by Morgan James
Chapter Thirty-Five
Fox
The front door opened a crack, and a man appeared in the thin rectangle of light, pistol raised. Grabbing his forearm, I slammed it against the doorjamb. He let out a sharp cry of pain as the fragile bones folded under the pressure and snapped in half. The gun dropped to the ground as his muscles went lax, unable to get off a single shot. With my other hand, I brought the knife up in a wide arc and sank it into the side of his neck. The man dropped like a stone, and I dragged him out of the way.
Pistol raised, Xavier peered around the doorjamb, and the sound of a gunshot hit my ears a split second before the wood of the doorway splintered and flew into a dozen jagged pieces. I felt a shard hit my cheek, but the tiny bite of pain barely even registered under the need to find Eva and get her the hell out of here.
I couldn’t risk returning fire without a clear line of sight, and I hunkered down as several more rounds pierced the door and surrounding wall. The window behind me shattered, and the tinkling of glass filled the air as it landed on the porch. I met Xavier’s gaze and nodded once. I scuttled toward the now open window and nudged the curtains aside. I fired a single shot into the wall opposite, then ducked as the men inside returned fire at the window.
To my right, Xavier popped off a handful of rounds, and a distressed cry rose from inside the cabin as one of his bullets met its mark.
“Stand down!” He stepped over the threshold, pistol raised toward the men inside. I followed on his heels, sweeping the corners to make sure no one else inside was armed. Assured there was no one else, I took in the grizzly scene in front of me. Two men stood, hands raised in front of them, wide, fearful eyes locked on us. Sebastian Moreau, along with a few other men I didn’t recognize, still occupied the sofa and chairs arranged in a semi-circle around a huge stone fireplace in the large living room, apparently either too scared or too unconcerned to move. Only time would tell which.
What I saw next, though, made my blood run cold. Eva lay on her back in the middle of the rug, and a furious-looking Spencer knelt between her legs. Blood covered his neck and chest, and my heart seized in my chest.
There was a split second of calm, then all hell broke loose. The men began to move, pulling weapons and sending a barrage of bullets in our direction. I broke off to the right and threw myself behind a timber column as gunfire filled the air. I risked a peek, then fired twice in Moreau’s direction. Wood exploded near my face, sending a trickle of blood seeping into my eye. I blinked it away, then popped off two more rounds and took out the man next to Moreau.
Everything slowed as we picked off the men, one by one. I didn’t see Xavier, but I knew from the occasional flash of return gunfire that he was concealed behind the island in the kitchen. I stayed low as I moved from behind the column, intent on getting to Eva. Xavier moved from his position in the kitchen and swept his pistol to the right, dropping an older gentleman concealed behind the chair closest to me. Spencer jerkily clambered to his knees just as I rounded the couch. I unloaded two rounds into his torso, watching with a sense of sick satisfaction as he tumbled backward, one hand wrapped around his waist as he toppled to the ground.
My attention was drawn back to Eva as she struggled to her feet, swaying under the effort. Blood caked her mouth and the brown liquid had saturated the top of her dress. Her hands were bound in front of her, and she had just taken a step toward me when a man darted out from behind an arm chair and yanked her in front of him, using her as a shield. Around us, bodies littered the floor, but I didn't focus on a single one of them as I watch the man pull Eva deeper into the cabin. If he thought he was going to escape, he was dead wrong.
He met my gaze over her shoulder, the weapon in his hand shaking with fear. “Put your guns down.”
I slowly did as he asked, and Xavier followed suit. I watched impassively as the man took another step backward, then froze when he felt the barrel of Callum's gun press against the back of his head. “Let her go.”
Cold calculation swiftly crossed the man's face, and I let out a low growl. “Think very carefully about your next move.”
“I'm going to die anyway,” he sneered.
“True,” I replied. “But it's your choice how you die. If you hurt her, I'll draw out your death until it's so painful you’ll wish you’d never met her.”
The man glared at me but dropped his weapon to the floor and slowly released Eva. She darted forward, straight into my arms, and I caught her trembling body against me. I wanted to kill the man for ever laying and a hand on her, for dragging her into this mess. But looking down at my wife, her hands curled into the fabric of my jacket, something occurred to me. I no longer cared about vengeance the way I once had. Eva was my life now, the only thing that mattered.
I lifted my eyes to Xavier and he nodded. Wrapping both arms around Eva, I covered her ears by pressing her face into my chest as Xavier put a bullet between the pleading man's eyes. Eva flinched as the gun went off but remained quiet, still shaking. The room fell silent except for the crackling of the fire and the labored breaths wheezing from Spencer's chest.
I met Callum’s gaze. “We need to sweep the cabin.”
With a quick nod of assent, he and Xander moved in tandem as they cleared the cabin. Once they were finished, Callum began the trek down the mountain to retrieve the car while Xavier headed outside to collect the bodies of the guards littering the lawn. As soon as the men were gone, I tipped Eva’s chin up to look at me, my gaze automatically moving to the blood ringing her mouth. I spotted several bruises and cuts, but none appeared to be too serious. But that was only the damage I could see on the surface.
“Come on,” I said gruffly. “We need to get you cleaned up.”
I sliced through the tape binding her wrists, and she grimaced a little as the tape pulled her skin. “I’m sorry, angel,” I said softly as I guided her toward the kitchen. “Some water will help to loosen it.”
“No, it’s...” She made a face and ripped off the rest of the tape before looking up at me. “I couldn’t stand to have that on anymore.”
I nodded my understanding. I didn’t blame her. Attention focused on the task at hand, I yanked open drawers until I found a towel. I ran it under the water faucet, then held it up to Eva’s face. “We need to get this off.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to focus on what had happened as I wiped the blood away. Once she was cleaned up, I tossed the rag in the sink and took her face in mine. Her upper lip was swollen, due no doubt to the gash cutting through the delicate flesh. Her hair was a mess, and her entire body was streaked with what appeared to be either dirt or ash from the fireplace.
The sight of Spencer kneeling over her flashed in my mind, and my body flared hot then cold with barely restrained fury. I battled it down and met Eva’s gaze.
“Did they hurt you?” My voice broke on the words, and she shook her head as tears filled her eyes.
“No. You got here just in time.”
Thank God. Her arms slid around my waist again as I pressed her cheek to my chest. I held her close as long as I dared, but I couldn’t keep Eva in here any longer. She’d experienced too much death, too much pain, and I wanted to get her as far from this place as possible.
A scuffle rose from the front porch, and a few seconds later Xavier stepped inside. I kept Eva’s face turned away as he dragged in the bodies of the guards and dropped them into a pile next to the couch.
Across the wide room, Xavier met my eyes. “Done.”
“Thank you.” I lifted my chin at him. “She’ll be out in just a minute.”
He left the cabin give me another moment of privacy with my wife, and I disentangled myself from Eva's embrace. Taking her face in my hands, I made sure she was looking at me before I spoke. “I need you to go outside with Xavier.”
She shook her head frantically, and her hands wrapped around my wrists. “No, I'm not leaving you. I—I can’t.”
Her entire body shook, and I wanted nothing more than to
hold her close. But I had unfinished business that had to be taken care of. “Just for a minute, angel.” I swept my thumbs over her cheeks. “I need to clean this up so no one will ask questions, and I need to know you’re safe.”
Her teeth cut into her bottom lip before she finally nodded. Shrugging out of my coat, I wrapped it around her shoulders then pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. I kept myself between her and the bodies as we moved toward the front door where I released her into Xavier’s care. Once they were gone, I moved toward the fireplace and knelt by Spencer’s side.
His neck was covered in blood, but I could see the tell-tale crescent indentations of teeth marks beneath the brownish stains. The sight of them filled me with a mixture of emotion as I began to understand what had happened. Pride for Eva suffused me. She was so strong, so damn brave, and it was for those reasons that I felt a tidal wave of remorse. She never should have been in this situation in the first place. If only we’d gotten the information we needed a little sooner. Someone would have slipped up; we would have followed the trail, investigated more deeply and found that William wasn’t truly responsible.
Of course, it had been incredibly well thought out. He’d been set up to take the fall, and their plan was executed perfectly. We’d assumed from the evidence that William was the elusive Araña we’d been searching for, and we could have easily taken him out and called it a day. Though I had my suspicions, I needed to know for myself. I turned my attention to the man sprawled before the fireplace, his skin a deathly hue.
Surprisingly, Spencer was still alive—though that wouldn’t last long. He blinked up at me, eyes beginning to glaze over as the life slowly drained out of him. I turned his face toward mine and stared down at him. “You made a huge mistake taking my wife.”
His mouth opened, and a tiny gurgle left his throat when he tried to speak. He swallowed and tried again. “Didn’t... know.”
“She was practically your sister. And you used her like she was nothing.” I shook my head.
“Had... to,” he gasped between breaths. “Orders. It was... her.”
Piece of shit. “At least Elle can return to the States without having to worry about you.”
His eyes widened for a second, and something flashed in the depths. “Glad she’s... safe.”
His lids fluttered closed, and I knew I wouldn’t be getting any more answers from him—not that way, at least. I braced myself for the images as I wrapped one hand around his throat. I held on tight as the visions battered my brain. My stomach clenched as I watched Spencer surrounded by the group of men in front of me. I watched the exchange of cash—and a new face, one we never would have expected. I watched as Spencer stood in a parking lot, a plane in the background. Beside him stood Eva's mother, Lillian.
“She knows too much.” Something like regret was etched into her classic features, but she quickly blinked it away as she straightened and lifted her chin.
Spencer shook his head. “But—”
“Take care of it.” She waved a hand toward the dark car. “You know how much I despise loose ends.”
The image evaporated like smoke, but it told me enough. How a mother could be so cold and callous, I didn't know. But seeing the truth for myself solidified my plans—she couldn't be allowed to live.
I released Spencer, and my vision swam for a moment before I came back to myself. There had been no information about Rodrigo or the events leading up to Eva’s abduction. That was disappointing for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was that I would have to question her later. I wanted her to open up to me in confidence, not because I was interrogating her.
I rested my elbow on my knee and dropped my head into my hand. Fuck. I’d come so damn close to losing her tonight. Ever since I’d met her, Eva had given off this aura of being invincible. Deep down I knew she was just as human as the rest of us, but now, witnessing tonight’s events, mortality pressed in on me, leaving shaken to the core. She was a fighter, but she wasn’t unbreakable.
I couldn’t begin to understand her motive for going to her mother, but I knew there had been no malicious intent behind her actions. It was her mother, after all; no one had expected her to be the leader of a notorious international human trafficking ring.
I still wasn’t certain of everything myself. As soon as we got home, I would have my men—a sharp pang shot through my chest at the reminder of Rodrigo’s absence—research all of Lillian’s recent activity. I hoped to hell that we would find Rodrigo, but I knew the chances of doing so would be slim.
With a heavy heart I pushed to my feet, then gathered the fallen men and arranged them once more in the chairs they'd vacated when we broke in. I spread the guards’ bodies throughout the bottom floor to make it look as if they’d been moving around. I propped Spencer in the chair, his lifeless eyes wide and unblinking as they stared into the crackling fireplace. I followed his line of sight and smiled. “I like the way you think.”
I cleared the house one last time, making sure that nothing of consequence remained. Confident that it was clean, I moved into the kitchen. Along the back wall near the oven I found the valve for the propane line, then turned it open wide. I was halfway to the door before the fumes even hit my nose, but I knew it wouldn’t take long. As soon as the gas reached the open flames in the fireplace, the entire place would go up like a Molotov cocktail.
I didn’t bother to shut to door behind me as I left at a dead run—running toward Eva, toward my future and everything it held.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Eva
I paused in the driveway and threw a look over my shoulder at the cabin. A shiver snaked its way down my spine, and I pulled Fox's jacket more tightly around me.
“Come on,” Xavier urged. “Callum should be here with the car soon.”
I shook my head. “I'm not leaving him here.”
“He'll be out in just a minute.”
I met Xavier's gaze. “What's he doing?”
He stared at me for a second before responding. “Tying up loose ends.”
My stomach twisted at the thought of the dead men littering the floor, but I couldn't dredge up any real remorse. Had Fox not shown up, they would have raped me or worse. It still didn't seem quite real. I'd never seen a dead body before, and it was strange to think that those men—even Spencer who I’d known for years—were never coming back. He’d fooled everyone, using his charming mask to hide the monster beneath.
Part of me was glad that Fox had killed him, killed all of them. But the deeper, more humane part of me wished that there had been another way to resolve it. In my heart, I knew it wasn't possible. Those men in there were responsible for the deaths of multiple women and children. I was only to be the next casualty in their long line of victims. They had the blood of thousands on their hands, and for that, I was glad they were gone.
Xavier's hand settled on my shoulder. “Please, Eva. I told Fox I would take care of you.”
I threw another worried look at the cabin. It felt like forever had passed since I’d walked out the door. “How long has it been?”
Xavier sighed and glanced at his watch. “Eleven minutes.”
Where was he? I opened my mouth, but my heart jumped into my throat as the front door flew open and a dark figure filled the space. As if my body instinctively knew his, I could tell it was Fox even from here. My body vibrated with the need to run to him, but I kept myself still by sheer force of will.
Fox’s long stride ate up the driveway as he crossed over to us and gave an abbreviated jerk of his head. “We need to move.”
Wrapping his arm tightly around my waist, he guided me across the driveway and down the slope at a fast clip. Suddenly, the splintering of wood and expanding gas filled the air as an explosion rocked the ground beneath our feet. I stumbled, and Fox dropped to one knee, pulling me into his chest for safety. Reeling with confusion, I peeked over Fox's shoulder. The space where the cabin had once stood was now nothing but a raging orange inferno, dark smo
ke billowing into the air. My limbs shook, and my heart raced in my chest as realization settled over me.
One arm still wrapped around my waist, Fox swept a hand over my head. “Are you okay, angel?”
I drew back to look at him and nodded shakily. “I... I'm fine.”
Headlights swept over the trees in front of us, and Fox helped me to my feet, then paused. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
His voice was serious—more so than normal—and I peered up at him warily. “W-what?”
His eyes darted toward the car before meeting mine again. “Your father is waiting in the car.”
I couldn’t keep myself from physically reeling backward at his news, and Fox grabbed my hips to steady me as I blinked up at him. “Why? Why is he here?”
I knew I sounded almost hysterical, but Fox shushed me with a soothing noise. “It’s fine, angel. He didn’t have anything to do with this. He helped us find the cabin.”
I started to nod, then stopped abruptly. “But then that means...”
Fox’s dark eyes held mine. “He was here, yes. But he was never involved in the illegal activity—at least, not the trafficking.”
My teeth sank into my lower lip as I tried to reconcile my feelings. There were so many things I needed to tell him—about Rodrigo, about my mother. Fox squeezed my waist. “Trust me, angel. We’ll talk about everything later.”
He seemed absolutely positive that my father was innocent in this regard, and, considering Fox’s feelings toward my father in general, I felt I could trust his judgement. He would never put me in harm’s way. I nodded and allowed him to lead me to the back of the SUV. Xavier opened the back door, and my heart clenched as I peered into the darkness. My father’s face was illuminated by the lights coming from the dash, and the relief I spied in his eyes was instantaneous and real.