“That’s what you said about the last two fucking trees. This is your last chance. If it's not here we’re going back to the house and I’ll shoot that asshole cop’s mother in his living room. Then we’ll come back here and see if it helped jog your memory.”
The anger I’d felt had transformed into something indescribable. As I slowed my breathing the fear and rage mingled together into clarity. Frank Harris was a dead man walking. I took one more cleansing breath and fortified my decision. There would be no demands for him to surrender. I would not give him the option to drop his weapon. All I needed was the gun to still be in his cold, dead hand when the CSI officers arrived. I didn’t need him to point it in my direction. There would be no fear of imminent danger. He was simply going to die by my hand, and there would be no remorse.
“You’ll never get away with this. Ethan and his dad won’t stop until they hunt you down,” Honor said, her voice getting closer.
“I’m not worried about some baby killer, ex-military low life and his trashy son. It will be their word against mine. And, let’s face it, it’s all about who you know. I have more capital than either of those two.”
“I wasn’t talking about in a court of law, you asswipe. They’ll hunt you like the animal you are and kill you. The only thing I’m sorry about is I won’t be alive to see it.”
I came to the last of the tall cherry laurel bushes that would conceal my position and peered around the waxy leaves. My Glock 22 felt abnormally heavy in my hand, I clutched the grip tighter, until the hard, plastic ribbing bit into my palm.
Frank’s hand pulled back and he pistol whipped Honor across her face. She fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands. Her sob nearly broke my concentration.
I’m sorry, smalls. Just a minute longer.
“Fuck you, bitch. I’ll kill them all, starting with that little brat you love so much, then the—”
The recoil of my weapon barely registered as I watched Frank’s body fall. I’d never been more thankful for all the hours my dad and uncles had spent with me at the range. Years of practice had earned me the nickname Deadeye Dick, something I’d hated until today.
Lorenz was the first to dart out of the shrubs and run toward Honor. I holstered my weapon and did the same. Coming to a sliding halt in front of Honor I dropped to my knees and scooped her up into my lap.
“Thank God. I knew you’d find me,” she cried.
“Always, smalls. I’ll always find you.”
“How’s your mom?”
“She’s fine, baby. Let me see your face.”
“No. It doesn’t matter. Where’s Carson?”
How had I been so lucky to find this perfect, selfless woman? I knew her face had to hurt like a bitch, but she was more concerned with Carson and my mom.
“She’s safe. I need to look at your cheek.”
Honor slowly lifted her head off my chest, and blood trickled down her face and dripped from her chin.
“Fuck.”
“Here.” My dad handed me his shirt. It wasn’t ideal but it was something to stop the bleeding. He knelt in front of us and flicked his knife open. “Let me see your hands.”
She held them out to him, and they were filthy. I also noted several broken nails. The fucker had made her dig with her bare hands. With a single pass of my dad’s blade he sliced through the zip tie.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m—”
“No, Honor. Thank you,” my dad said.
A look passed between me and my dad. A silent communication. There were no words necessary. She was my bone-deep, the woman I would breathe and die for. I would fight for the rest of my life to be worthy of her love. She was my Lily Lenox, my one and only. My dad stood and walked to join my uncles. Even though the threat was no longer present, the four most important men in my life still stood guard, reminding me I was never alone. They always had my back, my front, and my sides. They had Honor’s too.
“I called it in. The captain’s on his way,” Lorenz said. “It’s a shame he wouldn’t drop his weapon.”
Not that I wasn’t prepared for any consequences resulting from the shooting and death of the jacknut who’d kidnapped my woman, but it seemed my partner wasn’t going to allow it to come to that.
“Appreciate it.”
“I want to go home,” Honor said.
“We have to wait for the ambulance to get here. You need to be checked out. I think you may need stitches.”
“I’m not staying in the hospital, Ethan. I want to go home. I need to see Carson and Lily. They can look at my face, but that’s it. I’m going to be in our bed tonight. Do you understand me?” She was almost hysterical. “I want to be in our bed, with you and Carson.”
“Okay, smalls.”
“He hurt her,” she yelled. “He pushed his way into our home and tied her up.”
Four menacing growls came from beside us.
“I couldn’t stop him. I was too afraid your dad would show up with Carson and she’d get hurt. I didn’t know what fucking video the dumb bastard wanted. But I had to get him out of the house.” She continued to yell, her sobs turned into venom, and she angrily swiped a tear from the eye that wasn’t covered by my dad’s shirt. “He kept threatening to hurt them. He killed my mom. The asshole killed her. Oh my God. All those years I lived under the same roof as the man who killed my mother. And he did it, not Sam. I told you that bitch was covering for him. He tried to kill me and Carson. Fucking prick.”
I rocked her back and forth and let her get it all out. I was thankful she wasn’t bottling up her anger. I knew we’d have other things about Frank kidnapping her to deal with down the line, but for now, this was good.
“I’m so sorry, Honor.”
“I fucking hate him. I hate him so much. I wish he could die all over again. He killed her and hurt Lily.” Her shouting turned back into tears and she pinned me in place with the saddest look I’d ever seen. “I just want you to take me home. I want my family. Please, don’t leave me at the hospital.”
“Honor I’ll never leave you anywhere. You’re coming home with me. Carson will be there. My mom will be there. You will be surrounded by your entire family. I promise you. None of us will ever leave you.”
“That’s the goddamn truth,” my dad choked out. He, too, was overcome with emotion.
“Blake and I will be there,” Uncle Levi added.
“Regan and I are staying,” Clark put in.
“Nowhere else Em and I would be,” Jasper told Honor.
“You’re one of us, Honor. And family always sticks together. You’ll never be alone again. And that’s a promise you can take to the bank,” my dad finished.
“I love you, Honor.”
“God, I love you. Thank you for saving me.”
“You saved yourself with the secret message you left me. Smart and beautiful. You’re a special kind of dangerous, Honor Sullivan.”
She smiled, just as I’d hoped.
The wooded area we were in was suddenly swarming with men and women in uniform. I didn’t move a muscle. I had Honor in my arms, safe and sound, and there wasn’t a damn thing I was going to do but hold my woman.
Epilogue
“You really do love this statue, don’t you?” I laughed at Carson posing.
“She’s waving hello to all the ships coming home. And goodbye to the ones leaving on their long voyages out to sea.”
Carson was something else. She certainly had a flare for the dramatic.
“I love it down here.” I sighed and cuddled closer to Ethan.
It had been three months since that horrible day in the woods with Frank. Three wonderful months. My breakdown, as I called it, Ethan called it a moment of cleansing and closure, whatever you wanted to call it, it seemed to bring us closer. All of us. Not only me, Ethan, and Carson. But it seemed to reinforce the family bond of the uncles too. Lily had commented last week how much she loved that the family was all getting together more. The four families all had
individual families of their own and schedules didn’t always coincide, but these days more of an effort had been made. Even Jason and Kayla had come to as many get togethers as Kayla felt up for. Her cancer was progressing quickly. It was heart breaking to watch. She was shy and reserved, but once you got her talking, she was the sweetest, kindest person I’d ever met. She didn’t have a mean bone in her fragile body. I was going to miss her.
Carson had opted to pass on cheer camp but still wanted to go to her dance classes. As it turned out, the girl was talented. And that wasn’t me being biased, even the teacher was impressed. After a few weeks, she was switched to a competition squad, which meant more classes and practices for me to take her to. I loved every second. I loved cheering her on and watching her grow.
“Honor?”
“Yes, darlin’?” I chuckled at her antics. She was on one knee in front of me smiling like a loon. I loved how silly and playful she was when she wasn’t acting like she was a mini version of the adults around her.
“Will you please do me the honor,” she giggled but quickly recovered, “of being my mother?”
She opened her little palm and nestled there were two bands. One adult size and one much smaller.
Tears filled my eyes and the rings disappeared behind the watery haze.
“What?” I whispered, praying I hadn’t heard her wrong.
“It’s a fancy way of asking you if you’ll be my mommy from now on. I want you to be my mommy, and Daddy said yes and told me all I had to do was ask you. Daddy said you can make it official and adopt me if you want to. I don’t know what that means. As long as it’s all right with you that’s all that matters to me.”
“Yes, Carson. Yes, I want to be your mommy. Forever and ever.”
“Did you hear that, Daddy? Honor is now my new mommy,” Carson announced.
“I did, Squirt.”
“Oh, wait, I forgot. Your hand please,” Carson asked. I wasn’t sure which hand she wanted but I presented her with my left.
“With this ring, you’re my mommy.” She slipped the ring on my finger. “Here’s mine.” She handed me the smaller ring and gave me her hand.
I slowly slipped the tiny gold band onto my daughter’s finger and closed my eyes, savoring the moment. “With this ring, you are my daughter.” I opened my eyes and Ethan was holding Carson’s other hand.
“My girls,” he said quietly.
“There’s only one thing left to do.” He let go of Carson’s hand and lowered himself to a knee. “Honor Sullivan would you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?”
“Yes! A thousand times, yes.”
He pulled a ring from his pocket and slipped it next to the one Carson had placed there and brought my hand to his lips, kissing both rings.
It wouldn’t be until much later when I finally inspected both rings Carson and Ethan had given me. I was tucked close to Ethan’s side after he’d made love to me. My left hand was resting on his chest and I’d caught sight of the proof I was going to be his wife. I remembered back to all those months ago when Ethan had vowed to prove to me he was the man he said he was. It turns out, I am worth it. He’s proven it to me every day by how fiercely he loves me. And he’s worth it too. I now understand what bone-deep means. The Lenox family loves with an intensity you feel down in your bones, in your soul.
My family.
Jason and Kayla’s house across town
“It’s time, Jay.”
God, she could barely croak out the words. Please. Not yet. I’m not ready. I carefully pulled Kayla into my arms and held her as tightly as I could without hurting her. The cancer had spread. It had unmercifully ravaged her body. Leaving only flesh and bones in its wake. Gone was the Kayla I’d always known.
“Just . . .” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Selfishly I wanted to tell her to hold on. I wanted her to try and fight. But I knew she was done. She’d been telling me for days. However, I’d refused to listen.
“You’ve given up enough for me. It’s time to let me go.”
“Don’t say that, Kayla. You know I’d give up everything if I could save you.”
“And you have. You’ve given up the last seven years of your life taking care of me. It’s time for you to move on. Live. Be happy. Find someone to love.”
“Kayla.”
“Promise me, Jason. You’ll never know how grateful I am that you’ve stuck by me. Because of you, I had seven extra years. I’m just sorry it was at your expense.”
“I love you, Kayla. I don’t regret anything.”
“I love you, too, Jason.” Her voice was starting to fade.
“I’m right here, Kay Kay. I won’t leave your side.” I couldn’t stop the tears as they streamed down my cheeks. “It’s okay to let go. I promise everything will be okay.”
“Thank you, Jay.” She sounded sleepy, her voice raspy. “Love . . .”
“I love you, too.”
I continued to hold her as she took her last gasping breath. I had to fight the urge to give her CPR and bring her back to life. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to resuscitate my wife. But she’d made me promise I wouldn’t do it. Months ago she’d made her decision. When the cancer had come back she wasn’t going to go through treatment again. I hated it, but I had to respect her wishes.
I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and noted the time, 3:42 am. I dialed the only number I could think of.
“Bud?” my dad answered.
“She’s gone.” Two words—that was all I could blubber out.
“We’ll be right there. Who do we need to call?” I could hear my dad getting out of bed and the rustling of clothes. I was frozen in my grief. I wasn’t prepared for this. A world without Kayla in it was a darker place than I wanted to live in. “Son!” My dad’s stern voice pulled me from the fog.
“The undertaker,” I told him.
“Jones, right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll be right there, son. You hang tight.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“We’ve got you, Bud. I promise.”
My dad disconnected, and as I lay there, with my recently deceased wife’s body still in my arms, I scrolled through the images on my phone. Hundreds of pictures of us through the years. Hell, I had thousands more on my laptop going all the way back to high school. She was my best friend. And now all I was left with were pictures and empty memories of a life taken too soon.
Fuck cancer!
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About the Author
Riley Edwards is a bestselling multi-genre author, wife, and military mom. Riley was born and raised in Los Angeles but now resides on the east coast with her fantastic husband and children.
Riley writes heart-stopping romance with sexy alpha heroes and even stronger heroines. Riley's favorite genres to write are romantic suspense and military romance.
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Chasing Honor (The Next Generation Book 2) Page 22
