Forsaken Duty, The Red Team Series, Book 9

by Elaine Levine

  “I’m not King. And I don’t think it’s a crime to want the one you adore to adore you back. Addy, my life has forever been forfeit to you, even when I thought you were long gone. Just…give us tonight. One night to hold each other. One simple night to heal.”

  “Owen…”

  “Please, my Laidy.” He stroked the side of her face with the tips of his fingers.

  “One night. No sex.” She pressed her lips in a thin line.

  He smiled and sighed in relief, so damned grateful that he had to clamp down on his emotions. He moved to the outside edge of the mattress and settled on his side. He’d put his SIG under the mattress there. She got under the covers and gave him her back. He pulled her close, putting an arm under her head and one around her waist. She put a hand on his where it spanned her side. His face was against the back of her head, pressed against her soft hair. He felt her uneven breathing.

  When it didn’t settle out, he whispered, “Imagine if you turned over and put your heart against mine? Our hearts can never lie. Never. They’ll talk to each other while we sleep and settle all the discord between us.”

  Addy did just that, rolling over so that she was pressed up against his chest. Her skinny knee forked his. “You have to stop being so kind, Owen. It’s killing me.”

  “I can’t. Not where you’re concerned. And it’s not killing you; it’s killing your resistance.”

  “I’ve been my resistance for the past decade. It’s the only thing that kept me alive.”

  “Maybe it’s time to surrender, then.”

  She pulled herself a little closer, settling her face against his neck. “I can’t. Not yet. But I’ll let my heart listen to yours while we sleep.”

  Owen gave a little laugh. “I’ll tell you now what it’ll say.”

  “What?”

  “I love you.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Go to sleep and listen. We can argue in the morning.”

  Three Years Ago

  Saddle Notch Ridge, Wyoming

  Addy stood in the big foyer, listening to the sounds the front door made as it closed behind her parents. The boys were watching her. She licked her lips, but her tongue was dry. She knew what was coming, and her fear of it was paralyzing. One of Cecil’s monumental rages. She gave her boys a weak smile, then asked Bonnie to take them upstairs.

  “Where are you going, boys?” Cecil asked.

  “Upstairs to work on their studies,” Addy answered for them.

  “Are you hiding them from me? My own sons?”

  “They don’t need to be here for this.”

  He smiled. “It’s good for them to know that decisions have consequences. And they are part of the consequences.”

  “No. Cecil, don’t. They had nothing to do with this.”

  He shouted his rage and tossed his glass across the way, shattering it against the front door. The smell of vodka filled the air. He took out his phone and texted something. Addy moved a few steps back. Slowly. She sent Bonnie a look. If things broke loose, Addy wanted the boys rushed out of the room. Bonnie gave a slight nod.

  “Bring them down here,” Cecil said.

  Addy faced him. “Your issue is with me, not them.”

  “Ah, but they are the consequences for your actions.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. I said, bring them here!” he shouted at Bonnie.

  She jumped, then complied.

  Cecil smiled at the terrified boys as he walked over to them. He reached out and gently gripped Troy’s chin. “So pretty, aren’t they? Bred carefully for the roles they’ll play.”

  Augie reached down and took Troy’s hand when her toddler sniffled.

  Cecil looked over their heads to her. “Pick one.”

  Those two words stole the breath from her chest. This couldn’t be happening. “Cecil—”

  “Pick one!” he bellowed.

  “Why?”

  “Do it, or I will.” His voice was once again quiet.

  “You can’t take my children.”

  “I’m only taking one. You knew there would be consequences for calling your parents. Apparently, that’s a hard lesson for your stupid brain to grasp.” He caught Augie’s chin in a brutal hold. “Will it be this one? He’s a little older. Maybe has a better chance of surviving without you.” He fisted a bunch of Troy’s hair, then turned both boys to face her. “Or will it be this one? Surely, he’ll die if I take him away. Look at him. He still wets his pants.”

  “That’s enough. You’ve made your point.” Addy went over to retrieve her boys, but Cecil backhanded her, swatting her away.

  “Choose. One you can have. One you will never see again. Which can you do without?”

  Addy held a shaking hand to her cheek. “Let’s just take some time to cool down. You want to punish me, do it. But leave the boys out of this.”

  Cecil gave her one of his cruel smiles. “I am punishing you.”

  “Not through my boys.”

  “My boys.” He looked past her. His men had come into the foyer. “She is so stupid. Clearly she can’t make up her mind. I’ll make it easy on you.” He shoved Augie toward his men. “Take that one. This one will never amount to anything, I’m afraid.”

  Addy screamed. She lunged after Augie. He grabbed for her. “Mom! Mom! Moooommmm!”

  She rushed after the man who was holding Augie up off the ground. She hit the guy and grabbed at his clothes and hair until she was pulled back. She spun around to fight, but a fist connected with her jaw. She hit the ground hard, and her world went black.

  Addy’s screams woke Owen. She was lying beside him, thrashing around, wailing, and when her hands touched him, she clawed at him. He pulled her closer, but that just made things worse. When he let her go, she scrambled free and stumbled away. He went over to her nightstand and put the light on.

  Addy stood in the center of her bedroom, looking dazed and disoriented. Her eyes were wildly shooting around the room. He walked over to her and gently pulled her close, not entirely certain she was awake. She melted into him, sobbing. And not the pretty, feminine kind of crying. No, this broke from her in ragged gusts that robbed her breath and her strength. When she started to collapse, he caught her and carried her over to the bed. He lay down with her, holding her, wondering what hellish memory had triggered this violent reaction.

  When his T-shirt was soaked and she was cried out, she was limp in his arms, still racked by broken gasps for air. He wiped her face then pulled the blanket up over them. “Talk to me.”

  She shook her head.

  “Laidy. You are my heart, and right now it’s fucking breaking. Please. Talk to me.”

  “He took Augie.”

  “Who?”

  “Cecil. He tried to make me choose which boy to lose.”

  “God damn.”

  “I wouldn’t. He decided for me. He took our son.”

  Our son.

  “When I tried to fight back, he broke my jaw. I spent a month in the hospital recovering.”

  Owen wrapped his arms around her and leaned over her. Her arms hooked around his back. He cried, too. For his son. For her pain. For the years they lost. For everything that had been done to him and his family.

  After a while, she caught his face in her hands. Her eyes searched his. “Do you think Augie’s still alive?”

  Owen drew back and looked down at her. Tomorrow, he had to make a plan to get them to safety. “I do. If for no other reason than for leverage.”

  Despite what he’d said, he wasn’t so certain. He’d tipped Edwards off that the boy was actually Owen’s.

  “It isn’t because I snore that I didn’t want you in here. It’s the dreams…they come every night.”

  Owen nodded. “Okay.” He didn’t know what else to say. Her pain was so brutally intense. Dreams were probably a relief of sorts. A pressure valve. “I got you. I’m never going to let him hurt you again.”

  Her eyes showed she didn’t believe him. And truth be told,
he wasn’t certain it was a promise he could keep, but he’d die trying.

  12

  The first thing Owen became aware of the next morning was the odd sensation of being both fully rested and emotionally depleted.

  The second was that he was alone in bed.

  The third was that someone was staring at him.

  Owen sat straight up. Troy was leaning on Addy’s bed, his head propped in his hands. Owen looked around. “Where’s your mom?”

  “Talking to the cook.”

  “What time is it?”

  “I don’t know. We had lunch a while ago. Mom said not to bother you, so I was being real quiet.”

  Owen ran a hand through his hair. How the fuck had he slept so late? He’d wanted to wake up with her. Some protection he was. The room was still dark—all the drapes were drawn. The house had been so quiet. And truthfully, he’d needed to crash.

  “Why are you sleeping in my mom’s room?”

  “She didn’t want me to sleep in the hallway.”

  “Oh. I thought it was because of the monsters.”

  “There are no monsters, Troy. Only my own devils.” It was a lie, but it was best to hide the truth from kids, no?

  Troy’s eyes got big and he straightened. “You have devils?”

  Owen reached over and ruffled his hair. “I’m working on taming them. Don’t you think your tutor’s going to miss you by now?” he asked, trying to preemptively redirect the boy’s attention.

  “She was in the bathroom, but I bet she’s out now.” Troy climbed on the bed and crawled over to hug Owen’s neck. “Bye, Mr. Tremaine.”

  Owen caught himself before he could say, “Bye, son.” The kid didn’t need that kind of confusion.

  Owen collected his pistol, which he’d moved to Addy’s nightstand, then went to his room for a shower and a shave. He let the water run over his face, washing away the salt and tears of the night.

  He needed to make a plan. He couldn’t use any of the phones to reach out, because every one of them had to be tapped. Jax or the Omnis could get there long before his team could. Certainly, if the staff were Omni, it could be a bloodbath. He couldn’t use any computers in the house, because he was sure they were being watched. He could take one of the staff cars, but cops would pull them over once they got to the town below. They couldn’t walk out. It was winter in the Rockies. And he didn’t know what kind of endurance Addy was capable of. Besides, out in the woods, they’d be exposed to multiple threats—human, animal, weather. At least at the house, they could take cover in Jax’s armory. Or Addy’s panic room, if she had one.

  Owen went in search of Addy. It was already midafternoon. The staff said she was in her study. It was the third door on the right in her hallway. It was open, so he walked right in. She was sitting at a double-sided barrister’s desk, working on a laptop. He walked over to one of the tall windows that overlooked the gorgeous grounds around the home. There wasn’t a lot of landscaping. The area was left wild, with huge rock outcroppings that jutted up from the ground. Gravel paths wove their way around the rocks. Here and there were beds of xeriscape plants. Nothing was in bloom at the moment. Pockets of snow still lingered in north-facing crevices of the jagged boulders.

  He turned around and faced her, leaning on the window frame. Addy didn’t tell him to leave. She didn’t give him any attention at all. He’d told her last night that he was a patient man—maybe that had been a lie.

  “Thank you,” he said, breaking into her wall of silence.

  A frown tightened her brow. “For what?”

  “For last night.”

  Maybe that got through. She gave a long and quiet sigh, then nodded.

  “You feeling okay today?” he asked, worried the effects of her nightmare lingered. They did with him.

  “I’m all right.”

  Fuck that. She was frosty as hell.

  “Jax just came through the gate,” she said. “He’s on his way up to the house.”

  “That a fact. Addy, I’d like you to stay up here. I’ll go talk to him.”

  “Not without me. I have too many questions now to leave them unanswered.”

  “Did you call him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s take him out to the firing range. He can be a target if he doesn’t have the right answers.” Owen grinned.

  “I agree,” Jax said as he came into Addy’s study. “It would be a lot easier to clean up out there than in here, should you decide to shoot me.”

  Owen gave him a cool smile. “Don’t tempt me.”

  Spencer came into the room with a coffee tray and some small pastries. Jax fixed a cup. Owen reheated his.

  Addy shut her laptop as the butler left, then just gave her brother a sad stare. “So many lies, Wendelly. I don’t know what’s true.”

  Jax dropped down into an overstuffed armchair. “I agree. It’s time. I wanted you two to reconnect first. Looks like you have. Owen’s no more mangled looking now than when I brought him here, so I guess that’s good.” He looked from Addy to Owen. “Where do you want to start?”

  Owen reached a hand out to Addy. When she took it, he led her over to the small sofa in the sitting area where Jax was. “Why did you go rogue?”

  “Who said I went rogue?”

  “Your dad.”

  “Guess you can’t believe everything you’re told. I separated at the end of my tour months ago.”

  “Why would he lie?”

  “It would be easier to tell you the reasons why he wouldn’t lie. I guess both answers would be the same—because it served him to do so.”

  “Wendell, let’s start at the beginning,” Addy said. “Did you know the Omnis had taken me?”

  “I wondered, when I saw the corpse of the woman they said was you.”

  “How did you know it wasn’t Addy?” Owen asked.

  “There wasn’t much to go on…wasn’t much of her left,” Jax said. “Her hands. Her feet. Bits of hair. But something about her nails caught my attention. My sister and I have the same nails, broad and flat. They’re distinctive.” Addy looked at her nails. “The corpse’s nails were different. Curved in the middle.”

  Jax sipped his coffee. “I told my dad that that body wasn’t Adelaide’s. He showed me a note from somebody named King who said he’d taken Addy in retribution for my dad’s involvement in getting the Red Team started six years earlier. Guess it took them a while to figure out his role in all of that. Dad sent me to a contact of his—a guy named Santo who lived in the tunnels.” He looked at Addy. “The same place where your hell began. He hadn’t seen you. Nor had anyone in his network.”

  “You met Ace there,” Owen said.

  Jax nodded. “Yeah. I learned she was involved with prepping women for their secret induction. I gave her a camera and asked her to record everyone who came through.”

  “She had that camera when she was with me. I asked her to stop recording,” Addy said.

  “But she didn’t,” Owen said. “She felt guilty about not turning it off when you asked her to, so she didn’t turn that one in to Jax.”

  Jax shut his eyes.

  “You act like this is all a shock, but you knew about your parents’ plans,” Owen said. “You told me to take Addy and go, that they had someone else in mind for her.”

  “I knew they didn’t want her to pick you,” Jax said. “I didn’t know who they had in mind. And I certainly never thought it would be what it was.” He leaned forward and scrubbed his hands over his eyes. “You told me that night you’d been laying down the tracks of your plans for Addy for years.”

  “You knew I was crazy about her forever.”

  “Yeah, but then it was a train that took her from us,” Jax said. He sent Owen a sad look. “I overheard Roberta talking to someone on the phone a short while after the accident. She said you were King. Then when I talked to my dad, and showed me that note…I don’t know. I just fixated on you being King.”

  “Why would I seek retribution for the foun
ding of the unit I served in?” Owen asked.

  “I thought you were a plant. Of course you would deny it if I confronted you.”

  “That’s why we went our separate ways,” Owen said. “I thought it was because we were both so broken up over losing Addy that even our friendship was painful. Little did I know we weren’t even friends at that point.”

  “Yeah. I kept looking for Addy. Dad would send me on assignments that only he knew about. I thought the secrecy had to do with keeping it from the Omnis, but now I see it was for his own personal reasons that I did what I did. I was his spy, ferreting out what the Omnis knew, what they were up to, who their players were.

  “You know,” Jax continued, “you went to live with Val after your dad passed—or at least we thought he passed. I learned in those years while I was dad’s errand boy that Jason Parker was bad. I figured that’s when you’d turned. Santo said Tremaine was King. Since I thought your dad was dead, I assumed he meant you.”

  “Shit, Jax. That’s fucked up. You never once came to me. You never gave me the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Nope. I bought the propaganda. I spent four years looking for Addy. Then Ace told Santo she was leaving the system. I got her set up in the outside world. She wanted revenge on those who’d abused her. I wanted answers. I let her go for it. I took all the info she sent my way, always asking about the women she encountered. She took photos of everything.

  “I didn’t know Dad was an Omni until I reconnected with Addy. And then I learned he’d known where she was all along. That he’d left her there with Edwards and only reached out to me for help once her son had been taken. That kind of betrayal cuts hard. Seemed a confirmation of what I believed you’d done. That Addy had heard that Tremaine was King as well just cinched it.” Jax looked at Owen. “I lied when I told you Addy stayed in to protect you. I was too much of a coward to admit I hadn’t been able to figure out all the pieces. And I didn’t want you to hate her for my failing.”

  Owen felt sick. “I wonder how much Jason and Santo knew. Even your dad. And mine.”