“I was going to tell you.”
“When? After our first anniversary? Or maybe after the next funeral?”
“I don’t know. But I would have told you.”
“Instead, you let me find out like this.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “I didn’t intend to come out here and meet someone like you. I didn’t know it would matter.”
“It doesn’t.” I turned and looked at him. “It was fun, but now it’s over. Please leave.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. I want you to go. I can’t surround myself with people who lie.”
He bit his lip, as if he was struggling not to say something. Then he nodded, giving up like it had never really mattered in the first place. He stormed to the back of the apartment, coming back a minute later with his things. And then he was gone, as if he’d never been there to begin with.
I crumpled. In the stretch of ten days, I’d lost my foster family, my only friend, my boss, and now, my lover.
What more could possibly happen?
Chapter 13
Megan
I stood beside my mother, the baby on my hip, and surveyed the room. It was a big room, perfect for the fourhundred people to whom we’d sent invitations. The party planner had great ideas for the décor, and I could already imagine what she’d outlined coming to life in front of me. It would be a great party, the perfect blowout to celebrate thirty-eight years of life.
Dead at thirty and brought back to life at thirty-two.
As much as I tried to put the memories behind me, they had this way of creeping up on me. Going through Peter’s things months after his death, touching the old sweatshirt with his blood crusted on the material, reading a text message he was attempting to send me in the final moments of his life. They were painful, those memories.
That had been a dark time in my life, the months after my fiancé’s disappearance and then my brother’s death. If I’d known he was still alive, being held captive by a crazy man … I should have figured it out sooner. I shouldn’t have just accepted what I knew in my heart couldn’t be the truth.
I’d been trying to make it up to him since his return, but Peter didn’t make it easy. He was changed now, different from the man he’d been before. He didn’t smile as easily, didn’t joke around with us the way he once did. He wasn’t the well of advice he’d always been before. He was withdrawn, distant. He stood back and watched at family gatherings, almost as if he didn’t feel a part of us anymore. We’d all changed. But Peter … I missed the man he once was.
It was stupid to hope that one night, one party, would bring him back to us. But maybe it would, for just a few hours.
“Does he know?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Hayden’s been keeping him pretty busy, sending him on assignment after assignment.” Of all people, Hayden knew best how to help an agent avoid the specter of the past. Try as he might in the aftermath of the death of the woman we’d both love, the man just could not stop caring about the people around him. “He’s in Austin right now helping a new startup figure out their security system.”
“Computers?”
“No. He still won’t take any assignments that deal with computer software of any sort. He’s setting up their building security.”
Momma nodded. Peter had run the computer software division of the family’s telecommunications company, but he’d quit about six months after his return. Daddy let him go, assuming he’d be back within months, but he wasn’t. He traveled for a little while, then approached me, asking for work at Dragon. How could I refuse? Hayden hadn’t been thrilled with the idea at first, but now he sang Peter’s praises, swearing that Peter was the best operative we had at the moment.
That was saying a lot. We had some damn good operatives working for us.
“It’ll be a good party.”
My mom touched my arm, a smile on her pretty face. But it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She worried about him, too. We both wanted to make things better for Peter, but we simply didn’t know how. But that didn’t keep us from trying.
Chapter 14
Peter
I gestured to the computer monitors.
“You can see all the camera feeds there. Anytime you might have a problem, you can lock that door and watch what’s happening out there from here. Safest room in the building.”
The tall, skinny kid in a T-shirt and jeans nodded as though I was telling him the secrets of the universe. I had to really dig into those reserves of self-control to keep from rolling my eyes. Just because he came up with some brilliant idea that’s selling all over the internet didn’t mean he was better than all of us who came before him.
I could have done something like that. I could have built my own company. As it was, I’d created most of the software that Bradford Communications still ran on. I could have been him.
I got out of there as quickly as I could, stopping only long enough to grab a bite to eat before heading back to Houston. It’d been three weeks since Heather kicked me out of her place. I’d thought about going back and forcing her to see reason. But she was right. I’d lied to her, and lying was one of those things that was often unforgivable. I would have been pretty pissed if the shoe was on the other foot. But it wasn’t, and I had good reason for the lies I’d told.
I couldn’t sustain a relationship to save my damn life. So it was back to the surrogate search. I’d even signed up with this service—you could find just about anything on the internet these days—that promised to match me with an appropriate surrogate. I could have a child by this time next year. That was an overwhelming thought.
I wanted a child. That hadn’t changed. I just found myself still imagining a baby with Heather’s blue eyes, eyes that were so much bluer and clearer than mine.
I felt like I’d taken a dozen steps backward with Heather. It had seemed like a step forward, but it no longer felt like it.
I read about the funeral for Mr. Malcolm and saw her picture in the articles on the San Antonio Express-News webpage. She looked exhausted, overly burdened, and just plain grief stricken. I wished I was there with her to help her through it, but I supposed I was the last person she wanted to show up for her.
It bothered me, though, two deaths from the same department of the same company happening so close together. Malcolm’s suicide made Kitty’s accident look less accidental. Maybe he had done something to her for reasons no one had uncovered and felt so bad about it that he killed himself.
Maybe they were having an affair. Maybe he killed her because she was going back to her husband. That didn’t really seem likely. I hadn’t met Malcolm face-to-face, but from everything I’d heard about him, he wasn’t the type to go after married women. Or any woman, for that matter.
What other reason would Malcolm have had for killing Kitty Summers? Was it the promotion? Had Malcolm wanted the promotion for himself? Then why kill himself?
None of it made sense. But the idea that Malcolm chose the week that one of his employees was killed to commit suicide seemed coincidental. I didn’t believe in coincidence.
There was something going on down there. I didn’t know what, but something. But it really wasn’t my business anymore, was it?
I hit the highway and caught sight of the sign leading to San Antonio. It would be so easy to just make the turn and check in on her. Maybe she’d let me in. Maybe she’d let me do more than that. Maybe …
It was stupid to think about things that were no longer possible. Better to focus on things that were real. Like the birthday party my mom and Megan thought was such a big secret. You can’t invite four hundred of the family’s closest friends and family and expect all of them to stay quiet.
Besides, I knew Megan. She’d dropped enough hints that I’d known even before the invites went out. The problem was, I hated crowds these days, and I hated the parties that she planned and worried over so obsessively. I preferred to stand back and observe,
to watch the way they all interacted with each other. I couldn’t make myself interact with those people who could never understand what happened to me and how it left me broken.
It had once crossed my mind to move away. To distance myself from the life I had before. But then I’d have to walk away from PJ. Again. I couldn’t make myself do that—even if the boy didn’t know I was his father. He would know someday, and I didn’t want to have to explain to him why I wasn’t around for him.
In a way, I was stuck in the life I had. I couldn’t move forward, I couldn’t move backward. I thought that Heather … but that was clearly not an answer.
I eased the car onto the interstate toward Houston. And then my phone rang. Hayden.
“On my way back to the city.”
“Yes, we spoke with the guy at Starboy. Real piece of work, that one.”
“He was interesting.”
“Get your report to me tomorrow and we’ll send you on something else. Something more interesting.”
“Great.”
I was about to hang up when Hayden cleared his throat. “Listen,” he said, just as I was going to put the phone down. “I heard from our contact at Reynold Robotics. He said that that woman you were having Waverly check out, Heather Bryant, was attacked in her apartment last night. I remembered your interest in her and thought you’d want to know.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Let me know what I can do to help, Peter.”
I hung up and pulled to the side of the interstate and stared into the dimming light of dusk. Heather was attacked. What did that mean? Was she all right?
I threw the car into gear and turned around at the first exit, blasting over the miles between San Antonio and me. By the time I arrived, I’d spoken to Tisha and Miss Johnson, both aware of what had happened, but neither seeming to have all the facts. But they did know where she was—Medical Center Hospital in downtown San Antonio. I arrived there late in the evening, marching up to the information desk like I had every right to be there.
“Heather Bryant. Can you tell me what room?”
The woman looked it up easily. “Four-twelve. That would be at the back of the fourth floor.”
My heart was pounding as I stood in the center of the empty elevator. I was glad there was no one else in the moving box. I think I might have gone insane if I’d had to make small talk at that moment.
I paused outside her door. No one was around. No one seemed to even notice I was there. I even nodded to the lady pushing the linen cart and she smiled, but she didn’t seem concerned about my presence.
I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping onto the cheap linoleum floor, a little surprised by how dark it was inside the room. The only light came from behind small grates along the floor. It was a single room, with the bed all the way in the back by windows that overlooked the busy downtown.
She was propped up, her bed contorted by the mechanism underneath. One arm was wrapped and resting on her chest. There were bandages on her head. I couldn’t see if there were bruises, cuts, or whatever. But the sight of her swallowed up in that hospital bed with those few bandages was enough to make my heart stutter in my chest.
“Hey,” I said softly.
She turned her head, telling me that she was awake and aware of me. But I couldn’t see her expression. I couldn’t tell if she was glad to see me or disgusted by the fact that I couldn’t seem to take no for an answer. But then she made this little sobbing sound and I knew I couldn’t walk away from her no matter what she had to say about my presence.
I moved close to the bed, taking her hand between both of mine.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
She shook her head, another soft moan slipping from between her lips.
“I can’t believe you’re here at all.”
“I came as soon as I heard.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wish I hadn’t—”
“No, don’t do that. It’s okay.”
She started to cry, sniffing and wiping at her face in an attempt to hide it from me. But I knew it. Each sob was like a knife slicing through my chest. I leaned close to the bed and took her face between my hands. I kissed her, her lips moist from her tears and dry from the sterile hospital air. She kissed me back, moving closer to me as she tried to touch me. But the moment in her bandaged arm stopped her, making her moan with pain.
“What happened?”
“I was in bed, asleep. Someone broke into my apartment, dragged me out of bed, and tried to take me through the apartment. The cops think he was trying to take me down to a waiting vehicle, but they aren’t sure. I fought him, and he fought back, hitting my head on the walls and punching me and kicking me.”
She shuddered. “I couldn’t figure out what it was he wanted. One second I’m dreaming, the next this man is dragging me across my own apartment.”
“Did the cops find him? Do they know who it was?”
“No. I managed to get away from him, ran to my downstairs neighbor, and pounded on the door until he woke. I think that scared the guy away.”
“How bad are you hurt?”
She shrugged. “He busted my head up pretty good. I had to have a dozen stitches along the back of it. And they said I have a concussion, which is why they made me stay here overnight.”
“Your arm?”
“Sprained. They said it’d be okay in a couple of weeks.”
“Good.” I leaned close and kissed her again. “It could have been so much worse.”
“The cops think he wanted to kidnap me. That he was a rapist, or something.”
“Have you talked to those two detectives who came by your house? The ones who were investigating Mr. Malcolm’s death?”
“Do you think it’s connected?”
“I don’t know. But it seems like a pretty wild coincidence.”
She frowned. “I didn’t think about that.”
I touched my hand to her face. “You’re coming back to Houston with me when they let you go.”
“But I have my job—”
“You’re coming back to Houston with me, at least until they figure out who did this and why. No argument.”
She was quiet for a moment. “There’s something you should know.”
My heart sank. She was seeing someone new. That had to be what it was. What else could it be? She was so beautiful, I couldn’t imagine she had trouble finding a man to keep her company. I was shocked that she was available when I met her. These idiots out here would be stupid to let her get away.
I sat back, crossing my legs as I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice.
“Okay. Whatever it is, you’re still coming back to Houston. I feel like I got you into this mess. I want to get you out.”
I felt her smile more than saw it—or heard it, because the movement made her moan in pain again.
“You are stubborn,” she said.
“I have my moments.”
“I will go to Houston. I have nothing left here. Not now.”
“Good.”
“But you should know that when they brought me in here, they did a bunch of blood tests to make sure their treatment of my wounds wouldn’t compromise some other condition.”
I inclined my head. They took vial after vial of blood from me when Megan and her team freed me from my captor. I was fine. No bruises, no broken bones, no bullet wounds. But they took so much blood that they had to hook me up to a freakin’ IV to help replenish my body fluids. Dehydration caused by maltreatment, they called it. More from them taking enough blood to satisfy a hungry vampire for days.
“One of the tests they did was a pregnancy test.”
That caught my attention. “Yeah?” I said, wishing I could see her eyes.
“I was just lying here, wondering what I was going to do with the information they gave me. You were gone, and the Phelps pretty much disowned me, and my job could very possibly end very soon since my boss is dead. I’m not really prepare
d to deal with it alone.”
“It was positive?”
She was quiet for a long moment. She didn’t even look at me at first. But then she brushed at tears again before turning toward me.
“You’re not going to ask if it’s yours?”
“I just kind of assumed.”
She laughed, the sound mixed with her tears. “That’s what I like about you. You take everything at face value.”
“Not really. But I believe in you.”
She snorted. “You’re the only one.”
“It only takes one.”
She rolled toward me, groaning with the effort. She took my hand and pulled it up to her face.
“I’m sorry I flipped out on you. I wish things had been different, that you’d been there for me and I’d been there for you.”
“You are. You have been.”
She shook her head. “I pushed you away when I should have given you a chance to explain yourself.”
“And I lied to you. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I would likely have reacted the same way you did.”
Again she fell silent. “We really need to get to know each other a little better,” she said after a while.
“No time like the present.”
She lay back. “Yes, well, the pain meds they gave me are pretty impressive. I’m barely keeping my eyes open.”
I kissed her forehead. “Then go to sleep, baby. We’ll have plenty of time to talk over the next eighteen years.”
She snorted again, but she lay back and the tension left her body.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For making this easy.”
“Any time.”
I kissed the top of her head and watched her drift to sleep. She had no idea what her news meant to me. All I’d been able to think about for the last year was what it would be like to have a child of my own, a child I could raise as opposed to watching my brother raise him. I had wanted this longer than even I knew. And now she had just handed me that gift and promised me the future I’d been trying so hard to create for myself.
DRAGON SECURITY: Volume 2: The Complete 6 Books Series Page 9
