“I need air.” Then he was gone. His footsteps thudded on the steps. Even with the limp, it sounded as if he took them two at a time.
“Pax, wait!” She ran after him, but by the time she got to the top of the stairs she heard the front door slam.
She stood in the family room, stunned at the change in him. She spun around, trying to figure out what to do next.
Her head spun and her mind raced. It took her a second to pick up on the muffled ringing of a phone. She searched the tables and couch. Saw Pax’s phone sitting there, which meant he was even more vulnerable outside.
The sound finally led her to the bag under the coffee table. She unzipped it and reached inside.
Her phone. She’d forgotten Pax had grabbed it in her apartment. She’d missed the call but she punched a button to bring up the screen. Thirteen calls from one number. Her father’s. She checked the text messages.
The last one came in ten minutes ago and was signed by her brother—Come Now.
Her brain rioted with the pros and cons of going. She tried to return the call but the phone just rang. They’d never been close, but that didn’t mean she could abandon him. It took her another fifteen minutes to do a quick search for Pax outside. Not finding him and knowing he didn’t have his cell, she grabbed his keys and texted Joel on the way out.
With any luck, Pax would come right behind her.
* * *
PAX KNEW SOMETHING was wrong the second he stepped back into Davis’s house. The alarm was set but the house was deadly quiet. He called out for Kelsey but didn’t get an answer.
He’d screwed up. His brain had turned to mush at seeing the letters...and he’d taken it out on her. But she had to be there. She knew the danger of roaming the streets. Hell, she’d warned him of just that when he stormed out.
Ready to take whatever anger she wanted to throw at him, he ran up the stairs. At first he walked from room to room. Then he raced. He threw open doors and closets as he screamed her name.
A mix of anger and dread pumped through him. He couldn’t hear anything but the sound of the blood racing through his body. He reached for his phone on the corner of the coffee table just as it rang.
“What’s going on?” Joel’s voice sounded on the other end of the line.
The question sucked the rest of the life out of Pax. “What do you mean?”
“Kelsey texted about trouble and—”
Pax trampled right over the rest of Joel’s sentence. “Where is she?”
Silence pounded for a few seconds before Joel answered. “She should be there. Wait, your car is moving.”
“Track it.”
“What are you going to do?”
Pax didn’t even have to think about his response. He was in the kitchen digging through the utility drawer right now. “Borrow Davis’s car and stop her.”
Joel cleared his throat. “You mean follow her.”
“No, I don’t.”
Chapter Eighteen
Kelsey’s steps faltered as she walked up the stairs to the front door of her father’s massive house. Not her house. Cold and sterile, it had never really been a home to her. She’d lived there and studied there. Gotten ignored there.
She preferred her cozy apartment and the man who’d left four screaming voice mails for her during the drive over to Virginia. Pax had been furious at first. Then he begged her to pull over.
She secretly hoped that meant something. Maybe he cared even a little, which would be convenient since she’d fallen stupid in love with him in a matter of days. Somewhere along the line she’d gone from the woman who doubted love to one who hoped it would happen to her. With Pax.
But she couldn’t turn back or stop now. Not when Sean was in some sort of danger.
Pax had been right about that, too. She craved a connection of some kind with Sean. They’d never share memories from their childhood or hang out for fun, but her concern for him extended past a routine Christmas card at the holidays. Or it did now.
She reached the top step just as the door flew open. Her father stood there with a crazed look in his eyes and disheveled hair. She’d never seen the wild strain in him. He usually telegraphed control. That was one of his gifts. He could make everyone believe he was in command even as he scammed them out of their cash.
“It’s about time you got here.” He practically spit the words out at her.
No way was she going in there without Pax. It took all of her willpower just to drive into the state. “Where’s Sean?”
Her father nodded behind him. “Inside.”
Tension bounced off him and into her. “Tell him to come out.”
“He’s eating.”
She remembered the panicked voice in the voice mails. The idea Sean left those and now sat somewhere eating crackers didn’t fit together. She called out for him. “Sean, I’m here.”
“Stop making all that noise.”
She realized her father held one of his hands behind his back. The armband of his golf shirt was ripped and there was something on his pants. A dark stain.
Explanations bombarded her brain, each worse than the one before. “What did you do?”
“I’ve had enough of this.” Her father let out a growl like that of a sick, wild beast.
With quickness she didn’t expect, he reached out and grabbed her arm. His fingers dug into her flesh with a shocking toughness and he breathed heavily through his nose as he dragged her toward the door and entryway beyond.
She twisted and pounded a fist against his chest. Her hand caught against the doorway as she funneled her energy into staying on her feet and pulling away from him.
Then she saw the gun. He pointed it right at her head.
Father of the Year.
Her stomach flipped. Just to think she sat there and lectured Pax on family responsibility an hour ago when she came from this. A demented sense of loyalty combined with a total lack of conscience. That described her tainted family tree.
“You have two seconds to get in this house.”
She swallowed back the bile rushing up her throat and shrugged out of his hold. With her head held high she walked back into the one place guaranteed to bring her to her emotional knees.
Turning a corner, she walked into her father’s study and saw Sean tied to the chair. His head lolled to the side and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
She fell to her knees and tried to rouse him. Fear pummeled her, threatening to swamp the last of her common sense. “Sean, no. Are you okay?”
“He’s fine.”
She spun around to face her father. He walked around, eyeing up his gun and acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening around him. “What is wrong with you?”
“Your brother lost his nerve. I blame all that babying from his mother.”
The breath whooshed out of her and she sat back on her haunches to keep from falling over. “You? You’re at the bottom of this Kingston thing.”
He walked around to his desk and sat in his oversized leather chair. “Don’t blame me. I was trying to help fix the mess Sean made.”
She could see it all now. Sean made a decision and confided in their father. The old man saw dollar signs, as he always did, and the whole thing blew up. “By getting him to steal documents? He could be arrested.”
“Pipe down. He did that on his own.” Her father leaned back in his chair. “I stepped in when he lost his nerve to go through with the deal. He’s already committed the act, so why not benefit? This is fixable so long as you brought the box he sent you.”
Just like her father. This was one of his typical schemes. He saw an opportunity to rush in and steal money, and he did it.
She eyed up the gun in front of him on the desktop and judged the distance between h
er and the weapon and the chance of getting shot.
He laughed at her just as he’d done his whole life. “Don’t even try it.”
“Maybe she won’t but I will.” The male voice came from the hallway.
Kelsey had barely processed the mess in this room before she saw a new threat in the hall. The guy, so familiar but after her last few days her mind refused to work fast enough to place him. He stood there with a weapon of his own. Her breath caught in her throat.
Her father aimed his weapon as his eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
“I’m afraid you’re in the way.” The younger man didn’t hesitate. He raised the gun and fired. The shot had her father spinning as he dropped his weapon and reached for the red spot blooming on his shoulder.
“How dare you?”
Before her brain cleared, she reacted on instinct, leaping for her father’s gun. The stranger caught her with a knee to the back and dropped her back to the floor. “Uh-uh. Don’t go there.”
She turned her head to the side. From this angle she couldn’t look up, but the weight against her back eased. Slow and careful not to upset this guy, she sat up again. “Please let us go.”
“I don’t think so. See, now it’s your turn.”
The pieces finally clicked together in her head. She remembered the look on his face when he saw her. He went white and his eyes popped. Now she knew why. “You’re the guy from the warehouse. Bryce Kingston’s assistant.”
“Glenn, and thank you for stopping by today. It allowed me to find you and follow you, especially after you took care of the decoy car.” He reached down and lifted her with a hand under her armpit.
She couldn’t figure out how much danger she was in. With her stomach rolling and her head in full-on dizziness mode, her body prepared for a fight-or-flight response. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m the one who paid your baby brother to grab the proprietary information. It should have been simple for a guy like him. Obtain it, hand it over then take the fall while I collected money from Kingston’s competitor. It would have worked except he had an attack of guilt and wanted out. That sort of thing is not an option with the gentlemen we were dealing with.”
Her father groaned and a kick of pity hit her out of nowhere. “Let me check my father.”
Glenn pointed his gun at Sean’s unconscious form. “I’d rather you untie your brother because it’s time for him to play his final part in this.”
“What if I don’t?”
“I’ll kill you first.”
* * *
PAX HEARD THE THREAT and forced his legs to remain still. He made sure Connor and Joel heard the confession over the comm so they could tape it as they raced to the scene at the Virginia mansion. They needed to know what they were walking into. Someone had to report the truth.
Pax’s inclination when he turned onto the street had been to race up the driveway and go in there and drag Kelsey home. He spied the car in front of him just in time. After parking down the block and dodging from overgrown bush to overgrown bush to hide, he came up the side of the house and listened from the hall.
Glenn Harber.
An assistant and totally off the radar. They’d been looking at Bryce, and he did have many sins on his scorecard and a huge amount of legal trouble ahead, but they all missed the easy answer. The guy with just as much access—possibly more—as his boss.
Connor had already reported on the questioning back at the warehouse. Dan was their inside man. He reported to the Pentagon crowd and got Corcoran hired for the protection job on Kelsey. Bryce thought he controlled everything, but he had no idea what was happening around him.
But the Glenn piece was a surprise.
Pax wanted to storm into the room, but Connor kept up a constant stream of conversation in his ear, advising on what to do and how to maintain control. With the tiny remote camera in his hand, Pax bent the thin wire and slipped the instrument around the corner.
As Pax watched, Kelsey untied her brother as he slowly came awake. But Glenn was in charge. He stood in front of them both with his back to Pax.
Pax could get off a shot but he risked Glenn getting off one of his own, and the chances of that target being Kelsey was too great to risk.
“Get up.” Glenn motioned for Kelsey to help Sean to his feet.
“She’s not involved in this.” Doubled over and holding his stomach, Sean still managed to pivot so his body blocked Glenn’s clean shot at Kelsey.
Pax hated the kid, planned to shake some sense into him, but the protective move saved him from getting punched. Glenn talked while Connor reported on his position. He was still ten minutes out, which meant this one was up to Pax.
“Since she’s here, I’m thinking she knows something.” Glenn shifted until his body was even with Kelsey’s, and then he picked up her father’s abandoned gun. “Do you have the stolen material, Ms. Moore?”
She shook her head. “The police have it.”
Glenn laughed. “I doubt you’d risk your brother’s freedom like that.”
From this position, Pax had a wide view of her. He could see her hand tapping on the desk behind her. Her fingers searched, likely for a weapon. Much more of that and Glenn would put a bullet in her.
Glenn took a step toward Kelsey and Pax moved. He had the element of surprise on his side and didn’t intend to waste it. Launching his body, he slammed into Glenn.
Wiry and smaller, the young man went flying into the bookcases. His footing fumbled but he held on to the gun. Only his aim changed, this time to point at Kelsey.
With the injury, Pax couldn’t judge his steps. He tried to pivot from attacking Glenn to getting to Kelsey in time. Just as he pulled in close, she shoved him away, turning so that she’d take the brunt of any hit.
A shot boomed through the room as it exploded into chaos. Her father yelled and her brother took a step forward. Momentum carried Pax through the air.
To prevent a head-to-head shoot-out, Pax made a second move for Glenn, crashing into him and not caring if he blocked a bullet with his chest, if that meant keeping Kelsey safe. The air rushed out of the other man as they went rolling across the floor.
Glenn lifted an arm, but Pax proved faster. He also had the height and weight advantage, plus years of training. They smacked against the carpet, and Pax didn’t wait. He straddled Glenn and punched the guy until blood poured from his nose and kept going until his eyes rolled back. Pax grabbed Glenn’s gun before his head hit the floor.
Connor screamed for status and Pax managed one word. “Clear.”
His only thought was for Kelsey. The shot still echoed in his brain and pain pounded into him at the thought of turning and seeing her injured. The idea of her body bloodied and broken drove him to his knees. When he spun around, he saw her on the floor with Sean’s head on her lap.
Pax was on his knees and on top of them before she could say a word. “Were you hit?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks until she hiccupped and her chest heaved. “Sean.”
Pax looked down. Blood and a pale face. The kid got clipped in the side. Probably not serious but he needed immediate attention and so did their father, who had passed out in his chair. “Connor, we need medical for the Moore men. Now.”
“Kelsey?”
“She’s fine.” Still, Pax couldn’t take in what he saw. His gaze skipped to Sean’s glassy one. “You took a bullet for her.”
Sean’s eyes closed as his breathing grew heavy. “She was trying to protect you, so I protected her. I should have done it a long time ago.”
The words opened the floodgates. Fury spilled through Pax. The danger, the risks. All the stupid decisions this kid had made and how he’d pulled Kelsey down with him.
Pax looked into the sweet eyes of the one woman who meant everything. Seeing th
e strain around her mouth and Sean’s blood on her shirt set a torch to Pax’s rage. “What were you thinking?”
Her head tipped back in shock. “I was trying to help you.”
The fact she got defensive put him even further on the offensive. “You almost got killed.”
She had the nerve to run a hand over his chin as a small smile inched over her lips. “I’m fine.”
“I’m furious.”
Her eyes narrowed as her hand dropped. “I can see that.”
Part of him wanted to hold her, but he just kept yelling. He couldn’t hold back even though the words sliced through them as they came out of his mouth. “I told you to stay at the house.”
Her face closed up. “I didn’t have that choice. And do not yell at me.”
Pax stood up. He had to pace off some of the leftover energy coursing through him before he said something that hurt her. Having Connor and Joel shout warnings in his ear wasn’t helping.
Pax didn’t want to be tactful or understanding. But he needed to take all the rage of the past few hours over the attacks and the letters and funnel it somewhere.
Sean reached up to take her hand. “Who is this guy?”
She stared at Pax and he stared back. “My boyfriend.”
Sean coughed until his body jackknifed. “Are you sure?”
Kelsey didn’t bother to look up at Pax that time. “I guess not.”
Chapter Nineteen
Kelsey wiped down the counter. The frantic scrubbing had her elbow aching, but she kept going even after Mike shot her a confused look and Lindy rolled her eyes in the you’re-so-stupid way young women did.
After the days away and a round of fumigation and furious cleaning, it felt right to be back in the shop. She’d served about a thousand cups of coffee already today, or so it felt like. The unending line of chitchat from her regular customers started with questions about why they’d closed without notice and shifted to demands for reassurance that the shop would be open every day from now on.
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