Twisted Truths

by Rebecca Zanetti

  She blinked, her black hair falling in a wild mass down her back. Shock filled her dark eyes, and she retreated from the burning bedspread. “Yes.”

  He lifted her chin to make sure he had her attention. She’d never know the importance she held in his life, in his heart, but he did. And he’d never let anybody hurt her. No matter what he had to do. “Trust me.”

  She nodded quickly.

  A simple act but one that dug right in and took hold inside him. Her trust meant everything. She was in his hands again, and there was so much he needed to say. But he had to take care of the threat and focus. Now. “It’ll be okay,” he said, releasing her. Pivoting, he stomped out the fire from the third bottle.

  The second slowly spread fire near the bathroom.

  Who would send in three Molotov cocktails? Smoke started to cloud the room. “Stay behind me.” Turning, he moved toward the window and yanked down the drape before it could catch fire. He reached for Noni’s arm and made sure she was hidden behind him before angling himself to look outside.

  Three men stood in the snow, legs braced, automatic weapons in their hands. They wore dark hoodies, but he could make out tattoos along two of the guys’ necks and on their hands. A huge, lifted black truck was parked sideways behind them. Members of a street gang?

  Denver shook his head. This made no sense.

  Noni peeked around him. “Damn it. They found me.”

  The words took a moment to sink in. Gang members were looking for her? At the thought, his body settled into battle mode and his focus narrowed. “You can explain later.” And she would. Hell yeah, she would. For now, he had to get them out of there.

  She swallowed audibly. “My gun is in my pack.”

  He grabbed her hand before she could open the bag. The woman had brought a fucking gun? “I’ve got this one.” Three gang members wouldn’t take much of his time. The fire alarm started to blare throughout the motel. “Shit. Let’s go. Now.” He slid his gun from beneath his jacket. “We have to get out of here before they start shooting or backup arrives.” God knew how many people would start running from the motel.

  Noni clutched the back of his jacket. “Okay. Go.”

  “Stay behind me and keep your head down. My truck is black and to the right.” He slowly slid open the door. Bullets instantly hit the top of the door.

  A woman screamed from down the way, and people scrambled into the snowy night before running for cover.

  Denver bit back a snarl. “New plan.” He shoved Noni farther back, dropped, and leaned out to fire, aiming for their legs. Killing them would just cause more problems. One. Two. Three. As if choreographed, the three men dropped one by one. What kind of idiots just stood in front of their truck? There was no way they had been hired by his enemies. He reached back and grabbed Noni’s hand, pulling her out into the cold. “Run, honey.”

  Down the front of the motel, a man wearing only his underwear ran out of a room, saw the fallen gang members, and started yelling as he ran back inside and slammed his door.

  Damn it. He’d definitely call 911.

  Noni fought Denver, pulling back. “My car.”

  He glanced toward a nondescript compact. “Rental?”

  “Yes.” Good. Without pausing, he dragged her through the snow and hefted her into his truck. “Seat belt.” Slamming the door, he ran around the front and jumped in, then quickly tore out of the lot. Gunfire echoed behind them, at least one bullet hitting the tailgate. The truck fishtailed on the ice, and he corrected, heading for I-90.

  She clutched the dash, her bag dropping to the floor. “Where are we going?” she gasped.

  “Seat. Belt.” He didn’t like repeating himself—especially with people shooting at them. “Now.”

  She turned to stare at him, her mouth slack. “What the heck, Denver?”

  His very deep well of patience went dry as he drove onto I-90. “Put on your fuckin’ belt,” he snarled, punching the gas even though black ice covered the road. Anger filled him. At the men shooting at them, at the circumstances, maybe even at Noni. He’d fought hard to get over her and hadn’t even come close. He’d never be free of her.

  She jerked back, her dark eyes widening. Finally showing some sense, she quickly fastened the seat belt around herself almost clumsily. “You’ve never sworn at me before.”

  His anger deepened. “You’ve never put yourself in the crosshairs and used me to do it before.” Oh, he’d been the gentlest part of himself with her, and look what had happened. “Where did you hide the picture of us you put all over the Internet?” He thought he’d destroyed them all when he’d left her.

  She clutched the dash. “My aunt had it.”

  The picture was of the two of them at Portage Glacier, and the blue of the ice had reflected the sun, making the entire day look almost magical. In it, he had his arm over her shoulder and they looked happy. How had he forgotten that picture? Was there a part of him that had wanted to leave her something to remember him by? Even so, he never would’ve thought she’d post it all over the Internet and put them both in danger.

  He’d left to keep her safe, damn it. Yet here she was, being shot at by gang members. Anger pricked up his back like hot needles, and he pushed it away, searching for the cold.

  He focused on the road and took the next exit. “We’ll have to take back roads toward Snowville.” His plates were covered, so nobody could’ve gotten the numbers, but the truck was easy to spot since it was fairly new and lifted. He’d have to secure it somewhere for a while and drive something else. For now, he had to concentrate. “Are you all right?” He’d tackled her pretty hard in the motel.

  “I’m fine.” She hunched her shoulders.

  Oh, hell no. “Noni.” He let his voice harden. There was no time to coddle her. “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” She kept her gaze out the front window and drew her legs up. Her slim arms wrapped around her knees.

  His chest heated, and he wanted nothing more than to pull over and offer comfort. But keeping her alive was more important. He turned onto a road that passed through a residential area, and the cheerful Christmas lights strung on every house seemed foreign. As if they twinkled with lives he couldn’t even imagine…which was probably true. “I left you safe,” he muttered.

  Her head swung toward him, and that glorious hair flew. “I can keep myself safe, you dick.”

  He barked out a laugh, unable to help himself. God, she had absolutely no clue what was out there. Who was out there. What form evil could take. But he had to explain it to her, even if he scared her. “Noni.”

  “What?” she snapped.

  “Why did you put our picture on dating sites, missing persons sites, and some blog called Find My Man, and why are there gang members trying to shoot you?” He’d kept his voice as calm as possible while he wanted to snap. He couldn’t help her unless he knew all the facts, so he’d stay factual and clear. This was just another case, and he could treat her like another client.

  Yeah, right. Her scent of wild orchids, amplified in the cozy truck cab, was sending his system into overdrive. In a million years, he’d never forget the spicy way she smelled.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” she said softly, sadly. “Just let me off at the nearest motel, and you can go. I’ll take the picture and posts down.”

  He glanced her way, his fingers itching to run through her thick hair again. “They’re down already.” He’d set his brother to it the second he’d rushed out to catch Noni at the motel where she’d all but advertised she’d be staying.

  She straightened. “How? I put the posts up. Only I can take them down.”

  Jesus. “You want to tangle with gang members, you’re gonna need to lose the naïveté.” Sad but true. “The pictures and any trace of us together on the Internet, on both the light and the dark web, have been scrubbed.”

  Her mouth softened into a little O. “Who are you?”

  If he knew, he’d probably tell her. “Doesn’t matter. Time to fess up, N
oni. I want all of it.” So he could plan. That’s what he did. He planned every op and then executed it. So he’d treat this the same way. “Why did you want my help?” After the way he’d left her, she had to have been desperate to reach out. The idea of her in danger flashed fury down him, through him, and he quashed it. For this, he needed to banish the emotions attacking him and just think. Clearly. “Well?”

  She shook her head, turning back to the snowy world outside. “Doesn’t matter. Drop me off, Denver. If that’s your real name,” she muttered, bitterness in the tone.

  He barely kept from wincing. He’d hurt her, and that was a punch to the gut. “It is.”

  “But your last name isn’t Peterson,” she said.

  “No. Jones is the closest thing I have to a real last name.” Peterson was an alias he used on cases. One of many. His mouth still burned from the kiss in the motel room. For months he’d dreamed of her mouth. Of kissing her. Of losing himself in her softness. Yet the reality blew every dream away. He had to concentrate when all he wanted to do was kiss her again and make promises he could never keep. So he kept his words clipped. “Story. Now.”

  “No,” she replied just as shortly.

  He sighed. “Listen, Noni.”

  “Why? You actually going to talk?” she snapped.

  The hair on the back of his neck rose. His chest heated. In his entire life she’d been the only woman who could shake his self-control. Slowly he swallowed down his temper until his anger banked low and hard in his gut. Where it belonged. “Yes,” he said calmly.

  She snorted.

  Oh man, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to his temper. “You don’t know me,” he warned.

  “I’m fully aware of that fact,” she said evenly.

  “If you did, you’d stop pushing. Right now.” He drove down another road, heading west.

  She turned again, facing him. “Is that a threat?”

  “Yes,” he said easily. There. They were on the same page. Good.

  “Screw you, Denver.”

  His head snapped back. So not on the same page. “Noni.”

  “What are you going to do? Pull this truck right on over?” she taunted, a smugness in her voice.

  He reacted instantly, slamming the brakes and spinning the truck around and into the edge of a deserted auto parts parking lot. They came to a lurching stop, and he shoved the gearshift into PARK. Silence and snow descended instantly upon them. If he was going to keep her safe, she had to understand he’d destroy any challenge, even if it came from her.

  Her mouth was wide open this time, and she watched him warily, turning her back to her door as much as the seat belt would allow.

  He scouted the silent area outside before turning his focus back on her. “You done challenging me?”

  She swallowed. “Probably not.”

  His lips twitched. Her sense of humor, the honesty in it, had intrigued him from the very beginning. “I assume you called for my help because I get things done.” It made his heart speed up to just sit in danger and talk, but he could take a moment if necessary. “Right?”

  She nodded.

  “Do you know how I do that?” he asked softly.

  Her eyes widened very slightly. “How?”

  “By any means necessary.” He hadn’t allowed her to know him fully when they were together because he had wanted her to like him. She was good and strong and sweet and somebody he shouldn’t touch. But he’d wanted so badly to touch her, so he’d played a part he thought she’d like. For the briefest of time, he’d pretended he was a normal guy courting an amazing woman. But he wasn’t normal, and he’d get her killed if she stayed in his life. “Do you understand that I’ll stop at nothing to reach an objective?”

  She studied him for several seconds. “I don’t think so.”

  Fair enough. He’d have to show her with how he handled the current problem. First, he needed information. A lot of it. “Why did you track me down? Why is there a gang after you?”

  A myriad of expressions crossed her face, including anger and regret. “It was a mistake to track you down. I realize that now, and I apologize.” Her polite voice, the one she used when truly irritated, filled the cab. “It won’t happen again.”

  “It’s too late.” That tone made him want to muss her up—kiss her until she was breathless and needy. “I’m in this now. Tell me what it is.” He could see the struggle inside her. The one full of pride and self-preservation that told her to run from him. The other full of need and desperation, who knew she needed his help. He let her work it out without his interference.

  Her stunning dark eyes were full of concern, and her paleness alarmed him. Finally, her shoulders slumped. “My foster sister, Sharon, gave birth to a baby three months ago and then died from what the authorities thought was an accidental overdose.”

  Denver’s focus narrowed. There was a huge drug pipeline into Alaska through the gangs. He started to put pieces together. “All right.”

  Tears glimmered in Noni’s eyes. “Sharon was one of the foster kids who’d passed through our home more than once, and we told everybody we were sisters. We have been good friends for ten years. We felt like family, you know? I liked her, but she fought a drug habit.” Noni wiped the moisture off her face. “She had just graduated college, and she got pregnant by a real loser named Richie, who belongs to a local gang. A really bad guy.”

  Denver put his hands on the steering wheel to keep from reaching for her. “You don’t think it was an accidental overdose?”

  “No,” she whispered, her voice tortured. “Sharon had kicked the drugs during the pregnancy, and she loved that baby so much. My aunt and I helped her to get an apartment, and she was going to make it. She wouldn’t have risked her baby.” Noni cleared her throat. “She had cut off all ties with Richie, and he was threatening her. I think he killed her.”

  Denver breathed out. If the guy was evil enough to kill the mother of his child, he needed to be put down. Now. “The baby?”

  “Richie is a Kingdom Boys member, and he took her and left town. Since he’s listed on the birth certificate, I guess he has the right to do that. Even if not, I’m afraid to call the police. If they come after him, he’ll hurt the baby. He threatened to do just that if I didn’t leave him alone. I’ve been chasing him ever since.”

  Denver leaned back. The woman was chasing a fucking gang member? Was she crazy? “So you have no legal claim to that baby?” Denver had connections who could create necessary papers if needed. He’d fix this. “Noni?”

  “Sharon named me Talia’s legal guardian in her will. If Richie is found to be a danger, then the will trumps a father’s rights. But we have to go through the court system, and I don’t think there’s time.” Noni handed over a picture of a new baby with tons of dark hair held back in a little pink clip.

  The image kicked Denver square in the gut. So innocent and vulnerable. He knew firsthand what monsters could do to a helpless child. Even if Noni hadn’t been involved, Denver would’ve stepped in. “What if Richie is found by the authorities to not be a danger to the baby?” he asked quietly, curious. Oh, he had no problem killing Richie to protect a baby. But what about Noni? Did she really understand what might have to happen here?

  Noni met his gaze directly, her eyes harder than he’d ever seen them. “Then I’m taking the baby anyway. No matter what I have to do.”

  Chapter

  3

  Noni stretched her aching back while walking into Denver’s safe house in Snowville. They moved through an antiquated kitchen, complete with an avocado green stove, into a small living area with an empty fireplace in one corner. “It’s weird you have a safe house,” she murmured, taking in the scarred wooden tables and computer equipment set throughout the room. No couch, pictures, decorations. Just a working room with equipment. Drapes covered the windows and kept the storm hidden.

  Denver set her bag on a ripped orange office chair. “This is just a temporary safe house we rented, but we have it
for the rest of the month, so I figured it’d be a good place to form a plan and hide the truck.” He looked around. “I haven’t gotten a chance to transfer all the equipment to a new place, so this will work for now.”

  “Transfer? Meaning you’ve been living here?” How many nights had she wondered where he was and what he was doing? If he’d found somebody else?

  “No. We had an op here.” He looked around. “The other places we used are blown, but this one is safe for the moment.”

  Blown? Must’ve been some op. Man, when he started talking, he really kept the words rolling. “You’ve been working on your communication skills,” she said, stretching her aching shoulders and trying to grab on to reality.

  He gave a short nod. “I have. I’ve found people do what I say if I actually say something.”

  “I figured you were just the strong and silent type,” she said, taking a couple of steps away from him. This near, he was just too much. His size, his intensity, his strength. She needed space.

  “I am. Watching is more beneficial than talking.” He ruffled his dark hair as he made his way to one of the computers and pushed a button on its keyboard, still facing her. “I need some information. Richie’s last name, his gang affiliations, and any friends of his you can identify.”

  “Wait a minute.” She hovered, eyeing the front door as well as the entry to the kitchen. “I need to know.”

  “What?” He paused in typing and looked at her, his focus digging right into her head.

  She swallowed. “How—I mean, how dangerous are you?” It was probably stupid to ask him that question, considering she truly didn’t know the answer.

  He cocked his head to the side. “I’m a killer, Noni. Have been for most of my life. I’ll take care of Richie if I have to.”

  Her stomach dropped. All the way. Her lungs seized, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t run.

  His gaze narrowed. “Isn’t that why you tracked me down?”