Satisfaction

by Lexi Blake

  “You’re going to kill us both.” She wasn’t stupid.

  “That’s a chance you’re going to have to take,” she said with a careless shrug. “Or I can put another bullet in the runt there and end his suffering. It might be better for him in the long run.”

  “I’ll tell you where it is.” She could feel the cold metal of Bran’s gun against her hand. She had to hope he’d taken the safety off because all she was going to be able to do was point and shoot if she got the chance.

  “All right, why don’t you do that?”

  “It’s in my purse. It’s right behind you. You can see it there.” She hadn’t been trying to hide it. She’d breezed right out those doors and she hadn’t cared at the time that Patricia might catch her. Patricia had been eyeing Case at the time. That wasn’t going to happen. She trusted that the younger Taggart could handle her.

  Francine backed up, never taking her eyes off Carly.

  How long did Bran have?

  “Why do you think Patricia kept that vase?” She would say anything to distract the woman, to put off the moment when she was absolutely sure Francine would get rid of all the witnesses.

  Francine reached into Carly’s bag and her gloved hand brought the vase up. “Patty thought she was in love with Iris Lawless. This is a memento of her lost love and one last bit of proof that stupid bitch ever existed.”

  She let the vase drop to the floor with a crash that resounded through the room. Carly saw what was left among the shards. A tiny thumb drive.

  “We started with paper,” Francine said. “When technology caught up, we moved to these, and now I have found all four and I can be free.”

  “I’m sure Patricia will have something to say about that.”

  “I killed Patty a few hours ago. She picked the wrong young man from her party, but then I always did know her tastes. I sent him in and he’s done his job. One of the bodyguards will find her soon. So I win.”

  She bent down to grab the drive and Carly took advantage. She brought the gun around and fired, the sound shaking through the room.

  “Stupid bitch.” Francine fell back, but she was on her feet with one hand on the drive and the other holding her gun up.

  Carly fired again, catching her in the arm.

  Francine hissed but it didn’t stop her. She pulled the trigger and Carly felt fire lick through her body as the bullet found her left arm.

  She fell to her knees and then heard the most beautiful sound.

  Sirens.

  With shaking hands she forced the gun up again.

  Francine was at the door. “Unfortunately, you’re going to have to be a diversion. Damn it. Tell Lawless to stay away or I’ll have to kill them all. Again.”

  The door slammed shut and Carly’s whole body shook. She couldn’t stop. Francine could come back. She could come back to kill Bran, and Carly was the only one protecting them.

  So she forced her aching body to stay upright, to hold the gun.

  When the door came open again, she nearly shot Case.

  She slumped down in relief when she realized she wasn’t alone anymore.

  “We’re going to need a bus. Two actually. We’ve got two down. Gunshot wounds,” he was saying.

  She reached out and found Bran’s hand and hoped wherever they went that they would be together.

  Chapter Twenty

  Three days later

  CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER, LOS ANGELES

  Bran looked up at Carly and frowned. “I don’t want any more Jell-O or liquid anything. I need meat. Get me a side of beef, baby. There’s something in it for you.”

  She rolled those gorgeous eyes and shook her head. “Yes, I can imagine.”

  Hey, he hadn’t gotten shot in the dick. That was working just fine. “Come on. We haven’t done it in a hospital before. It could be fun.”

  His fiancée gave him that look he was coming to know so well. “When the doctor says you can have solid food, I’ll be the first one to get it for you. Until then it’s clear broth and Jell-O.”

  “You get to eat real food.”

  “I didn’t have my spleen removed,” she reminded him. “And no one had to resection a portion of my lung. I had a flesh wound.”

  It had been a little more than that. She’d taken a nasty shot to her left arm, but she was already up and moving. According to his brother, Bran had been in surgery for ten hours and they hadn’t been sure he would make it.

  Still, he was feeling remarkably well for an almost dead man, and it was all because of her.

  “Fine, we’ll make a deal. I will follow the doctor’s every order, but the minute I’m cleared for physical exertion, you’re all mine, baby. We’re going to Vegas.”

  Her lips curled up. “No can do. I know what you’re trying to do.”

  “Don’t let him talk you into it,” Mia said as she strode in the room with a bunch of cheerful-looking flowers. It looked like she wasn’t alone. She’d brought her husband with her and Riley and Ellie trailed after them. “He’ll say you’re going for the sex and food and fun and then he’ll get you tipsy and suddenly that white wedding with fifteen bridesmaids turns into you and him and a fake Elvis.”

  Case was grinning from ear to ear as he followed his wife. “Damn straight, brother. That is the way to do it.”

  He wasn’t trying to be sneaky. He kind of wanted to get a ring on her finger as soon as possible. Especially since there was apparently some crazy chick out there from his father’s past who wanted them all dead. “I thought we could pop in and get the deed done. If you would rather have a nice courthouse wedding, we can do that. Riley and Ellie’s wedding was lovely.”

  Riley grimaced. “I wish you hadn’t said that.”

  Ellie frowned. “My wedding was hasty and only to keep me out of jail. While I was happy to stay out of jail, it was not the wedding day I’d dreamed of.”

  “Yeah, well, it wasn’t exactly the wedding night I’d dreamed of, either,” Riley replied with a grin. “But we made up for that, and fast.”

  Ellie was practically glowing as she allowed Riley to haul her close. “Well, you did give me a hell of a honeymoon.”

  Bran looked up at Carly. “See, we should do that.”

  “No, someone in this family is having a big old wedding and I don’t think it’s going to be Drew, so it’s gotta be you.” She put the flowers with the rest. His whole room was filled with flowers and get-well presents, including one from Ian Taggart, who’d sent him a Kevlar vest with a card that said, Wear this next time.

  Ellie looked over at Carly. “I agree. It’s time this family had a gathering to celebrate something that doesn’t end in a gunfight. Besides, I bet Carly’s got one of those big books with all kinds of plans about her wedding.”

  She blushed. “It’s not about me. I did a lot of spreads for the magazine on weddings and designs.”

  He wasn’t going to Vegas. “Well, make it fast. Somehow I think when you put your heads together with Mia and Ellie, the three of you can make things happen.”

  He would take the white wedding in a church with hundreds of people, but he wasn’t waiting too long. He was going to make that woman his wife.

  There was a brief knock on the door and then Drew walked in, a grim look on his face. He attempted a smile when he saw Bran, but something was going on in his brother’s head.

  “How is the patient today?” Drew asked.

  “Ornery,” Carly replied with a smile. “So we’re well on the road to recovery.”

  “My brother is never ornery,” Drew disagreed with a shake of his head. “He’s usually the easiest-going guy in the world, but he seems to get a little stubborn around you.”

  Because Carly wouldn’t leave him. He knew now that his acceptance of what he was handed couldn’t continue. He had to value himself. She’d taught him that. �
�Or maybe I spent too much time around my big brothers. Speaking of stubborn, how’s it going with Shelby?”

  Drew’s expression went completely blank. “I’ve told her I changed my mind. She can do the story or not do the story. I won’t stop her but I won’t help her, either. She’s on her own. I told you I would get out. I think it’s for the best if what Carly said is right.”

  Carly had explained that Francine Wells had threatened them all. Given that it had been Case finding Patricia’s body that had led him to check in on Carly, Bran believed her.

  She’d also told him that Francine had claimed to have had an affair with his father. He wasn’t so sure he believed that.

  “I spent a good portion of yesterday with LAPD.” Carly settled in the chair beside his bed. “They’re going to finish up the sketch I helped them with and then we can get an APB out on her. She won’t get away with it and she’s not going to be able to hurt us again.”

  “I’ve handed everything over to Ian and his crew,” Drew explained. “They’ll take it from here.”

  “We’ll find her,” Case promised.

  They talked for a bit and then they left. Mia and Case were heading to dinner with Riley and Ellie, and Drew was heading back to the condo he’d rented for them.

  Alone.

  He had to hope his brother wouldn’t always be alone.

  Carly sat back down and put her hand in his. “You know, it might be fun to plan a wedding.”

  He brought her hand up and kissed it. “Tell me about your dream wedding.”

  He would be happy to make it come true.

  —

  Drew looked out over the gorgeous Pacific sunset. In the distance the pier was lit up, its lights and energy making him wish he was anywhere else. He didn’t belong here. He didn’t belong in the sun. Somehow in Austin he managed to avoid it altogether. He started his days before the sun came up and ended them long after it had set.

  I’m such a Cali girl. I can’t help it. I love the feel of sunshine on my face.

  She’d written that to him not three hours before. He’d sent her an e-mail explaining that he wouldn’t be working on the case, but he wouldn’t stop her. He’d apologized for his actions. He’d told her if she was ever in Austin, they should have a drink. He’d made some joke about the heat in Texas. He’d been solicitous and explained all the crappy things he’d done to her in the name of protecting his family. He’d offered her dinner in exchange for siccing the feds on her.

  She’d texted him back. She didn’t mind the heat. Maybe they should get together.

  Shit. He was blushing like a freaking fifteen-year-old and thinking about what he should text her next.

  Nothing. He should damn well text her nothing. If she ever showed up in Austin, he could take her out, maybe take her to bed and that would be that. He wasn’t the kind of guy who sent flirty texts to gorgeous troublesome sexy redheads.

  Somewhere along the way she’d gotten to him. She’d made him feel.

  He didn’t want to feel.

  Now that Bran was good and Mia and Riley had their own lives, it was time to think about what he wanted to do.

  The trouble was he had no fucking idea. Except seeing her. And that was a really bad idea.

  The door behind him came open and Hatch stumbled in.

  Drew sighed. “Long night?”

  Hatch stared at him for a moment. “There are things you don’t know. Things I don’t want to have to tell you.”

  So that’s why he’d been gone for two days? He’d disappeared after making sure Bran was going to come out of surgery all right. Drew had wondered, but Hatch could be mysterious at times. He’d kind of thought he’d made a breakthrough when he’d apologized to Bran for leaving them all, but it seemed to have sent Hatch right back to the bottom of a bottle.

  “Then don’t tell me.” It was simple in his mind.

  Hatch looked older than his years as he slid his body onto the sofa. “You serious about all of this being over?”

  He wasn’t sure how else to proceed. He’d promised Bran. He’d turned the Francine Wells issue over to McKay-Taggart. He needed to be out and there wasn’t much he could do anyway. Patricia Cain had been found dead of a drug overdose. The police were looking for the man she’d been seen walking into her bedroom with, but Drew knew they wouldn’t find him. Eventually they would conclude that Patricia had taken the drugs herself and it would be ruled an accident.

  Francine apparently was good at hiding her tracks.

  “I promised Bran I would be out. I turned everything over to McKay-Taggart yesterday,” he explained. “Though I’m supposed to get the police sketch in. Also, I have Adam Miles running through the feed from Carly’s camera. I don’t think she knew it was still running.”

  “Did your brother know he made a porno?” Hatch sounded halfway amused.

  Drew shook his head. “We’re never telling him that. He would want to watch it but Carly would flip out. I haven’t watched it for that reason alone. Miles is sending it back to me and deleting it off his system when he’s through. Carly would die if she thought it was sitting in the archives at McKay-Taggart. I’ll keep it on my system in case we need it. It’s only got two angles. The dress was on the floor for a long time and then at some point in their never-ending sexcapades—Miles’s words not mine—she hung it on a chair. He got a couple of images of Francine but he has to clean them up. He’s sending them over later tonight.”

  Hatch went silent again.

  “Is this about what Carly said? Or finding the portrait of my mother at Patricia’s?” It was no secret that Hatch had been in love with his mother. He believed Hatch when he said nothing had ever happened between the two of them. He also thought Hatch mourned her to this day.

  Hatch sat back with a sigh. “Things are more complex than they seem to a kid. You can mess up and still be a good dad.”

  Ah. “So he did have an affair with Francine.”

  “Yes,” Hatch admitted. “It had been going on for about a year when he died. He told me your mother had turned cold on him. That they’d been fighting a lot and I didn’t know everything. He talked about getting a divorce. Do you have any idea how I wish he had?”

  Because that might have saved his mother’s life. His phone vibrated in his pocket. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I made a promise to Bran and I’m going to keep it. I told him I wouldn’t go after Francine myself.”

  He glanced down at the screen. There it was. The police sketch. He couldn’t look at it on his phone. He stood up and moved to his laptop.

  “I can’t get that portrait out of my head, Drew. There’s something wrong with it,” Hatch said.

  “Well, you know Carly claims Francine said Patricia was in love with my mother.” It had been a rough few days. He’d known no marriage was ideal. He was older than his siblings. He did remember some of the fights his parents had. He could remember his mother telling his father that being a wife and mother had taken everything from her.

  It had been late one night and he hadn’t been able to sleep. He could still remember how cold she’d sounded. So far from his mother. She’d talked about how she had a law degree but his father never listened to her.

  Drew tried to push the thoughts out of his head. He didn’t have the file and it had probably been trashed. McKay-Taggart was good but they couldn’t fix what had been destroyed.

  So do what your brothers and sister did and move on. Be a man. Ask Shelby out. Ask her out and see where things go.

  “Then why kill her?” Hatch brought him back to the subject at hand. “If Patty loved her, why kill her?”

  “The money, of course.” It looked like Miles had come through, too. There was an e-mail from him with three attachments. He’d apparently managed to get three good shots of her.

  While the police sketch was loading on his laptop, he used his tabl
et to pull up the pictures from Miles.

  “I don’t like Patricia having that portrait in her house. Iris never sat for a damn portrait. And she looks older than she did,” Hatch complained. “It’s like she aged her. Like she was still alive.”

  A cold chill ran down Drew’s spine as the picture came up.

  There was the woman who had attacked Carly and nearly killed Bran.

  Again.

  What was wrong with his eyes? The screen had blurred. He had to wipe his eyes to get it to come into focus and then his stomach turned.

  He would know those eyes anywhere. Emerald green eyes and the camera caught a wisp of shiny, black hair. Like Bran’s.

  Hatch gasped behind him. “What the hell is that?”

  He was pointing at the laptop screen. The composite sketch had come through. Carly had captured her perfectly, from her elegant nose to her high cheekbones. They’d joked that if she hadn’t gone to law school she could have been a model.

  “That’s my mother.”

  Hatch shook his head. “No.”

  “That’s Iris Lawless.” He wouldn’t call her mother again. Not after what she’d done.

  Hatch fell to his knees.

  But Drew stood taller, the betrayal hardening him in a way he hadn’t been before.

  He’d promised Bran he wouldn’t go after Francine Wells. He’d said nothing about Iris Lawless.

  It was time to teach his mother what he’d learned in her absence.

  THE STORY CONTINUES IN THE NEXT LAWLESS NOVEL

  Revenge

  COMING SOON FROM BERKLEY. TURN THE PAGE FOR A SNEAK PEEK . . .

  This is a mistake.”

  Like he hadn’t heard that before. Andrew Lawless turned to his business partner and tried to remember that Bill Hatchard was simply worried and rightly so. Drew was worried, too. It was precisely why he’d decided on the course of action he was about to take. He turned back to look out of his office windows. All of Austin was laid out before him, the lights of the buildings around him beginning to turn on as the sun set over the Colorado River. He could remember the first time he’d looked out these windows ten years before. It had been the first time he’d felt truly successful and he’d known everything he’d worked for would finally come to fruition. He’d known as he stared out that he would find the three people responsible for his parents’ deaths.