She’d heard of the matriarch of the Great Family, Victoria Rasmussen, of course. Everyone had. She wielded her power and controlled the business the Great Family had built. Remy had only seen her once, at least ten years earlier. It was at an outpost somewhere, and Gunnar had pointed her out. He’d said Victoria was the most beautiful, and most deadly, woman in the quadrant.
Her silver hair was up in a bun, and she wore a shimmering black dress that only accentuated her curves. Remy had never seen anyone so perfect. At least a dozen men filed in to stand at her side. Some were dressed in the same farmer’s clothing, and others were all in black. That answered the question as to who the gunmen worked for. To Remy’s surprise, the older woman had a pistol riding her hip in a flashy sequined holster. Not many women hefted a pistol while they wore a dress, but there it was.
“Well met, Remington Hawthorne.” Her voice was as smooth as a good whiskey, and her gaze pinned Remy.
“Well met, Ms. Rasmussen.” Remy was ever so glad Max stood at her side. She’d never expected that partnering with the Great Family would bring her in contact with this woman.
“Are you quite all right? You’re covered in bruises.” Victoria’s gaze swept down Remy’s filthy clothing.
“I’m fine. I’ll feel it tomorrow, but for right now I’m standing straight and taking in air.” Her father’s favorite expression tumbled from her mouth, and it made her want to smile.
“Ah, Gunnar. He was a good one.” Victoria smiled sadly. “You’ve found yourself in some trouble after his passing, yes?”
Remy managed to nod. Before she could muster the words to speak to this intimidating woman, Max said, “You were in the land cruisers.”
Max saw what Remy failed to see, dazzled as she was by Victoria Rasmussen.
“Very good, Mr…ah…Fletcher, yes? Or is it Coddington?” Victoria seemed to know everything. This didn’t surprise Remy. The older woman controlled half the quadrant—she would and should know all that happened within its confines.
“Fletcher. It was my mother’s name, and I lay claim to it.” He tightened his grip on her hand. “And to Remington. You can’t have her.”
Victoria threw back her head and laughed. “We had an agreement, Mr. Fletcher, and I have no plans of hurting either of you. My intentions are completely the opposite.”
She walked toward them and a sense of dread invaded Remy’s veins. The woman was as tall as her, with the same body type, and damned if she didn’t have the same color eyes. Remy’s gut dropped to her feet.
Fucking hell. Was she related to this woman by some absolutely insane coincidence? It wasn’t possible. Just not possible.
“I’ve been looking for you for quite some time. Little did I know you’d been found by Gunnar Hawthorne. He was a hell of a ship’s captain, but he didn’t always make the right choices.” Victoria smiled sadly. “I was sorry to hear of his passing.”
“Thank you.” Remy didn’t know what else to say. The entire conversation was surreal, and her gut twisted this way and that with each passing second. She kept expecting someone to jump out from a corner and yell, “Surprise!”
The old lady walked around her, looking Remy up and down. “You’ve grown up well. I wondered if it was you when I heard about the Steel Coyote and its cargo. I’m pleased to see I was right. I’ve been keeping track of your journey.”
“You killed Delmar’s men.” Max’s gaze didn’t leave the men around Victoria, although he spoke to her.
“I needed to protect who I thought might be—”
“How dare you walk into my house like you own it?” Delmar stalked into the room, his hair askew and looking flushed. “Did you think I would allow this?”
Half a dozen men aimed their guns at him before he could reach them. Victoria turned to look at him. Her smile was anything but pleasant.
“Mr. Coddington, I’ve been looking into your business dealings, and I don’t like what I found.”
“Too fucking bad. I’ve got more contacts than you can imagine. You can’t touch me.” His eyes were wild, darting from one gun to the other. Remy didn’t know if he was bluffing or if the man was as crazy as he sounded.
“Oh, I assure you, Mr. Coddington, you are no longer in the position of power here. I most certainly can touch you.” She spoke with steel in her tone and flat, cold eyes.
“Everyone halt!” General Gina Parkinson strolled in in all her short glory and her smart military uniform. A smug smile graced her face as she took stock of the situation. “I have jurisdiction and a warrant for the arrest of Max Fletcher.”
“There is no one here by that name, I’m sure.” Victoria stared down her nose at her. “Now if you don’t mind, I was in the middle of speaking. Did they not teach you manners in the Corporation military?”
Gina raised herself to her full one and a half meters tall, her shiny brass buttons winking in the light. “I have jurisdiction in this entire quadrant. Therefore, you will submit to my authority.”
Victoria glanced at Remy and raised one silvery brow. “Is that what you believe? My dear General Parkinson, you are sadly mistaken if you believe you have any authority over me. Ever.”
Gina’s gaze darted around as the Great Family soldiers moved into position, surrounding the larger Corporation military group. Remy was suitably impressed but at the same time anxious to see what the old lady wanted of her. Tension shimmered in the air as the alpha females in the room faced each other.
“General, you will take my son, no matter what he’s calling himself, into custody and remand him to me. He’s mine.” Delmar’s command to Gina made Remy’s mouth tightened.
She glanced at Max but saw no surprise there. He must’ve already discovered his father’s perfidy. Delmar had obviously made a deal with the Corporation to capture his son no matter what. Was there anyone who wasn’t after him?
“I’m afraid you’re both mistaken.” Victoria waved one hand toward her men. “Neither of you are leaving with this gentleman in your custody. No one trades or sells slaves in this quadrant any longer. When Captain Hawthorne contacted me for assistance, I agreed to help her.”
“You can’t—” Delmar sputtered.
“Yes, I can.”
General Benson burst into the room, gun in hand, aimed at Remy.
The next few seconds were the longest of her life. She moved to push Victoria away from the line of fire, but her men were already there. A gunshot rang out and Remy hit the floor.
“Nice shooting.” Victoria spoke to Max, who stood with a pistol in his hand, smoke curling from the muzzle.
Remy saw the crazed general on the floor, a new hole in his forehead. “You killed him.” She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Max.
Their hearts both thumped like a racehorse.
“This place is a madhouse.”
“You have no idea.” He pressed his nose against her neck. “I thought he was going to kill you.”
“Me, too.”
“If the drama has concluded, I will speak to Captain Hawthorne and Mr. Fletcher now without interference.” Victoria gestured to the plush living room to the left.
Remy and Max walked together into the room. Her anxiety was echoed in the grip of his hand. Gina shouted and raged as they left her behind. This time for good, Remy hoped.
They sat on a settee covered in red satin. The decor matched the opulence of the room and what she expected Delmar surrounded himself with.
Veronica sat in a wingback chair and shooed away the two men who had followed her in. “I will be perfectly safe. Take care of Mr. Coddington, the general, and her men, if you please.”
After settling into the chair, she looked at both of them for a moment before she spoke again. “I’ve taken care of Mr. Cooper, and he is out of business as discussed in our communications, Captain Hawthorne. He will not bother you again. As I stated earlier, the Great Family might be powerful, but we do not deal in slavery and won’t allow it in the quadrant.”
“That�
�s good to know.” Remy wasn’t sure what else to say.
“If you would be so kind, I would like to hear about your origins, Remington.” Victoria sat back with her hands folded and waited.
Remy wanted to run, leave this room, this house, this goddamn moon. Cowardice wasn’t something she’d allow herself to feel. But she owed this woman the courtesy to do as she bade. Victoria was very polite and she had told Gina to go scratch. That was worth a few minutes of her time, surely. Yet Remy sat there in pain, the metallic smell of blood filling the air, her clothes sticky with it, and her gut twisting into knots. Like a nightmare come to life. She’d spent her life avoiding the Great Family and now she sat there like they were about to have fucking coffee.
Regardless of the odd situation, Remy took less than ten minutes to lay out the details of her life, beginning with what she knew of herself at four years old, including the bloody Remington in her hands. She spoke of growing up on the Steel Coyote with Gunnar and the crew who were her family. And then there was Max, the twins, and the frantic trip from Station Twenty to Haverty. There were details she excluded, personal pieces she wasn’t ready to share with anyone just yet.
Victoria nodded as she listened to Remy’s story. “I wondered what had happened to you.”
“I don’t understand.” Remy desperately wanted to know what the older woman knew.
“I suspect you are my granddaughter, offspring of my only daughter Edith, who never revealed the father of her bastard child. She and I never saw eye to eye. I had arranged a marriage for her that she didn’t agree with. She ran away to escape my influence, and as my daughter, she did a damn good job of hiding. Unfortunately, neither she nor the child were found.” Victoria’s eyes had a suspicious sheen. “Would you mind if I ask to see your right shoulder? The only detail I ever found regarding the child was she had a strawberry-colored birthmark on her shoulder near to the shape of a sword.”
Remy stood and pulled her shirt down, exposing the birthmark. She sat back down and tried to catch her breath. “I don’t know if that’s confirmation. I was never chipped.”
“Edith would have the smarts and the means to keep off the grid. She removed her own bio chip before leaving.” Victoria glanced at Max. “Some people realize the importance of not having one.”
Max looked away. “It can be a fresh start.”
“Indeed. It’s also a difficulty when you have to purchase passage and supplies by contacting smugglers.” Victoria’s gaze swung back to Remy. “I believe Gunnar helped Edith at one time or another, possibly how he came by you.”
Remy shook her head. “That makes no sense. He said I didn’t have a name, so he used Remington after the rifle I held in my hands.”
Victoria smiled. “I expect Edith taught you to protect yourself and to respect guns.”
“At four?”
“Always. A woman has to maintain control over every part of her life or we let men take it from us.” Victoria smiled at Max. “Men tend to take over everything if we let them.”
“Gunnar told me I was sterilized before he found me. How can you explain that?” Remy let that drop into the air like a boulder in a pond.
Victoria stiffened. “I cannot. I can only assume Edith died, and you were taken by someone like Cooper. If Gunnar found you bloodied and naked, he must’ve been looking for you and Edith. He would’ve never let them hurt you if he could stop it. Gunnar had a big heart. It sounds like you fought them.”
A kinship for the older woman bloomed inside Remy. She’d struggled to prove herself as a captain for a year, and before that, as a pilot. Men had tried to take over everything. Slavers had apparently been a part of her life for a very long time. Fighting them was the natural course, and she was glad to be part of the battle.
“So you think she protected me until she couldn’t and then somehow got word to Gunnar who found me. Why didn’t he contact you on the comm? And why did he warn me to stay away from the Great Family?” Remy didn’t understand why he wouldn’t have tried to reunite them.
“I suspect he was doing what she bade. Edith was a stubborn girl, more like me than I care to admit. My guess is she swore him an oath and he kept it. Like I said, Gunnar was a good man.” Victoria held herself with such poise and class, quite unlike Remy, who could hardly find a hairbrush, much less dress like a lady. “Do you believe you are a Rasmussen?”
Remy stared into the eyes so like her own, the face familiar yet a stranger. “Not yet, but I don’t disbelieve it.”
“Good. Very good.”
“I must insist I be heard.” Gina marched into the room, her face flushed and her voice strained. “I demand this man who calls himself Max Fletcher be arrested for a murder committed on Azesus station. Remington Hawthorne must also be arrested for aiding a fugitive.”
Victoria stared at Gina before she waved one elegant hand. One of her men filed into the room holding a tablet.
“Thank you, Gregory.” She tapped the screen a few times and turned it toward the incensed general.
The digital movie showed a white-haired old man fussing behind a counter that was too large for him. Max made a noise and met her gaze. Remy realized it had to be the mercantile owner from Azesus. A soldier in black appeared on the video with a large knife and slit the man’s throat, then gutted him. A movement in the corner of the video revealed someone watching the murder.
Gina.
“Now then, General Parkinson. If we are to arrest someone for murder, I think it should be you and your man.” Victoria handed the tablet back to Gregory. “You can tell us why you have set up this elaborate hoax on my granddaughter.”
Gina’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened and closed twice before she found her voice. “Granddaughter? She’s not part of the Great Family. She’s the offspring of a questionable ship’s captain, and she’s now broken the law.”
“I beg to differ. She is absolutely a Rasmussen. I suspect you wanted to punish Remington. Perhaps out of jealousy and anger? Some unresolved issues from the past?” Victoria got to her feet, deadly and powerful. “If you ever come near Remington, Max, or anyone on her ship again, I will personally make you and every member of your family disappear. Do you understand me?”
Gina’s mouth tightened. Sufficiently chastened, the angry general turned on her heel and left the room. Victoria’s smile was still just as pleasant as if she hadn’t just threatened to exterminate the Parkinson family.
“Now, as for you, Remington, would you consider properly joining the Great Family? I would be honored if you did.” Victoria clasped her hands in front of her.
Remy had luxury and power in her grasp, but one look at Max and she knew the only place she wanted to be was with him on the Steel Coyote. “I’m glad to know I didn’t spring from a cabbage patch, but I need to stay on my ship.”
She thought she spotted a twinge of disappointment cross Victoria’s face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. “I understand. The offer stands for the rest of your life and beyond.” Victoria turned to Max. “And now for your turn per our agreement. What do you wish to do with Delmar?”
Max started at the question. “It’s up to me?”
“I can kill him, or I can make sure he arrives at a military prison with a new name, locked away for life.” Victoria spoke as though they were discussing what kind of coffee to drink, not a man’s life. “For all of the people he has enslaved, I cannot leave him here on Haverty to continue his business.”
Max looked at Remy. She squeezed his hand. It wasn’t her decision to make, but she’d support whatever he chose. The entire situation was unreal, and she’d have almost thought she was hallucinating if it weren’t for the throbbing in her face from the general’s beating.
“Prison. I’d like him to know what it feels like.” The words came out of his mouth in a rush.
Victoria nodded. “Would you like to say goodbye to him?”
“No. I’ve said all I want to.” He kept his gaze on the wall, refusing to watch as his fathe
r was taken by the Rasmussens. Max could finally be free. They both could.
Remy wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “We could use a ride back to our shuttle.” She could hardly wait to return home.
Epilogue
Max stood on the bridge of the Steel Coyote and looked out at the infinite darkness around them. Haverty was behind them, a place he planned to never return again. The babes were safely delivered to families who would raise them. The supplies and tractor parts happily accepted.
And Remy had a new grandmother.
He didn’t know how to react to the news Remy was connected to the Great Family. When she’d contacted them, he had no idea of the connection. Remy was granddaughter to the powerful woman who ran the business and all branches of it with an iron, if elegant, fist. Many were afraid to speak her name for fear of her setting her sights on them.
Yet Remy was there with him on the ship and not with Victoria. He’d like to think it was because of him, but it wasn’t. Remy loved her ship more than anything. Not that he could blame her—the turtle had its appeal, being a ship made of pixie dust.
“Is it all over?” Morgan appeared beside him, looking up with her wide eyes.
Max resisted the urge to pat her on the top of her head. “Yes, it’s over. He won’t ever hurt you or anyone else again.”
She frowned, the crease between her brows had shades of the adult she would be. “Did you kill him?”
“No, I didn’t need to.” Max had faced his past, the darkness that hung on his back for his entire life. It didn’t go as he’d expected, but in the end, he was free of the yoke of being Delmar Coddington, Jr. No more hiding from who he was. Instead, he could be who he wanted to be.
“That’s how it had to be.” Morgan patted his arm. “Our father was not a good man.” She glanced behind her as Mason stepped toward them.
Max managed a smile. “No, he wasn’t.” He turned to Mason. “I never said thank you for coming to get me on Haverty. I know it was likely the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Thank you.” Max would have never expected the boy to do anything like that for him. One day, he might be able to talk about how much it meant to him without sounding like a fool.
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