by Mia Carson
“I came over here to tell you both that I’m…I’m pregnant. I had a plan weeks ago for us to run, get away from here on the night I would meet Devois, but now…shit, now I don’t know what to do, but I won’t play his fucking games,” she snarled. “Bri, we have to tell the cops. We have to tell someone.”
“We can’t,” Bri told her in earnest. “He’s watching us again—he showed me pictures. And those guys watching us? They’re cops, Harley! He’s got fucking cops watching us like we’re damn criminals!”
Harley glared at the floor. This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched everything she’d created with Sam vanish in an instance. All her life, she played by the rules other people set for her and watched her mother disappear into a world of drugs and who knew what else. Watched her father slip away and die. Watched her sister go down that same road, and all because of men like Ricky.
“We’re leaving the city,” she announced as she straightened. “The second Sam lands tomorrow, the four of us are going far away, and we’ll figure out what to do with Ricky.”
“You want all of us to run?” Bri asked.
“I’m not going to watch him tear our family apart. I’ll tell Sam everything and we’ll leave, we’ll get out of here, go live in the middle of fucking nowhere if we have to.” She pushed to her feet and paced the tiny kitchen. “We’ll get out of his reach and we’ll send the cops or FBI or whoever after him. If we’re out of the city, he can’t touch us.”
“He has a whole network of people,” her sister argued. “What if he finds us?”
“Then we make sure he doesn’t. We’ll get far enough away so we’re out of his reach. We’ll figure this out, Bri, but I’m not going to watch my sister go down the same damn road as our mom did. Ricky is not going to win.” She hugged her sister tightly.
Once Sam was home, she would admit everything to him and pray to God he understood the severity of the situation and was still ready to spend the rest of his life with her. Her hands covered her belly and she smiled sadly down at the little boy or girl there.
Don’t worry, kid, she thought. Momma’s not going to let anything happen to you or your daddy. Not now, and not ever.
Ricky would have to find another way to land his deal with Mr. Devois, and it was not going to involve her or her sister having sex with that man. She would get them out of that world once and for all, even if she had to run across the country to do it. With Sam by her side, she could do anything. They would make it. They had to.
Chapter 12
Sam knew something was wrong when he’d texted Harley a few more times before his flight and her replies were short. He tried calling, but when she answered, she sounded out of breath and his chest ached to hear guilt in her words. He asked her about the baby, but she assured him the baby was fine and so was she. She told him to have a good trip and she would see him the second he got back. He tucked his cell away with a frown and grabbed his leather jacket before making ready to catch the flight out to LA to visit Stan. As Sam walked, he worried Harley wasn’t as happy as she claimed to be, but when he asked her again in a text, she assured him she was and sent him a picture of her grinning, showing off her still-flat belly. Except her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and Sam’s anxiety grew. Whatever bugged her made him sick to his stomach with worry by the time they landed and he slipped into the back of the limo.
“Is everything all right?” Betty asked him.
“Yeah, I’m thinking, is all. Do we have everything in order for Stan? You know how he likes to ask a thousand unnecessary questions.”
“Everything is organized and ready to go. He really has nothing to worry about,” Betty said on a sigh. She hadn’t looked at Sam during the entire flight and the tension in the limo rose until he could hardly breathe.
“Betty, can we talk for a minute? Before we see Stan?”
“About what?” she asked sharply.
Sam reached over and took her cell out of her hands so she would stop texting for five seconds and look at him. “I realize now that I may have overlooked a particular situation involving you and me.”
Betty stiffened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie, okay? I saw the way you looked at Harley the other day and the way you’ve been treating me,” he muttered. “I didn’t realize you had feelings for me, but before this gets awkward and I have to fire you or move you somewhere else in the company, I love Harley and that’s not going to change anytime soon.”
She sucked in her cheeks and pursed her lips, still not talking.
“What I’m trying to say,” he continued, “is that you have always been there for me when I needed you—as a friend and one of my best employees. I would hate to lose you in that regard.” He waited impatiently, wondering what she would do.
She sagged against the leather seat and held out her hand for her cell phone. “I understand and I’m sorry.” Sam handed her cell back, and she tucked it into her purse. “She seems like a great person, and as long as you’re happy, then I’ll be happy, too.”
Sam let out a sigh of relief. “Good, that makes this a little less awkward.”
“Were you worried I would do something?”
He grimaced. “It might have crossed my mind.”
“Wow, now I’m a little offended,” she told him in disbelief. “I’d be more worried about Marcus getting jealous and pulling some stupid stunt rather than me.”
“I’m actually waiting for that to happen.”
He drew out his cell and checked it for any more messages from Harley, but his screen was empty. He bounced his phone on his thigh and stared out the window as they drove deeper into the city and eventually reached Stan’s office in the heart of downtown LA. The car stopped and Betty opened the door, but Sam didn’t move to get out with her.
“Sam? What’s wrong?”
“I’m giving you a promotion,” he said slowly and handed her the briefcase. “Everything you need is in there, and if Stan has an issue with you taking point, tell him to call me. Or to find another company to take care of his marketing.”
Betty took the briefcase slowly as worry creased her forehead. “Are you sure about this? Stan is one of our biggest clients.”
“I trust you. I have to get home. Call me if you need anything, Betty.”
She stepped back, clearly confused, but closed the door, and Sam told the driver to take him back to the airport. By the time he arrived, he already had another ticket purchased for a flight leaving in three hours. In four hours, he’d be back in Vegas to figure out why every instinct in him screamed that something was wrong and Harley was at the heart of it.
***
Brianna sat on the couch with Karen at Sam’s penthouse while Harley paced around the kitchen, unable to sit still for long before the panic settled in again and she had to do something. She ran over their option for calling the cops again, but what was to stop the cops on Ricky’s payroll being the ones to show up at Sam’s place? She smacked her palm on the countertop and yelled in aggravation, hanging her head and on the verge of losing what little sanity she clung to. The TV’s sound cut off and she glanced up to see Brianna and Karen watching her from the couch.
“I’m fine,” she grunted.
“No, you’re not, and it’s all my fault,” Brianna exclaimed. She rushed around the couch and took Harley by the shoulder’s. “I’m going to Ricky and I’ll tell him Devois gets me, and if he doesn’t accept that, then I’ll work the debt off and make sure he leaves you out of it.”
“What? No!”
“Yes, this is my problem and I’m going to take care of it,” she argued, but Harley snatched her sister’s arm and yanked her back. “Harley, let me go.”
“No, damn it! I’m not going to watch you disappear into that fucking club and never leave again! We’re family, which means we get through whatever shit comes our way together,” she yelled. “You got it? You are not leaving this penthouse! I
screwed up! I was never supposed to fall in love with Sam, but I did. This is my fault.”
Brianna tried to pry Harley’s hand off her arm as tears glistened in her eyes. “You have to let me do this!”
“I will duct tape your ass to a chair if I have to!” Harley warned.
Karen clambered to her feet and rushed to them as the lock slid back on the door and a second later, Sam stepped inside. He paused, glancing at each woman in turn as his confusion grew. He straightened, and Brianna’s arm slipped out of Harley’s grasp.
“Harley? What’s going on—what is this?” Sam asked.
Brianna tried to slip past him. “No! Stop her!”
Sam shut the door quickly and pressed his back to it. “Is this your sister?”
“Yes, I am, and you are going to move your ass right now,” Brianna ordered, trying to shove Sam out of the way.
He stared at Harley over Brianna’s head. “Can someone please explain what’s happening?”
“Why are you home a day early?” Harley replied, picking at her nails, swallowing hard as she realized the time had come to tell Sam the truth—the whole truth. Tears burned in her eyes, and she cursed, wiping them away. “Sam, just sit down, please? And Brianna, if you walk out that door, pregnant or not, I will kick your ass and drag you right back inside.”
“Harley,” Sam started, but she held up her hand. His lips thinned, but he moved to the kitchen table. Brianna tried to slip past him to the door, but he blocked her way again. “All right, ladies, someone better tell me what the fuck is going on right now.” He guided Brianna to a seat, and once she was sitting, he sat beside her, staring expectantly at Harley.
She picked at her nails, breaking three before Sam growled her name. “All right! I have something to tell you and you’re not going to like it and it’s bad—it’s really bad. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Sam was on his feet with her hands in his in seconds. “You’re rambling and you’re freaking me out here. What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’m trying to tell you,” she yelled. “I’m sorry, I…it’s all my fault.”
“No, it’s not. It’s mine,” Brianna argued as she hopped to her feet. “Sam, I’m Brianna, her little sister, and all of this happened because of me and it’s my fault she was going to meet with that bastard alone and why she even had to go to the club! It’s all my fault! And now I’m going to make it right!”
Sam held out his arm when she tried for the door again. “No one is leaving until I get some straight answers. What are you two talking about?”
Harley licked her lips and fought back the guilt eating away at her. “Brianna was involved with Ricky Delugio, who owns the Seven Deadly club,” she explained slowly. “He’s into drugs or something—or worse. She wanted to get away from him and whatever else he’s involved in, but…he…he wouldn’t let her go and there was a deal she messed up.”
Sam nodded slowly but then shook his head. “And what does this have to do with whatever the hell this is?”
“I made a deal to get her out of that life,” Harley told him, choking over the words. “I auctioned myself to make up the money and…and Saturday night…”
“Harley, please, for the love of God, just tell me,” Sam pleaded.
“She said she would sleep with the man I was meant to so Ricky wouldn’t come after me,” Brianna answered for her.
Sam blinked quickly as he glanced from Brianna to Harley, wiping a hand over his mouth. “Saturday—this Saturday?”
Harley nodded. “But I wasn’t going to! I never planned on doing it, not since we’ve been together! I lied to Ricky, but I was coming up with a plan to run, get away from him. I was never going to do it, Sam, you have to know that. But Ricky—he’s powerful and he threatened to hurt you and I was too scared…too scared to tell you the truth and I was going to run…run to save you, but then the baby and I just…I don’t know what to do anymore!” The tears came unbidden as she sobbed and she sank to her knees in front of him. She couldn’t get the words out fast enough to tell him how sorry she was and how it killed her inside to think of what this did to him. “If…if you want me to leave, I’ll understand,” she gasped. “I’m sorry for all of this.”
She clutched her arms around her body as she sobbed. He dropped to the floor beside her and cradled her in his arms. He shushed her gently, smoothing his hand over her hair as he rocked her gently.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her sternly, his voice strained. “And neither are you. Jesus, Harley, I love you. I’m not going to abandon you when you need me the most.”
“But Ricky and this Devois man…he’ll come after us,” she said, tugging at his shirt. “We have to leave the city! He’ll hurt you, and I won’t let that happen.”
“It won’t,” he assured her as he sat her up so he could see her face. “Whatever happens next, we’ll face it together and we’ll get through it.” Tears glistened in his eyes as he kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. “No matter what happens, I will never regret meeting you that night, do you hear me?”
She nodded fiercely and kissed him. “I love you. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” he told her. “I already forgave you.”
“She was trying to save me,” Brianna said over them, sniffing hard as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I was always the fuck-up and I ruined your life, Harley.”
She opened her arms and her sister sank into them. “I will always save you. You’re my sister.”
Sam kept his hand in Harley’s. His eyes narrowed as he met her gaze again. “Devois—that’s who you said, right? Christopher Devois?”
Harley nodded, but it was Brianna who answered. “Ricky had some deal with him. Something about bringing in new shipments from out of state. I was his girlfriend for a while, picked up a few things here and there. I was a hell of a lot nosier than I should’ve been, that and he thought I would never betray him. Too much of a scared rabbit he called me.”
“Brianna, right?” Sam asked and she nodded. “How much do you know about this man?”
“A lot. Spent the past three years around him,” she answered slowly. “Why?”
“Sam? What’s going on?” Harley asked as he stood and pulled out his cell phone. He stopped short when he spotted Karen. “Oh, sorry—that’s my roommate and friend, Karen.”
He shook her hand. “Right. Nice to meet you and I guess I should thank you.”
Karen tilted her head. “For what?”
“For being there for Harley,” he told her simply, lifted his cell to his ear, and planted his free hand on his hip. “Yes, Agent Higgins, this is Samuel Benson. I have someone you should meet. The latest girlfriend of Ricky Delugio and she may have information on Devois you’d like to hear.”
Harley made it to her feet, her eyes locked on Sam’s. “Agent Higgins?”
“Yes,” he said into the phone. “I’ll be waiting.” He set his phone on the table and held out his hand for hers. “You’re not the only one who’s been hiding secrets.”
***
Sam ran his hands over his face again as they waited for the feds to show up at his place. Harley’s sister and roommate were in the living room, talking quietly while he dragged Harley back to the bedroom so they could talk for a few minutes before Higgins and his team arrived.
“Sam?” She grabbed his arm. “Who’s Agent Higgins?”
“An FBI agent who’s been in contact with me about Christopher Devois for the past few months,” he explained sharply. “A man they’ve been trying to put away, and you…you were going to sleep with him.” The words burned as he said them, and he stalked away from her.
“I was never going to, not when we started dating officially. When I realized what I felt for you was real,” she whispered.
“But before?”
“Before, I was trying to save my sister,” she hissed. “Before, I didn’t expect to fall in love with the man who bought my virginity. Damn it, Sam, what was I
supposed to do? Let Ricky take her into that fucking club? Use her for years—or hell, maybe even kill her?” She sucked in a harsh breath at the words, and Sam turned around to see her bury her face in her hands.
He thought he knew what real anger felt like before, but the rage flowing through his body now was hotter than lava. Thinking about that criminal with his hands on Harley, to even imagine what could’ve happened to her tomorrow night, infuriated him.
“Of course not,” he said finally.
“So you would’ve done the same, then?” She wiped the tears from her eyes and glared fiercely at him. “If you’re going to be pissed at me, then be pissed. Yell, because I won’t deal with this subtle anger shit you have going on, not on top of everything else.”
“Of course I’m pissed!” he raged. “I’m pissed that the woman I love was too worried about protecting me that she didn’t think of keeping herself safe! I’m pissed because there’s a very powerful man after you who I might not be able to stop!” He pressed his hands to his temples as he forced himself to breathe. His arms fell limp at his sides as an image of Harley hurt flashed through his mind. “I can’t lose you, do you understand me? I can’t lose you and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He stalked across the room to her. “You and I are meant to be together, Harley, and we will be, but you have to let me save you.”
“Brianna…I can’t let anything happen to her, or you, or Karen,” she whispered, pained. “I can’t.”
“Nothing will happen to me,” he promised and dragged her into his arms, resting his chin on her head. “Remember that day you said you would never let my dad hurt me ever again?” She nodded against his chest. “Let me do the same for you, please.”
She clung to him as she leaned her head back so she could see his face. “You really think Agent Higgins will catch Devois and Ricky?”
“They’ve had their eye on him for years, but only when he became my client did they find any hard evidence of what he was up to,” he told her shortly. “Devois thinks he owns everyone in this city, but he doesn’t own me.” He kissed her, needing her to feel his love for her. “He won’t get your sister, I swear it.”
