“Yeah, that thing’s worth a lot of money,” Lauren said, yanking her out of her quick musings.
“Patience,” Mr. Ward said quickly at him and then looked at her again. “Well?”
“Blade has it.” Something told her if she didn’t answer this question in a way that they liked, these men were going to end things for her a lot faster than whatever was currently planned. She added quickly, “It was too loose, so he had it sized.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Mr. Ward said. “Do you know where he has it?”
“That’s more than one question.”
Lauren backhanded her. “You’ll answer whatever he asks, cher.”
She worked her jaw, trying to get feeling back into it. He was out of his mind if he thought she was stupid enough to play along. She’d had lots of interrogation training. She knew how to give nuggets without divulging everything. Not that she got captured often, but the bureau instilled this stuff so much that it was almost second nature how to handle a situation such as this. Did they think they were working with an amateur here?
That’s when it dawned on her that they might not actually know she was an agent. Maybe they targeted her because of Blade—that part was becoming obvious—but not because she’d worked with him in an official capacity. These two thought they were really a couple.
They thought she was just some flavor of the week who’d captured his heart.
Thinking of him like that stung a little, but it definitely worked in her favor. These men had no idea what she was capable of. No way was she going to let on.
Anna started crying. It was hard faking big, fat tears, but it was dark. Small ones would do. “P-please don’t kill me. I’ll—um—tell you whatever I know. Please,” she said on an Oscar-worthy sob. But she quickly kept thinking about their motive here. She and Blade had told his family she was an accountant, which could be why they wanted her computer. Not to see classified information, but to find out what she’d calculated on the land valuations and corporate profitability on both Bayou Beasts and Bartholomew Acquired Development.
“Now that’s better,” Lauren said. Then he rubbed his crotch. Anna had to swallow to keep from vomiting. She didn’t have to be a trained special agent to know Lauren got off on the power. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had a history of violence against women. Present company excluded.
“Keep it in your pants,” Mr. Ward said. “I already have one over there to clean up.”
The lady in question still hadn’t moved, which confirmed Anna’s worst fears.
“Anna, that’s Monique. I told you I’d introduce her to the family.”
Her stomach rolled. Lauren had mentioned getting back to his date when she was in Louisiana. Had he had this woman the entire time? Anna could only image what all she’d gone through before she drew her last breath.
And if Anna didn’t want to have the same ending, she needed to figure out how to get these guys talking…without pissing them off. “Where are we?” she asked.
“The gator cleaning shack on the north end of Bayou Beasts. This area never sees any action, so they focus on hunts to the south. Shack hasn’t been used in years.”
“Oh, I’ve used it,” Lauren said, and glanced at the lifeless body.
“Shut up, boy.” Then he turned to her. “See what I have to put up with? The only son I got left likes pussy cold.”
Anna gasped. Lauren was Mr. Ward’s son? That meant…
“Yes, Lauren is my bastard child. Barbara and I go way back. I wanted to marry her,” he said almost wistfully, “but she married some gas land baron for his money. I did my best to make myself worthy of her love, built the largest law practice in the state.” That was an exaggeration. The man definitely had a God complex. “But all she would do was warm my bed every once and a while. After she got pregnant with Lauren, she tried to put a stop to it, but she could never stay away from me. Of course, I had too much dirt on her.”
“You blackmailed her,” she said, and almost winced for speaking out of turn.
“Yes,” was all he said, thankfully not punishing her. She thought back to when Anna met Barbara, but nothing sinister stood out. Then again, she hadn’t picked up any weird vibes on Lauren either. She’d been too focused on Blade and how the shame of the engagement made her feel. She knew better than to lose focus. If she hadn’t maybe, she’d have learned the truth about his family members and not be stuck here.
“She loved you?” Anna asked softly, trying to gently probe for answers she should’ve already known.
“With all her heart. Long ago. But she had another boy to take care of. So I got married and had my own child. Their playdates were nice covers for our rendezvouses.” He smiled, but it was fraught with sinister glee.
She wasn’t sure how to ask this next question without causing anger, but she had to find out. “Did anybody else know about this?”
“Barbara never told anyone. She was too worried her daddy would write her out of the will. That family is known to hold the inheritance over their heads.” She’d already learned that from Blade. “She couldn’t afford to lose out on the gator income. She’d already lost her husband’s income. By the time he’d met his untimely death, the gas wells had run dry. Oh, he’d left her a lot of money, but she wasn’t pulling in tons of land royalties each month. I tried to get her to see reason and let us be together out in the open since there was nothing stopping us anymore, but she refused. The little minx had dirt on me, too.”
His untimely death. “How did he die?”
Mr. Ward smiled. “That’s unimportant.” She could press him for answers, but that outcome wouldn’t change. Mr. Ward either killed him or was directly involved somehow. If she got out of this alive, she’d report what she knew and let the authorities dig.
And if she didn’t get out? Well, then he was right. It was unimportant.
“It’s a fucking pain in the ass Bernadette wrote Blade back into the will after I got rid of his daddy.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. This man had not only killed Barbara’s husband, but also killed Blade’s father. Why would he do such a thing? She knew better than to ask that out loud, and really, she knew better than to silently question it, too. He was clearly unhinged.
“Aren’t you curious?” he asked with a small smile. That didn’t surprise her because that went in line with the God complex assessment she’d already made.
“Yes,” she said, feeding his ego.
“Your fiancé killed my boy. All he ever did was love that girl. Of course, I pushed him to get with her. I wanted that family land. Back then, I just knew if Barbara got controlling interest, she wouldn’t need that scrawny ass husband of hers anymore. Jeremiah was my ticket to a life with Bernadette. He’d marry Brenna. Lauren was secretly my child. Justin would do whatever his mom and brother wanted.” He glared at Lauren. “Of course, I hadn’t learned of you and your brother’s appetite for submissive women.” He shook his head and focused on Anna again. “Things got rough with Jeremiah and Brenna one night. Her death was an accident.”
No way did Anna believe that. Not for one second. “How did she die?”
“The little slut like getting cut while fucked. He accidentally sliced her throat too deep. He knew how important the plan was. It was never his intention to murder her.”
“Not then anyway,” Lauren muttered.
Mr. Ward flashed a smile, but didn’t comment. Not that she needed him to. They’d planned on killing Blade’s sister at some point in the future. Probably shortly after the wedding.
“Yes, well, that plan was no longer viable, and then Blade killed my precious boy,” Mr. Ward said, low and menacing. He glanced away as if trying to control his emotion. When he looked back at her, whatever anger had flared was carefully banked. “Blade’s father was embarrassed by his son’s link to my son’s death. Didn’t matter that he’d done it to avenge his sister. He’d killed in cold blood. That religious man did not believe that two wrongs made a righ
t. Their relationship was never the same after that.” He smiled again.
“So why did you kill him?” she asked, because she assumed he was okay talking about the harm he’d caused Blade—these deaths weren’t unimportant like Barbara’s husband’s was.
“I’d made it my life’s mission to ruin Blade. The destroyed relationship with his father had been a perk, but I couldn’t risk a reconciliation. That would’ve had both personal and professional implications.” Yeah, if Blade and his dad had been able to mend fences, then it’d go against Mr. Ward’s agenda to hurt Blade. And any reconciliation could have resulted in Blade being written back into the will. Which made sense as to why this man was angry about Bernadette giving him his rightful inheritance. “With Brenna gone and Blade out of the picture, Barbara would have controlling power through her and her sons. Of course, I’d have made sure there wasn’t any threat to her control. Bernadette needed to go, too, once enough time passed. That’s the key to not getting caught. You have to spread out the murders.”
Oh God, he was going to kill Bernadette. Renewed focus to get out of this alive surged through Anna. She had to break free if only to save Blade’s mother. He’d already lost his sister and his father to this madman. All for twisted love and dangerous money.
She looked around the room as she shifted slightly in the wheelchair. There was a door at the other end. If she could quietly lift the footrest, she could lean forward and throw herself against the wall. If she did it just right, with enough downward force on her arm, she could possible break the tape that was wrapped around her wrist. She was going to aim for the side that wasn’t her bum ankle. She hoped it wouldn’t be an issue, but she didn’t want to chance breaking free and screwing it up in the process. That would make running very difficult. She took a calming breath. She’d only have one shot at this.
If she failed, they’d probably kill her immediately.
But if she got just one arm free, she could escape the chair and take these two men down like the badass agent she was. She mentally calculated every possible scenario in preparation for whatever happened as soon as she moved and the men realized what was going on.
Without further hesitation, Anna dropped, putting her plan into motion, but even though she thought of many different outcomes, what happened next wasn’t something she’d anticipated.
Chapter Fifteen
Blade didn’t think they’d ever make to his family estate in Louisiana, not that he had any idea where she was within this vast land. She could be tucked away anywhere within these thousands of acres. They’d called Rick and relayed what they’d learned. He and his crew were en route and had contacted the local FBI office for backup. He knew better than to tell them to not get involved. No matter the treachery that had recently come to light, Anna had been there for him and his team. He wouldn’t let anyone they worked with get hurt. Especially not the woman he loved more than life itself. Not that he knew how to deal with that. There were a lot of problems to face. Not to mention the fact that it was his love for her that got her into this mess because he knew exactly who it was that took her. It was the one thing out of everything he was sure of—who’d taken her and why.
Mr. Ward had it out for him. Ever since Blade had killed his son, the man had been on a malignant mission, determined to take him down any way possible. Blade should’ve known Fletcher Ward would’ve found out about the engagement. Blade had been too focused on Colton divulging something to Anna that he hadn’t considered the man would tell his boss the news of his impending nuptials. Not that he believed Colton’s actions were sinister. No, Blade figured the guy said something in passing that made its way back to Ward. The only other people who knew about the engagement were his family and the staff at Bayou Beasts, and he trusted them. No one else made sense as the source other than Colton.
“No sign of her here,” Gauge said, coming out from the most recent hunting cabin they’d checked. It wasn’t as easy as going to the spot where Brenna’s body had been found. It had been out in the open for all to see. Nor would Mr. Ward have taken Anna to where Blade had killed Jeremiah. He wasn’t aware of the location, and even if he was, it too was in the main yard, out in the open as well. They’d searched the house and talked to his mother when they’d first gotten there. She hadn’t seen anything, hadn’t been able to provide clues on where to continue the search, so they’d quickly set up a grid pattern and began work, once the house—and technically where the murder occurred—was cleared.
Even though Jeremiah had been killed near the house, his body, though, had been dumped into a small, alligator-infested swamp on the northern side of the property. It had been off-season, so thankfully, there hadn’t been any hunters in the area. After he’d given the animals enough time to take care of the body with their sharp teeth and insatiable bellies, Blade harvested them. He hated disposing of what had been perfectly good meat up until then, but he couldn’t risk raising animals who’d had a taste of human flesh, nor did he want a hunter taking an animal who’d dined on it. To make sure no more nested in the area, he’d taken a backhoe out there and slowly, over several months, shifted the earth around enough to absorb most of the water. Nature and time took care of the rest.
Thinking of part of the land was bittersweet. He’d been grateful at the time for the small swamp he’d known so well, and also guilty for ruining what had been a viable area for the family business. He rarely went up there anymore. He didn’t need the reminder of what he’d done, and it wasn’t as if it held any sad memories of his sister. Hell, back then the hunting shed up there was already falling apart. By now it’d be—
He sucked in a lungful of air. “Let’s go.” He ran for the four-wheeler he’d used to scope out the property. The guys hadn’t wanted to use anything motorized like that, preferring to check on foot to keep from alerting Mr. Ward they were in the area, but Blade knew they had too much ground to cover. The element of surprise would’ve been nice, but they’d have to settle for the element of speed instead.
“Where’re we going?” Brody asked through the headset as he raced beside Blade.
“Area Bartholomew Acquired Development wanted.”
Why didn’t he think of this before? He knew Mr. Ward owned that company. Blade didn’t believe for one second the man figured out that was where Blade had disposed of the body. Even though he’d been too young to understand satellite imagery and topography analysis, which in the right hands would be damning evidence against him, Colonel had known what to look for once he’d learned of Blade’s shady past. As evil as that man was, it had been nice being on his good side for a while.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brody motion behind him, probably indicting the curve coming up in the road so the others would be caught off guard. Blade could drive these trails blindfolded.
He activated his mic and said, “Just a couple miles this way before we need to kill the engines. We’ll go in the rest of the way on foot.”
“Glad you’re finally seeing reason,” Gauge grumbled, obviously pleased Blade was willing to go stealth. Not that he didn’t want to rush right up to the door, because he did, but he had a feeling he was going to be right about the shack and didn’t want to risk Mr. Ward hearing them coming. Besides, more four-wheelers were coming at the lower end and could be explained away. They didn’t have that luxury on the northern portion of the property. Not that Mr. Ward knew that, but it wasn’t worth chancing.
They came up to the last bend, and Blade came to a screeching halt. He dismounted and started running through the woods as quietly as possible. A skilled hunter, he knew how to stalk his prey. And he’d come prepared. Not only did he have his knife and gun, but his hand itched to reach for the long blade he’d had since his sister’s death resting on his hip. Funny that he’d come to a point in his life where he found comfort in the cold steel that had taken her life.
But he resisted and kept the same quick pace. He knew his teammates were behind him, as were five other guys from the local
FBI field office, even though all he heard were the soft noises his own feet made. When the cabin came into view, he slowed, and finally pulled out the menacing-looking knife.
And his gun.
He wasn’t an idiot.
He’d long thought he’d use this knife if ever loose ends needing tying, but as he got closer to the door, something deep inside of him knew the need for irony or revenge or whatever had fueled his desire to keep the knife to exact that specific type of justice had faded at some point over the years. Probably once Anna came into his life, and a deeper need took root.
Blade was still angry with her. God, was he ever pissed at that woman. But he hoped more than anything that he’d be given the opportunity to yell at her, demand answers, and fuck her into submission.
“Stand back,” Gauge whispered into his headset.
“You can fuck straight off,” Blade replied back, inching closer to the door. When he heard voices coming from inside the old wooden shed, he froze and said a silent thank you to the universe for being on his side.
“With Brenna gone and Blade out of the picture, Barbara would have controlling power through her and her sons. Of course, I’d have made sure there wasn’t any threat to her control. Bernadette needed to go, too, once enough time passed. That’s the key to not getting caught. You have to spread out the murders.”
That asshole was planning on killing his mother? New fury boiled inside of him, coupled with relief he’d just seen his mom earlier in the day when they’d arrived on the property, knowing she was safe. But why did that man care if his aunt had controlling interest in the property? He wasn’t going to sit out here and hope for an answer to that.
“Everyone in position?” one of the field agents asked. Blade didn’t remember those guys’ names.
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