swallow the fucking pills.”
I drop the two pills in and pour the water.
This time he swallows.
“That’s a good dog, Vincent. Now, while you drift off into slumber, I’d like you to think about things. I’d like you to think about how they used you, just like they used me. I’m not out to kill you. No one told me to kill you. But you’re delusional if you think I’m letting you take Harper.”
“You’re going to get her killed.”
“No, I’m the one who will keep her alive. The plan is already in motion, Vincent. It’s a done deal. Everyone in this house will be dead tomorrow night.”
“If you make it until tomorrow night. No one will mistake you for me, you sick fuck.”
“You’re wrong. I’ve been practicing my Vincent routine for months. You think you were watching me? You think you pulled this over on me? Maybe James wasn’t ready to see the truth, even as he watched it go down. But I’m Tet, asshole. I see everything.”
I untie his feet and pull him up so he’s standing. He sways a little when I push him towards one of Harper’s closets. She’s already got the door open, so I walk him in and kick his legs out from under him, so he crumples back to the ground. Then I tie him back up.
I lean in to whisper again. “You never had a chance.” And then I kick him in the teeth. He falls backwards into some hanging dresses, his face obscured by the flowing gowns.
Harper turns off the light and I walk out, closing the door behind me.
“I think he said we’re having dinner tonight.”
I nod my head and smile at the thought of tonight’s dinner. “Yeah. They have a gown for you in his room. I’ll go get it so you can get ready.” I pull her close and kiss her on the lips. In a familiar way. A way that says I love her and that’s all she needs to know right now.
I walk across the hall and go into his closet to find her clothes for the evening. It’s been planned for a very long time. Years in the making, in fact.
The gown is a shimmering silver. The skirts are very elaborate and they flow all the way to the floor. It’s not very revealing, which is nice. Even though I know all eyes should be on her, I don’t want people staring too hard at my Harper.
I choose a suit for me, and change quickly. I add a silver tie and pocket square to match Harper’s dress, and choose his most expensive pair of shoes.
My image in the mirror is not Tet.
I sigh at that realization.
It’s just James in here after all.
I grab Harper’s dress and go back across the hall. She’s in the shower, so I lay the gown over a chair and peek my head in. “I can hear people down there, Harp. So don’t take too long.”
The water shuts off and she opens the glass shower door, showing me her wet body.
“Fuck, woman. Don’t tempt me.”
“We can skip the party,” she says with a smile. Her hair is still dry, but little tendrils of it are falling out all over her face, making her look a little wild.
She drives me wild. “No fucking way. We’re not missing this night. Now get dressed.”
I back out of the bathroom and make my way back to the hallway. I walk towards the stairs, slowly. Listening for conversation. I hear the Admiral’s voice and… Nick.
Harper will be so excited.
I stop at the top of the stairs and listen. I stand there several minutes, absorbing the small talk before the conversation gets heated. I strain to hear.
“No,” Nick says. “I’m not taking part in it. I came back to get her. She’s not staying here.”
“You came back hoping One
would be here with the file.”
“Won’t he?” Nick asks. “You sent him to drug Harper. He killed her, did you know that? He killed her and Tet saved her life.”
“Is that a debt you feel the need to pay back?” the Admiral asks him.
I don’t hear the answer so I step forward, making a creak on the stairs. Both men come into view and they are looking at me like I caught them in the middle of a secret. Which I might’ve.
“Well,” I say loudly. “Look who’s back. It’s good to see you, Nicholas.”
He tips his head at me. “Vincent.”
“Did I hear something about you taking Harper away from me?’
“She’s not your prize, Vincent. She’s not a commodity to be bought and sold.”
“Nicholas,” the Admiral snaps.
I put up my hand as I descend the rest of the stairs and cross the polished wood floor where they are standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out at the back yard. “Admiral, please. I think I may have a solution that will satisfy everyone.”
“What’s that?”
“All we have to do is ask her, Nick. She’s a grown woman. She’s smart enough to make up her own mind. Why do you assume she hates me?”
I stop and watch their reactions.
“She does hate you,” Nick finally answers. “She doesn’t want this.”
“So let’s ask her.”
“Ask me what?”
The three of us turn our heads up to the voice. She’s standing at the top of the stairs in that gorgeous silver gown. Her hair is exactly as it was coming out of the shower. Wispy and unkempt. She has no makeup on that I can see. I’ve never seen Harper in makeup. And on her feet are the cutest little silver shoes. She steps down, flashing them at me, making me smile.
“Fucking adorable.”
“What?” the Admiral asks, turning to me.
“Your daughter, Admiral. She’s so sweet and adorable, I can’t stand it.” I sigh as she comes down the steps, blushing and smiling.
And then she notices her twin.
“Nick!” Her feet fly down the steps now, and then she runs across the polished wooden floor so fast I’m afraid she’ll slip and fall. I almost reach for her as she goes past.
But I come to my senses and let them have their moment.
She flings herself at him. He laughs and all the animosity in the room disappears as he catches her in a hug and swings her around so her dress flares at the bottom.
I might die, that’s how fucking cute this girl is.
She peppers her brother with kisses and they talk excitedly for several minutes. “Where have you been? Why did you leave? What were you doing?”
And it hits me at this moment, that these two are talking in some kind of code.
She knows why he left. She knows what he was doing.
And his answers are just as interesting. “All over.” “I had business.” “Nothing you need to worry about.” Because they say nothing and everything at once.
We all know why he left. The better question is, why did he come back?
But it’s not the time or place for that question. This is our night.
“You guys were talking when I came downstairs,” Harper says, the excitement from seeing Nick still in her eyes. “What were you saying?”
I look at the Admiral. He nods at me.
I take Harper’s hand and pull her close. She’s too at ease, so I need to put her back on alert. “Harper, you’ve been with me for several days now. And when I brought you here, you said you would never love me. But I think you’d have to agree that things have developed between us. I think you’d agree that being my promise isn’t as bad as you first thought.”
“I do enjoy being with you, Vincent.”
Jesus, we are playing for keeps right now. It needs to go off perfect. “And it’s no secret that we were to be wed. So instead of having the ceremony tomorrow at the party, we thought a nice quiet ceremony tonight would be in order.”
She squints her eyes.
“Marry me, Harper. I’m asking you to marry me.”
She shakes her head and I almost have a heart attack.
“That’s not how you ask a girl to marry you.”
Nick and the Admiral chuckle out some atta girls, and I nod and drop to one knee. The Admiral hands me a silver velvet ring box and I open it in front of her. “It’s your mother’s ring, Harper.” She looks up at her father and I see tears forming.
“It is,” he confirms. “Vincent asked for it yesterday. I keep it in the safe on the yacht. It’s the only thing I have left of her. And now it’s yours.”
I have a little stab of guilt that I’ll murder this man tomorrow. But it passes when Harper looks down at me and whispers, “Yes,” as she pulls me up off the floor. “Yes.”
And then I take her mouth, right there in Vincent’s living room.
Chapter Eighty-Four - Harper
His kiss is so passionate I blush. And when he pulls back and whispers, “I love you,” in that soft and tender way that makes me doubt all the stories about the people he’s killed, I melt.
He melts me.
He pulls me out of my life and places me in his.
There’s a ceremony. Just the three of us and the Company minister attend. I hear the words. I say the words. But the only thing on my mind is James. He is the only thing I see.
The room is massive. The setting extravagant. There are flowers in my hand. A perfect bouquet of short stemmed white roses wrapped in silver ribbon. James holds both my hands in his while the minister talks. He asks us things and we say yes. And then, just before the minister is about to complete the ceremony with a kiss, James puts up a hand and says, “Not so fast.” He turns to me and smiles. I am the only thing he sees. “It’s not over yet, Harper.” I glance at my father and see a look of confusion on his face. But I trust James, so my attention is right back to him. “I waited twelve years for you. I’ve imagined this moment happening so many ways, but this one,” he leans into my ear to whisper, “lionfish. This one is the perfect way to end all that waiting.”
He pulls back just a few inches, so my father and brother can hear us now too. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I promise you won’t regret choosing me.”
James. I almost say it, but I stop myself before it slips out. So I lean in, just like he did, and whisper, “You’re mine, Fenici. If you go anywhere, I will hunt you down.”
He wraps his hand around my neck and pulls me towards him, laughing into my hair.
The minister takes over in our silence and tells James to kiss me.
As if he needed permission.
He kisses me like no man should kiss a girl in front of her father.
He kisses me like a husband.
When that’s over, he takes my hand and leads me outside onto the patio. It’s bustling with workers setting up for tomorrow, and there’s no music, but he draws me close, his hands on my waist as we sway slowly. He brings my head to his chest and breathes a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry it was such a long wait. I hope this night makes up for time lost. I can’t promise you that you’ll never fall, Harper. But if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be there. I’ll catch you. I’ll fix it. And if we ever have to be apart, always know that we’re together.” He lifts my wedding ring to his lips and kisses it. “We met years ago. We drifted apart to become these two people. And now we’re back together. One soul, cut in half, reunited.”
I’m breathless as the killer they call James declares his love for me. In the backyard of the brother he stole me from, in full view of anyone who cares to watch.
“Did you know Vincent was going to try and marry me tonight?”
He gazes down on me, the light catching his green eyes, making them light up for a moment. “I know everything, Harper Fenici.” I smile at that. “I may not always remember everything, but I have it all locked away up here.” He taps the side of his head.
“I can’t decide
if you’re a brazen fool, an evil mastermind, or a gentle man.”
He grins. “I was foolish enough to believe I could have a woman like you. But my determination paid off. I’ve had my share of evil moments. But evil begets evil. And the people I killed were doing their share of begetting. As far as a gentle man, well”—he smiles—“only with you, Harper. And our children, when they come.”
I rest my head against his chest again, and we dance that way, barely moving, content to be in each other’s arms, even if we are in the lion’s den. Until finally my feet are tired and I get sleepy. And then he leads me upstairs to my room and we undress each other slowly. He touches my body like he’s never touched it before. He worships it. Not sexually, although it turns me on so bad, my nipples perk and my sex throbs.
I touch him too. I search his body for scars. I search his mind for misgivings. But on both accounts, I find none.
No scars. Just a perfect man.
No misgivings. Just his honest love.
And in that moment, I release myself to him completely.
“I am yours, Six.”
“And I am yours, Come.”
He takes me to bed. I stretch out on the white sheets. Naked. Bare for him. And he worships me in a new way. Our first night as Six and Come is filled with talking and laughing. Touching and loving. And the climax of my night has nothing to do with sex.
He fills me up in a different way now.
He fills me up with love.
The next morning he wakes me slowly with a light touch across my breasts. “It’s time, Harper.”
We promised each other we would not talk about today until it was really here. And now it is. “I’m listening.”
So he talks. And he tells me all about this day before it even starts. He gives very elaborate details. He gives a timeframe and backup options—just in case. He gives me everything I’ve ever wanted to know about what this day means. What my code means. And what we need to do in order to have a future together.
He gives me hope.
Chapter Eighty-Five - Sasha
“It itches.” I scratch the bodice of my fancy dress. It’s made up of bunched-up fabric that gathers together in long lines of wrinkles along my torso. Who the hell wears this shit? “And tights? Why the f—”
