“I do know, Mom,” I choked out. “And I love you too.”
I was wiping my eyes when Kaine came to find me. “What, Grace? What’s wrong?” He took me in his arms and I leaned against his strength. He smelled of soap and comfort. I inhaled deeply and ran my arms around his back, pulling him close. The feeling of home, that I’d never had before, was right here. Right in his arms.
“I’m okay,” I answered back. “It’s all going to be okay now. I know it is.”
He lifted my face to his, kissing me until the crunching sound of the gravel in the drive pulled us apart.
This was it, the beginning of the end. And the man who could be holding all our futures in his hands was finally here.
29
Kaine
“Stay here, sweetheart. I’ve got this. You don’t need to deal with any of it, if you’d rather not.”
Her brilliant eyes shot up to mine. “No, Kaine. I’m coming with you. I need to see this through, no matter what happens. I need to do this for my mother.”
I looked down at her, so brave, so willing to love and to forgive. For the last ten years, I’d thought it was control that had made me powerful. Control over others. Control over myself…
But Grace had the kind of power I’d never known, never understood until now. Power that came from far deeper inside than anything I’d ever known.
I nodded, holding her tight one last time. I wanted this to be over. There was so much I had to share with her tonight, once we were finally safe and alone.
“Come on,” I said, taking her hand. “Let’s go.”
We went out to the drive, where Rose and Dalia were leaning into the open back door of the black sedan they’d arrived in. Together, they brought him out and to his feet, each supporting him under his forearms.
Marks was unsteady on his feet, both his eyes blackened, his face badly swollen. A crust of dark blood smudged the underside of his nose, one arm was in a cast and several of his fingers were wrapped tightly in gauze. But he stood, hunched over, on his own two feet and his eyes were intense as they met mine. Grace and I stepped forward and I put out a hand toward him. We’d never met, yet I felt a rush of warmth and gratitude. That he was willing to put himself at even greater risk, by coming here to help us.
“Mr. Marks, I can’t thank you enough. For your willingness to speak with us today.” I held Grace close at my side. “We’re grateful, both of us.”
“Mr. Arkaine,” his voice came out softly, the words breaking slightly. “I’m only doing what I should have done years ago. When Cole first covered up for me.” He dropped his gaze to the ground. “If I had admitted to the things I’d done… before he started to make demands on me… Well, I have a lot to answer for. Claire might even still be alive.” He looked up, his blue eyes watery and bloodshot. “And the Tolman woman would never have been involved at all…”
In the same second I heard the shot ring out loud, I felt the bullet whistle past my head and saw Marks fall to the ground without taking another breath.
“Fuck…!”
I had Grace on the ground underneath me, covering her with my body. Rose and Dalia screamed out, scrambling for the house. Marks was dead before us, eyes wide open, surprise on his bruised, beaten face.
“Fuck, Grace! Tell me you’re not hit.” Her eyes were open too, unblinking. My hands searched her fast. She had to be alive. She fucking had to be.
“Kaine.” I heard her voice and felt my heart come back to life. “What’s happening? God, what… Marks…?”
“There’s someone out there, Grace. With a gun. Marks is dead. I need you to stay down and quiet.”
I lifted her just off the ground and closer to the protection of the car. The house was too far away. I didn’t dare try to get her inside.
“Stay next to the car, and below the line of sight. He’s out there,” I said quietly, searching the drive and the trees beyond. I wasn’t sure where the shot had come from, but it had been close and the trees were the only cover. “He won’t be able to see you here.” I kissed her hard and fast. “I need you here… and safe.”
Then I was gone, running for the trees… into cover or into the barrel of a gun. But I had to find him, before he killed again. Cole was out there and I knew it. Waiting. Ready to kill all of us. Everyone who was left alive who knew him for what he really was. A cold-blooded fucking killer…
I hit the thick trunk of an oak and flattened myself against it, my breath coming hot and fast. The treetops were dense and wide, darkening the ground below. I was still, listening for anything that would give him away. But all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
“I know you’re there, Cole,” I shouted, breaking the silence. “It’s time for this to end. Here. Now.”
I listened, straining. “Marks already told us everything,” I bluffed, knowing he was listening. “You can’t kill all of us, Bastien. The truth is out now.” I shifted around the trunk, staying low, waiting for a telltale twig to snap. “We all know it was you who had Claire killed.” I took a big risk, praying it would work. “He’s already gone to the police… Marks told them everything.” I moved silently between the trees, searching, hunting…
“Don’t make it worse than it has to be. They’ll go easier if you turn yourself in.” I heard a click, faint but clear. I held my breath and scanned the trees and the drive in front of me. It was the sound of a revolver, cocked and ready. But I still couldn’t see…
“I’m willing to do what I can to help you, Cole. If you end this now.” I shifted close to another tree trunk. “But I need you out in the clear, where I can see you. Don’t make me fire,” I bluffed again. “Just head for the drive and keep your hands where I can see them.” I headed closer to where I’d heard the sound. “This can still end well, Cole. And I’ll help you… if you’ll let me.”
I caught movement and my head jerked. Then I saw him, his hands out and visible. They were empty, the gun nowhere in sight. But I knew better than to trust him. It was still on him, somewhere. My only hope was to take him down before he could reach it. He was a big man. And powerful. But I was stronger. He might be a man fighting for his life, but I was a man fighting for love. I couldn’t help but be more powerful…
“Just stay where you are, Bastien. Don’t move… just stay where you are.”
He was turning slowly, close to the car, using it for protection. And he was way too fucking close to Grace. She was just on the other side…
I stepped out into the open, facing him. I knew he had a gun and I was unarmed, but I had to get him away from her.
“Gabriel,” he said, letting the word roll out slowly. Anger burned deep inside me at the sound of it.
“Cole,” I answered back, circling around slowly. “Marks is dead. Just like Claire.” I stopped, every muscle tight and ready. “But there’s no getting away with it this time. Too many people know… there are too many witnesses now.” I stood a few feet away, shoulders squared with his. “It’s time for this to end, Cole. Hell, it’s already over.”
His eyes glittered darkly and I saw him swallow hard. He was angry, but he was frightened too.
“It was never just business, between us, was it, Gabriel? I was always in the way, where business was concerned, but it was always much more than that. You could never stand to lose, son. Not to anyone, least of all me.”
“To the fucking lawyer who defended my father?” I rasped out harshly. “Two fucking years in jail, for what he did to my little brother… to me…”
I could feel my chest pounding as I moved to within inches of him. I no longer cared about the fucking gun.
“You knew what he did to us, the way he beat Danny… and what he did to me…,” I ground out. “You saw all the photographs and you fucking knew what he was. And what he’d do to us when they released him.” Rage that had decades to build was finally ready to break free…
“And you still got his sentence cut down… to two fucking years…” My hands were in fists, my eyes blazing wi
th hatred. “You’re lucky he died before they set him free, Cole. Or you’d have answered for your sins long before now…”
I hit him before he ever got to his gun. One bone crunching blow. He staggered, but didn’t fall. I didn’t want him to. Not yet.
“Run!” I shouted. “Go, Grace! Now!”
She flew from the far side of the car, long hair streaming behind her, moving like lightening. She was yards down the drive in seconds. By then, I was on top of him.
My fist crashed into his face and blood spurted fast and hot. We struggled for control, both of us slick with his blood. Two more blows to his face and then I felt it, the butt of his gun to my temple. It was sharp, sudden, splitting the flesh and striking bone. I was only stunned for a second, but that was all he needed. He was inside the car, the wheels spitting gravel behind him until they caught and the car took off. He was getting away…
But his freedom wouldn’t last long. We both knew. He was a marked man…
I picked up the gun he’d lost in the struggle and fired off three fast shots. I heard the sound of a tire blow, and watched as the car began to fishtail. It slowed him, but he was still moving fast and he was regaining control…
Then I saw… and felt it in my core, even before it happened. Grace was running, far down the drive… away from the car bearing down on her…
But then she stopped and looked back.
Cole sped up, engine whining with the strain. He veered toward her and my guts turned to ice in my belly. I could see the look on her face… the same look I’d seen seconds before Danny had died right before my eyes.
I took off, running for her like I was running through thick, sucking mud. It felt like time had nearly stopped, but I ran on anyway. Muscles on fire, heart pounding, lungs tearing with every painful breath. The car was nearly on top of her and my lungs were ready to burst. I ran like hell was behind me. Past and present had met in a flash and action was all I had left…
I was running to save Danny. Running to save myself.
But even more, I was running to save the one single thing that mattered more than anything else ever had…
I ran to save Grace.
30
Kaine
The engine roared as Cole hit the gas again hard, gravel flying like shrapnel from the tires of the car. I was almost to her, but so was he.
My heart exploded in my chest as I pushed one last time. I hit the car from an angle, throwing myself in a roll over the hood, arms wide open as I struck her. Grace and I rolled together, my body shielding hers as we plummeted down the sloping edge of the drive. We crashed into the hedges, stopping hard, and I heard Grace gasp underneath me.
Cole hit the brakes and lost control.
The crash and the sound of shrieking metal filled the air around us. A second later, we felt the blast, as the car erupted in flames. Heavy, black smoke boiled from the windows as the fire engulfed the car and the oak it had wrapped around. I held Grace in my arms, unable to look away. We were watching an inferno, with Cole at its very heart.
I looked down into Grace’s face, desperate to see her brilliant, beautiful eyes. But her eyes were closed… and her face deadly pale.
The women ran down the steps of the house. Rose, Dalia and Bec stopped when they saw the flames, licking the tops of the trees. The sedan poured smoke into the sky, clouding my vision, bitter at the back of my throat.
“Bec!” I yelled, lifting Grace in my arms and running back for the house. “Get the keys to the truck and call the police, now!”
I raced for the Rover, tucking Grace in as carefully as I could. “Come on, sweetheart. I need you to wake up, baby.” I held her face in my hands. She was limp, silent. “Fuck, Becca… hurry!”
She flew down the steps, pushing the keys into my hand. I ground the ignition as she climbed into the back seat next to Grace. “They’re inside calling the police. I’m coming with you.” I spun to look back at her. She held Grace’s head on her lap. “I’ve got her, Kaine. Just go!”
We were down the drive, past the smoldering wreckage of the sedan. I caught a fleeting image of Cole’s twisted, blackened body in the driver’s seat. His face was blistered, distorted. I floored the gas, racing for the hospital. The blood on my hands smeared the wheel.
“I can’t fucking lose her,” I said out loud, feeling a tearing sensation in my chest. Every second of my life felt suddenly, keenly present. All the pain, all the loss, all the things I’d ever thought I needed. Everything stood in sharp contrast to this moment… and all the pieces fell into place at last.
Everything before Grace had just been the path to find her. And all of it, every scar, every loss, every moment had all been worth it. Worth finding this feeling I had inside me now… It had all been worth it.
“I love you, Grace,” I said, as I drove.
“I love you.”
31
Grace
“You’re a very lucky girl,” he said, taking the clipboard and adding his signature. “The puncture will leave a small scar, I’m afraid, but other than that, you’ve made a fast recovery.”
The doctor smiled and shook Kaine’s hand. They exchanged a few quiet words and the doctor smiled back at me again. He was young, his eyes brown and gentle. “I think I’m sending you home in good hands.”
Kaine put his hands out for me, pulling me against the broad, safe warmth of his chest. He’d never left my side and he’d insisted they keep me here, days longer than was really necessary.
“I’m just fine, you know.” I’d said the words a dozen times. “I could have gone home the next morning. And it’s been three long days…”
He took my face in his hands and I sighed deeply. His thumbs grazed the corners of my mouth as he pulled my face up to his. Slowly… achingly slowly, he leaned in, breathing me… tasting me… touching me… The riot of emotions inside me was dizzying. He crushed me against him, and I felt safer than I’d ever felt in my life.
“I love you, Grace,” his voice was warm and deep in my ear. “I never even imagined a love like this before…”
He kissed me hard then, with love and desire in equal measure. I’d waited my whole life to feel like this, and I was lost in the depths of it. I kissed him back, pressing my body into his, molding my flesh to his.
“I love you, Kaine. More than you could ever know.” We were bound, wrapped together like a single soul. And I couldn’t bear it any longer. Not one minute more. Having anything at all between my body and his…
“Take me home, Kaine.”
“Oh, I intend to, sweetheart,” he whispered against my lips, his voice rich with promise. “There’s just one last thing I need to take care of before we leave.”
It was the first time I’d been alone since Kaine had brought me to the emergency room. There were some details to wrap up, he’d said, before we could go home. Becca would be bringing me clothes to change into soon, and then he was taking me back home with him until things were sorted out about Marks’ death… and Cole’s.
He was confident there was more than enough evidence to clear my mother’s name. Apparently Brian had convinced Marks to leave a signed statement with him regarding his own involvement with Claire’s death. There were still a lot of unknowns, but I knew Kaine would sort them out. It was probably what he was doing now.
I climbed out of bed and stretched comfortably. I’d only needed two stitches, the wound had been so small. I screwed around to look in the bathroom mirror. The surgeon had removed the piece of wood that had punctured my back, right between the ribs and had closed it neatly. Kaine had been so terrified that my lung had been injured, but I was fine. It had taken three days and several doctors to convince him I was as good as new. The only reminder would be the scar on my back. I smiled, feeling the rightness of it.
“Well, aren’t you the pretty picture of health,” Becca said brightly, as she knocked gently on the open door. “All ready to come home today?”
“Oh, Becca,” I said reaching my hands out
to her. “How can I thank you?” She’d been to the hospital every day, bringing Kaine fresh clothes and making sure he remembered to eat.
“Just come home and take good care of Mr. Kaine, sweetie,” she said easily. She patted my hands. “I’ve never seen him so terrified before, as when he thought you were so hurt. He needs you, Gracie. More than even he knows…”
She walked to the bed, putting down the overnight bag she carried. She looked at me, her eyes sparkling. “I brought your clothes,” she said. “Mrs. Sparr pitched in… so did that young lady, Dalia. They said to tell you that your friend Sage picked it all out.” She patted my cheek and I felt myself blush with pleasure. “I’m going on a little vacation to visit my son for a few weeks,” she said. “But I expect you two will manage just fine without me.”
We hugged and said our goodbyes. Before she disappeared through the doorway, she looked back. “Just don’t open the bag until you talk to Mr. Kaine first, okay honey? He said he wanted to be here… to zip you up.”
She flashed me one last smile and was gone. I sat on the bed, curious, knowing I’d miss Becca around the house, but excited at the idea of being alone with Kaine. I felt my blood race in my veins at the thought.
“What I wouldn’t give… to know the thoughts that put that look in your eyes.” Kaine was leaning against the doorway, arms folded, looking at me like he already knew. We shared a smile that left no doubt.
“Are you almost ready?” He came into the room and filled it, his energy palpable. He brushed my hair back and teased my lip with his thumb. “Didn’t Bec bring your clothes?”
I nodded to the bag on the bed behind me. “She did… But she told me not to dress without you.”
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