Before Ben

by Cynthia Eden

  The rope gave way. Courtney’s breath left her in a wild sob as she brought the knife around to the front of her body.

  “Shoot her!” Sharon screamed. “Shoot the bitch!”

  “I-I thought we were gonna ransom her,” one of the men called out. His gun was up and pointed at Courtney.

  “Shoot her now!” Sharon ordered.

  Courtney ran. Gun versus knife? Uh, she wasn’t going to win.

  A gun thundered, and she felt the bullet blaze across her hip, but she didn’t stop running. Her hand clenched around the knife as she jumped for the side of the stage. There was a door there. Half-open. She shot through it and found herself in a long, dark hallway. She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her body. Desperate to get out. To find Ben. He had to be alive. She wouldn’t consider any other possibility. Ben was alive. She’d get to him. She would survive.

  They would be together.

  She saw the glow of an exit sign in front of her. She slammed into the door beneath that sign, but…

  It was jammed. The door wouldn’t open.

  She hit it again.

  Again.

  It wouldn’t open.

  Footsteps were running toward her. She slammed into the door again.

  No fucking give.

  The footsteps were too close. She whirled toward the man who’d chased her down the dark corridor. He was a big, hulking shadow, and cold laughter burst from him. “That door was nailed shut from the outside, lady. When the club closed, Hayden didn’t want trash gettin’ in…”

  She gripped the knife and ignored the blood that covered her. He was going to lift that gun any moment and fire at her. There wasn’t any place for her to run. She couldn’t escape.

  And I can’t get to Ben. I can’t tell him that I was afraid for too long. I should have grabbed tight to what he offered. I should have taken a chance.

  Julia had warned her. Julia had told her the past would just hold her down.

  My past is killing me.

  She couldn’t run any longer.

  But she could attack.

  It was dark, so he couldn’t see her clearly. She couldn’t see him that clearly, either. But he was a much bigger target.

  Without a word, she lunged forward.

  He fired.

  ***

  Ben heard the sound of bullets as he raced toward the club. No, no, no! Not Courtney. Not her.

  Eric and Simon were with him. More Wilde agents were supposed to be on the way. He wasn’t waiting for that other backup to arrive. Gunshots were blasting, and Courtney was in there.

  He ran for the front door, and some asshole shot at him. The bullet missed, and Simon fired the gun he carried. A grunt came from whoever the hell had just tried to kill Ben.

  “Get back, Ben!” Simon blasted. “You don’t have the training for this—”

  The bastard who’d been waiting at the club’s door was on the ground. His shoulder was bleeding and his gun—

  Ben kicked it out of the way. “Where is she?” He had a weapon, one that Eric had given to him, and yeah, he knew exactly how to use it. He might not have the same training that Simon did but—

  Ben heard another blast of gunfire from somewhere inside the club.

  Ben didn’t hesitate.

  He ran into the darkness. “Courtney!” His heart thundered in his chest. Fear consumed him. Fear and rage. If Courtney had been hurt, if he got to her and—

  A woman was on the stage. Crawling forward, with her body shuddering.

  Ben staggered to a stop.

  Sharon lifted her head. Smiled at him. “You’re too late…p-payback…such…b-bitch…”

  He bounded onto the stage. “Where is Courtney?”

  “Dead. Exactly where…she’s supposed to be…”

  The gunfire had stopped. There was only silence. “Courtney!” Ben roared.

  She had to be there. Had to be safe.

  Sharon was laughing. Still trying to crawl. Getting nowhere.

  And then Ben saw the blood on the wooden floor of the stage. Blood that made a trail as it led to the left—to a door down there…

  He ran after that trail. Found himself in a long, dark hallway. His eyes strained to see. “Courtney!”

  “Stop.”

  That wasn’t Courtney’s voice. A man’s. Rough. Ragged.

  Scared?

  Ben heard someone running behind him. He stiffened.

  “It’s me,” Eric rasped. A second later, Eric had a flashlight that he was shining in the dark.

  Shining on the man who stood at the end of that corridor…and on the woman he held in his arms. Blood covered Courtney’s shirt-front. Blood covered the bastard behind her.

  But he gripped a gun. One that he had pressed to her temple.

  “I’m not dying tonight,” the guy shouted.

  Ben lifted his gun. “If you don’t let her go right now, I will kill you where you stand.”

  “No, no, you won’t fire! You came for her! You won’t hurt her!”

  He would never hurt Courtney. She was the woman he loved. His fucking soul. He wouldn’t hurt her, and he’d do anything to keep her safe.

  “There is no way out of this,” Eric called out. “We’ve got a team surrounding the building. You aren’t getting away!”

  “Shit, shit!” The gun jabbed into Courtney’s temple. “I just wanted the ransom, you know? I-I didn’t want murder…”

  “Then let her go,” Ben snarled. She was hurt so badly. He could see that. She was barely upright.

  “Came running at me. Stabbed me…”

  Ben took a slow step forward. His gaze remained on Courtney. “I love you.”

  Her lips trembled.

  “You’re the one for me, sweetheart. I want you to know that. The one I’ve been looking for my whole life.” Another step. Eric kept his flashlight on the bastard who held her. Shining it straight into his eyes. Ben knew it was a deliberate distraction. Another step. Another. “You’re the one, Courtney, that I want at my side for the rest of my life. The one I want to make happy. The one I want forever.”

  The fool with a death wish snapped, “Stop, bastard! Stay away from her!”

  No. Never. “Courtney, you’re the one I’d do anything for.” Lie. Steal.

  Kill.

  And I’m close enough to touch her…now.

  “Now,” Ben shouted, knowing that Eric would completely understand what he wanted his brother to do. Just as he’d understood why Eric was shining the light for so long.

  Eric turned off the light. The corridor was plunged into darkness. Courtney’s attacker yelled as he was suddenly blinded.

  Ben grabbed Courtney. He yanked her forward, shoving her behind his body even as he fired his gun. The bullet tore into its target and when the bastard who’d been holding Courtney screamed, Ben felt a savage satisfaction pour through him.

  “Ben?”

  The back door crashed in even as Ben pulled Courtney closer. Half a dozen Wilde agents swarmed inside, coming in with lights and weapons, and Ben saw that the jackass who’d threatened Courtney—he was on the floor, curled in a fetal position with his arms around his bleeding stomach.

  “Ben?” Courtney’s faint whisper.

  He scooped her into his arms as her body seemed to go slack.

  “Love you…” Courtney gasped.

  “Baby?” His hold tightened. He could feel her blood against him, and terror clawed at Ben’s insides. He ran with her, rushing outside, rushing past the Wilde agents. Rushing to the parking lot even as he saw the flash of lights in the distance.

  Eric was shouting his name. Simon was trying to grab him.

  While Ben was just holding tight to Courtney…because she was the only thing that mattered.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  She didn’t feel any pain. She remembered pain. Remembered a bullet slamming into her side when she’d been running at a man in the dark. She remembered a knife. A sharp blade. Remembered blood.

  Fear.r />
  But when her eyes cracked open, it seemed like a fog surrounded her. Everything was hazy. She felt numb as her head moved from side to side. She was looking for something. No, someone. Someone who needed to be there.

  “I had to see you.” A man’s voice. Low. Rough. “So…sorry…”

  That was the wrong voice. He was the wrong man. Not the one that she’d been looking for. Not the one she needed. Her head moved restlessly. She wanted him. Where was he? He wouldn’t have left her. Not him. Not…

  “Ben?” Courtney whispered.

  ***

  “Why the hell am I not in the room with her?” Ben glowered at the doctor who blocked his path. “I’m her family. I should be back there with Courtney right now. You don’t get to keep me from her.”

  The doctor glanced down at his notes. “One of the nurses said you caused trouble the last time you were in the ICU.”

  Ben surged forward. Eric grabbed one of his arms, and Simon grabbed the other as they fought to hold him back. It was a good thing they’d grabbed him. He might have decked the doc.

  I still might.

  “I’m not here to cause trouble,” Ben gritted out as he was held back. “I’m here for her. I need to see Courtney. She is my family, and if you don’t get out of the way right now—”

  Ben saw movement down the hallway. Movement behind the doctor’s back. Two big, steroid-raging dudes who hurried away from the wall and greeted a guy in a black suit as the fellow came stalking out of the ICU—

  “Who the fuck is that?” Ben demanded. “And why is he leaving the ICU? I thought—” Now his wild gaze swung to Eric. “Courtney is in there. She’s supposed to be guarded. Who is that guy?”

  His brother looked confused, too. Eric’s grip slackened, and so did Simon’s. Ben tore free of them and barreled past the doctor. He raced toward the figure in black. “Stop!”

  The goons whirled toward him. Their gazes were cold as death, but it was the man wearing the black suit—the man who stiffened before very, very slowly turning—it was that guy who held Ben’s attention.

  One look and Ben knew exactly who he was staring at. After all, it was hard to mistake one of the most infamous men in the United States.

  Julian Rossi.

  The murdering Jackal.

  “The others don’t come down this hallway. Understand?” Julian’s voice was low. Polite.

  At his words, his two men immediately sprang into action as they ran to intercept Eric and Simon. Ben glanced back at his brother. “They’d better not hurt—”

  “Your brother and your friend won’t be hurt. They’ll be stopped. There’s a difference.”

  Ben’s gaze swung back to Julian Rossi.

  He was tall. Almost…elegant in appearance. Faint lines spread from his eyes. His smile was chilling.

  Ben’s shoulders straightened. “I know who you are.”

  A nod. “Most of the world does.”

  “I know who you are to her.” Everything made dark sense.

  Rossi’s gaze drifted to the ICU. Lingered. Then it swung back to Ben. “No nurses are in there right now. No other patients. No one saw me enter, and when I leave this hospital, there will be no video footage that ever says I was here.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “You know.”

  Because Julian’s daughter had almost died.

  Julian inclined his head toward Ben. “You say you know who I am…I know who you are to her, too.”

  “No, no, you have no clue—”

  “You’re the man my daughter called for when she opened her eyes.”

  What?

  “You’re the man she loves.” Now Julian seemed to take Ben’s measure. “Are you afraid of me?”

  Smart people would be afraid. He wasn’t feeling smart. He was feeling desperate. And crazy. “I almost lost the woman I love. Losing her is the only thing that scares me.” He stepped forward, moving toe-to-toe with the killer. With Courtney’s father. “So, no, I’m not particularly afraid of you. But I don’t want you ever doing anything to hurt her, you understand?” His voice went low and lethal. “Courtney is the one for me. She’s my fucking everything. I will destroy anyone or anything who ever tries to hurt her.”

  Julian’s slow smile was the last thing he expected. “Good,” Julian told him. “You’ll do.”

  What. The. Hell?

  Julian’s smile vanished. “I’m everything they say and more. I never planned to have kids because I knew they’d be threatened. Everything I love is threatened in this world. I knew the truth from the time Courtney was five years old, but staying away from her…” Once more, his gaze slid to ICU. “It was the only way I could show her that I did care.” He swallowed. “She won’t understand that. And she’ll hate what I am. The things I’ve done…” His jaw hardened. “I’m not a good man.”

  Uh, no. Serious freaking understatement.

  “But my daughter…she is the one good thing that ever came from me.” A low exhale. “Make her happy. Keep her safe.” A shake of Julian’s head. “I don’t want my world to ever touch her again. I swear, I will make sure that it doesn’t.”

  Julian snapped his fingers, and his two men hurried back to his side. Without another word, Julian turned and walked away.

  “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” Ben’s body was rock hard with tension. “I’ll spend every day making her happy, and I’d give my life to keep her safe.”

  “I know.” Julian glanced back at him. “That’s why you’re still breathing.”

  Ben’s eyes narrowed.

  Julian gave him a little smile. And then he was gone.

  Footsteps thundered toward Ben. He whirled and saw both Simon and Eric closing in. Eric’s face showed his shock. “Tell me that wasn’t—”

  “It wasn’t,” Ben told him flatly. “It wasn’t anyone.”

  He shoved open the door to ICU and rushed inside. The place was deserted, just like Julian had said, and dammit, the nurses and doctors needed to get their asses in there. Courtney was hurt. She needed help. She needed—

  He shoved aside a curtain and saw her in a hospital bed. Her skin was too pale. A tube fed into her arm. The doctor had told him that the bullet lodged in her side had been removed. The jackass in the dark corridor had shot her right before Ben had arrived. She’d been stitched up. She’d been shot and stabbed, and she’d survived. She’d kept fighting.

  “There… you are.” Her voice was weak, and it was so beautiful to him. Her hand lifted as she tried to reach for him.

  Instantly, his fingers curled around hers.

  “Knew you…wouldn’t leave.”

  He leaned over her. Pressed a tender kiss to her cheek. “Not ever.”

  Her dark gaze was so tender. “I…love you.”

  “Baby, I will love you forever.” It felt as if he’d already loved her his whole life but really…they were just getting started. He would be with her for everything. Every good moment. Every bad one. He’d be there to see her smiles. To watch her triumphs. To grow old with her.

  Everything. Anything. He wanted it with her.

  Her lashes flickered. “Was…someone else here?”

  Ben tightened his hold on her. “He’s gone.”

  She stared at him, and he realized that she knew exactly who’d been there. And who’d slipped away. Courtney nodded. “When I opened my eyes…” Her voice was still weak. “I wanted you.”

  And I will always want you.

  “Don’t…don’t be my enemy any…more…”

  “I never was.” He pressed another kiss to her cheek. “Sweetheart, don’t you see? I’ve always been the man in love with you.”

  Her lower lip trembled.

  “And I will always be.”

  ***

  One week later…

  “What are you doin’ here?” Hayden Laslow jerked upright as he sat at the interrogation table. “You can’t be here!”

  Ben nodded toward the cop who waited a few feet away befor
e focusing on his prey. “I have some friends in good places. They let me come in for this little talk. You know…seeing as how I am representing your wife in the divorce case…”

  Hayden surged out of his chair.

  The cop immediately shoved him right back down. Then he handcuffed Hayden to the table.

  “Thanks for that,” Ben told the cop. Daniel. They’d played cards a few times. Daniel was pretty good at bluffing.

  Ben opened his briefcase and slid a stack of documents across the table. “As you’ll see, you’re getting nothing from the divorce. My client will be free of you, and you’ll rot for the rest of your life.”

  Hayden snarled, “You—”

  “I would be very, very careful if I were you,” Ben told him softly.

  Hayden stiffened.

  “You targeted Courtney for a reason.” Now he leaned across the table. The better for Hayden to fully understand him. “See, at first, I thought you were doing it for revenge. And Sharon, she did want revenge. But you…” He wagged a finger at Hayden. “You wanted power, too, didn’t you?”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “My client is cooperating with the detectives in this station. Telling the cops and the feds everything that she knows about your business practices. All of your business practices.”

  Hayden’s fingers were shaking as he reached for the pile of papers in front of him. “You gonna believe my bitch of an ex? She was willing to sell out your Courtney.”

  Kadi had confessed that truth, and she’d begged Courtney to forgive her. Kadi seemed like a different person, scared, lost, and she’d been visiting Courtney’s hospital room over and over, pleading for forgiveness. She appeared genuine. Ben hadn’t been ready to believe her, but it had been Courtney who told him things had to change. Courtney had said she didn’t want to let bitterness and anger consume her.

  Screw that, sweetheart.

  Ben was still riding out his own rage. His gaze was on the current object of his fury. “You were looking to take over power, weren’t you? What did you think would happen? That Courtney would be your leverage? That she’d draw your real target out? That you could take him out?”

  “Like I said before, I don’t know what you are talking about—”

  “You failed,” Ben said simply. “But you didn’t think about failure when you started this, did you? Didn’t think about the fact that the person you were trying to take down…if rumors are true, there are plenty of people in prison who owe him favors.”