CHAPTER ELEVEN

Emma giggled with delight as the friendly old billy goat gently nuzzled her hand. It had been Dylan’s idea to bring her to the petting zoo for an outing and as Chloe watched her daughter gleefully playing with the animals, seemingly without a care in the world, she had to admit that it had been a great one. Initially, Emma had been wary of the animals, clinging to Chloe in her customary manner. But with gentleness and patience, Dylan had managed to coax her into interacting with the mild-manner creatures roaming curiously around her and he had been rewarded with a beaming smile that lit up the girl’s entire face. Chloe beamed at him too, marveling at the uncanny way that he seemed to have of knowing exactly what both she and her daughter needed. She continued to marvel as her usually quiet and withdrawn child suddenly became a little chatterbox during their tour of the rest of the zoo. By the time that they had completed the tour, she had gone from initially being as wary of Dylan as she had been of that old billy goat to being as crazy about him as Chloe was.

“Did you have a good time?” Dylan asked as he scooped Emma up in his arms.

“I had the best time!” Emma exclaimed with an enthusiastic nod of her head. “I wish we could do this everyday. Just you, me and Chloe. Like a real family.”

“That would be nice,” Dylan said as he shot a meaningful glance at Chloe that caused her smile to turn wistful.

“Well, I think we’ve seen everything there is to see here,” Chloe announced as she looked around the zoo.

“Can I go look a the parrots for a little while longer?” Emma asked, pointing to the large enclosure containing the colorful, chattering birds.

“Sure you can, sweetheart,” Chloe said.

Dylan lowered Emma back down to the ground and watched as she happily ran the few yards to the bird cage.

“She really likes those birds,” Dylan observed with a smile.

“Not as much as she likes you,” Chloe pointed out.

“I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”

“No, seriously. I’ve never seen her be this relaxed before. I think she feels safe with you just like I do.”

“If that’s the case then I’m glad. And I want you to know that I am doing everything that I can to make sure that you two really are safe.”

“Has there been any progress on decrypting Jared’s computer files yet?”

“I’ve given them to someone who is an expert in this area,” Dylan explained. “I expect to have some results soon.”

“I just hope there is something we can use against Jared in those files,” Chloe said as she wiped a sheen of perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand. It was a typically sweltering day in Las Vegas and the sun was beginning to get to her.

“How about I go and get us all something to drink?” Dylan asked, taking note of her obvious discomfort.

“That would be great,” Chloe replied gratefully. “I’ll wait here with Emma for you.”

Chloe smiled at Dylan again as she watched him disappear into the crowd in search of beverages before turning her attention back to Emma. A few moments later, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re back already?” she asked with surprise as she turned around expecting to see Dylan. The smile that had been on her lips quickly faded as she found herself staring into the face of one of Vincent DeMarco’s goons.

“I have a message from Mr. DeMarco,” the burly man with the unfriendly face announced without preamble. “He wants to meet with you again.”

“Well, I don’t want to meet with him.” Chloe said firmly.

“He thought you might feel that way so he told me to remind you that the two of you have a deal. So, unless you want your husband to find out all about that deal, you will meet with Mr. DeMarco tomorrow at the same place and the same time as your last meeting.”

Even from a distance, Dylan recognized the look of panic on Chloe’s face as he approached her, drinks in hand. Panic that was triggered by the menacing looking stranger towering over her. Silently cursing himself for being lax in his nominal duties as her bodyguard, he tossed the drinks into a nearby trash bin before running towards her. Catching sight of Dylan’s rapid approach the man quickly walked off in the opposite direction. Chloe grabbed Dylan’s arm to keep him from pursuing.

“Let him go,” Chloe implored, glancing nervously over at Emma who was blissfully unaware that anything was amiss. Chloe wanted to keep it that way.

“Who was that?” Dylan asked.

“One of Vincent DeMarco’s men. I recognized him from our meeting. He said that DeMarco wants to meet with me again.”

“That’s out of the question,” Dylan said firmly.

“He said that he would tell Jared about our deal if I didn’t show up.”

“He’s probably bluffing.”

“What if he’s not?”

Dylan pondered the question and the ominous implications of its answer. “Let’s get Emma over to day camp and then go to my apartment,” he said finally. “I need to light a fire under somebody's ass.”

An hour later Dylan was pacing the living room of his apartment. He had just gotten off the phone with Kyle Mercer, the man who he was relying on to decrypt the files that he had retrieved from Jared’s computer. Kyle had been with the CIA when Dylan was with The Seals, providing intelligence support to Dylan’s team, when the two had met and formed a close friendship. That ongoing friendship had led Kyle to agree to call in some favors to have the files decoded for Dylan but, as was typical when dealing with the government, things were taking much longer than expected and with DeMarco threatening to inform Jared about his deal with Chloe, Dylan couldn’t help feeling that time was running out.

“You’re about to wear a groove into the carpet walking back and forth like that,” Chloe said as she watched him from her seat on the sofa. “Come sit with me.”

Chloe grabbed Dylan’s hand and tugged, guiding him down to the cushion next to her. “What did your friend say?”

“That he should have the information soon, which is the same damn thing that he has been saying for the week and a half since I gave him the files,” Dylan said with frustration in his voice as he tossed his cell phone onto the cocktail table in front of him. What he didn’t say was that Donovan’s people probably would have not only had the files decrypted by now but also expertly condensed in report form with headers, footnotes and an index page. Both his brother and his connections were nothing if not efficient and Dylan couldn’t help but worry that he had made a big mistake by not handing the files over to Donovan to begin with.

“In that case, I guess we are just going to have to be patient,” Chloe said in resignation.

“DeMarco sure as hell isn’t going to be patient. He wants to meet with you tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll go to the meeting and say and do whatever I have to in order to buy us some more time.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near DeMarco,” Dylan replied stubbornly.

“I don’t exactly relish being around the man either, especially since I am pretty certain he was the one who sent those two shooters after us in the desert, but I don’t have any choice. Besides, DeMarco may have some information that we can use against Jared. At least that’s what Donovan Chance thought when he told me to cut this deal with DeMarco in the first place.”

Dylan shook his head obstinately. “Meeting with DeMarco is too dangerous for you.”

Chloe snuggled in closer to Dylan, gently placing her chin on his shoulder as she looked up at him. “I love how protective you are of me but I think that it’s up to me to determine what is and isn’t too dangerous for me.”

Dylan looked down at her as he tenderly ran his fingers through her hair, unable argue with her words. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” Chloe said, stroking the hard edges of Dylan’s face in an attempt to smooth away the worry she saw on it. “I have you to protect me.”

Chloe leaned in and softly brushed her mouth against his, gently nipping at his bottom lip before sensually drawing it into her mouth. Dylan once again laced his fingers through her hair, pulling her closer to him as his mouth devoured hers, his free hand roaming over the soft curves of her body with a sudden urgency. Chloe matched his urgency, impatiently fumbling with the buttons of the black shirt shirt he wore before his hands caught hers, halting her progress.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked breathlessly, her pupils dilated by passion.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Dylan replied, his voice low and husky as he continued to stroke her hair.

“Then why did you stop.”

“I’m not stopping. I’m slowing things down. We’re not expected back at the compound for hours which means that we can take our time,” Dylan explained, remembering the heated frenzy with which they’d made love back at the lake house. While the memory of their first time together would forever be blazed in his memory due to its sheer intensity, this time he wanted to savor the moment, and her.

Chloe smiled wickedly. “Hours. I like the sound of that.”

“Then you’re going to love this,” Dylan announced as he rose to his feet. Taking her hand in his, he led her into his bedroom, pausing at the foot of the bed.

Chloe sighed as she wrapped her arms tightly around him from behind, burying her face in the nape of his neck to inhale the distinct scent of him. Dylan leaned contentedly back into her embrace as she began to once again work on the buttons of his shirt, this time in a slower, more deliberate manner that heightened the anticipation for both of them. With that task completed, Chloe nibbled delicately at his ear as she slowly pealed his shirt off of his sinewy torso. Her mouth made its way to the back of his neck as she slid the shirt down his arms. Exploring his physique in a way that she hadn’t had a chance to the first time they were together, her hands and lips glided sensually over the taut muscles of his back. It was then that she noticed something that she hadn’t seen the first and only time that they were together. Her wandering hands paused briefly to trace the half moon shaped birthmark just beneath the smooth ridge of Dylan’s right shoulder blade, then continued their slow trek down his torso before coming to rest at the waistband of his black slacks. Then, in one swift movement, she suddenly grabbed the gun holstered at his side, pulling it out and pointing it at his back.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded angrily as Dylan whipped around to face her.

“What are you talking about?” Dylan asked, confusion showing on his face. “You know who I am.”

“I’m talking about that birthmark on your back!” Chloe snapped, her voice rising with emotion and sudden panic. “It’s the same damn one that Jared has on his. And it’s in the exact same place. Are you going to try to tell me that’s just a coincidence?”

Dylan lowered his eyes from hers. “No, it’s not.”

“Then tell me who you are!” Chloe screamed.

“I’m James Dylan Chance, Jared’s youngest son from his days as Jacob Chance.”

Chloe’s suddenly recoiled as if she had just been slapped across the face. “Why are you pretending to be Dylan Coty?”

“In order to infiltrate Jared’s life so that my brothers and I can bring him down,” Dylan admitted flatly.

“And there’s the angle,” Chloe noted bitterly, wiping away a tear as it slowly rolled down her cheek. “Just like I said, everyone has one.”

Dylan shook his head. “I’m not playing any angles with you. I genuinely want to help you and Emma.”

“Right,” Chloe scoffed.

“It’s the truth.”

“Sure it is. Just like your name is really Dylan Coty. And I suppose that the fact that using me to gather incriminating information on your father fits in with your plan for revenge is just dumb luck? And I guess screwing your father’s wife is an added bonus,” Chloe lashed out angrily. “Boy, I bet you and Donovan got a good chuckle out of that one.”

“It’s not like that,” Dylan insisted firmly, wincing at the pain and humiliation that he saw on her face and hating himself for causing it.

“Oh, I think it’s exactly like that! You’re every bit as manipulative as your father and brother. Or should I say brothers, since apparently there are more than two of you. Let me guess. That EJ character. He’s Jared’s son too, right?”

“Yes, he is,”

“Of course he is. My whole damn life is crawling with Chances,” Chloe said with disgust as she stormed out of the bedroom, pausing in the living room just long enough to snatch up the keys to the SUV from the cocktail table where Dylan had tossed them and leaving Dylan’s gun in their place before heading for the door. Dylan came up behind her, holding his hand against the door to keep her from opening it.

“Let me out!” she demanded

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the compound,” she said, fruitlessly attempting to open the door against his considerable strength.

“Let me drive you.”

“I don’t want you to drive me! I don’t want you anywhere near me!”

“I understand that,” Dylan replied with sad resignation in his voice. “But if you show up at the compound without me its going to raise suspicions.”

“Maybe I don’t care about raising suspicions about you! Maybe I’ll just march right up to Jared and tell him exactly who you are!”

“That’s your anger talking. And you have every right to be angry. But if you tell Jared who I am you will not only blow the best chance you have of getting Emma away from Jared but you will also raise questions that you don’t want to have to answer. Questions like how you found out I'm Jared's son to begin with. Questions that could get you killed.”

Chloe stopped her attempts to open the door, releasing the doorknob in recognition of the truth of his words.

“Damn you!” she yelled, angrily slamming her hand against the door before turning around to face him, a heartbreaking combination of pain, anger and fear swirling in her eyes. “I trusted you!”

Chloe shook her head in disbelief at her own words, kicking herself for being so stupid as she covered her face with her hands. “I trusted you.”

This time the anger in her voice was replaced by a sadness that felt like a knife through Dylan’s heart. “I’m sorry,” Dylan said struggling to find the words to make things right. “Hurting you is the last thing I wanted to do.”

“And there goes another lie,” Chloe said resentfully as she slid her hands down her face, wiping away a trail of tears in the process. “You and I both know that the last thing you wanted to do was tell me the truth.”

With a defeated shrug, she handed the keys to the SUV to Dylan. “Take me back to Jared.”