by Layne, Ivy
I could have told him that Alice wouldn’t be safe until we caught Maxwell and used him to get Tsepov off the street. All of that was true. True, but still excuses.
I’d been jealous at the way Alice had cried in Griffen’s arms. Guilty and heartbroken that I’d let Lacey hurt her.
I should have stayed with her. Instead, I’d done what I did best. I focused on solving the problems right in front of me. Lacey. Maxwell. And the disaster my parents had caused between them.
Griffen was right. I should have called. I should have been here, should have let my brothers deal with the rest of it.
“I love her,” I said.
“I’m not the one you need to tell.”
“No shit. But she’s doped up on pain meds and sleeping. You want me to wake her up?” If I sounded surly it’s because I felt surly. Surly and frustrated and sick with love for Alice.
“No. Let them both sleep. It’s been a hell of a day.”
“Thanks for staying with her and Petra. I was an ass for being gone all day, but I wouldn’t have been able to focus for shit if you hadn’t been here with them.”
“Anything for Alice, man. You know that.”
I gave a wry laugh that was a touch too raw, remembering the way he’d held Alice as she’d sobbed. “What is it with you and Alice? Do I need to kick your ass? Because I'm not giving her up. Not for you, not for anyone.”
Griffen was one of my best friends, one of the few people I trusted completely. He was as close as a brother, but I’d level him if he thought he was going to go after Alice.
“Fuck, no, Coop. Jesus. You’re like a brother,” he said, echoing my own thoughts. “I don't poach.”
His eyes went dark as he said the last. Griffen would never go after another man’s woman. He’d learned about betrayal the hard way.
“I know. So, what then? You've always been a little protective. Axel bitched about you when he was trying to get Emma back, but with Alice, you’re—different.”
A grin spread across Griffen's face. “Axel deserved it. He was an ass and Emma was in a tight spot. I did them a favor. She needed to know she had a way out. She needed to choose Axel, not end up backed into a corner because he was a dick and a dumbass.”
“Agreed. But that doesn't answer my question.”
Griffen stared into his coffee mug for a long moment before turning his eyes on me and saying quietly, “She reminds me of someone, okay? Someone I haven't seen in a long time.”
An uneasy feeling spiraled through me. “Your ex-fiancée?”
Griffen's face twisted into a bitter smirk. “You mean my sister-in-law? That viper? Fuck, no. She's nothing like Alice.”
His eyes drifted to the mug again. I waited, wishing I hadn’t brought up the fiancée who’d dropped him for his brother the day the ink was dry on yet another new copy of his father's will, this one transferring a fortune from Griffen's future to his brother’s.
I only knew about the ex-fiancée courtesy of a bottle of tequila nearly ten years before. Griffen never talked about her. Or his brother. About any of the Sawyers. He’d walked away and never looked back. I couldn't say I blamed him. It sounded like the ex-fiancée wasn’t the only viper in that nest.
The corner of his mouth quirked in a wry smile and he gave a single shake of his head before he said, “Not someone I was with. Not a girlfriend. A friend. One of my best friends. Until she wasn’t.”
“What was her name?” I asked, ready for him to shut me down.
“Hope. Her name was Hope.” He shook his head as if trying to shake off a clinging memory. “Hope is nothing like Alice. She doesn't have her spunk, for one. But the spine of steel? That determination? Yeah. Hope is quiet, unlike Alice. But Hope has a quirky sense of style. Not the same as Alice’s, but it still reminds me of her. The way she'd always dress in her boring school uniform, but there'd be something—ladybug earrings or socks with melting clocks on them. Something that was quirky and offbeat and so exactly her.
"She was taller than Alice—I mean, everyone is taller than Alice—but slender. She looked so breakable I used to worry for her, but she was like a reed. She’d bend, but she never broke.” He trailed off, his tone wistful, eyes staring at nothing.
“You never dated her?” I had a number of platonic female friends, but I don't think I've ever described one the way Griffen described his Hope.
His eyes came back to mine, dark with remembered pain. “No. I was too caught up with the Viper back then, and she was too young. Never occurred to me, to be honest. And then she fucking stabbed me in the back along with the rest of them, so I guess it's a good thing I didn't.”
I didn't know what to say to that.
“Anyway, Alice is a friend. I swear, that's it. I've never once thought of her as anything more. But I’ll look out for her. Even if that means I have to go head-to-head with you.”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway, I’m bunking on the cot in the holding room tonight. With Maxwell out there and Lacey saying she was going to give Petra to Andrei—”
“What?” What the fuck was wrong with her? Give a child to Tsepov? I buried the instinctive swell of rage. There was no point. Not now. Petra was safe and she was going to stay that way.
Griffen set down his coffee cup and gave me a curious look. “You didn’t know? I thought you saw the feeds?”
“I didn’t have them wired for sound, just video. I was only trying to keep an eye on Alice when she was injured. You know how she is, she won’t sit still.”
“Shit. I didn’t realize. Lacey didn’t say anything?”
“She refused to speak to any of us.” She’d laid in that bed, covered in bandages, her head turned resolutely to the wall, lips pressed firmly together, not even acknowledging her sons. “What do you mean she was going to give Petra to Tsepov? What the fuck?”
“She told Alice that if she got rid of Petra, everything could go back to normal. Your mother is deluded, man. She needs treatment.”
Good luck with that.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I’d long ago given up on the idea of my mother seeking help for her drinking. Wasn’t going to happen.
I settled for, “I have extra security on the building. Teams out looking for Maxwell. Holley is pissed, but he has guys on it. We should be okay for the night.”
“Probably. I’m staying anyway.”
Griffen pushed himself off the stool at the breakfast counter, unwinding his body slowly as if weighed down by memories he wished had stayed buried. I shouldn’t have brought up the fiancée.
I’d been an asshole all day. To my best friend. To the woman I love. I’d make it up to them tomorrow.
Tomorrow had to be a better day than today, didn’t it?
I was an asshole and an idiot.
It turned out tomorrow would be even worse.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Cooper
Bang.
Bang.
A fist pounding on my door.
I woke from a dead sleep to wonder if I'd been catapulted back in time.
Alice was in my arms just like she'd been two nights ago.
I blinked away sleep.
This time Alice wasn't naked. She slept beside me wearing one of my old Army T-shirts and a pair of cut-off sweats. I wore a loose pair of athletic shorts. And beside us, curled into Alice’s side, was a peacefully sleeping toddler.
Petra.
I'd locked the door behind Griffen only hours before. Paranoid after what happened with Lacey, I’d triple-checked my security before coming to bed, unable to bring myself to wake Alice. Griffen said she thought I was angry with her.
She had to be crazy. If anyone had the right to be pissed, it was Alice, not me. For fuck’s sake, my own mother had almost killed her. The fact that she’d left my mother clinging to
life was irrelevant.
Maybe it shouldn't have been, but Alice had been the only thing between a crazed Lacey and the little girl who slept beside us. What else was she supposed to do? Step aside because Lacey was my mother?
Fuck, no. Alice did what she had to do. I would never be anything but proud of her for that.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Fuck. I’d been hoping that was a dream. But no. There it came again.
My gut knotted. There was no good reason anyone would be banging on my door at this hour.
Lacey was in the hospital, under surveillance and attached to tubes and wires. She wasn't going anywhere.
Griffen or another of my people would have called rather than waste time coming to my door.
My father and Tsepov were still on the loose.
I'd secured the building as well as I could, but Lacey's attack on Alice and Petra proved that Maxwell had built back doors into my security. I had no idea how many.
Rolling to my feet, I pulled on clothes, grabbed my weapon, and strode from the room, closing the bedroom door behind me. I pulled up the hall surveillance on my phone as I went.
What I saw made my blood run cold.
Fucking hell. Just when everything had turned to shit, only Maxwell could make it worse. He had a gift. I wished I could send it back.
I opened the door to my apartment, stepping to the side as Maxwell fell at my feet. Blood covered the front of his torso centering around a slice in his shirt just below his ribs. Stabbed. Fuck.
“Get in here.”
I reached down, hooking my hands under his armpits, and dragged him inside. I should have been scared at the sight of my father bleeding from a stab wound. Maybe I would have been a week ago. Not now.
Whatever he'd done to earn that wound, he was no innocent victim. I already knew that.
I dragged him far enough to clear the door, slammed it shut and locked it, setting the security in the hallway to alert at any movement. I hadn't bothered before since my guys were doing regular sweeps, but if Maxwell had made it up here I wasn't taking any more chances.
My father dragged himself to a sitting position, leaning against the wall by the front door.
“Talk,” I ordered. “What the fuck did you do?”
Maxwell's eyes slid away from mine, then back, defiant and apologetic at the same time. I was pissed as hell, but I couldn't deny my stomach twisted as he drew in a shallow breath and the stain of red over his stomach darkened.
Fuck. I needed to call the paramedics. I had a bad feeling that wasn't an option. I resisted the urge to order him to talk again and waited.
Sucking in another shallow breath, he managed, “Went after Tsepov. Needed to take him down before Holley—”
Maxwell shook his head, cutting off the line of explanation. I didn’t need to hear it.
He didn't want to go to jail, and he couldn't leave Tsepov out there, so he thought he’d take care of the problem and then disappear.
A part of me couldn't even blame him. I wouldn't want to go to jail either. Who did? I’d give him the tiniest bit of credit for not bailing on us again knowing that Tsepov would come for his family if he took off.
Forcing himself to sit up further, he took another breath and got to his feet slowly, laboriously.
“I need a weapon. He’s coming. I set up a meet, trying to lure him out in the open. Worked too well.” Maxwell gave a wry laugh that ended in a cough. “He has more men in town than I thought. Sent them ahead. Flanked me.”
Maxwell was on his feet, wavering but steadier. He walked to the kitchen and got himself a glass, filled it with water from the sink and drank.
“Get some gauze or tear up a sheet or something. Gotta bandage this. Can't be bleeding all over the place.”
Glad Alice and Petra hadn't woken up when Maxwell banged on the door, I grabbed the first-aid kit from the counter where Griffen had left it after tending to Alice’s cut feet only hours ago. It felt like a lifetime.
“Pull up your shirt.”
Maxwell did, and I got a first-hand view of the neat slit of the stab wound right into his gut. Fuck. No question he had internal bleeding. He was running on adrenaline, but I had to get him to a hospital soon or he'd be fucked.
Pulling out packages of gauze, I held them to the knife wound with one hand and opened up the roll of bandages with the other. Maxwell stood still, breath held as I wrapped him up tightly enough to keep him mobile just a little longer.
“What happened to the guy who did this?” I asked, not wanting the answer.
“I took down both of Andrei’s men. But there are more. He’s coming.”
“What the fuck does that mean? He’s coming. As in coming inside the building?”
Another guilty slide of his eyes away from mine. Fucking hell.
“You want to explain how he's going to get inside, Dad?”
Like a sullen teenager, he muttered, “I had a fucking plan.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Get Mom liquored up and sic her on Alice and Petra, then bring the mob boss who wants to murder you into my home. Great plan.”
Maxwell wasn't entirely immune to sarcasm. “You boys had me locked down so tight it was the best I could do.”
“No, Dad, the best you could do was work with the fucking FBI to put fucking Andrei Tsepov in jail and not egg Mom on until she tried to murder Alice and sell your goddamn daughter to a trafficker. I don't even know who you are anymore. The dad who raised me wasn't a great guy, but he wasn't evil.”
“I knew Alice wouldn't let her take Petra,” Maxwell said, sending an affronted look my way. Where he got the gall to look affronted, I couldn't imagine.
“You're right, there was no way Alice was going to let Mom take Petra.” I tied off the bandage. “She almost died trying to save Petra from Mom, and now Mom is in the hospital. What the fuck were you thinking?”
I didn't wait for him to answer.
“Stay here. I'll be back with supplies.”
“A weapon?” he asked hopefully.
I thought about taking a swing at him, then decided I might need him, assuming he planned to aim that weapon at Tsepov and not me. Given the way the rest of this bullshit had gone, I wasn't sure I could count on anything.
I left him in the kitchen and strode down the hall. First order of business—secure Alice and Petra. I didn't have a safe room in my apartment. Not exactly. Between the holding room on the company floor and the safe house apartment that Lacey and Maxwell had been using, it seemed like overkill.
The closest I came was a spare room where I stored equipment and files too sensitive to keep in the main office space. While it wasn’t a full-fledged safe room, it did have reinforced walls and a steel door that would be almost impossible to break down. It was the best I could do on short notice.
While Maxwell was out of earshot, I made two calls. Agent Holley was coldly furious but ready to move on Tsepov. Hanging up on him, I called Griffen and filled him in, glad he’d decided to stay on-site for the night. He could coordinate the team I had on watch while I took care of Alice and Petra.
Alice and Petra were still asleep when I went back into the bedroom. I sat on the side of the bed and ran one finger across Alice’s cheek, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.
I wished I'd woken her earlier. Wished I'd told her I loved her. That I believed in her. That she'd done the right thing. That, in my eyes, she'd always do the right thing.
I wished I'd woken her so I could have told her how sorry I was about Lacey. About Maxwell.
Sorry that I'd waited so fucking long to claim her.
I wished a lot of things, and I didn't have time for any of them.
Chapter Forty
Cooper
Alice’s eyes fluttered open, dazed with sleep, a slow
smile spreading across her face. She was reaching for me when her brain clicked online and shutters fell over her eyes. Her hand dropped to her side as her mouth drew tight.
I cupped her cheek in my palm, turning her face up to mine. “We have trouble. Maxwell is here. He's been stabbed. Tsepov may already be in the building. I don't have time to get you and Petra somewhere safe. I need you to come with me.”
Alice didn't ask questions. She pushed the covers off and rolled to her side, ready to scoop up Petra.
“I've got her. Let’s go.”
Alice followed me out of the bedroom and down the hall. When I opened the door to my makeshift safe room, she said, “I was wondering what was in here.”
“Nothing interesting, but the door would keep out a tank. I need you to stay in here until I get this sorted out.”
Her hand closed over my wrist. “Stay with us. Don’t go back out there.”
“I have to, Alice. He’s my dad.”
She slumped for a heartbeat of time, her head pressed to my chest as she shuddered against me. Before I could comfort her, Alice pulled herself together, spine straightening, lungs expanding as she drew in a fortifying breath.
“Okay. I know. I can help. I can—”
“I know you can.” I ushered Alice into the room. There wasn't any furniture, just stacked boxes and two gun safes bracketed between tall metal shelves.
“I don't have time to argue, baby. Sit down and let me give you Petra.”
Alice sat, leaning against the wall facing the door. I knelt, transferring the still-sleeping toddler from my arms to hers.
Alice watched me with wary eyes. For just a second, I was tempted to stay there with her, to lock the door and let my father deal with Andrei Tsepov on his own.
To forget the world and tell Alice everything in my heart.
There were so many reasons I couldn't do that. I couldn't leave Tsepov to my father. It wasn’t just that I didn’t trust Maxwell to do the job right. Tsepov would kill him and then come after us.
Time with Alice was all I wanted.
In that moment, it was the one thing I didn't have.