by Ryan Michele
He looked at my wrists covered with angry red, blue, and purple marks. “They had you tied?” he asked, his brow twitching.
“Zip ties. With moving so much, I wore my skin raw. The jarring of my ribs brought back some of the pain with them too.” I looked at the two men, knowing both cared about me and wanted me to be okay. “I’m really okay, though, guys.”
“You’re not,” Killian stated, matter-of-factually. “You’re bruised and possibly broken.”
“But I’m not with them. I’m here. That’s all I wanted while sitting in that van.”
“Tell me what happened.” My brother crossed his arms over his chest, and I gave him the short rundown of the events. His jaw ticced a few times along with his brow. Twice he sucked in deep breaths. While it sucked telling Eli, not only was he my brother, but a cop as well. I’d be telling him one way or another.
“Let me get this straight. You pushed Bri out of the way. I get that. You’d do anything for her.” I smiled up at Killian who shook his head. “Then you decided to jump from a moving van?”
“Eli, if I would’ve let them take me to wherever they were going, they would’ve killed me. I couldn’t risk it. I had to get out of there. This store was my last hope. There were no people outside, so we ran like hell to get inside.”
I looked at Killian. “How’d you know where I was?”
He smirked. “Tracker in your boot.”
My eyes widened as round as saucers. “You mean to tell me you put a tracking device on me?”
“Damn straight. After last time, I wasn’t taking chances.”
I wanted to be pissed. I wanted to tell him it was an invasion of my privacy. I wanted to tell him that he had no right to put a tracker on me.
Then I thought twice about it. If he hadn’t done those things, he wouldn’t have gotten to me fast enough. He wouldn’t have been the first person to hold me tight. As much as I didn’t want him anywhere near the flying bullets, I was happy he was here with me.
“We have someone to talk to,” I interrupted this fun conversation. “I want to find out where the stuff is, so this will be over.”
“Hospital first,” Killian decreed.
Eli nodded in agreement, then said, “Takin’ her to your office?”
“Yep.”
“We want her after,” Eli responded, wrapped me in his arms tight, then took off to his cop buddies.
Getting inside had to be delicate because my ribs hurt quite a bit. I knew I’d reinjured them, but to what extent, I had no idea.
Killian’s hand grasped mine as I laid my head back against the seat, and he drove. “You’re sure Bri’s okay?”
“Yeah. That woman is so pissed at you.”
My lip tipped. “Yeah, well, tough shit.”
“You tell her that.”
“I will.” With my eyes closed, I could feel my entire body. It felt as though I was in a fighting match with a heavyweight champion who beat the living shit out of me. Not cool.
“You know that woman has your back too,” Killian said, looking out the windshield. “She knew the make and model, plate number, and the damn ‘I love dogs’ sticker on the back of the van. If we wouldn’t have had your tracker, her information would’ve sent me right to you.”
“Thanks for coming.”
He squeezed my hand. “I’ll always come for you.”
This made my heart swell. Damn this man.
“I was so mad at you for coming.”
Killian didn’t even flinch. “Be mad then. Like I said—no matter what, I’m coming for you.”
“But you could’ve gotten shot.”
“Don’t care. As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters in my book.”
“And in mine, you need to be safe.”
His lip quirked as I squeezed his hand. There was so much more to say, but we pulled up to the emergency room. I was ready to get this over so we could get to Khloe.
The ER took forever. Unless someone was bleeding out of every orifice, the doctors and nurses took their time. It was hours later before they sent me home with a bottle of pain meds, a stitched-up shoulder with a sling, and a promise I would call the specialist they recommended for my shoulder. The doc thought I tore my rotator cuff, which was a total possibility because it hurt to move it.
I was so damn tired by the time we got out of there. I fell asleep in the SUV while Killian drove. It felt like only minutes had passed before the SUV was parked and the engine cut off.
“Hey. We’re here,” I heard Killian as I swiped at my eyes, trying to wake up and coming to the realization that using only one hand was hard.
“Where’s here?” Looking around, we were in some kind of parking deck. One I’d never been to before, and nothing looked familiar.
“My office.”
That made my body and brain perk up. The thought of finally seeing where Killian worked was too exciting to be tired whatsoever. Were we in the bat cave or some underground lair? I’d fully admit that while I never knew where he worked over the last few weeks, I’d wondered more than once.
His house was pretty tidy. Was his office that way too? Or was he different at work? Who all did he work with? I’d only met a few of them.
My curiosity was on overdrive with all the possibilities. Did he really work in a bat cave or have a Superman cape stuck in his office? Or was he just covered in guns and knives, taking out everyone in his path? I’d seriously watched too much television.
“Really?”
“Yeah, babe. I do have a home base.”
“You sound so technical,” I teased as we got out of the SUV. Getting down was a bit of a challenge, but I made it and only jarred my body a bit.
I was going to need some serious downtime to rest my body. Killian met me and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together. He lifted them and kissed the top of my hand.
“Let’s get this shit done so you can rest.”
“Can I just tell you, I’m so excited to see where you work.” The smile couldn’t be wiped from my face. It was crazy everything I’d been through the past few hours. Yet here I was, happy.
“Glad to see you smilin’, Ellie. Even if it’s over somethin’ like this.”
“Oh, come on. Is this like your lair where you do all your secret private stuff? Like you have a room designated to monitors, computers, or whatever?”
He chuckled, and I loved hearing that. “Something like that, but we call it the pod most of the time.”
“But you said home base?”
He led me to a bank of elevators and pushed the up button. “If I would’ve said the pod, you’d have looked at me strange. You get home base, so I went with that.”
“The pod seems so James Bondish.”
He smiled as we stepped inside the car. Killian pushed the button that had no number on it, and then inserted a key and turned. All the other buttons were numbered one to twelve.
“What floor are we going to?”
“The thirteenth.” My heart picked up.
“You do know that thirteen is bad luck in a building.”
“That’s why the number isn’t there. It’s blank. Don’t worry; nothin’ is gonna get ya.” He kissed the top of my hand again as we stopped on the unnumbered floor, and the doors slid open. We walked into an enormous office with gray-blue carpeting, light gray walls, and black leather furniture. A large desk was off to the side with a woman with long blonde hair sitting there with a big smile. It appeared very genuine.
“You must be Ellie. I’m Sasha, and I handle all the crap these boys don’t want to. I’m so excited to finally meet you!” She practically jumped as she clapped. She had this positive energy that radiated all around her.
“Nice to meet you,” I replied as two doors opened, and men started piling out. Vane and Diesel came out of one door. Then Bri came with Ollie right behind her.
I released from Killian’s grasp and ran to Bri, wrapping my arms around her. She reciprocated and said, “I’m pissed at you.
I can’t believe you did that.”
I pulled away and looked at her, not caring one bit that she was pissed in any way. She’d get over it. She always did.
“And I’d do it again.”
“Hate to break up this lovers’ quarrel,” Vane said. “But we’ve got two men and a woman who need to talk.”
Turning to Killian, my brow lifted. “You got two of the guys?”
“Yep.”
“And Eli didn’t take them?”
“They get them after we’re done with them.”
I shook my head. Whatever. I wanted to get this done with and move on with my life. “Did you happen to get Viktor?”
Ollie answered this one. “Not yet, but the fuckers in the interrogation room will talk and tell us where he’s hiding out.”
Keeping my mouth shut, I nodded, not wanting to know the exact way these men would get the confession out of them. Truth be told, I didn’t care much. As long as they spilled their leaders location, that was all that mattered in the moment.
“Have you talked to Khloe?” I asked Bri who shook her head.
“No. They wouldn’t let me.” An icy glare went from her to Ollie. Oh yes, my friend was holding out on me. I needed to get all the dirt there, but it wasn’t the time for that. We had shit to do.
“Let’s do this.”
Killian spoke. “This is how it’s going to go. You, Bri, and I are going in there. The boys will be on the other side of a one-way glass listening to what she has to say. Your job is to find out exactly what happened and where the damn diamonds and flash drive are. I know you’re pissed, but hold that shit in until we get what we need.”
“Okay,” I responded, and Bri nodded.
Killian led us to the door on the left, and a loud buzz went off. Killian opened the door, and we all piled through. The bright lights above illuminated the space. There were a few pictures on the wall, but everything was very minimal. One could tell a bunch of men worked here.
We passed several doors, and Killian stopped at one and turned the handle. Ollie, Van, and Diesel went through a door next to it.
Khloe had tears running down her face. Her brown hair was a total mess, and it looked like a rubber band was holding it out of her face.
She had dirt splotches all over her and looked exhausted. She didn’t move as we came into the room, but her eyes peeked at us.
Bri and I took seats across from her.
It was Bri who started. They were closer friends, after all. “What’s going on, Khloe?” Bri asked.
“I’ve got myself in a mess.”
“You got all of us in a mess,” I growled and felt Killian’s hand on my shoulder. While I loved his touch, part of me wanted to rip it off. I was pissed at Khloe, but I understood what we needed to do.
“Tell me,” Bri said, her hands resting on the top of the table. I could tell she wanted to reach out and comfort her, but Khloe had her hands clasped in front of her.
“I was with Landon, and he had taken me to one of his friend’s house for dinner. I didn’t know exactly where we were going at the time. I thought he liked me, and well … that was why I went. I was very wrong.”
No shit, I thought but didn’t say.
“He asked me to go into a room and grab the small black bag on the chair then bring it to him. I didn’t know what was inside. When I came out, he was gone. Just vanished. His friends said he had an emergency and had to leave. I ended up calling an Uber to come and get me. I wasn’t going to look inside the bag, but I did anyway, considering Landon had just left me. Once I saw what was in the bag, I clutched it closed.”
“And you didn’t think to return it?” Bri asked.
Khloe shook her head. “I tried calling Landon, but he wouldn’t answer my calls. He didn’t reply to any texts or voicemails either. I didn’t know what to do with it. Then stuff around me started going crazy. My phone would ring, and when I answered, no one was there. I found a light on in my apartment when I returned from the store, but I knew I didn’t leave it on. Then this scary man cornered me at a gas station, telling me he wanted his stuff back. I was terrified, but luckily there were people around, so I got away. I went underground with some friends of mine, not knowing what to do.”
“You do realize they came after Bri and me, right?”
She nodded, tears streaming down her face. “Sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”
I wanted to believe her, but I was so damn biased when it came to her. Her word meant nothing.
“Where is the bag with the diamonds and flash?” Bri asked, keeping us on task. I sure loved that woman.
“I hid them.”
No shit, Sherlock. Lord, please give me the strength not to climb over this table and wring this woman’s neck.
“Where?” Killian threw in, obviously losing patience himself.
“They’re in a jar buried by the dumpster at the Drunken Monkey.”
“You’re shitting me,” I growled. “You put them at my business?”
“Only because I was coming to you for help, but I heard them coming. So I buried them really fast before they got to them.”
“Why didn’t you just give them to the guys?”
“They were going to kill me.” She wasn’t wrong, but still.
Killian’s reflection in the mirror showed his chin lifting to the guys in the other room. Please let this shit be there.
“You need some serious help, Khloe,” I said, feeling my anger pulse. “You almost got us killed. Three different times! There’s no coming back from dead!” It ended on a screech as I was unable to hold myself back.
Tears rolled down Khloe’s face, but the pity for her wasn’t there. I’d never been a cold person, but this … her—I couldn’t do it. The sympathy train had left the building.
“Where was the house that you got the flash from?” Killian asked.
“Let me guess, she doesn’t remember,” I grumbled under my breath. Killian’s hand squeezed, telling me he heard me. If those words came from her lips, I swore that no one could hold me down. My ass would be across that table and my hands around that woman’s throat.
Bri must’ve realized I was on the edge because she threw in, “Khloe, if you don’t tell the truth, these people can’t help you. If you lie, they’ll leave you out for the old man to find.”
That was debatable.
Khloe continued sobbing. Each tear that rolled down her face stroked the fire of hatred inside me. The woman was out of her damn mind.
“It’s on the eastside on Collins Street. I don’t know the number, but it’s a tan two-bedroom house on the left, fourth down.”
My hand slammed against the table as fury bubbled over. “And you were going to tell us you didn’t know until Bri said something. You’re a twat, Khloe.” I rose from my chair, ready to be away from that damn woman.
I was over it and over her. If I never saw her again, it would be too soon.
“I’m out.” I felt Killian at my back and heard Bri’s chair scrape on the tiled floor.
It wasn’t until I heard the hitch in Bri’s voice did I stop and turn around.
“You were my friend. We hung out and talked. I trusted you, and you threw me to the wolves like it was all the same to you.” Bri’s focus bored into Khloe’s tear-filled eyes. “This, Khloe … this will never happen again. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
My heart hurt for Bri. Anytime someone lost something they held precious, it tore them up inside. Even if that person was toxic as hell. Bri would be okay because I’d make sure of it.
I maneuvered around Bri who had tears brimming in her eyes and put my arm around her, leading her out of the room.
The one thing I thought strange was Khloe said nothing to Bri. Just dead silence.
“In here.” Killian waved Bri and me into a room. It was fairly large with two recliners, a bed, television and a small room off to the side.
“What’s this?” I asked, not letting go of Bri. She was going to
cry, and I’d be here for her when she cracked.
“Panic room,” Killian said casually.
“Why do you have a panic room? Is this like your house?”
Bri’s head popped up. “His house?”
“You know, the shutter things that lock him up like Fort Knox.”
Bri nodded and left my side to investigate the space.
“I’m headin’ out. You two are stayin’ in here.”
“Where are you going?”
Killian gave me a pointed stare, and I knew; therefore, the words tumbled out of my mouth. “You’re going after him.” Not a question, but a statement because I could read the man in front of me.
“Damn right. This shit ends tonight.” Killian pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard, then turned around and disappeared through the door. The tell-tale sound of a lock turning had me moving to the door. Turning the handle, it was locked.
Hand up, I banged on it. “Not cool, Killian!”
“Relax. I’ll work better knowing you’re safe.” The voice came through a box on the wall, and part of me wanted to hit it.
“Locked up.”
“It’ll be okay,” Bri said, moving to the small door and opening it. “This place has a bathroom better than mine.”
A chuckle escaped. Yeah. Having your best friend by your side seemed to make all the bad melt away, at least for a moment.
19
Killian
Furious. That was the only way to describe the blood pumping through my veins. That bitch. If she was a man, I’d shown her exactly how pissed I was. Her crocodile tears were horrid and didn’t get past me in the slightest. She cared about no one but herself.
She’d get hers. Her time was coming.
Three times that woman put mine in danger. Two of those times she got hurt.
Never again.
Never.
Ellie was mine, and not a damn person on this planet would take her away from me or hurt her ever again.