Ryder

by Diana Gardin

  Lawson leans forward. “This is a quick visit. We just thought Frannie deserved to know that Indigo and I found where Ward’s been hiding.”

  I sit up straighter, my mouth dropping open. “Really? Where?”

  Indigo rolls her eyes. “Are you ready for this? He’s been holed up at the Four Seasons. He’s been staying under a false name. He’s there as we speak, and the cavalry is getting ready to ride in.”

  The air deflates out of me. “I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t be hiding down in some underground, seedy world. That’s not Eli. He’s always thought he deserves better than he actually does.”

  Indigo squeezes my knee. “You told us.”

  Lawson nods, clasping his hands together. “Yeah, you did. Planting that bug in our ear during that meeting made Indy and I start looking in some different places. Checking out some aliases.”

  I nod slowly. “So this could be over tonight?”

  Russ shakes his head. “This is far from over. We’re just getting started with Eli Ward. Posting charges, the whole nine. It’s going to be a long road.”

  I sigh. “Yeah, I guess so. I don’t really want to be a part of it.”

  “I can understand that,” Russ states. “But eventually, we might need you to testify. So we’ll be in touch.”

  I’m suddenly really missing Ryder. I’m missing his warmth, his arms around me, and the way he always has my back, no matter what.

  “Whatever you need to make him go away for good.”

  Russ’s eyes flash. “That’s all I’ve wanted to do since he first came to my town. Make him go away for good.”

  Indigo leans back against the couch cushions. “Shit. That’s all any of us wants. Eli Ward has been like one long horror movie I just want to end.”

  Lawson grabs her hand, intertwining their fingers. “We’re approaching the credits. Let’s go.”

  Russ, Lawson, and Indigo stand, and Bain walks them to the elevator. I stay seated on the couch, still stewing in shock at the fact that Eli is about to be caught and sent to prison for what I hope will be the rest of his life.

  Dove and I are about to be free.

  All I can think about is the life I’m going to live with Ryder, and introducing him to my little girl.

  When the elevator doors slide closed behind our visitors, Bain stares at me with an assessing glare.

  “What?” I finally snap.

  “Two guns?”

  20

  RYDER

  Nevaeh won’t leave my side. Not while she’s being questioned by the female police officer about what she’s witnessed between her parents, or after Lilliana arrives.

  She flinches every time someone comes near her, and I know the long road to recovery after the trauma of this night is going to be hell.

  We’re sitting in the back of an ambulance at the end of her street. I have one arm around her shoulders, while the paramedic takes her vitals and makes sure that there’s nothing more serious than shock going on for her, healthwise.

  Finally, the investigator’s questions are finished. Nevaeh turns her head into my neck and sobs ensue. Big, racking sobs.

  “My mom’s dead,” she wails. Her tears soak my shirt, and all I want is to wrap her up and carry her far, far away from here.

  Far from the life that caused a child of eleven to deal with a burden like this. With a loss like this. With an upbringing where she spent a second feeling unsafe, unloved, unsure of what was going to happen next. She deserves so much more than that.

  And I’m hoping Frannie and I can give it to her.

  I haven’t told Nevaeh yet that I’ve filled out the paperwork to become her foster parent. And there’s no way that I plan on that being temporary. Once she becomes mine, to me, that’ll be forever. It doesn’t matter how long that paperwork takes.

  I let her cry, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words in her ear. I meet Lillianna’s eye and see the heartbreak there. Lawson’s sister is used to dealing with battered women, but children who’ve been through the kind of shit Nevaeh has just endured aren’t her norm. The sadness in her eyes reflects the shattering I feel in my chest.

  “Listen to me.” I pull back once Nevaeh’s sobs have subsided. “You’re gonna be okay, Nevaeh. You have me. There are people who care about you.”

  She sucks in a shuddering breath. “What about my dad? Is he going back to jail?”

  Nevaeh’s dad was shot in the shoulder by police officers. He was then taken away in an ambulance. I kept Nevaeh shielded from the entire scene on the stairs and didn’t let her come down until her mother was wheeled out of the house on a stretcher and her father was out of the home.

  “Your dad will be incarcerated again, yes,” I admit to her, my tone serious. “But that doesn’t mean you’re alone. Nevaeh, would you like to come and live with me?”

  She looks at me in shock. “You…you want me to live with you?”

  I nod. “No doubt. I’ve already filled out the paperwork to make it happen. It can’t happen right away, but if we give it a couple of weeks, you should be able to come and live with me and Frannie. How does that sound?”

  She throws her arms around my neck. My heart does that thing again where it goes all warm and mushy. “Thank you, Thorn. For everything.”

  I lift her chin. “But you gotta do something for me. Tonight, you need to go with Lilliana here. She’s a good friend of mine. Her brother works with me, and I trust her. You’ll be safe with her. Deal? I’ll come and see you soon.”

  Nevaeh takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll do that for you.”

  I nod. “Good girl.”

  When I walk back into the penthouse, Frannie rockets into my arms. I catch her; my arms wrap around her back while her legs wind around my waist. My holster thuds against the cement countertop as I remove its weight from my hip, and she settles more firmly against me. She squeezes my neck so hard it hurts, but I don’t care. She feels so damn good in my arms, and in all the commotion of the last two hours I spent with Nevaeh, I’m just relieved to have Frannie safe in my sight again.

  Bain clears his throat after a minute, and Frannie slips down my body but stays beside me, leaning into my long frame. My arm snakes around her slim waist and pulls her even closer to my side. She sighs, the same relief that I’m feeling pouring out of her.

  I extend a fist to Bain, who bumps it. “Thanks for keeping her safe.”

  Bain lifts his chin. “We had some visitors while you were gone.”

  Every muscle in my body goes rigid. “What?”

  Glancing around the penthouse, I zero in on every surface, checking for signs of trouble. A fight, a struggle, anything out of place. But everything looks exactly the way I left it, even though now it’s the middle of the night.

  Frannie rubs my arm. “Not like that.”

  Bain meets my gaze head-on. “Sleuth and Indy brought Russ Walker with them to let us know that they’d found Ward. WPD is probably going into the Four Seasons where he’s been staying and arresting him as we speak.”

  Elation bubbles up inside my chest and I toss my head back and roar with laughter. Picking Frannie up again, I whirl her around in a circle, looking up at her with triumph in my eyes. “Did you hear that, Pistol Annie? Tomorrow, you, me, and our guns are all going house hunting!”

  She squeals, her eyes crinkling at the corners from the laughter and joy telling a story all across her face.

  “Oh my God,” she cries. “I can’t even believe this is finally over. Ryder…”

  Frannie’s plump bottom lip loses color as her teeth clamp down gently on it, and her eyes go hooded the way they always do when…

  She slides down my body just before her feet hit the floor, electricity and need following with every brush of her skin against mine, and I slam my lips against her. I don’t need to hear the next part of her sentence. In the background, the elevator doors slide open.

  A quiet “Be ready to debrief tomorrow” comes from Bain right before the doors close on him and Frann
ie and I are alone. Our mouths still fused together, our hands are frantic as they move over each other, not knowing where to touch first. Her hands slip up underneath my snug-fitting T-shirt, and my body shivers in response. Her touch is everything I need; maybe it’s everything I’ll ever need. The prospect of our lives together flip and flash in my brain like a movie, and it’s the most perfect fucking thing I’ve ever seen.

  Cock hard and throbbing, I unzip my jeans and walk us backward until we’re falling over the side of the couch, me softening Frannie’s fall with my body.

  She straddles me, planting her hands against my chest to sit up and pulling the hem of her T-shirt over her head. With a tender smile that steals my breath, she glances down at me. “I have something important to tell you.”

  As I look up at her, one side of my mouth kicks up because damn, this woman is beautiful. The shine from the recessed lighting behind her leaves her blond-and-pink hair backlit, and as she stares down at me I swear I’m looking at an angel.

  I lay both palms over her full breasts. Pulling the cups of her lacy black bra down, I lift up on my elbows and suck one strawberry nipple into my mouth. She moans, arching into me, and my hands caress her bare back. She rubs her hips restlessly against the rough fabric of my jeans, trying to feel the friction against her needy pussy.

  “Same, sweetheart. But I need to be inside you first.”

  The elevator doors slide open again.

  Frannie dives for the floor in front of the couch, blocked from view of the elevator, to search for her T-shirt.

  “Goddamn, Bull’s Eye—”

  But it isn’t Bain who walks through those elevator doors.

  The doors slide closed behind Russ Walker.

  From the somber expression on his face, I know that either the arrest tonight didn’t go as planned, or something bad happened to someone on my team. I shoot to my feet, moving faster and more efficiently than I should be able to. I glance to make sure that Frannie’s okay on the floor, and she offers me a sheepish thumbs-up as she throws her shirt on in the privacy the couch gives her.

  “Walker? What’s up? I thought you were supposed to be arresting Ward tonight.”

  He stops walking just inside the foyer and pulls his gun.

  All of my instincts, the ones I developed during my training as a SEAL and the ones I was born with, whir and communicate with one another at once. And nothing good can come of this situation.

  Nothing.

  My voice is calmer than it should be when I place both hands in the air. I shift to one side, positioning myself in the opening between where Frannie is still on the floor and Russ Walker. “What’s going on here, Russ? What do you want?”

  Frannie’s looking up at me with a mixture of confusion and panic. I shake my head slightly at her, because from his angle by the elevator, Russ hasn’t seen her yet, unless he caught her rolling off the couch when he first came in.

  My mind goes to my holster, sitting on the kitchen island mere feet away. I walked into the penthouse. If I could get to it now, I could take Russ out before he could make any stupid decisions.

  But I still don’t know why the fuck he’s here.

  Russ doesn’t move. His revolver stays pointing solidly at my chest. “You can’t Night Eagle your way out of this one, Ryder. You can’t protect her this time. Not this time.”

  My skin goes clammy, my blood running slower in my veins. “What are you talking about?”

  Russ raises his voice, keeping his eyes and his gun locked on me. “Frannie? We need to go now. Eli’s waiting, and he wants his daughter and his wife back before he heads to the Swiss Alps.”

  Frannie cries out, and before I can make a move to stop her, she flies to her feet. I move to block her from rounding the couch, but Russ shakes his head at me, slowly turning his gun on Frannie.

  I freeze.

  I glance back and forth between the two of them, and my mouth moves faster than my brain does as I try to catch up. “Is Ward fucking batshit? She lost their baby. What, he wants to kidnap her and pretend like that never happened? Like he didn’t beat a damn pregnancy out of her?”

  Rage, so hot and so dangerous it bleeds into my vision, blooms through my entire body. Frannie and I have never gone there, never talked about the baby she lost. I’m not even sure if she’s finished grieving, or if she ever will be. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been so hesitant to bring up the fact that I want to adopt Nevaeh, because I’m not sure if she’s ready for kids after everything she went through with losing her own child.

  Russ’s eyes widen a fraction as he looks between Frannie and me. Frannie is standing there in front of the couch, out in the open, and every instinct I have tells me to grab her and throw her behind me. I want to go after Russ with everything I have, not caring if I take a bullet in the process. But I can’t do that when she’s standing between us.

  Goddammit, Frannie!

  “She didn’t tell you?” True surprise colors Russ’s tone. “I thought you two…”

  The words explode from me in a roar I can’t control. “Tell me what?”

  Russ offers Frannie a sympathetic smile. “When were you gonna tell him? We’re on a short time frame here. You have thirty seconds to say what you need to say, and then we’re leaving. I’m sure that little baby of yours would rather have her mommy than the man I have with her right now.”

  A cry of fury escapes Frannie’s small frame, so big and angry it shakes her whole body. “You bastard! Where is my little girl?”

  I want to take a step back. A big one. My mind is reeling with questions, with disappointment, with regret. Because I can’t believe the words that just came out of the mouth of the woman I love.

  Russ points to his watch. Frannie turns to me.

  “I have to go with him, Ryder.”

  I’ll be damned if I watch you walk out that door.

  My voice is flat. “You’re not going anywhere. And he’s not getting out of this penthouse alive.”

  I mean it. She has a lot of explaining to do right now, but there’s no fucking way I’m letting her leave with him. And no one walks into my house and tries to walk out of it with my girl. I’m going to make him eat bullets. And I’m going to enjoy it.

  She shakes her head, the urgency plain on her face. Walking over to me, she places her hands on either side of my face. “I was going to tell you. I wasn’t sure that she’d be safe…not with Eli out there. But tonight, after I found out that it was all over…God. Now it isn’t, is it? And she’s not safe.”

  Her words are coming out in a jumbled mess, but her hands are hot on my cheeks and there are tears pooling in her eyes.

  Fuck me, I don’t want her to cry. And I don’t want that bastard pointing a gun at her right now!

  She sniffs and takes a deep breath. “I’m walking out of here with him, Ryder, because I didn’t have a miscarriage. I faked it after Eli beat me up. I pretended I lost the baby, and then I ran. I disappeared, found the Underground, and made a life for myself here in Wilmington. Then I had Dove. She’s my little girl.”

  I blink, staring at her. Frannie’s a mom? She has a baby? The miscarriage was a lie? My mind is spinning, and I want to sit down, but I can’t fucking sit down right now.

  “It doesn’t fucking matter.” I grit my teeth. “Do you know what I do? Do you know who I work for? We take him out.” I tilt my head toward Walker, who stiffens. “And then we find your little girl. It’s what we do.”

  She drops her hands from my face. “I can’t do that. Not when it’s my little girl.”

  She turns to Russ. “I have her diaper bag in the bedroom. Do you want to walk with me to come and get it, or can I just go?”

  He shakes his head. “No diaper bag. Let’s go.”

  Frannie’s lips thin and her eyes flash with irritation. “You and Eli know nothing about Dove, do you? She’s diabetic. She needs insulin injections. I keep them in the diaper bag, and I’ll also get them from the woman she’s staying with so we’ll have ple
nty for travel. If you don’t let me get the bag, we won’t have enough. How’s Eli going to react when he finds that out?”

  Russ pauses and then scowls. He gestures toward the bedroom. “Make a move, Frannie, and your bodyguard gets a bullet to his brain.”

  A growl rumbles in my chest. “Not even going to give you the courtesy. I’ll kill you slowly.”

  She turns back to me. “You know me, Ryder. You need to trust me.”

  Her eyes are full of sincerity, but I can’t see any of it. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me that she has a child. I’ve been protecting her for weeks, and this little fact never came up.

  It’s Echo all over again.

  And I’m going to lose her, the same way I lost my sister.

  21

  FRANNIE

  I know for a fact that Ryder won’t let me walk out of this penthouse with Russ Walker. He’ll throw himself in front of a bullet for me first. But I need to go. For me as a mother, it isn’t an option. And I can’t live with myself if something happens to Thorn Ryder as a result of my decision.

  I hope he understands what I’m about to do.

  Russ and Ryder are still facing off as I walk past the coffee table toward the hallway. Picking up the heavy dish that sits in the middle of the table, I swing it hard at the back of Ryder’s head.

  When it makes contact, the sound of metal against bone makes my stomach roll. Ryder pitches sideways onto the couch and lies still. Nausea roils, threatening to overtake me. Hurting Ryder is the last thing I want to do, but he would have done anything to stop me from going. And I know, beyond a doubt, that I have to go.

  The sick feeling doesn’t go away as my eyes take in Ryder’s unconscious form, worry gnawing at my gut. He’ll have a concussion…he’ll need medical attention.

  Russ Walker looks impressed. “I can still shoot him, you know.”

  I glare at him over my shoulder on my way down the hall. “But you won’t.”

  Once I’m in the bedroom, I move quickly in case Russ decides to make a trip down the hallway and check on me. Dove isn’t diabetic, but I throw in my medical bag with needles and syringes and hope that’s enough to convince him for a short time. I tuck the pistol from the nightstand into a secure double-zip compartment in the side of the diaper bag that’s meant to keep bottles refrigerated. This bag appears, from the outside, to be an ordinary backpack. No one would know its true purpose unless they opened it, and Ryder never did. I slide two burner phones into the opposite zipper compartment on the other side.