Chapter Seventeen
Heat encircled her, powerful arms surrounding her. Kat burrowed deeper, fighting consciousness, nowhere near ready to wake up. Her head rose and fell with his every breath, the hard muscles of his chest not much of a cushion. Yet more comfortable than the softest pillow.
Whose bed?
Oh God.
Mortification, along with a healthy dose of shame, pulled her out of her contentment faster than anything else could have. Darkness surrounded her when she opened her eyes, but everything came rushing back when she took a deep breath, inhaling Stephen’s scent.
Disoriented, she untangled herself from him, sighing in relief when she was free, Ethan’s face swimming before her eyes in the darkness. She felt like a ping-pong ball, bouncing between the two of them, a place she so didn’t want to be.
Remembering the layout of the cabin, she found her way to the bathroom. She glanced in the mirror when she was washing her hands, her gaze flying to the bandage buried in her hairline. Pulling up her shirt, she checked the bandage covering her wound. Two or three inches over and the bullet would have pierced her heart. Fingers trembling, she pulled the shirt down. Amazing that she was only thinking about her wounds now. A small part of her wondered if she was growing immune to nearly being killed, because it wasn’t terror she’d woken to this morning. Quite the opposite, in fact.
She needed to go home. Desperately. Couldn’t face Stephen when he woke. Couldn’t imagine facing Ethan right now either, not when she was still mortified about not knowing whose bed she was in.
But escape was impossible, she realized moments later as she stood on the porch. Unless she wanted to take one of the horses she didn’t know how to ride seven miles up the road in the darkness.
Crap!
She wanted to scream the word but settled for thinking it over and over. Back inside, she made coffee, hoping the smell wouldn’t wake Stephen. But he never stirred, dead to the world. Eventually, she found herself standing in the doorway, watching him as she sipped her coffee, admiring the masculine lines of his body. The sheet was down around his hips, his strong arm wrapped around the pillow, as if breathing in her scent. And suddenly she had the strongest desire to climb back into bed with him and wake him up, memories of another time she’d woken in his arms, the wicked assault of his mouth and fingers, provoking an orgasm-induced coma.
Kat nearly smiled at the memory, would have if other ones had stayed buried. How many nights had she wished for him, prayed to be wrapped in Stephen’s arms again, completely cocooned by the searing heat of his body? Too many to count. And no matter how passionate his words last night, how tightly he’d held her in his powerful arms, it wasn’t enough to convince her he’d never let her go.
Turning away, she noticed the sky was beginning to lighten, the first hint of dawn coming in through the window. Her phone. Tiptoeing inside the room, she grabbed it before tiptoeing back out, closing the door softly behind her. She checked the screen, seeing a million missed calls from Ethan.
And one that had been answered.
Cringing, she couldn’t help but wonder how that had gone.
An hour later, she was sitting on the porch when Alex pulled up. He smiled when he saw her, his reaction surprising her, considering the last time she’d seen him. “Morning, Katie. Sneaking away?”
“I would have, had there been a car.”
“We’re onto your tricks.”
“Apparently.”
“Enjoy the Kuerig?” he asked, nodding toward her coffee. “I got it just for you.”
Kat couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you.”
“How’s your head? And your…side?”
“Fine. Really,” she added when he looked doubtful, hiding her embarrassment, surreptitiously trying to pull down her shirt, suddenly realizing she was nearly naked.
Alex didn’t seem to notice as he leaned against the railing across from her. “Stephen still sleeping?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s with you two?”
“What do you mean?”
“Stephen said you weren’t his.”
The pain was swift, slicing into her with a force that left her breathless. Despite everything she’d told herself over the past couple days, hell, over the past couple hours, the thought of losing him for good…Jesus. She couldn’t imagine it, didn’t want to imagine it.
“It’s complicated.” Which said everything and nothing at the same time. But she couldn’t do this now, not with Alex. “Can you take me home?” Then she remembered Ethan’s car. “Or back to Stephen’s? My car is at his neighbor’s.”
Alex looked through the screen door, then back down at her. “I take it he won’t know you’re leaving?”
“I don’t need his permission,” Kat said with a laugh, even though laughing was the last thing she felt. Because now that the opportunity presented itself, avoiding the awkward morning after was a blessing she didn’t want to pass up.
Alex’s phone beeped, and he looked down to check it, typing out a quick reply. “Your car just arrived. Ready?”
“Really?” She couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. She had expected him to keep her there under lock and key. Or perhaps make good on his threats. She stood, Stephen’s shirt falling nearly to her knees. She felt her cheeks flush even thought it was longer than yesterday’s dress. But she had no shoes and her bag was missing. At least she had her phone. She’d get the rest later.
“Really,” he said, leading her toward the big black SUV in the driveway.
“Why were you threatening Emma?” she asked once they hit the highway. Alex sent her a look that would have chilled her to the bone if she hadn’t known him so well.
And that’s when she realized her mistake.
He’d been so nice, had put her at ease. Only until he’d gotten her away from Stephen, where he wouldn’t be there to defend her.
“I told you to stay the fuck out of it. Did you think I was kidding?”
“Seems to me I’m already in it,” she hissed back, refusing to give way to the fear. “The cut on my head and gunshot wound kinda prove it.”
He laughed. “It’s a graze. And trust me, you’re not involved. We got identity confirmation earlier this morning. Last night had nothing to with you, Katie.”
“Then who?” Because that only left Alex or Stephen. And as annoyed as she was with Alex right now, she didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him.
Alex’s jaw tightened, his irritation obvious. Then he gave her the silent treatment for the rest of the ride. Thank God it was only minutes. She jumped out of the SUV before it stopped moving and rushed toward her house, not even noticing that Ethan’s care was back in her driveway. Alex was right behind her, so slamming the door in his face was impossible.
“Your phone,” he demanded the second they were inside, holding out his hand. Jake ran down the stairs. Ignoring Alex, she scooped him up and brought him to the kitchen.
And stopped dead.
“You’re not getting out of this one, baby,” Xavier said, holding out his hand. “Your phone, please.”
Jesus, he was big. Bigger than both Stephen and Alex. And if she hadn’t been nervous before, she sure as hell was nervous now. From behind her, Alex laughed, the sound causing Jake to jump out her arms and run back the way they came, apparently no longer hungry. Alex snatched her phone and handed it to Xavier. “You broke into my house? But you’re an FBI agent!”
When he didn’t answer, she asked, “You’re involved in this too?”
But he didn’t fall for her fishing, as tight-lipped as Alex. “If you mean saving my brother from getting arrested for murder, then yes,” he replied, hooking her phone up to his laptop. Whatever they were planning, this wasn’t gonna be good.
“Shouldn’t we be working together?” Kat huffed.
“No,” Alex and Xavier said in unison.
“But—”
“You, Katie, are officially off the case. “Remember my threat? It wasn’t an empty one. Consider yourself under house arrest.”
“What?”
But he didn’t explain, not until Xavier was done with her phone. He handed it to Alex and Alex held it out to her but didn’t release it. “Keep this with you at all times. And don’t even think about ‘forgetting’ it at home. From six in the morning until eleven at night, if it sits idle for more than an hour, one of us will call.” He smiled, the devil-incarnate with those soulless black eyes. “Like a check-in with your parole officers.”
“But I go to bed at eight!” she yelled, grabbing for the phone, but he lifted it higher, laughing.
“It’s still light out eight. Summer, remember? And hear me on this, Katie. If you don’t answer, I promise, you won’t like the consequences. Think cement walls, orange jumpsuits, barred doors—”
“I can’t go anywhere?”
“Sure you can, but you’ll need pre-approval. And a chaperone.”
“You are such a jerk.”
“And you’re still breaking my heart.”
It wasn’t until long after Alex and Xavier had left that she saw the bottle of Chartreuse on the counter.
She’d missed dinner with Ethan.
***
“You what?”
Stephen’s roar echoed through the mountains surrounding the cabin, unleashing his aggravation on his brother.
She fucking left!
Snuck out like a thief in the night despite the fact he poured out his soul last night. Again.
“You shoulda taken my advice and kidnapped her,” Alex replied, unaffected by Stephen’s outburst.
That would have gone over well. About as well as the fucking stunt his brothers just pulled. Christ, she was going to be pissed. And no doubt, take it out on him.
“Listen, Romeo,” Alex finally snapped, all pretense of good humor evaporating in an instant. “Would you rather she be dead? Because that’s exactly where this is heading if she doesn’t keep her fucking nose out of this investigation. Those men last night? Guess who they have ties to?”
“Who?”
“Harrington.”
Stephen sucked in a breath, his head spinning with the ramifications. “You don’t believe he killed Emma.”
“I don’t believe you killed Emma. Everyone else is under suspicion,” Alex said tightly. “Remember Mancini?”
“Yes.” He was a possible suspect during Ethan’s shooting. A drug dealer who escaped a raid and then disappeared.
“He was arrested in Washington, D.C. five weeks ago and struck a plea bargain. Long story short, he swears Matthew Harrington, Senator Harrington’s son, is alive and we just got proof.”
“Matthew Harrington? Didn’t he die in a meth lab explosion?”
“So we thought. Conveniently right before he was going to be arrested on drug trafficking charges,” Alex said.
Stephen sucked in a breath. “He was with the NYPD.”
“Was being the operative word. He went over to the dark side a few years ago. Apparently, the investigation was just about complete before the explosion. Instead of being arrested, he died a hero.”
“You don’t think the senator was behind the explosion?” Stephen asked.
“No. That’s not to say the senator didn’t have plenty to gain with Matthew’s death. He definitely knew about Matthew’s career change. The scandal would have ended his political career. Harrington has used his son’s heroic death to his advantage in every campaign speech since. He’s made the war on drugs one of his pet projects. Rumor has it he was going to run for president in the next election. Imagine if the public found out his son was not only alive, but Public Enemy Number One. The scandal would ruin him.”
“Does the senator know he’s alive?”
“We don’t know. But guess who did?”
It didn’t take a genius. “Emma Anderson.”
And now she was dead.
“Is that what you were warning her about?”
“Yes. But you know Emma. Knew Emma,” Alex corrected. “She lived for political scandals and there was nothing juicier than this one. The problem is, both Harringtons had reason for wanting to keep Matthew’s identity buried. And it gets worse. Since Matthew’s bogus death, he’s built quite an empire, amassed more money than God and amassed even stronger connections. And he’s targeting informants and undercover officers.”
“He’s been killing them?” Stephen asked.
“Yes. We just couldn’t prove it yet. We were positive there was a leak somewhere and I swear we were on the verge of cracking the case wide open. Then they pulled it.”
“What? Who?”
Alex shrugged. “Alessandro said it was passed off to the FBI,” Alex said. “I asked Xavier if he could look into it, because I didn’t really believe him. Thought it was a load of bullshit, but when I questioned Alessandro, he wouldn’t confirm or deny. It wasn’t…pretty. Alessandro told me to take a break. I’ve been off the grid ever since. About three weeks now.”
Stephen stared at him in shock. “Are you kidding me? You’ve been out there alone—”
“What the fuck was I supposed to do?” Alex said. “Every single day, more undercover agents are being killed—”
“Like the man in your apartment?” Stephen asked.
“Exactly. He was a warning, like I told you yesterday. Only I don’t know what it means because the MO changed,” Alex said heavily. He turned and stared out the window. “The man in my apartment wasn’t a cop, he was an informant. Normally it would have gone down like this: They’d kidnap him, torture him until he gave up a name. In this case, mine. But they wouldn’t leave his body yet. They’d wait until they tortured me into giving them another name, then leave his body. Like a vicious fucking circle. I think they get off on taunting us.”
“So the police couldn’t pinpoint the next target,” Stephen said.
“Exactly,” Alex said again. “But this time, they left the body before they got me.” He turned to Stephen. “My informant knew I was an undercover agent, but I didn’t think he knew my true identity. I was wrong. My guys confirmed that I’d been followed to your house last night.”
And the bullet meant for Alex had hit Kat instead. A few inches to the right and she’d be dead.
Holy fuck.
“You need to lose the hair and beard—”
“So I look like you? No way. I’ll put a guy on you just to be on the safe side, but so far, going after family is a line Matthew Harrington hasn’t crossed. And there’s no way in hell I want him going after you by accident.”
“Is it possible the senator and his son were working together?”
“Again, we can’t rule out the possibility, but we haven’t been able to verify that.” Alex showed him a picture on his phone. “This is Matthew. Mancini gave us this. And that guy with him? That’s—”
“Mark Prescott,” Stephen said. “Senator Harrington’s campaign manager. Do you think they’re laundering money?”
“I don’t know. I don’t exactly have a forensic accountant on hand. But before his wife died, Harrington’s numbers were dropping. Could be he needed more cash.”
Stephen studied the picture. Matthew Harrington looked nothing like Stephen remembered. Dark brown hair and eyes had replaced his golden good looks. Even with plastic surgery, he looked far older than his age. “What does Jessica Adams have to do with this?”
“She’s Senator Harrington’s half-sister.”
“Shit,” Stephen breathed. “I didn’t even know he had a sister.”
“Most people don’t. They didn’t grow up together. They share a father, who by all accounts was a nasty son of a bitch. And obviously a cheating asshole on top of it since they were born within a year of each other. We were still piecing together their relationship when we were pulled of the case. They’ve never publicly disclosed they’re related, but they’re close. Jessica stays out of the spotlight, maybe because she’s embarrassed of her past, or maybe she didn’t want to bring any scandal down on Harrington. She grew up dirt poor. Harrington’s family was well off, certainly not rich, at least until he married into it.”
“So Jessica was feeding Emma information? About Matthew being alive?”
“We don’t know. We’re only surmising Jessica knows Matthew’s alive because Emma knew. And other than verifying that one fact, Emma refused to answer any other questions. She’d only just showed up on our radar when she went to see Jessica Adams. That was the day before the party. I was already on my way back up, had just learned about my informant,” he looked at Stephen. “Before you found him.”
“Who beat Jessica up?”
“Again, we don’t know. And we don’t know why either. We’ve only been watching Jessica Adams for about a week. But there’s only three of us and we can’t be everywhere at once. It was just pure fucking luck we were at her house yesterday before Kat showed up. We went to her house figuring we’d use Emma’s death as excuse to talk to her.”
“And have you?”
“Not yet. I’ve been too busy trying to arrange for protection,” Alex said.
“And Kat? Is she on their radar?”
“I don’t think so, but if she keeps digging, she will be.”
“She’s gonna be at the senator’s party the day after tomorrow,” Stephen interrupted.
“So will we. You already know she was at Jessica’s place. I told her it was Jessica’s soon-to-be ex-husband to put her off the trail. So as soon as Xavier gets back with your new phone, I want you to go up there, tell her I verified it and do whatever you need to do, say whatever you need to say, but get her off this fucking case.”
Knowing Kat, that would never work. “Did you even ask her what she knows? What she’s working on?”
Alex’s expression said everything. “Damn it, Alex. You can’t just leave her in the dark! You know her, know she won’t leave this alone.”
“It’s too dangerous—”
“Yeah, I get that, but at least listen to what she’s found.” He looked at the clock on the microwave. “Give me an hour to smooth things over.”