by Lily London
It was Jason who had come up with the plan to draw him out. We were hoping that if Damien knew that Haley was staying here alone, then he would be too compelled to make his move. He had already escalated his timeline, and we knew he was on a short fuse. With the right bait set, we were hoping he would show either tonight or in the next day or two. The guys were all around the property with their guns, Clay had his rifle and scope with him in case we needed someone to make a shot from a difficult spot. Reed had put in cameras and mics within the living room, kitchen, and hallways, so if Damien did come in, we would be able to get enough evidence for the police should we have to defend ourselves.
I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. I was hoping that the police would handle it. Once Damien arrived on the property, Quinn would call the police and report the intruder. My job was to get Damien talking and admitting to what he had been doing to Haley. If all went right, no one would be hurt, and there would be no need to get physical. I was hoping that would be the case, but I had a strong doubt it would go so smoothly. What I did know was, we needed this to end. Haley needed this to end, and so did my men. I wasn’t lying when I said they would be fine. They were all war veterans many times over, but I had prided myself on creating a safe haven for them. On creating a place where they could recover from the trauma they had endured. I hated that they were now having to bear arms again and hide within the shadows to stop a threat. They all had assured me that they were fine with it, that they wanted to help. I knew they were all honorable men and wouldn’t stand for any man abusing a woman. Still, it wasn’t easy having them outside lying in wait. I was worried about Clay the most. He had been going through something recently, and the last thing I wanted to do was trigger him.
A quick look at the clock told me that it was nearing two in the morning. I was exhausted, and I knew I needed to try and get a bit of sleep. I had to be up in four hours to tend to the horses.
***
I was jolted out of sleep roughly an hour later by the sound of glass breaking. I knew it must be Damien. I looked over at Haley, and she had stirred awake, startled by the sound as well.
“What was that?” She asked.
“Get dressed.”
I got out of bed, threw my jeans on, and grabbed my gun. I gave a quick look at Haley and saw that she was getting her clothes back on. I could tell she was trying to stay calm, but I could see the slight tremble to her frame. Not that I could blame her. She knew that Damien most likely was the one to make that sound and there was a good chance he was in this house. We didn't have long, but I had to say something to her. I couldn’t let her continue to worry like this. I quickly went over to her and placed my hand on the side of her face.
“Hey, it’ll be ok. The guys are around the house, ready and waiting. Quinn will have already made the call to the police and there are cameras and mics hidden downstairs. We planned this, and Damien is doing exactly what we wanted him to do. All you need to do is stay close to me and see if you can get him talking about the abuse. We get him admitting to it on video, he’ll go away for a long time.”
“You planned this?” Haley asked shocked.
“We did. We knew we had to do something to make him act. We didn’t want to have to wait for him to decide he was ready to attack you. He thinks you are here alone, so he’s making his move. But listen to me. He’s very dangerous, Haley. He was suspected of murdering his previous victim, and then he changed his name and moved to Washington.”
“Oh my god.”
There was nothing but pure fear in her voice, and if we had the time, I would have done everything I could to ease her fears, but we didn’t have the time.
“You will be fine. I promise you. Just stay behind me, and he won’t hurt you. Remember the police should already be on their way. Come on.”
I started to head for the door, making sure Haley was right behind me. I kept my left hand on her leg so I could feel that she was still with me. I needed my right hand free should I have to draw my gun. Slowly we made our way down the stairs, my eyes scanning the room to see where Damien was. Normally I would have my gun out, but I didn’t want to have it out in case Damien was armed. The very last thing I needed was a shootout in my house where Haley could be hit. If Damien thought I was unarmed, he might think twice before shooting. I noticed the broken glass in the windowpane next to my front door, and I knew that Damien was inside. It was just a question of where. I didn’t hear him going up the stairs, so I knew he had to be on this floor. I guided us into the living room and saw the man himself standing there, looking at the photos on my mantle.
Before I even had the chance to say anything, Damien turned around. There was a slightly shocked look on his face to see me standing here. Apparently, he did believe Haley would be all alone. A stupid mistake on his part, but one I was glad that he made. We now had the chance to end this. I could not wait until this man was put behind bars and Haley would be safe.
“Damien Walker, you are trespassing on private property.” I started. I just needed to stall long enough for the police to arrive.
“I’m not trespassing. I’m just here to retrieve my property.”
Just the sound of his voice was enough to boil my anger. I hated men like him. The ones that thought they could do whatever they wanted because they were bigger. They were nothing but weak little boys trying to control someone, so they could feel powerful. I had seen the type overseas, and each time I put them down. Damien’s reign of terror ended tonight.
“There is nothing here that belongs to you,” I said.
“That little bitch behind you belongs to me. Now give her back, and I’ll be on my way.”
“She’s not your property, and she’s not going anywhere with you.” I snarled.
“Just leave me alone Damien. Find someone else you can control and abuse. I’m done with you. Have been for two years now, ever since you tried to kill me.” Haley’s voice was strong, and I felt so unbelievably proud of her.
“Never tried to kill you. Not my fault you needed to be taught a lot of lessons. You were always such a bad child,” Damien sneered.
“I was fourteen when you first started having sex with me. You were supposed to be my foster parent. You were supposed to keep me safe. Instead, you abused me and manipulated me into a relationship with you. What type of man has sex with a fourteen-year-old?”
Damien just laughed, and there was nothing more at this moment that I wanted than to beat the living hell out of him for it.
“What type of man? A smart fucking one. One that knew he could easily have you, and I did. I only became a foster parent just so I could find me a young girl to control. One that would do whatever I wanted and demanded, and you were perfect. All you wanted was to find someone to finally love you. And you got exactly what you wanted. I loved you how you deserved to be loved. I gave you exactly what you deserved. It’s not my fault you were so bad at following my orders and rules. It’s not my problem you needed a good beating to learn your lesson. I have been chasing you around for two years now, and you are going to be making it up to me. Now get your fucking ass over here. We are leaving.”
I could see how he would be intimidating to a young woman. He was large, and he knew exactly how to twist the knife in to hurt just a little bit more. The only difference was, I was standing here now, and I was not going to let anyone hurt Haley ever again. She would never be going anywhere with him, even if she felt like she had no choice. This asshole was going down tonight, and she was finally going to be able to take a breath and feel free.
“She’s not going anywhere. She is exactly where she belongs. If you want to take her, it will be over my dead body.”
I didn’t need him more pissed off; I just needed him to stop talking. He had incriminated himself, and I knew it would hold up in court. What I needed was his attention off from Haley, so he couldn’t spew more poisonous words at her.
Damien pulled out a gun from the back of his waist and pointed it right at me. “Fin
e by me.”
Before I could even register what was happening shots were ringing out. I quickly went and grabbed Haley, shielding her with my body as we dropped to the floor. When it got quiet, I rolled off of Haley looked her over. She was crying, but she didn’t appear to be in pain. I roamed my hands all over her, checking for any injuries.
“Are you ok?” I asked, my training is the only reason I was able to stay calm at this moment.
“I’m good, I’m ok.”
The scream that came out of her mouth had me turning to look at Damien. He was lying there on the floor with blood pooling around his head. His eyes were open and dead, and there in the center of his forehead was a single bullet wound. I knew if I looked behind me there would be a bullet hole in my wall. Clay had taken the shot, and I was glad that he did. With being a sniper, he had an ability know when someone was going to fire or hit the button on their vest. Clay would have been able to pick up the tone in Damien’s voice and know that he was going to shoot us. My front door opened, and I saw Reed and Quinn coming in along with multiple police officers. This was not the outcome that I was hoping for. I was hoping that it would end relatively peacefully, and he would be taken out in cuffs. With him being dead and Clay taking the shot, it would get complicated. I was just hoping the police officers were going to be understanding and not arrest Clay, which was the last thing that we needed.
“Are you both alright?” Quinn asked, coming to us.
“We’re fine,” I said.
“Der, you’re bleeding,” Haley said with a shaky voice.
The trembling in her body had gotten worse, and I was hoping it was just from adrenaline. I looked down and I didn’t see any blood, I didn’t feel any pain. Quinn applied pressure to my right shoulder, which was when I felt it. I had been shot. It was most likely a through and through, but it would still hurt once the adrenaline wore off.
“We need an ambulance over here, Officer. We have a GSW to the right shoulder, appears to be a through and through.” Quinn said.
“What the hell is going on here?” An officer demanded. I assumed he was in charge.
Reed went over to handle it. He was always the calmest out of us. He knew how to work politics just as well as a computer. I knew my men would handle things from here, and all I needed to focus on was getting my shoulder taken care of and making sure Haley was ok. I was hoping to see Clay, but I knew it would take him longer to get down here.
“I’m so sorry, this is all my fault,” Haley said, tears building in her eyes.
“It’s not your fault. This is on him, not on you. Everything will be ok.” I told her. The very last thing I wanted was for her to blame herself. This wasn’t her fault at all. The blame belonged to Damien.
Quinn helped me get up and we were escorted out, Haley staying with us. I could see the rest of my guys outside waiting with the police to give their statements. I looked over towards the barn and saw Clay was slowly making his way towards us. I could see the pain in his movement, and I knew he was hurting.
“Go to Clay, stay with him, and make sure he doesn’t get in trouble for this. He’s in pain, and he might be triggered, so tread lightly.” I whispered to Quinn.
“I’ll let the lead officer know and make sure no one does anything that could push him over the edge. Have Haley go with you to the hospital. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say she was going into shock.”
I gave a nod, and Quinn headed off for Clay while I turned my full attention to Haley. She was still shaking and trying to get herself back under control. I knew this would be a shock to her, and that she was going to need some time to adjust to it all. But I knew she would manage and come out of this stronger than ever. I sat down on the back of the ambulance while the paramedic looked at my shoulder. I draped my good arm over Haley’s shoulders.
“It’ll be ok,” I said, placing a kiss on her temple.
“Everything is so screwed up right now. You have a dead body in your home. I never wanted this to happen. I never wanted any of you to be at risk like this. Could you go to jail?”
“None of this is your fault. And no, we didn’t do anything wrong. Might take a bit of explanation, but Reed is incredibly good with that. Quinn will keep an eye on Clay, and tomorrow will be a new day and a fresh start for you. We just have to get through this first, but we will.”
“I should feel bad that he’s dead. I should feel something, but right now I just feel numb.”
“That’s normal. You are in shock. Eventually, that will wear off, and you will be able to feel whatever it is that you need to feel. It might be sadness, or relief, or it might even be anger. Whatever it is, it’s ok to feel that way. You can crash in my guest bedroom as long as you want, and when you are ready to return to work, you can. Take the time you need to allow yourself to recover from this.”
Haley just gave a nod and curled up against me as best as she could. I knew that soon her body would be crashing, and she would be beyond exhausted. I just hoped that when the police did come to question her, they would be gentle with her. She had been through a lot. The last thing she needed was to feel worse about all of this. At least now it was over, and hopefully, the healing could start.
EPILOGUE
HALEY
Standing here in the warm sunlight was doing wonders for my mood. The past week had been long and filled me with a mixture of different emotions. After Derek was cleared to leave the hospital, with his arm in a sling for the next month, we had come back here to see the police had cleared out. We were both interviewed at the hospital, and for the most part, we were all in clear. Clay had been taken down to the station, Quinn going with him, and he had been questioned for an extensive period. They wanted to keep him for forty-eight hours, but thankfully, the detective in charge of the case could tell that Clay couldn’t handle being in a cell for two days. Clay could come home, and the detective had come by a few times to speak with him. He was finally cleared of Damien’s death. It was ruled self-defense. With Clay was found not culpable, it was a huge sigh of relief to everyone.
All of the guys were currently in the paddock with a couple of the horses. Clay was standing with Chocolate as they were trying to get him used to being around the others. I wasn’t sure how well it would go over, but they had been working with Chocolate for a while now, and it seemed like he was getting better. Seeing them all together warmed my heart. These past weeks had left me feeling a lot of different things. I wasn’t even sure if I belonged here at one point. I was still living with Derek, but he had been the perfect gentleman and allowed me to have my space. I needed the time to get my head in order and figure out what I wanted. I now had the chance of a real life for the first time. It was a little overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, if I should stay or go. Then, this morning when I woke up, I looked out my window and saw them all out there. They were smiling and laughing with each other. Completely carefree. They were a family. They were brothers, and they had protected me. They were my brothers now, and I didn’t want to be anywhere but right here. This was my home, and it was time I embraced it.
I headed over to the others, and when I arrived at the fence, I moved and sat on the top of it. Derek instantly saw me and headed over my way. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was gorgeous, sling and all, and he was all mine. This man was quickly stealing my heart, and I knew I was stealing his. I had never truly been in love before, but I was excited to see where it would take me.
“Morning, cowboy,” I said with a warm smile.
“Morning, darling.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. I knew I would never get tired of the feel of his lips on mine. Derek pulled back after a moment, and I spoke.
“I have some paperwork I need to finish up for the adoption day. Maybe later, if you have the time, we could have a private meeting in your office.”
The flirty smile I sent his way was all he needed to know exactly what I was thinking about. He gave me a big smile in
return as he spoke.
“Well, I do believe you need your performance review. Give me an hour, and I’ll be there.”
“Looking forward to it.” I gave him a wink, and he headed back over to help with the horses.
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. This was home. These men were my family, and I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for each one of us. I couldn’t help but wonder, who would be next to find love?
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