Kade massaged the back of his neck as Bailey parked the car. He was drained, and it was only three in the afternoon. He despised going to do death notices. It was the hardest part of being a cop. Special Agent in the FBI he might be, but at heart, he was still a police officer. Telling someone a member of their family died never got easier. A lot of cops he knew, including FBI agents, often said it got easier, but for Kade, it never did. That look of broken, twisted grief stayed with him.
The biting cold hit him as soon as he stepped out of the car. Damn, but Boston was cold. Unseasonably cold, as Bailey put it. His grandmother would laugh at all the people bundled up against the frigid air. Russia was colder, and this would be a warm front to them. He shook his head at the thought and followed Bailey into the station. The desk sergeant motioned to them, and he paid no attention until Bailey started cussing and demanded to know why no one had called him.
Kade looked over, in askance, alarmed at the grim expression.
“Angel is here with your brother. That’s all I know.”
Kade felt the panic rise from his gut, settling in his throat. He yanked out his phone to check for messages and discovered that sometime between this morning and now, it died. God, what if she’d tried to call him? What if something happened? Had the unsub tried to take her? A million questions ran through his head, driving him mad while they waited for the elevator to take them to the floor where homicide was located.
His eyes found his brother first, talking to one of the officers, holding two Starbucks coffee cups, and he headed straight for him. When Nikoli spotted him, his expression morphed to one of complete fury, and Kade slowed.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Nikoli’s voice went flat, hard, and mean. Kade couldn’t recall ever seeing his brother this pissed.
“Telling a couple their child is dead.” His ran a hand through his hair. “What happened?”
“Your sick fuck sent Angel a package.”
His knees went a little weak. How the hell did he know where she was? “What was in it?”
“A note that said ‘soon, my angel’ along with a curl of red hair.”
“Shit.” This from Bailey, and the brothers turned to see him right behind them. “What time did it arrive at the apartment?”
“Around twelve thirtyish. As soon as she opened it, we called Kade, who never fucking checked his voicemail or his messages.” Nikoli’s glare was hot enough to scorch hell itself. “When we couldn’t reach you, we came here.”
“How many people touched the box?” Bailey asked, pulling out his own phone.
“Not sure, but I can tell you the front desk attendant at the apartment building brought it up to us, and I accepted the package. Angel was the only person to touch it after that. An officer already took it down to forensics.”
“Where the fuck is she?” Kade barked, his panic fueling his anger.
“She’s in the conference room.” Nikoli held up the coffee cup. “I stepped across the street to get her some coffee. She’s pretty shaken up.”
Kade turned and all but ran down the hall, bursting into the room, and only when he saw that she was there, safe and whole, did he let out the breath he’d been holding. She was okay.
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He strode over, hauled her up, and hugged her tighter than he’d ever done in all their time together. She was safe.
Angel gasped when Kade burst in, his eyes wild with panic. He let out a full body breath when he saw her. She certainly didn’t expect him to hold her like there was no tomorrow. He was shaking with fear. The realization stunned her. He wasn’t just afraid, he was terrified. For her.
It. Made. No. Sense.
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?” He relaxed his grip enough to lean back and study her face. She stared up into those onyx eyes and tried to figure out what he was doing. What kind of game was he playing?
“Answer me, Angel!” He shook her slightly. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” she murmured. “I’m fine.”
“Thank fuck.”
“Kade?” Nikoli stood in the doorway, confused and holding her coffee. “What the hell is going on?”
A question Angel had been asking herself since Kade pinned her to the bed.
Nikoli set her coffee on the table and took a seat. “Explain.”
Kade let her go, and she sank back down in the chair he’d pulled her from. She wanted to know what was going on herself.
“Later.” Kade went from scared and concerned to Mr. FBI Agent with a blink of an eye. His entire demeanor changed, and he became the professional cop she’d only seen once, and it was enough. It was her last image of him, the one that had broken her.
“Angel.” Bailey closed the door behind him and took a seat next to Nikoli. Kade remained standing. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“There’s not much to tell.” She let the heat from the coffee cup seep into her cold hands. “A package arrived, and I opened it. There was a note and some hair inside. Red hair.”
Red hair. Like hers.
“He took a young woman last night,” Bailey told her quietly.
“With red hair?” Why she asked, she didn’t know. It was an obvious answer.
“Yes.” His lips tightened.
“He took her because of me.” The realization sank in, and she flinched. That girl was suffering right now because of her.
“We don’t know that.” Kade finally sat. “She could have been planned already. There’s no pattern to who he takes.”
“She has red hair, Kade.” Her voice came out hushed, quiet.
“I know, moye serdtse, but this is not your fault. I can hear those wheels turning in that head of yours.”
Angel ignored Nikoli’s surprised gasp. Of course he would know what those words meant. “I saw him. I put his face out there for everyone to see. He’s sending me fucking letters, Kade. This? This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not. It’s his fault. His sickness is to blame. You didn’t do anything wrong, Angel. You can’t blame yourself for his fixation.”
“He’s right.” Bailey stopped writing in his little notebook. “If it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else. You can’t blame yourself for something he did.”
They could both tell her that until they turned blue in the face, but this? This was on her. He took some poor, innocent girl because she had red hair. Like hers.
“Angel, do you still feel safe in the apartment?” Bailey pulled her from her dark thoughts. “He obviously knows where you are. We can move you again.”
“I’ll put you up in any hotel you want.” Nikoli reached over and took her hand. “Anything you need, Angel, you just tell me, and I’ll do it.”
“How secure is the apartment?” Kade all but snarled, and again, Angel was shocked at the jealousy coming from him. He didn’t like his brother touching her. Nikoli picked up on it too and withdrew his hand, bemused and slightly fascinated.
“The building has one of the best security systems in the city. It’s why I bought it. Not to mention my own security in place inside the apartment. You need a special key to actually get up to the penthouse in the elevator and to access the stairs leading up. There’s a security code you need to open the stairwell door along with the key. It’s Fort Knox, man.”
“Then I should be perfectly fine.” She really didn’t want Nikoli spending anything on her. He might own his own business, but she didn’t want to put him out.
“I think I’m going to take you up on your offer of extra security.” Angel’s attention snapped back to Kade when he said that. “Especially when I’m not there. I want someone in the corridor outside the door on the penthouse level, as well as someone inside the lobby and watching all entrances to the building.”
“Sure thing. I’ll call Viktor and see if he has anyone to spare. If he doesn’t, I’ll still have people ready to go by tonight.”
“Your brother Viktor?” Why would they be calling their brother?
“Yes.” Nikoli nodded. “Viktor is a Marine veteran who now runs his own security company, Kincaid Security Corp. Hardcore security. He hires ex-military. How do you know Viktor’s our brother?”
“Bailey, can you go find the person who took the initial report, as well as who went and examined the scene?”
Bailey looked between the three of them and nodded. He got up and closed the door behind him.
“Now, are you two going to tell me what the fuck is going on here?”
Kade closed his eyes, ran a hand through his already mussed hair, and then faced his brother. “She’s my wife.”
Nikoli gaped. “What the fuck? Are you messing with me?”
“He’s not.” Angel crossed her arms. “Although I didn’t know we were still married until he showed up at the bar last night.”
“I don’t understand. How can you not know you’re still married?”
Kade looked extremely uncomfortable, and Angel found herself almost feeling sorry for the guy. Explaining to your family a wife you forgot about couldn’t be the easiest thing in the world.
“You remember when I went undercover down in Miami?”
“Yean, scared the hell out of Mama when she didn’t hear from you in almost two years. For a while, there, we all thought you might have been killed.”
“I met Angel while I was undercover. Her brother was my in with the guys I needed to hook up with. We got married, and after the bust went down, we parted ways.”
“So it wasn’t a real marriage?” Nikoli quirked an eyebrow in question.
“That’s what I thought.” Angel rubbed her arms, her memories trying to swim up and drown her in even more grief. She pushed them down resolutely. She’d kept them buried this long, she wasn’t going to let them crush her now. Not when she needed to keep her strength up.
“But?”
“But I used my real name while undercover, and I was married under that name. An annulment was out of the question because the marriage was consummated. We’d need a divorce, and what with one assignment after another, it slipped my mind until I saw her.”
“You forgot?” Nikoli leaned back, studying his brother. “How the fuck do you forget something like that?”
“Leave it alone, Nik.” Angel leaned forward. She’d watched Kade explain this more times than she cared to. She understood his putting it in the past and doing his best not to think about it. It was exactly what she’d forced herself to do in order to protect what was left of her shattered heart. It made her wonder if Kade had done something similar. But that would mean he’d cared, and his actions said otherwise. Confusing. That was what this whole mess was starting to become.
Her statement brought the full intensity of Nikoli’s stare to settle on her. “Did you know who I was when I came into Pops’ that first night?”
“Look at you, Nik. Even if I hadn’t seen your picture, I’d have known. There’s no denying you’re brothers.”
“You treated me like family, Angel. I never understood it, but I do now.” His expression became so serious it alarmed her. “You’re family.”
“No.” She shook her head, emotions she’d worked so hard to shut out pounding on the locked door of her heart. “I…you were Kade’s little brother…and…after Peter…I just…”
“You needed to protect someone, someone who you thought of as family.”
Her eyes shot to Kade. They were full of understanding and grief. Was he thinking about their son? The pain in them…the wall around her own heart cracked, the locks on the door splintering.
No. No. No.
She would not succumb. She would not hurt like that again. Never, ever again.
But what if he hurts as much as you do, her subconscious whispered.
“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Nikoli asked, forcing her attention back to him and away from traitorous thoughts.
Kade shrugged. “It wasn’t anyone’s business but mine and Angel’s.”
Nikoli stared at them both for a long moment then shrugged himself. “Well, I guess we got what we always wanted, but dreaded.”
What did that mean?
“A sister.” He laughed. “God, I’ve known about her for a minute, and all the trouble she’s already causing.” He pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Alarm spread across Kade’s face and he half stood. “Don’t you dare call Mama or Babushka. I don’t even know what…”
Nikoli held up a finger to shush him and put the phone on speaker.
Shit, who was he calling? Kade growled, and Angel was right there with him. If he was calling their mother…she shook her head. No. She and Kade might be legally married, but they weren’t husband and wife. It would only upset Kade’s family.
“Hey, Nik. What’s up.” Viktor’s voice was deep and rich like Kade’s. His Russian accent was also much more pronounced than either of the two brothers.
“Did you get my messages?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why for fuck’s sake didn’t you call me back?”
“Don’t give me grief, Nik. I just got back from Russia this morning. I’m fucking tired, and I don’t need your shit. I been busy, okay? I do run a company. What’s so fucking urgent you can’t wait for me to call you the fuck back?”
What was it with the f-bombs that dropped out of the Kincaid men’s mouths? It was like a permanent part of their vocabulary. Angel glanced at Kade and saw his panicked expression. A giggle bubbled unbidden. He looked so terrified right now. It reminded her of the time they’d gone swimming in the ocean and a jellyfish had gotten near him. He’d been stung as a child, and the things scared the hell out of him. He was wearing the same expression as Nikoli talked.
“We have a sister, that’s what’s so fucking urgent.”
Kade snarled, and Angel let her head hit the table. Why couldn’t he keep a secret a secret?
“What the hell are you talking about?” Viktor snapped, sounding more irritated than anything. “I’m in no mood for jokes, brat.”
Angel laughed when she heard him call him a brat. He was being a brat at the moment. At least Viktor called him on his shit.
“It doesn’t mean what you think it does, Angel.” Kade tapped his fingers on the table. “Although the American term fits right now. Brat in Russian means brother.”
“Kade?” Viktor sounded confused.
“Yeah.” A sigh rumbled out of him, and Angel turned her head sideways so she could see the kaleidoscope of expressions flickering on his face.
“What is going on, and who is Angel?”
“Angel, say hello to Viktor.” Angel raised her head long enough to stick her tongue out at Nikoli, which only made him laugh and blow her a kiss. He was such a sweetheart.
A wave of tears threatened her as she looked at him. In that split second, she caught a glimpse of the old Kade she’d known when she was nineteen in his brother. The devilishly charming, fun, and adventurous man who’d won her heart. She missed him. So much.
“Hey, now, what’s wrong?” Nik asked gently.
“Nothing.” She wiped her tears and sat up. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” Viktor’s voice growled into the phone.
“Well, it seems Kade went and got himself married and didn’t tell us.”
“I swear to God, Nik, I told you not to say anything…”
“No, you didn’t.” Nikoli held up a hand. “I only told Viktor because we need his help.”
“Married? What the hell are you talking about, and why do you need my help?”
Kade took a deep, steadying breath, wrestling between his desire to strangle his little brother or maybe thank him. Nikoli ripped the Band-Aid off without even understanding how much it freed him. It brought him a step closer to admitting what he really wanted.
“You remember the Boston serial killer case I’m working?” He scrubbed at his face with both hands, suddenly tired. When Viktor grunted his version of yes, he continued. “Angel got a look at him, and now he’s set his sights on her.”
“And Angel is?”
“My wife.”
“The fuck you say.”
He gazed at her, and the wide green eyes were more than shell-shocked. She might be trying her damnedest to hide how affected she was by not only the serial killer, but by him, but it showed in the hollow, haunted look in her eyes.
“I do say. It’s a long story, Vik, but I need help. I’m working this case, which means I can’t watch her twenty-four-seven, and I need someone who can. People who are trained to see and deal with this type of psychopath. Nik tells me you hire only the best, and that’s what we need.”
“You’re serious?” Viktor’s tone got very soft. “You’re married?”
“Da.”
“Well, fuck. We finally got a sister. Do Mama and Papa know?”
“No, and I’d prefer to keep it that way until I tell them.” Kade shot a glance at Angel, who looked ready to argue, but he warned her with his eyes and hoped she’d heed him.
“Why don’t you want them to know?”
“It’s complicated.” He ran a hand through his hair, aware he’d nearly killed it as much as he’d done that today. “Please, Viktor. I’ll explain later, I promise. Do you have some men who can keep her safe?”
“Da. I’ll get them there within the next few hours. And Kade?”
“Yeah?”
“Congratulations. I’m happy for you, man. And Angel, she is there with you now?”
“She is.” Wariness crept back into Kade’s voice, and he glanced at her. As mad as she was with him, God only knew what she’d tell Viktor. He’d rather explain this fiasco to his brother in person and not over the phone.
“Dobro pozhalovat' v sem'yu mladshey sestry.”
“I have no idea what that means.” Angel looked up at him, confused.
Kade smiled at her. “It means welcome to the family, little sister.”
“I will get you the Rosetta Stone for Russian,” Viktor promised, chuckling. “Otherwise you will forever be confused when we are all together. Did you get Lily the program, Nik?”
“Uh, no, not yet. She’s got enough on her plate with finals coming up. Soon, though.”
“I must go. I have a lot of work to catch up on, as well as find you some guards. We’ll talk soon.”
“One thing, Vik.”
“Yeah, Kade?”
“Thanks.”
“She’s our family now, brat. We take care of family. I got shit to do now, motherfuckers. Aw, hell, I shouldn’t have said that with Angel there. Damn, I did it again.”
Kade laughed, imagining the disgusted look on his brother’s face. The man tried hard to watch his mouth around women; he just wasn’t used to doing it when taking to his brothers.
Nikoli disconnected the call before Viktor said anything to embarrass himself further.
“Why didn’t you tell him the truth?” She looked between them both, and Kade shrugged. He honestly didn’t know.
“I wanted to watch him squirm.” Nikoli grinned. “Besides, Viktor’s services are expensive as fuck. He’ll either give me a discount or do it for free if he thinks it’s for Kade’s wife.”
“Swear to me, Nikoli, not a word to Mama or Babushka.”
“Hey, man, I only wanted to see you squirm a bit, not get you thrown into the fires of hell.” Nikoli held up his hands. “They’d be on the next flight out of Russia. Babushka is terrified of flying, but if she thought Angel was in danger, she’d brave the plane.”
They would too. That was how much family meant to them all. They’d drop everything to help each other. He glanced over at Angel and saw a single tear fall from the corner of her eye.
And that was when it struck him.
What he’d really done to her.
She had no one. He’d taken everything from her, stripped her of her home, her family, her pride, and broken her heart to seal the deal. He was the villain in her story.
Hearing them talk so casually about their family had to be breaking her even more. Seeing her cry was more than he could handle right now.
“I need to check in with Bailey and go over some things with Jeremy. He’s on my team at the BAU. I have to get him up to speed on the case. Nik, can you take Angel back to the apartment for me?”
Nikoli wasn’t looking at him, he was staring at Angel, who didn’t seem to be aware of the fact she was crying.
“Yeah, but me and you, we’re gonna talk later.”
Kade nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.