Panic jumps up and bites me. “Get the fuck away from her!” I roar. Or at least I think I do, but who knows what garbled sounds are coming out of my mouth. I try to move in my chair, but my leg only shudders for a second before turning limp. My head throbs with the effort involved in holding it upright.
“You, of all people, know there are consequences, Evie. This is the price you will pay.” In one quick motion, he rips her sweater in half, flinging the ruined pieces to the floor. Eva shivers in her thin bra and leggings. As out of it as I am, bile swims up my throat while alarm bells blare in my ears. He nicks her bra, cutting the strap in the middle, and the material drops away, exposing her to the room full of male vultures.
A primitive roar emits from my throat, and adrenaline courses through my veins. Jeremy laughs, and I want to flay the skin from his bones, slowly and painfully, one layer at a time.
He cups one of Eva’s naked breasts, squeezing her flesh tight. “You have a gorgeous body, Evie, and I see how my men watch you. I could’ve taken you here, forced your lover to watch, but I won’t lower myself. I won’t touch you now you’re contaminated with another man’s seed. Instead, my men will take their pleasure, however they see fit, and Kennedy will watch it all. When they’re through, they’ll inject him with a lethal dose of heroin, but death would be too easy for you.” He grabs her chin, forcing her face to his. “Once Michael is done with you, you’ll be sold into slavery. No one will find you where you’re going, and you’ll wish you were dead every single day of the rest of your miserable existence.”
Bending down, he kisses her. She tries to pull her face away, but he has her cheeks in a vise grip as he devours her mouth. I’m yelling, and rage is a red bull charging my insides with a much-needed injection of adrenaline.
He pulls back abruptly, and Eva spits in his face. Fisting his hand in her hair, he tugs her head back, holding the knife against her throat, and my heart stutters in my chest. I start thrashing about in the chair. “Tempting, but I’m getting a good price for you.” He moves the knife to her left cheek, and she sucks in an audible gasp. “I could cut you, slice little lines out of your skin, and I’d enjoy hearing you scream,” he taunts, “but the clients like their whores unblemished.” He lets go of her and walks away. “She’s all yours, boys. Have at her.”
A man moves out from behind me, stalking toward her. I can’t see his expression, but I see the naked terror on Eva’s face as he approaches, unbuckling his belt as he walks.
Then several things happen all at once.
I rear up, the chair still strapped to my body, swinging left and then right, knocking the men that rush me to the ground in an unexpected move. The door to the room bursts open, and a line of armed men wearing government-issue vests floods the room. Gunfire breaks out, but all I see is Eva. I charge toward her as the guy in front of her swings around, drawing his weapon. I headbutt him, shoving him sideways, out of the way, and then I throw myself on top of Eva. Her chair falls back, and she winces, bracing herself for impact. I’m pressing awkwardly on top of her, and I know it’s uncomfortable, but all I can think is to shield her with my body. Shots whizz over our heads, and it’ll be a miracle if we get out of here alive.
“Stay down, baby,” I croak. “Stay under me. It’ll all be over soon.”
Then a burst of red-hot pain enters my upper body, and the world turns dark.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Present Day
Evelina
“Kade! Kaden!” Hysteria underscores my words as Kaden slumps on top of me, his eyes fluttering shut as breath leaves his body in a rush. “Kaden! Baby, please talk to me. Say something!” I can hardly see over the tears flooding my eyes. I gasp as the pressure of Kaden’s weight on top of me almost becomes too much. His body mass compresses my chest, restricting my air supply. In the room, shouts and traded gunfire continue to ricochet around me, but it’s as if we’re in our own little bubble, removed from the warzone around us.
Warm liquid drips down the side of my body. Twisting my head at an odd angle, I ignore the sharp twinge of pain as my eyes pop wide in horror. Blood is oozing from somewhere in Kaden’s back, confirming my worst fears.
He’s been shot.
And I don’t even know if he’s still alive because my stupid hands are still tied to the damn chair and I can’t reach for him. Can’t feel if his skin has turned cold with death or if a pulse still throbs in his neck.
“Help!” I scream. “Help him, someone, please!” Over and over, I shout the same words while a mantra is on repeat in my mind. Please, God, don’t let him die. Kaden can’t die.
“Miss, it’s okay, Miss.” A concerned voice stalls my avid screaming and I blink through my tears, staring into the kindly face of the man standing over me. “You’re safe now. I’m Agent Wentward, and we’re going to get you out of here shortly.”
“Help him, please,” I say, my throat scratched raw from screaming. “He’s been shot, and I don’t even know if …” I trail off, unable to say it, and tears flow freely again.
Agent Wentward places his fingers on Kaden’s neck before glancing over his shoulder. I follow his movement, noticing the swarm of men and women in SWAT and FBI vests milling around the room. An older man at the top of the room is barking out instructions, and a few others are on walkie-talkies and cells. “I need EMS in here now!” Agent Wentward hollers before turning back around to me. “He’s alive, Miss, and we’ll get him the help he needs. Are you hurt?”
“I … I don’t know. I don’t think so.” I’m sure my back is a smorgasbord of colorful bruises, but I can’t tell if anything is broken, if I’ve sustained any serious injuries.
Two men and a woman enter the room, wearing beige shirts and brown pants, carrying a stretcher with them. Agent Wentward raises his hand, and they make a beeline for us. The agent steps back, but he doesn’t leave, staying close by as the medics do their thing. The men attend to Kaden, while the woman checks my vitals, asking a few questions that I try my best to answer. I don’t remove my eyes from Kaden, watching as one of the men gingerly inspects his back.
Then he’s lifted off me and placed on the stretcher. I try to sit up, forgetting I’m still strapped into the chair. The woman cuts my restraints and helps me up, wrapping a blanket around my bare chest and another one over my shoulders. My gaze darts around the room, but the two men are gone with Kaden, and a new layer of panic sets in. “I want to go with him! I need to make sure he’s okay.”
The woman—I think she said her name was Sue or Suze or something like that—pats my arm. “Calm down, Eva. You will get to see Kaden soon. I promise you my colleagues will take very good care of him.” Agent Wentward steers a wheelchair over, helping Sue get me into it. I want to protest, to demand they take me to Kaden, but the aftermath of the mad adrenaline rush has drained me, leaving me completely exhausted. I slump in the chair, barely noticing the row of dead bodies on the ground.
“Stop.” I reach out, placing my hand on the Agent’s arm to stall him. Leaning over the chair, I stare at the lifeless body of my husband, lying prone on the stone floor. His leg is twisted at an awkward angle, and one arm is slumped across his stomach. A large bloodstain extends across the front of his white button-down shirt confirming cause of death. His eyes are wide and vacant, staring up at the ceiling.
A massive sense of relief engulfs me, and I break down, my tears releasing years of caged stress and unhappiness. Anyone looking at me might believe I’m grieving my husband. But the few who know me, really know me, are the only ones who would understand the massive weight that has just been lifted from me.
I pass out in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and when I come to, I’m in a private room, dressed in a standard-issue hospital gown, strapped to an IV and a bleeping machine. Movement out of the corner of my eye snags my attention, and I turn my head to the side. My parents are seated by my bed, looking pale and ashen.
Or, at least, my father is.
Mom looks annoyed, like being here is a major inconvenience.
“Dad,” I croak, refusing to look at the woman who gave birth to me. “Where’s Kaden? Is he okay?”
Dad gets up, holding a cup of water with a straw out to me. “Take a sip, sweetheart.”
The water is cold and refreshing sliding down my dry throat. I look up at my father with pleading eyes. “Please, Dad.” I lift my arm, weakly holding onto his. “I need to know Kaden’s all right. Is he alive?”
Mom scoffs, and my eyes flit momentarily to her face.
“He’s alive, sweetheart,” Dad replies, and I sink into the bed in grateful relief. “A bullet went through his shoulder, but he had surgery and they removed it. He’s in recovery, and you should be able to see him soon.”
I cry. Can’t help it. Dad slides his arm around me in an uneasy hug. “You love this man?”
I sniffle. “I do.”
He nods. “I spoke to his parents outside. They seem like good people. It appears they didn’t know anything about your relationship either.”
“We couldn’t tell anyone, for obvious reasons.”
Mom makes a disapproving sound at the back of her throat, and I swing fierce eyes on her. “Do you have something to say, Mother?”
“Your husband is dead and the first words out of your mouth are concerns for your lover?” She glares at me. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
I try to sit up, wincing as my achy back protests the movement. “Help me up,” I ask Dad, and he helps situate me so I’m sitting more upright in the bed.
I take another sip of water before turning my attention to my mother. “He told me, you know. Right before he stripped me and offered me to his men, Jeremy told me how you and he had been fucking for years right under our noses.”
Dad doesn’t even flinch, and there’s no hint of surprise on his face. I eyeball him. “You knew.”
Mom yelps as Dad nods. “I suspected as much,” he says, looking only at me, “but I said nothing because I figured that took some of the heat off you.”
In a funny way, Dad is probably right. Still, I’m sure my mother didn’t start screwing my husband to make my life easier.
Mom huffs but we both ignore her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Dad tenderly touches my cheek. “I should’ve run away with you when you were a kid, when all this happened and I realized what I’d gotten myself into. Instead, I allowed your mother to manipulate me into staying, and I will regret that for as long as I live.” His loving eyes stab mine. “I have failed you as a father, and I am truly sorry for not being the man you needed me to be. Watching you suffer all these years has been slowly destroying me. I wanted to find some way of freeing you, but he had so much stuff on me. I was in too deep.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I’ve had preliminary talks with the FBI agent in charge of the case. They might be able to do a deal. Limited jail time in exchange for my testimony. While most of the key players were taken out today, the business is up for grabs, and they’ll all start turning on one another. I want to help the authorities bring as many of them down as they can, and I’ll accept whatever punishment they deem appropriate. It’ll be worth it. To know you are safe. Finally, free of that man.”
I wet my dry lips. “I don’t want you to go to jail, Dad, but I’m proud you’re doing the right thing.”
“Oh, puh-lease,” Mom interjects sourly. “Don’t pull that moralistic bullshit now. You both may have complained, but you were happy to take the perks.”
I shake my head, flabbergasted at how deliberately ignorant and obstinate she is. “Most everything I have was paid for with my own hard-earned money. I never wanted anything from that man, and the authorities can take the glamorous gowns and jewels he bought me. I want none of it and no reminder of the man you forced me to marry.”
She stands, planting her hands on her hips and sneering at me. “That act might fool others, but it doesn’t fool me. I know who Kaden is. Who his family is. Why else would you bed a younger man, one of your former students, if it wasn’t for his money?” Her face contorts into an ugly grimace. “You can look down your nose at me, but you’re no better.”
Nudging Dad, I ease myself out of the bed, gripping the headrest to help support my weak limbs. I want to be standing up, facing my mother head-on, when I say this. “I am worth a million of you, Mother. Because I love Kaden for who he is, not what he can give me. And I would never sell my daughter to a monster; I don’t care how high the stakes seemed. When I have children, I will make them a priority. I will love them and care for them and keep them safe and protected. I will make them feel cherished in all the ways I should have been made to feel. But you can walk away, knowing you didn’t undermine me. You didn’t rob me of my self-worth, and your cold treatment made me a stronger person. So, I guess I do have something to thank you for after all.”
She wants to hit me.
I see it in her eyes and the way her hand twitches at her side, but she won’t dare it this time. “Now get out, and never come back. I never want to see you again.”
Grabbing her bag and her coat from the back of the chair, she levels one final hateful look my way. “I never wanted children, and you’ve just reinforced all the reasons why. You won’t see me again, either of you, and I won’t shed a single tear.”
“Leave, Isabel,” Dad hisses, “or I’ll find one of those FBI agents to forcibly remove you. You’ve said your piece; now go.”
Dad and I spend another half hour talking through stuff that needs to be said, and when he leaves, I feel lighter than I have in years. I don’t know how long it will take for us to have a normal father-daughter relationship, or if we’ll ever get to that place, but at least we are both in the space where we want to try.
A nurse arrives a short while later to wheel me to Kaden’s room. While I’m dying to see him, to see for myself that he’s okay, I’m all kinds of nervous too. I’m expecting his family to be there, and this wasn’t quite how I wanted to meet them. I can only imagine how angry they must be at me. I’m the one who dragged him into this, after all. If it wasn’t for me, Kaden wouldn’t have gotten shot.
We round the corner and turn left into a private suite of sorts. A bunch of people are sitting on couches in the plush waiting area, and all heads swivel in my direction. I will my heart to calm down as a woman I recognize—purely from photos—approaches me. The nurse stops, and I look up at Kaden’s beautiful mom. She runs a hand nervously through her short blonde hair, and I decide to take the bull by the horns. I extend my hand. “Mrs. Kennedy. It’s great to finally meet you, although I wish it were under different circumstances.”
She clasps my hand in a firm handshake. “I agree, and you’ve got to excuse us if we’re a little shell-shocked, Evelina. This has all come as a massive shock.”
“Is Kaden okay?” I gulp anxiously. “I mean, he’ll make a full recovery? That’s what the nurses have told me.”
She nods her head, and air streams out of my mouth in a rush of relief.
“He’ll be fine. The bullet hit his shoulder, missing anything vital, and his other injuries will heal in time.”
“He saved me,” I tell her. “He threw himself on top of me once the gunfire broke out. I don’t know how he did it. How he made it across the room when he was in so much pain.” My eyes well up. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of this for him. I tried to push him away, more than once, but—”
She bends down so we’re at eye level, cutting across me. “But my son’s stubborn. Especially when it comes to something he wants.” She takes my hands, smiling softly at me. “And from what Keven’s told us, my son is very much in love with you.”
I look sideways, and my eyes scan over the rest of the Kennedys. It’s not difficult to identify Kaden’s brothers because they all look so alike, and, holy hell, there is so much hotness in this r
oom, I’m almost blinded. I don’t know which brother is which, apart from Keven, as he’s the only one I’ve met before. All of them share worried expressions, but only one is sending daggers at me. A brooding boy, leaning against the wall in the corner, wearing a moody scowl. He looks younger, and I’m guessing he’s one of the triplets.
I focus on Kaden’s mother again. “I love him very much, and this is the last thing I wanted for him. I never meant for him to get hurt.”
“We understand that,” a tall good-looking man says, holding out his hand to me. “I’m James. I’m Kaden’s father.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” I shake his hand.
“Please, call me James, and I think it’s best we let you through to our boy before he tries to get out of that bed and injures himself further. He hasn’t stopped asking for you since he woke up.”
The biggest smile spreads over my face. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve been asking for him too.”
Two gorgeous girls send sympathetic looks my way as James wheels me past them, en route to Kaden’s room. I’m guessing one of them is Faye, but I’m not sure which one or who the other girl is. One of the other brother’s girlfriends, I suppose.
Kade’s eyes land on mine the instant James pushes me into the room, and I burst out crying. God, all I’m doing lately is making a complete spectacle of myself, but my emotions are stretched thin over the events of the last twenty-four hours and the tense build-up over the last couple of months.
Kaden looks terrible, all bloodied and bruised, and half his upper body is tightly bandaged with his shoulder in a sling. But he’s still the most beautiful man in the world to me.
“Shh, honey,” he murmurs, opening his good arm for me. “Don’t cry. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
James helps me up onto the bed. Kaden’s uninjured arm wraps around me, and I gently hold him while my legs dangle off the side of the bed. “I’ll leave you two to talk in private,” his dad says. “Press the bell if you need anything, Kaden.”
Seducing Kaden (The Kennedy Boys Book 6) Page 22
