by Nora Roberts
in his pocket and picked up her keys. “I’m going to borrow your car, need to take a little trip. A little trip with my wife. A wife’s bound to go where her husband tells her to go, isn’t that right?”
He grinned as she rolled her eyes, as sick panic dulled them. “It was real obliging of you to write all those letters to the prison. Real obliging. That’s why I’m not going to mess you up too bad. I want to show you how I appreciate it.”
He laughed when Constance moaned and babbled against the gag. “Now, Cassie’s a different thing, isn’t she? She didn’t stick by her husband like a proper wife, did she? But I’m going to take care of that. I’m going to teach her a real good lesson. Want to hear what I’m going to do to your daughter, old woman? Want to hear what I got planned for her?”
Because he was enjoying the panic in her eyes, Joe hunkered down and told her.
Devin squealed to a halt at the inn. His eyes scanned every bush, every tree, as he hurried around to the back and up the stairs. He didn’t stop praying until he opened the door and saw Cassie at the stove.
He couldn’t help it. He grabbed her, dragged her hard against him and just held on.
“Devin—”
“Sorry.” Clamping down on every emotion, he drew back and became a cop again. “I have to talk to you.” He flicked a glance to the living room, where Connor and Emma sat staring at him. He started to tell Connor to take Emma to her room and stay there, then realized he was thinking like a father, not a cop. “Joe walked off work release just over an hour ago.”
Cassie’s knees buckled. Devin held her up and guided her to a chair. “Sit down, and listen. I’ve got people checking on his known associates, the places where he used to hang out. We’ll pick him up, Cassie. Does he know you’re living here?”
“I don’t know,” she said dully. “My mother might have— I don’t know.”
“We won’t chance it. I want you to get whatever you need. I’m going to take you over to the cabin.”
“The cabin?”
“You’ll stay with Savannah. I need Jared. I need Shane, too, or I’d have taken you over to the farm. Pull it together, Cassandra,” he said, sharply enough to have her eyes clearing.
“I can’t go to the cabin, Devin. I can’t put Savannah and her children in danger.”
“Savannah can handle it.”
“So can I. Give me a minute.” She needed to take a breath. “Connor and Emma will go wherever you think they’ll be safe.”
“No, ma’am.” Connor curled his trembling hand over Emma’s. “I’m not going anywhere without you. I’m not leaving you.”
“Nobody’s leaving anybody. You’re all going where I tell you to go. Get your things,” Devin snapped. “Or do without them.”
“Savannah is not responsible for me and mine,” Cassie said slowly. “I am.”
“I don’t have the time to be patient with you. I can’t stay here and take care of you, so you’re going.”
He whirled around. Connor, his stomach queasy, saw a kind of fury he’d never seen before, not even in Joe Dolin’s eyes. “Get downstairs, into the car.”
“I can take care of my mother.”
“I’m counting on it, but not here. Do as I tell you, Connor.”
“Devin, take the children, and—”
“The hell with this.” He spun around again, picked Cassie up bodily and flung her over his shoulder. “Out!” he shouted at Connor, then swore when the boy’s blood drained out of his face. “Damn it, boy, don’t you see I’d die before I’d hurt her? Before I’d hurt any of you?”
And Connor did, so clearly that the shame of it burned color back into his cheeks. “Yes, sir. Come on, Emma.”
“Put me down, Devin.” Cassie didn’t bother to struggle. “Please, put me down. We’ll go.”
He set her on her feet, keeping his hands on her shoulders for a moment. “You have to let me take care of you. You have to let me do that, at least. Trust me, Cassie.”
“I do.” She reached for Connor’s hand. “We do.”
“Make it quick.” He put a hand on the screen door, scanned quickly before stepping out. “We’ve got roadblocks,” he began. “Helicopters are on the way. Odds are we’ll have him before nightfall. How many at the inn?”
“No one. We have a family coming in tonight, but—”
“I’ll take care of it. Just don’t—”
When the shot rang out, it was so sudden, so shocking, Cassie could do nothing but gasp. Devin collapsed at her feet.
“Hi, honey.” Joe walked forward, a grin on his face, a gun in his hand. “I’m home.”
She did the only thing she could do. She shoved the children behind her and faced him.
She saw the changes in him. His face was thinner, harder, as his body was. There was a scar beside and beneath his right eye, puckered and white. But the eyes themselves were the same. Brutal.
“I’ll go with you, Joe.” She knew Devin was breathing, but there was blood on his temple where the bullet had streaked. He needed help, an ambulance. The only way to save him and her children was to surrender herself. “I’ll go wherever you want. Just don’t hurt my babies.”
“I’ll do whatever I want with your brats, bitch. And you’ll do just what I tell you.” He looked down at Devin, sneered. “Not so tough now, is he? I should have aimed better.” He squinted, laughed. “Got a little problem with the eye, but I’ll do a lot better close up.”
As if in a dream, she saw his face, saw the gun lower. The cold came over her, the cold and the knowledge that this had happened before. Only then it had been a young, wounded soldier and a woman too weak, too frightened, to save him.
“No!” She screamed, threw herself over Devin’s body. “He’s hurt!” She knew those words were useless, and struggled to find others. “If you kill him, Joe, and they catch you, you’ll never get out again. Do you know what happens when you kill a police officer? It isn’t worth it. I said I’d go with you.”
“You stay there, I’ll just shoot through you. Then, maybe…” He smiled again, shifted his gun toward Connor.
“Stay away from my babies!” Like a woman possessed, she lunged, threw herself at him with a fire and fury that nearly knocked him over. Even when he hit her, she clung like a burr. Then Connor was on him, pummeling, shouting.
Joe swatted him off like a fly.
“I’ll teach you manners, you little brat.” Before he could strike out with the butt of the gun, he heard the sound of sirens. “Later,” he said as Connor scrambled to his feet. “I’ll be back for you later.” He had am arm around Cassie’s throat, choking her, the gun to her temple.
His only escape, he saw, was the woods. “I’ll kill her!” he shouted to anyone who could hear. “Anyone comes after me, she’s dead!”
He dragged her away, trampling flowers.
On the ground, Emma squeezed Devin’s hand. “Please wake up. Please wake up.”
Connor crawled to him as Rafe and a deputy rushed around the house. “He shot him, he shot him and he took Mama!”
Grim-faced, Rafe bent over his brother. “It’s not as bad as it looks.” It helped to say it. He pulled a bandanna out of his pocket and stanched the blood. “He’s coming around,” he murmured, and relief washed through him in a flood as Devin stirred. “Connor, go in and call an ambulance. Hurry.”
“No.” Devin’s eyes fluttered open. He batted his brother’s hand away. “I’m okay. Cassie—”
“You’re shot, you idiot.” But even as Rafe tried to hold him down, Devin was fighting his way up.
His vision wavered, grayed. A short stream of oaths helped steady it again. “Where’d he take her?”
“To the woods.” Connor bit his lip. “He took her into the woods. He was hurting her. I tried to stop him.”
“Take care of your sister,” Devin ordered. “I want men posted around the woods. Notify Jared, tell him to get back to the cabin. He might go there. You stay with these kids,” he ordered his deputy. “Ge
t them inside.”
“I’m going in with you,” Rafe stated.
“You can go in.” Eyes cold, Devin drew his weapon. “But he’s mine.”
Cassie did whatever she could to slow him down now that he was away from her children and Devin. She would not be a silent victim again. She scratched, she bit, she kicked.
“Forgot who’s boss, didn’t you? Thought you could lock me up in a cage and forget who was in charge.” Cursing her, he shoved the gun into his waistband, so that he could use both hands to drag her. “I’m going to have a good time reminding you.”
“They’ll find you. They’ll catch you and lock you up for good this time.”
“Maybe they’ll catch me, maybe they won’t.” He stumbled along, hauling her after him and losing his direction in his fury. He hated these damn woods, the MacKade woods. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. I know just what we’re going to do. We’re going to get us a car. That’s what we’re going to do.”
He cursed the fact that he’d had to leave the one he’d already stolen behind.
“I’ve got friends,” he muttered. “I’ve got plenty of friends who’ll help me out.”
“You’ve got no one. You never did. Devin’ll come after you, Joe, and he’ll never stop.”
“He’s lying on his back and bleeding to death.”
“He’ll never stop,” she said again. “Nothing you do to me will come close to what he’ll do to you.”
“Got something going with him, don’t you?” Joe stopped, breathless, and dragged her head back by the hair. He thought he heard voices in his head, voices saying the words just before he did. “You whore. I own you. Don’t you forget it. I own you. Till death do us part.”
“You’re a miserable, drunken bully.” Defiance bolted through her like lightning. “You don’t own anything, not even yourself. You’re pathetic.” She barely winced when he yanked mercilessly on her hair. “The only thing you can beat is something weaker than you. Go ahead, Joe, hit me. It’s the only thing you know how to do. But this time, damn you to hell, you’re in for a fight.”
He released her hair, using that hand to knock her sprawling on the path. The pain only energized her. Eyes hot and deadly, she got to her feet, her fists clenched.
He stepped forward, and she braced, ready, even eager, to defend herself.
“If you touch her, if you breathe on her, I’ll put a hole in you.”
Slowly Joe turned. Devin was less than three yards back on the path, his weapon drawn and aimed. Rafe MacKade was behind him. As Joe’s eyes darted in search of an escape, Shane stepped out of the trees. And Jared moved up the path behind Cassie.
“Drop the gun, Dolin, take it out slow and drop it, or I’ll kill you.”
“You’re plenty brave, MacKade.” Joe wet his lips as he took the gun out with two fingers, stooped to set it on the ground. “When you’ve got four guns on me, and your brothers standing by.”
“Kick it this way.”
“Yeah, a real hero, long as it’s not one-to-one.” Joe gave the gun a shove with his foot. “You’ve been helping yourself to my wife, haven’t you?”
“You don’t have a wife.” Devin turned, handed his gun to Rafe. “Stay back,” he demanded, then skimmed a glance over his other brothers. “All of you.” He looked at Cassie briefly, saw the bruises already forming. And felt hatred wash through him. “Get to the cabin, Cassie. Savannah will take you back to the kids.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, yeah. I do.” And he smiled. “Let’s go, Joe. It’s been a long time coming.”
“What’s to stop one of your brothers from shooting me in the back once I beat you to a pulp, MacKade?”
“Nothing.” Now the smile turned feral. “This is the last shot you’re going to get at me, though, you yellow son of a bitch. So make it good.”
Joe shouted ferociously as he lunged. All Devin had to do was pivot and pump upward with a fist to send Joe reeling back.
“Tougher when it’s somebody near your own size, isn’t it?” Devin taunted. “Tougher when it’s not a woman, or a little boy. Come on, you bastard. Try again.”
Blood spilling from his lip, Joe came at him like a bull. The woods cracked with the sound of bare knuckle against bone, of men grunting. Cassie forced herself not to cover her face with her hands.
It was for her. Each blow Devin threw or received was for her. So she would watch.
All the fear she’d felt of Joe ebbed as she did. He was exactly what she had called him. A pitiful bully. His size, and the wildness of his attack, helped him land a few blows. Certainly, it was that size that had him overbalancing Devin to the ground.
But even there, even outweighed, Devin dominated. His fists were fast, brutal, and the look on his face was so concentrated, she knew he felt none of the hits he took.
She didn’t turn her face away from the blood, hold her hands over her ears to block out the sound. This was the end, finally the end, and she needed to bear witness.
The rage was on him so thick, so cold, that he could see nothing but Joe’s face. Each time his fist hammered down, each time the power of it sang up his arms, he felt nothing but dark, deadly pleasure. His knuckles were raw, his shirt was splattered with blood, some of it his own, but he couldn’t stop his fist from pumping.
“That’s enough.” Jared stepped forward to pull Devin off, and nearly got a fist in the face for his trouble. “That’s enough,” he repeated, but it took all three of them to drag Devin to his feet.
“That’s a satisfying sight,” Rafe commented, studying Joe’s battered and unconscious face. “I guess I can’t be too ticked you didn’t leave a piece of him for me.”
“Looks like he resisted arrest, right, Jare?” Shane shouldered his rifle, scratched his chin.
“That’s the way I saw it. Come on, Dev, let’s haul this carcass in. You need a beer and an ice pack.”
But the rage hadn’t faded away, not completely. Devin jerked his brother’s hand from his shoulder. “Leave me alone.” He turned, looked to where Cassie still stood, pale, bruised, eyes wide with shock. “I’m finished.” He took off his badge, tossed it into the dirt. “Take him. I’m going home.”
“Devin.”
When Cassie started forward, Jared put out a hand to stop her. “Give him some time,” he murmured, watching Devin cut through the woods, toward the farm. “He’s hurting.”
She tried. She went to her children and comforted them. She let Regan and Savannah come to her and fuss over her bruises. She spoke to her mother, briefly, on the phone and reassured herself that, though her mother had been bruised and terrified, there was no serious damage. And, perhaps, there was some understanding between them that they’d never shared before.
In the end, she gave in and took the sedative that was pushed on her and slept like the dead through the night.
But in the morning she knew she hadn’t finished facing her demons. She let Regan deal with breakfast and readied herself to go to the farm and face Devin.
The only thing she needed to take, she tucked into the pocket of her slacks.
“You’re going to see Sheriff MacKade.” Connor stepped into her bedroom doorway. His eyes were swollen and shadowed, there was a faint bruise on his cheek, and he was still so very pale. Cassie wanted badly to gather him close, but he was standing so stiff.
“Yes. I need to talk to him, Connor. I need to thank him for what he did.”
“He’ll say it was his job.”
“Yes, I know he will. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to thank him. He could have been killed, Connor, for us.”
“I thought he was dead at first.” When his voice broke, he sucked in a breath and steadied it again. “When he fell, and there was all the blood. I thought we were all going to be dead.”
She shuddered, tried to keep the tears out of her voice. “I’m sorry, Connor, for what I did, for what I didn’t do. I hope one day you’ll forgive me.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t ever. I shouldn’t have said those things.” He wanted to look away, but he knew that would make him a coward. He knew what cowards were like now. “It wasn’t true, and it wasn’t the way I really felt. I said it to hurt you, because I felt bad.”
“Connor.” She held her arms out, closing her eyes tight when he raced into them. “That part of our lives is over. I promise you it’s over.”
“I know. You were pretty brave.”
Unbearably touched, she kissed the top of his head. “So were you.”
“This time.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Sheriff MacKade stood up for us. Emma and I want to go with you. We talked about it. We want to see the sheriff.”
“It might be better if I talked to him alone, just now. He’s feeling… He’s upset.”
“I have to talk to him. Please.”
How could she deny her child the same closure she needed for herself? “All right. We’ll go together.”
From his seat on the front porch of the farm, Devin saw them come out of the woods. He nearly got up and went inside, but it seemed a small and petty revenge.
They looked like a unit, he realized, and he supposed, however much it hurt him, that was what they needed to be.
His head was still aching, and his hands burned. But that was nothing compared to the pain in his gut as he watched Cassie and the children cross the wide front lawn.
There were bruises on her face, and on the boy’s. Fury flashed in his blood like lightning. Then Emma broke away from Cassie’s hand and raced to him.
“We came to thank you because you took the bad man away.” She crawled right into his lap, as if she belonged there. “You have hurts.” Solemnly she touched her puckered lips to the cuts and bruises, to the white bandage on his temple. “Is that better now?”
He gave in for a moment and pressed his face into her hair. “Yeah, thanks.” Before Cassie could speak, he shifted Emma onto his knee. “If they haven’t contacted you, I can tell you they’ve already transferred him to the state prison. With the new charges—the escape, the assaults, grand theft auto, the weapons possession, assault with a deadly weapon and—” he ran his fingers over his ripped knuckles “—and resisting arrest, he’s not going to see the light of day again. You and your family have nothing to worry about.”
“Are you all right?” was all Cassie could manage.
“I’m fine. You?”
“Just fine.” Her fingers curled and uncurled over Connor’s. “We wanted to come and thank—”
“I was doing my job.”
“I told her you’d say that,” Connor said, and earned a mild glance from Devin.
“So, I’m predictable.” He looked back at Cassie. “You handled yourself well, Cass. You want to remember that. I’ve got work to do.”
As he started to set Emma down, Cassie moved forward. “Devin, please, don’t.”
“He hurt you.” The words burst out of him. “He hurt all of you, and I didn’t stop him.”
“You were shot, for God’s sake. You were lying there unconscious and bleeding.”
“The bad man was going to shoot you again,” Emma told him. “But Mama wouldn’t let him. She lay on top of you so he couldn’t.”
Every ounce of his hot blood went cold at the thought of it. “Damn it, Cassie, are you crazy?”
“You needed me.” She let out a shaky breath. “I couldn’t stand back, Devin. I did what I had to do. Now I’m going to ask you to do what you know is right.” She took his badge out of her pocket. “Don’t give this up, Devin. Don’t go.”
He stared at the badge in her hand, then into her face again. “You know what it’s like to see something you want, you need, day after day, and know you can’t have it? I’m not living like that anymore, not even for you. You won’t let me be part of your life. You won’t marry me, and I can’t go on being your friend and nothing else.”
“I’ll marry you.” Emma curled into him. “I love you.”
His heart simply shattered. He held Emma tight, then set her gently on her feet. “I can’t handle this, Cassie.” He rose blindly. “Go home and leave me be.”
“Sheriff MacKade.” Connor bolted forward, then skidded to a halt. “I’m sorry.”
